Duke Vincent | Through the Shattered Lens

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!

This week, Gina’s in trouble again!

Episode 4.19 “Blood & Roses”

(Dir by George Mendeluk, originally aired on April 1st, 1988)

Frank Mosca (Stanley Tucci) is back!

In case you’ve forgotten, Mosca was the villain from the fourth season premiere, Contempt of Court. That episode ended with Mosca getting away with everything. This episode finds him killing a rival drug lord (Michael Wincott) and trying to kill Crockett. Because Mosca knows who Crockett and Tubbs are, it falls on Gina to go undercover. This becomes yet another episode where Gina starts to fall for the bad guy and ends up having sex with the target of a Vice investigation. As often happens with these type of episodes, Gina ends up shooting Mosca to keep him from shooting Sonny. Mosca’s body plummets down an air shaft and it’s hard not to notice that Stanley Tucci has suddenly become a mannequin with painted hair.

Stanley Tucci gave a magnetic performance as the charismatic but evil Frank Mosca. Watching Tucci, it’s easy to see why the show brought him but Mosca was such a memorable character that it’s shame that he was given a standard Miami Vice death scene. Mosca deserved to go out with a bit more style. Saundra Santiago gave a good performance as Gina but it’s hard not to notice that every time she’s at the center of an episode, it’s pretty much the same basic plot. As a character, Gina deserved better than to constantly be used as a sex toy by every bad guy she went undercover to investigate.

Watching this episode, I found myself wondering if the show’s writers remembered that Crockett was supposed to be married. Between his jealousy over Gina getting close to Mosco and a scene where he and Gina shared a brief but intense kiss, it was hard not to notice that Crockett didn’t seem to be thinking about his wife. Perhaps this episode was originally meant to air earlier in the season, before Crockett’s somewhat improbable wedding. Who knows? It’s been a while since anyone asked Crockett about Caitlin. Maybe they got a quickie divorce offscreen.

This episode was typical of season 4. It was well-made but everything just felt a bit too familiar. to be effective.

This week, the fourth season begins with a whimper.

Episode 4.1 “Contempt of Court”

(Dir by Jan Eliasberg, originally aired on September 25th, 1987)

It’s time for season 4! Crockett has longer hair! Tubbs has a beard! Otherwise, they’re still somehow doing the undercover thing, despite making no effort to maintain their undercover identities. This episode finds them both in court and, later on, pulling their guns on a mob boss in broad daylight. How exactly there is anybody in Miami who does not know that Burnett and Cooper are actually Crockett and Tubbs, I do not know.

This was kind of a boring episode, which does not bode well for the rest of the fourth season. Mob boss Frank Mosca (Stanley Tucci) is on trial but, because the case hinges on information supplied by an informant, Crockett is faced with making the decision about whether or not to name Jack Rivers (Steven Keats) as the informer. For Jack’s own safety, Crockett refuses but Mosca figures it out anyway. Jack is stabbed to death while a helpless Crockett watches. (Crockett’s in jail on a contempt of court charge.) Later, Jack’s teenage son, Terry (Richard Panebianco), tells Crockett, “I had no idea you were a cop.” Really? What a stupid kid.

Anyway, after Mosca frames a juror for taking bribes and a mistrial is declared, Terry pulls a gun on Mosca as he and his men are walking out of the courthouse. For once, Crockett and Tubbs are able to convince someone not to open fire. I think this is the first time, in Miami Vice history, that Crockett and Tubbs have managed to prevent an assassination. Still, Terry does fire his gun in the air. Mosca smirks and leaves. What’s weird is that no one else reacts to Terry shooting he gun. I mean, he’s on the steps of the courthouse. Why are there no guards rushing out? Why are Crockett and Tubbs the only cops around? Seriously, it makes absolutely no sense.

This episode had some worthy guest stars. Stanley Tucci appeared to be having fun as the cartoonishly evil Mosca. Meg Foster played the district attorney. Philip Baker Hall was the judged who ordered Crockett to name the informant. That said, the episode itself got bogged down in all of the legal wrangling going on inside the courtroom. For the past three seasons, Miami Vice is a downbeat cop show, not a show about lawyers objecting and debating the point of law. The fourth season premiere felt off.

I’ve read bad things about this upcoming season and this episode did little to generate any feeling of optimism or hope. Both Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas looked bored and even Edward James Olmos’s Castillo is starting to get a little …. I guess annoying would be the world. Seriously, make eye contact with someone!

Well, we’ve got a long season ahead of us. Let’s hope for the best.