Miami Vice (TV Series) Little Prince (1984) User Reviews

Poor little rich boy

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 17 March 2012]

It looks like nothing will come of a drugs raid when the dealer takes a dive from an upstairs window however it turns out that one of the junkies is from a wealthy family and might know dealers higher up the chain than most junkies. They don't get chance to find out as he is released from custody and off playing a quick chukka of polo before Crockett and Tubbs and persuade him to talk. A little investigation however shows that his father might not be as clean as he looks. One of his warehouses hooks particularly suspicious so the team mount a surveillance operation; eventually it pays off and a deal takes place; however the person arrested is the father's fiancée and soon after getting released on bail she 'commits suicide'. It looks like the father is indeed untouchable... unless Crockett can persuade his junkie son to help catch him.

This was a decent enough episode even if it wasn't as good as most of the episodes this season. The problem was it lacked action and sympathetic characters. The best scene was the opening where Trudy and Gina pretended to be junkies to find the drug den and nearly got injected with heroin when their back up lost sight of them. After this opening not another shot was fired and we didn't even get a scene with them racing somewhere with cool music playing in the background; I wonder if they were saving money on this one!

A character driven tale that disappoints

[DVD_Connoisseur · 7/10 · 12 March 2007]

Despite a strong and memorable opening sequence, accompanied by Frankie Goes To Hollywood's dance floor classic "Relax", this episode is one of the least impressive of the first season.

A character driven piece, "Little Prince" falls somewhat flat. This may be due to the fact that the title character is not very likable. I wasn't really concerned about the fate of the young polo playing drug addict, Mark Jorgenson Jr., whose father was extremely wealthy. As a result, there was little dramatic tension in this episode.

Not bad by any means but definitely poor in comparison with an average early "Miami Vice" episode.

7 out of 10.

Miami Vice:Little Prince

[Scarecrow-88 · 6/10 · 15 March 2010]

What I have always liked about Miami Vice is how it looks through the imperfect prism of catching criminals, and comments on the lengths for which detectives must sometimes go, whether they like it or not, in order to successfully close cases. A young man, Mark Jorgenson, Jr(Mitchel Lichtenstein), a troubled heroine addict whose affluence is actually a burden because of his demanding Wall Street broker father, is found in a drug raid stoned by Crockett and Tubbs. They want to know the dealers Mark Jr is involved with, and soon learn that his father, notorious for escaping a multitude of shady trading practices, maybe be using a warehouse to funnel cocaine. When Mary McDermott(Maryann Plunkett), Mark Sr's fiancé, is caught in a drug raid of that warehouse thanks to good police work by Vice, this may be a golden opportunity for Crockett and Tubbs to secure their suspect..which results in tragedy due to Mark Sr's decision to remove Mary from his life("disassociation")in order not to be linked to the warehouse raid. Seizing their chance to get a confession from Mark Sr by exploiting Mary's fate, Vice will hope to persuade Mark Jr into implicating his father. This episode ponders how far detectives should go to apprehend their criminal, whether it is morally viable to pit son against father, knowing that he is indeed not only a drug dealer, but murderer as well. We also see how that, despite the luxurious lifestyle and money available, living under the pressure of measuring up to your father's standards can be a millstone for which a young man seeks release..anyway he can, including drug use.

Little Prince

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 15 January 2021]

The episode has a terrific opening sequence with Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Relax. Trudy pretends to be a junkie desperately looking for a fix.

The subsequent bust leads to the arrest of a rich kid junkie, Mark jr. The polo playing son of a wealthy elitist industrialist. His father uses his connections to get his son out on bail before Crockett could make Mark jr talk.

Later Crocket gets a lead that could implicate Mark's father with some shady dealings, probably money laundering but maybe something even more sinister.

There is less action in this one but more detective work. It is also an episode that delves into the pressures Mark jr felt to fit in with his father's vision of success. A Trumpian nightmare!

under rated episode.

[mm-39 · 7/10 · 14 October 2018]

Under rated episode. At first glance I found little prince could get across as laborious to watch with the usual investigative police work done by Crockett and Tubbs. On second watching Little Prince is the character developmental story of rich kid, who lives a life of suffering. The real story of a Father son relationship. Living with a ruthless and harsh father has a negative impact (or the human factor) on a caring son. There is surveillance, police work, and the legal side of the crime work. Crockett and Tubbs shine with the rest of the Vice squad trying take down some evil drug dealers. The ending shows, Crockett's soft side with a powerful father son conclusion. Crockett's line maybe this will save the kid is memorable. 7 out of 10 stars. Maybe threw losing everything the kid will save himself I got the ending after a second watching.

more effective family dynamic than most

[sissoed · 9/10 · 18 August 2022]

My tastes and values in dramas have changed over the years, such that I now value episodes more for the exploration of the psychology of the Crockett and Tubbs targets and witnesses than I used to. The best detective shows - Maigret in France, Montalbano in Italy, for example - use the detective's investigation as a way of presenting us with a portrait of the psychology and character of the people being investigated.

In this episode, the most interesting character is Mary, played by Maryanne Plunkett. She is the girlfriend (most reviews say fiance but there is no evidence of a marital engagement) to an older wealthy man who has a son by a first marriage, the son being much more age-appropriate for her than is the father.

She is cultured and well-educated, clearly comfortable in the father's social class (he is of an old money family). The father can include her in his social world without any embarrassment or discomfort.

But she has to chart the difficult emotional and behavioral path of being attached to the older man, while constantly in the company of the more age-appropriate younger man, the son.

To the father, she is a kind of resuscitation of affection: he will never again have the physical and emotional comfort and enjoyment of such a young woman, with genuine feelings for him, ever again, if he loses her.

Ms. Plunkett plays this just right - showing the son care and affection but never indicating sexual interest in him, saving all of that for the father.

She is thus fundamentally a kind of calculating person - yet she never appears calculating. We wonder: is she playing a game, or is she following genuine feelings?

The vice detectives through a phone tap hear the girlfriend choose a warehouse to receive a shipment of some goods on behalf of the father. She is then caught at the scene of a huge cocaine sale, and it becomes clear that she is handling the father's secret drug business. The father blurts out to a flunky (not recorded) that he has just lost 5 million dollars. But neither she nor the father know about the phone tap, and thus the father thinks there is no evidence connecting the father to the drugs - except, possibly, her own testimony.

Ms. Plunkett's final scene is in the chauffeured limo with the son, coming back from jail after being bailed. She is nervous, but trying to pass it off. She resolutely encourages the son to support the father. Dropping the son at the mansion, the limo leaves, supposedly to take her to her apartment - but then the door-locks slam down on her. The father has ordered her killed.

Her brave-front nervousness, her attempt to maintain her attitude of class while in the limo with the son, is a masterful performance.

At the end, the father breaks down over what he has done - he has killed the last chance at love and affection that he will ever have. He has suddenly realized that his attitude of exalting hardness and determination has caused him to destroy his own love.

This kind of insight into human nature is what makes this an excellent episode.

so much cringe watching this now

[nasha76 · 16 March 2022]

Only one thing was missing from this episode to complete the cringe-fest. The poor little rich junkie whose scumbag dad always bails him out needed to run for president.