User Reviews

"The Big Prophet" is a polarizing episode that will divide the opposing sides, and that's just the way it is. While I was surprised Liam Sullivan's drug-dealing, pro-drugs, spiritual guru con-man was able to spar at all with Friday and Gannon--detectives assigned to "check him out" and warn him that they were on to him--he remains to the very end a cipher whose views are a denigration to the society at large. Despite the selling dime bags to minors, Sullivan's views are shared by many, probably more today that even during 1968. The way marijuana (LSD and heroine, even) is considered by those who want it legalized as okay and not a "start to worse drugs once the effects lose their appeal" will look at Friday's point of view as prehistoric, there are those on the other side of the argument that perhaps have evidence that it was a catalyst towards harder drugs. The use of God and a path to spiritual enlightenment/growth through drugs as a source are a big part of the guru's shtick, and he even throws liquor at Friday and Gannon (which I agree with actually) as another mood altering danger. The law and following it are some of the detectives' weapons, but ultimately their experiences encountering those who suffered through the use of drugs and their damaging effects prove the be the most hard-hitting. I agree that a guru with connections being tied to small time distribution does seem to be a stretch (I can't imagine he would allow himself to be a direct dealer, considering there had been a following of his self-made doctrine; I can easily see him manipulating others to do the dealing), but the show always ends with a chief criminal being caught and facing San Quentin. Sullivan was excellent in this episode, though, and his guru has the confidence, self-belief, and swagger, along with an intellect that helps to forward his cause, to combat the moral crusade he's up against. So I think the rating of the episode, I figure, will be determined by where you stand in the argument. LSD seems to be the villain, while Mary Jane is used as a lure towards it. The guru is the voice towards drugs' seduction. I do think the argument that others are the ones who see the results of addiction and must deal with it has merit. I don't think, though, that marijuana will always result in its users devolving into harder drugs…but what is considered a functioning society differs from one individual to another. Handouts and working for what you get in life are quite topical right now as well, used in the "Big Drug Debate" (another title I'd might have given the episode). You could see this as a political battle of wills; Morgan's Gannon even uses the argument that he doesn't want the practice of the guru's believers intruding upon his own life. Still, the "drugs is a scourge on mankind" argument could turn you off or bring from its rather preachy from-the-pulpit proselytizing considerable applause. It comes down to your own side on the matter.

This was an incredibly preachy episode consisting almost entirely of an argument between Joe Friday and Brother William about the legitimacy of LSD. Friday was, of course, anti-drug use, while Brother William was pro-drug use.

While being a kid in the 60's, I have heard these arguments a million times, this was aired in 1968, when these arguments were still an everyday occurrence of national importance.

Perhaps prophetically, this and other episodes claimed marijuana would be legalized (correctly) and LSD would be, too (hasn't happened). Legalization is also taking longer than the writers predicted. Much longer.

Perhaps the most disturbing thing to me is that at the end Frank Gannon (Harry Morgan) crumpled up a sheet of paper and threw it in the street. That's littering, Frank!! :)

Also, unlike most other episodes where a crime is investigated and the sentence is handed down at the end, they just made up a crime and tacked it on the end during the wrap-up. No crime was committed during the actual episode.

This is the one in which Friday and Gannon get reports that a Timothy Leary clone who runs a phony church is really in the business of selling drugs to high school kids and any other customers.

I thought it was a riot when I first saw it, but seeing it again, so many years later, it's really dated and rather dull.

Who wants to listen to these arguments all over again, especially knowing that the two officers are going to win it with their quick-witted ripostes. Leary (or whatever he's called here) is obviously a fake guru but at least he's given some dignity in that he appears to believe that psychedelic drugs will lead to some sort of universal salvation. (Heroin is thrown in as a red herring.) There is a lot of dialog about "lapping acid up from sugar cubes" and the like. The deck in the script is clearly stacked against the pompous Leary. Not that Leary was actually right in his arguments; just that the arguments themselves were irrelevant because, no matter how important an issue it seemed at the time, the use of psychedelic drugs is now pretty much a historical curiosity.

The skeptical Friday and Gannon throw in familiar generalizations about pot being just the intro to drugs. How does Friday put it? Pot is the match, LSD is the fuse, and heroin is the dynamite? Something like that. If it were invariably true, half the members of Congress would be junkies today, not to mention at least two presidents and William F. Buckley.

Grass smoking seems spotty and occasional today. LSD and the other psychedelic drugs are positively uncommon. Heroin use rolls right along like the Mighty Mo. At least so it appears.