Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Mondays, I will be reviewing Miami Vice, which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1989.  The entire show can be purchased on Prime!

When is Miami Vice not Miami Vice?

Episode 5.20 “Leap of Faith”

(Dir by Robert Iscove, originally aired on June 28th, 1989)

A crazed college professor named Terry Baines (Keith Gordon) is making his own designer drugs and selling them to the cult-like college students who worship his every move.  Terry thinks that the drugs will help people move into a dream state.  However, Terry also doesn’t care how many people die as a result of entering that dream state.  Terry is obviously crazy but he’s got tenure.

Fortunately, the youthful cops of the Young Victims Unit are able to go undercover as college students and infiltrate Terry’s organization.  Joey Harden (Justin Lazard) is the newest member of the squad.  He’s a cop who does things his way!  Zach (Cameron Dye) is the wild man.  He’s from Arkansas!  And Ray Mundy (Adam Storke), he’s a surfer from California!  Their boss is Lt. Paul Cutter (Kiel Martin).  Tania Louis (Laura San Giacomo) is their computer expert.  Together, they’re….

….not Crockett and Tubbs!

Crockett and Tubbs appear at the start of the episode and then Crockett appears in another scene, in which it’s established that he and Cutter have a contentious relationship.  Otherwise, this really isn’t an episode of Miami Vice.  Instead, it’s a pilot for a show about the Young Victims Unit.  The pilot never became a series and, watching this episode, one can see why.  The three undercover cops are all way too similar.  They seem like three different versions of the same guy.  Kiel Martin and Laura San Giacomo at least manage to bring some life to their characters but the rest of the cast is just bland.  The best performance comes from Keith Gordon and he’s dead by the end of the episode.

Next week …. Miami Vice comes to an end as Tubbs falls in love and Crockett refuses to get a haircut.