Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 3.23 “Everybody’s In Show Business”

Posted on April 7, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

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, Crockett and Tubbs get involved in a theft and a theatrical troupe.

Episode 3.23 “Everybody’s In Show Business”

(Dir by Richard Compton, originally aired on May 1st, 1987)

The theft of a valuable briefcase that belonged to drug lord Don Gallego (Paul Calderon) leads the Vice Squad to Mikey (Michael Carmine), an ex-con who is now a published poet and runs his own theater group specifically for people who have just gotten out of prison. Unfortunately, Mikey has once again started using drugs (“Once a junkie, always a junkie,” Tubbs scornfully says) and he desperately needs the money that he can make by selling the briefcase back to Gallego. Gallego, for his part, will do anything to get that briefcase back.

This episode had a few good things going for it. Paul Calderon gave a strong performance as Don Gallego, a ruthless drug lord who dispenses threats and violence with style. (Calderon was also in King of New York as the untrustworthy Joey D. and he played the bartender, English Bob, in Pulp Fiction. Reportedly, Calderon was the second choice for the role of Jules Winnfield.) Mikey’s young brother is played by Benicio Del Toro and, while Del Toro doesn’t really get to do much in this episode, his appearance continues Miami Vice‘s tradition of featuring future stars amongst its supporting cast.

That said, Michael Carmine’s performance as Mikey didn’t really work for me. Mikey was meant to be wild, charismatic, and touched with a hint of genius but Carmine overacts to such an extent that it becomes impossible to take Mikey seriously as any of those three things. A scene where he portrays his version of Elvis is meant to be a showstopper but it just left me cringing. Sonny, somewhat uncharacteristically, is portrayed as being an admirer of Mikey’s poetry. (I thought Tubbs was supposed to be the sensitive one.) Unfortunately, the poetry that we hear doesn’t sound that impressive. Sonny has been portrayed as being such a cynic in the past that it’s hard to buy the idea that he would be so moved by Mikey. If anything, it almost feels as if Sonny and Tubbs have switched roles in this episode. Usually, Tubbs is the one who isn’t cynical enough.

The episode ends on something of an off-note, with Mikey apparently being near death but somehow managing to escape the hospital after he’s visited by Crockett and Tubbs. This is the sort of thing that would perhaps have worked if Mikey was a recurring character. If they had brought back Noogie and had him as the poetry-writing junkie in over his head, this episode probably would have worked. But we don’t really know Mikey and, from what we see of him, he comes across as being a bit of a jerk. So, what do we care if he gets in trouble?

Next week, season 3 comes to an end!

The TSL Grindhouse: Death Drug (dir by Oscar WIlliamas)

Posted on April 1, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In 1978’s Death Drug, Philip Michael Thomas plays Jesse Thomas.

Jesse is a plumber with a dream. He wants to be a songwriter, a musician, and most of all, a star. His girlfriend and eventual wife, Carolyn (Vernee Watson-Johnson), stands by him as he sends his music off to record companies and waits for word. When he’s finally given a recording contract, no one is happier for him than Carolyn. Certainly, Jesse’s own father doesn’t seem to care much about his son’s success. “I have no son,” he says, even after Jesse wins a Grammy.

(To be fair, they’ll give just about anyone a Grammy.)

Unfortunately, with success comes temptation. While celebrating at a local club, Jesse is approached by a drug dealer (Frankie Crocker) who gives Jesse a cigarette that is laced with Whack. Whack, as those of us who have seen Disco Godfather can tell you, is PCP. Remember Disco Godfather‘s cry of “We’ve got to attack the whack?” Well, Jesse allows himself to become a victim of whack attack. It starts out simply enough, with a moving painting. Then, before you know it, Jesse’s hairbrush is turning into a hungry alligator and Jesse starts to become convinced that everyone is plotting against him. Even a trip to the grocery store goes wrong as Jesse spots spiders in the produce and zombies in the aisles! Jesse freaks out. He runs outside. He…. well, no spoilers for me. But let’s remember the words of Rudy Ray Moore in Disco Godfather. Put your weight on it! Yes, indeed. Put your weight on it, Jesse.

This is one of those anti-drug films that was probably best enjoyed by people who viewed it while high. It’s a rather short film, which means that Jesse goes from being a hard-working plumber-turned-musician to a ranting and raving maniac in record time. Philip Michael Thomas throws himself into the role, especially the ranting and raving part. I’ve been binging Miami Vice so seeing the usually collected and cool Thomas screaming in terror at things that aren’t there was an interesting experience. Because the film was so short, there’s some filler that’s awkwardly tacked on, presumably to bring the movie up to feature length. We get a news report about a man who went crazy from PCP-usage and had to be taken down by the cops. We get a report about Jesse Thomas’s musical career that features a much-older looking Philip Michael Thomas performing a song that’s more from the 80s than the 70s. (That was inserted into the film when it was re-released in 1985, at the height of Thomas’s Miami Vice success.) There’s a lengthy news report at the end that, hilariously, has a moment where the reporter apologizes for “technical difficulties” that were probably included just to get the movie past the 70-minute mark.

As I mentioned, this film was re-released in 1985. Philip Michael Thomas filmed a special introduction for the film, in which he played pool in his Hollywood mansion and told the viewer that, out of all the roles he had played (“cops, kings….”), none of them meant as much to him as his performance as Jesse Thomas. Philip Michael Thomas is the epitome of 80s cool in that introduction and in a short scene that appears after the end credits. Don’t worry, folks, the film is telling us. Jesse Thomas may have fallen victim to the whack but Philip is still over here putting some weight on it.

In the end, it’s all fairly silly but it does make a nice companion piece to Don Johnson’s Heartbeat. If you’re a success, you really owe it to yourself to have a vanity project. It’s what the people want.

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 3.22 “Viking Bikers From Hell”

Posted on March 31, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, it’s Reb Brown vs Don Johnson!

Episode 3.22 “Viking Bikers From Hell”

(Dir by James Quinn, originally aired on April 3rd, 1987)

Biker Reb Gustafson (Reb Brown) has been released in prison, just in time to seek vengeance for the death of his mentor, The Wire. The Wire was killed in a drug deal gone bad so Reb decides to just track down every dealer that The Wire did business with during the final two weeks of his life and kill every one of them. Working with Lascoe (John Matuszak) and Toad (Sonny Landham), Reb cuts a trail of terror through Miami’s underground. Soon, there’s only one name left on the list …. SONNY BURNETT!

At this point, of course, everyone in Miami should know that Sonny Burnett is actually Sonny Crockett. I’ve lost track of how many time Crockett and Tubbs have gotten their undercover identities blown. Usually, the people who figure out that Sonny and Rico are undercover end up dying almost immediately afterwards. But a few of their enemies have survived and it’s odd that they never seem to bother to tell anyone, “Hey, those guys are actually cops.”

This episode of Miami Vice is violent that it verges on self-parody. (I guess that’s to be expected as the script was written by the great John Milius, Milius was credited as “Walter Kurtz.”) Reb Brown is an amusing actor. He never showed much emotion but he always looked believable whenever he was relentlessly tracking down someone that he wanted to kill. Brown is both this episode’s greatest strength and its greatest weakness. As played Brown, Reb Gustasfson barely flinches when he gets shot. He’s a relentless killing machine, the terminator on a motorcycle. That does certainly make him an intimidating figure. At the same time, this episode also features Reb Brown doing his signature yelling and, for me, it was hard to watch this episode without thinking about all the close-up, high-pitched screaming that he did in Space Mutiny.

Tubbs ends up in the hospital in this one. An attack by Reb and his biker pals leaves Tubbs with a concussion. Crockett visits the hospital and there’s a scene where he attempts to have a conversation with a heavily drugged Tubbs. Tubbs’s comments make about as much sense as the last words of Dutch Schultz but it’s still kind of nice to see that Crockett actually does care about his partner. The two of them haven’t always seemed particularly happy with having to work together over the course of the third season.

Biker fans will also be happy to note that Kim Coates has a small role in this one. Crockett and Tubbs beat him up in a biker bar while demanding information about Reb. The odd thing here is that Crockett and Tubbs go into the biker bar and make no attempt to hide the fact that they’re actually cops. And all of the bikers in the bar seem to already know that they’re cops. Seriously, were Crockett and Tubbs the two worst undercover cops in history?

This was an enjoyably over-the-top episode. It was a bit silly but, when it comes to Reb Brown, would you want it any other way?

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 3.21 “Knock Knock …. Who’s There?”

Posted on March 17, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, the one hand doesn’t know what the other one is doing. That’s life in Miami.,

Episode 3.21 “Knock Knock …. Who’s There?”

(Dir by Tony Wharmby, originally aired on March 27th, 1987)

An drug buy that Crockett and Tubbs (as Burnett and Cooper) set up with Esteban Montoyo (a miscast Ian McShane), falls apart when a group of DEA agents show up. Or, at least, they say that they’re DEA agents. Oddly, they just take the money and the drugs and then leave, saying that Miami metro will take care of the rest.

It quickly becomes apparent that the DEA agents were fake but Crockett and Tubbs have no way to confirm that because the DEA refuses to share any information about their activities with the Vice Squad. Even though the DEA and detectives are all after the same people and are supposedly soldiers in the same war, they don’t trust each other and they don’t share information. Meanwhile, Internal Affairs is convinced that Crockett and Tubbs stole the money and the drugs for themselves and are determined to prove it. Apparently, it doesn’t matter that Crockett and Tubbs have killed a variety of different drug lords over the past three seasons. No one in Miami trusts anyone!

As for the fake DEA busts, they’re being set up by an agent named Linda Colby (Elizabeth Ashley). Linda’s husband (Jimmie Ray Weeks) is a former agent who is now in a wheelchair and who is a friend of Crockett’s. Their son is in the hospital, fighting for his life. Linda’s crimes are helping her to pay for his treatment. It’s not greed that motivates her, or at least greed isn’t the only thing. She’s also motivated by love.

Of course, in the end, she still gets shot during a showdown between Crockett, Tubbs, and Montoya. Unlike the majority of Miami Vice‘s guest stars, Linda survives being shot. But, as she’s lying on the stretcher, Crockett has to arrest her. Linda says that Crockett would have done the same thing for his son. With tears in his eyes, Crockett proceeds to recite Linda’s Miranda rights. Though Crockett doesn’t say it, he knows that she’s right but he’s also a cop and he has no choice but to arrest her. Now, her son will no longer receive medical treatment and his mother is going to be in jail. Wow, Miami Vice, depressing much?

Of course, happy endings were a rarity on Miami Vice. That was one of the show’s strengths. No one ever got a truly happy ending. Every drug lord that Crockett and Tubbs took down would be replaced by someone else. Anyone who ever tried to help usually fell victim to a bullet. People like Linda did things for desperate reasons and paid the price, all in the service of an unwinnable war.

This episode was uneven. Ian McShane was not a particularly interesting villain and Crockett getting his cover blown happens so frequently that it’s no longer a shock. But that final scene definitely packed a punch. Never have the Miranda rights sounded so hollow.

Next week …. it’s Crockett and Tubbs vs. a motorcycle gang! We’ll see what happens. It can’t be any more depressing than this episode.

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 3.18 “Lend Me An Ear”

Posted on February 17, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Crockett and Tubbs are both spectacularly bad at their jobs.

Episode 3.18 “Lend Me An Ear”

(Dir by James Quinn, originally aired on February 27th, 1987)

This week’s episode of Miami Vice centers around Steve Duddy (John Glover), an eccentric former cop-turned-surveillance expert. When the Vice Squad has trouble bugging the home and phone lines of a mysterious Greek criminal named Alexander Dykstra (Yorgo Voyagis), Crockett and Tubbs approach Duddy for help. Little do they know that Dubby is also on Dykstra’s payroll. Duddy sells them the bugs that they plant in Dykstra’s home. Then Dykstra calls Duddy and Duddy removes them. Dykstra doesn’t know that Duddy works for the cops and the cops don’t know that Duddy works for Dykstra.

It sounds like a pretty good deal for Steve Duddy, no? But when Duddy witnesses Dykstra commit a murder that was caused by Dykstra using one of Duddy’s voice analyzers to discover whether or not her girlfriend was lying about cheating on him, Duddy decides to try to take down Duddy. First, he calls the homicide department and, using a device to disguise his voice, he reports that Dykstra just killed someone. When that doesn’t work, he splices together some recordings to make it appear as if Dykstra is setting up a crime. When that doesn’t work and Dykstra decides to take out Duddy, Duddy just kills Dykstra and his men. Crockett and Tubbs arrest him, charging him with interfering with an investigation. The charges are ultimately dropped but, when Duddy returns to his home, he finds a video message from Crockett. “I’ll be watching you!” Crockett says.

This was a strange episode, if just because the main theme seemed to be that the members of the Vice Squad weren’t that smart. Not only were they repeatedly fooled by Duddy but also Dykstra as well. Really, anyone with as much experience as Crockett and Tubbs should have been able to figure out what Duddy was doing. Duddy’s reaction when he heard the 9-11 call (“Sounds like someone’s altering their voice!” Duddy says) should have been a dead giveaway that Duddy knew more than he was telling. And yet, somehow, Crockett and Tubbs didn’t figure out anything strange was happening until the episode was nearly over.

Dykstra, incidentally, was not a drug dealer. He was a money launderer and he really didn’t make much of an effort to hide that fact. I figure it out pretty quickly. But, again, it took Crockett and Tubbs nearly the entire episode to figure out what Dykstra’s business actually was. Crockett and Tubbs just had a really off-week with this episode.

On the plus, John Glover was memorably odd as Duddy. Up until he discovers Dykstra is a murderer, Duddy is having the time of his life playing both sides against each other and it’s actually kind of entertaining to watch. Apparently, this was Duddy’s only appearance on Miami Vice. That’s a shame because his character definitely had potential.

Next week: Viggo Mortensen, Annette Bening, and Lou Diamond Phillips all stop by Miami!

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 3.17 “The Afternoon Plane”

Posted on February 10, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Tubbs has an adventure!

Episode 3.17 “The Afternoon Plane”

(Dir by David Jackson, originally aired on February 20th, 1987)

While attending a New Age-y wedding with his latest girlfriend Alicia (Maria McDonald), Tubbs wins a vacation to a tropical island!

It’s about time something …. well, I was going to say something good but honestly, I guess we should just be happy that anything is happening to Tubbs at all. When this show started, Tubbs was the audience surrogate. He was the one who came down to Miami and learned about the drug scene. We saw Miami through his eyes. But, by the time the third season rolled around, it was pretty clear that Miami Vice hard largely become the Crockett show. Don Johnson was the star and Philip Michael Thomas often seemed like a supporting character. Tubbs may have been cooler than Switek but, often times, both of them took a backseat to Crockett. This week, however, Tubbs finally get his own episode. Crockett shows up for a few minutes at the start of the episode and that’s it. This is the Tubbs show!

Of course, it turns out that the vacation does not go the way that Tubbs was expecting. He runs into a drug dealer named Leon Wolf (Vincent D’Onofrio, making his television acting debut), someone who Tubbs previously put in jail. Tubbs soon discovers that his old enemies, the Calderone family, are on the Island and they’re looking forward to getting their revenge on Tubbs. Tubbs, of course, has no legal jurisdiction on the island and the local police certainly aren’t going to help him out. In fact, many people on the island resent Tubbs because they blame America’s war on drugs for their poverty. Drug smuggling is big business and it provides an income to a lot of people who would starve otherwise.

Orlando Calderone (John Leguizamo) is coming on the next afternoon plane and no one is willing to defy Orlando by helping Tubbs get off the island. The episode becomes a Caribbean High Noon, with the clock ticking down and no one willing to stand up and help the endangered law man. There are some on the island who want to fight back and drive away the Calderones. But no one is willing to take the chance.

It would have been a lot more compelling if Orlando had been played by someone other than John Leguizamo, who is just as cartoonishly unconvincing here as he was the first time that he appeared on the show. I know that Miami Vice was early in Leguizamo’s career but his performance here is so unconvincing that it really does make the Calderones just seem like a bunch of low-level punks instead of a feared criminal syndicate. The final gun battle between Tubbs and the Calderones is handled well-enough but it’s never quite as compelling as it would be if Orlando Calderone was actually an intimidating villain. In typical Miami Vice fashion, Alicia is seriously wounded in the battle. It pays not to get involved with either Tubbs or Crockett.

This episode was a slight change of pace. Apparently, everyone but Philip Michael Thomas got to take some time off during filming and, as a result, Thomas gets to show his own unique style as Rico Tubbs. Still, this episode was never as compelling as it needed to be. Hopefully, we are now done with the Calderones.

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 3.16 “Theresa”

Posted on February 3, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, a guest star breaks Sonny’s heart.

Episode 3.16 “Theresa”

(Dir by Virgil W. Vogel, originally aired on February 13th, 1987)

Sonny is planning on asking his girlfriend, Dr. Theresa Lyons (Helena Bonham-Carter), to marry him. What Sonny doesn’t know is that Theresa is a junkie. Back surgery caused her to develop a dependence on painkillers and, after she got in trouble for writing her own prescriptions, Theresa started dealing with drug dealers. Theresa’s addiction has left her vulnerable to a long-haired drug lord named Wyatt (Brad Dourif). Sonny recently arrested Wyatt but Wyatt has one of his dealers tell Theresa that he’ll only give her a fix if she steals the four evidence tapes from Sonny’s houseboat. Theresa steals one tape. The other tapes are destroyed when Wyatt bombs a police evidence warehouse! Seriously, Wyatt doesn’t mess around and, when that warehouse goes up in flames, we’re reminded that Miami is not a place for the weak. The police are in a war and they have no possible path to victory. The bad guys are always willing to do what the police can not.

Most of this episode centers around Theresa and Sonny attempting to deal with her addiction and Sonny coming to realize that Theresa will have to return to the UK if she’s ever going to recover. Even after Sonny gets suspended from the force while Internal Affairs investigates the theft of the tape, Theresa remains Sonny’s main concern. It was actually kind of nice to see Sonny caring about someone again. Don Johnson has been a bit inconsistent this season. (There are several episodes were its obvious he was getting a bit bored with the part.) But he does a good job in this episode.

As for the guest stars, Brad Dourif is charismatically evil as the smug and New Age-y Wyatt. Helena Bonham Cater was only 20 when she appeared in this episode and she looked even younger. That doesn’t exactly make her the most believable trauma doctor in the world. Because of her youth, she’s miscast and there are a few times when she looks more like Crockett’s daughter than his girlfriend. That said, Bonham Carter really sells the scene where she reveals her addiction to Crockett and she definitely captures the desperation of someone in need of another fix.

“Life’s not easy when you’re a lover,” Tubbs says at one point, “….or a primary investigator.” With Sonny sidelined with his suspension and his personal drama, Tubbs got to play the role of concerned best friend and it’s one that Philip Michael Thomas always played well on the show. If nothing else, you believe that Tubbs would take a bullet for his partner. The show may end with Theresa returning to the UK and Sonny sadly looking down at the engagement ring that he’ll never give her but, fortunately, he’ll always have Tubbs.

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 3.15 “Duty and Honor”

Posted on January 27, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, another figure from Castillo’s past comes to Miami.

Episode 3.15 “Duty And Honor”

(Dir by John Nicollela, originally aired on February 6th, 1987)

There is apparently some controversy over what this episode should be called. When it originally aired in 1987, it was called The Savage, after the serial killer who is pursued by Castillo. When the episode later turned up in syndication, the title was changed to Duty and Honor, a reflection of the fact that the episode links back to Castillo’s (and, to a lesser extent, Crockett’s) service in Vietnam. Since the imdb has chosen to go with Duty and Honor, I’ve decided to do the same.

The episode opens in Saigon, in the early 70s. A clean-shaved Castillo (with a pony tail!) investigates the ritualistic murder of a prostitute. It’s one of several murders that have occurred over the past few days, with all of the victims being sex workers. Jump forward to Miami in the 80s and prostitutes are now once again being murdered. Castillo recognizes the M.O. and soon, Crockett and Tubbs are investigating the local VA. The doctor (Gary Basaraba) refuses to compromise the confidentiality of what his patients have told him but he does allow Crockett and Tubbs to speak to some of them. One of the patients talks about a mysterious man who was known as The Savage, who was used as an assassin by the CIA. The Savage was obsessed with killing and hated women because one violent encounter led to him getting castrated.

Tranh (Haing S. Ngor), who investigated the Saigon murders with Castillo, comes to Miami and shows Castillo that, whenever an enemy or critic of the United States has been assassinated overseas, it’s always coincided with a serial killer targeting prostitutes. Tranh believes The Savage has come to Miami to assassinate a South American activist who is in town to give a speech. Tranh and Castillo’s investigation leads them to the Savage’s CIA handler, Jack Colman (Brad Sullivan). Colman makes clear that he really doesn’t care what The Savage does on his own time.

And yes, The Savage (played by Michael Wright), is indeed in Miami and he is killing prostitutes. As played by Wright, The Savage is one of the most frightening villains to show up on Miami Vice. He’s a relentless and sadistic killer who has no control over his impulses. The CIA turned him into a weapon of war and now that the war is over, he no longer has a place in the real world. Instead, he’s a nightmare creature who exists to execute anyone who Colman considers to be a threat.

(Around the same time this episode aired, Michael Wright also played the high school gang lord in The Principal.)

Up until the final twist, this episode is Miami Vice at its best — dark, moody, thought-provoking, and morally ambiguous. After spending most of the season staring at the floor, Edward James Olmos finally gets to be the center of the action. Unfortunately, the film ends with Tranh revealing that he was actually a spy for North Vietnam and that he’s now a colonel in the Vietnamese army. He leaves Castillo a note, saying that he hopes they can still be friends and promote the type of peaceful world where nations will not create men like The Savage. And while I agree that the CIA should not be breeding assassins, I still have to say, what’s up with all the pro-commie crap this season, Miami Vice?

Anyway, other than that, this was a good episode. I should mention that Helena Bonham Carter briefly appears as Sonny’s new girlfriend. Apparently, she’ll be the center of next week’s episode.

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 3.14 “Cuba Libre”

Posted on January 20, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, everyone’s moved on from Zito’s death.

Episode 3.14 “Cuba Libre”

(Dir by Virgil W. Vogel, originally aired on January 23rd, 1987)

A routine drug bust at the mansion of Armando Rojas (Willie Colon) goes wrong when a group of masked gunmen show up and demand that Rojas give him all their money. The gunmen kill a young vice cop and get into a gunfight with Crockett and Tubbs (who are, as usual, pretending to be Burnett and Cooper). The gunmen make their escape but Crockett suspects that this was more than just a fight amongst drug dealers. As he tells Castillo, the gunmen acted more like “Quantico than Colombia.” Since the dead vice cop was a protegee of Crockett’s, Crockett is taking this one personally!

Unfortunately, for Crockett, the FBI doesn’t want him to take this one personally. The gunmen work for Paco Zamora (Joe Urla), a Cuban refugee who has been working for the government ever since the Bay of Pigs. Zamora is looking to raise money so that he can overthrow Fidel Castro. (Boo! Castro! Boo!) Crockett and Tubbs go — *sigh* — undercover as Burnett and Cooper to discover Zamora’s plans. “Burnett” says that he wants to rip off “Cooper.” I know I kind of harp on this but I always have to roll my eyes whenever Crockett and Tubbs do the whole Burnett and Cooper thing. After three seasons of them arresting and killing everyone who falls for the Burnett/Cooper con, you would think the Miami underworld would have caught on by now! I mean, wasn’t Frank Zappa going to tell everyone in Miami not to trust Sonny Burnett? Do people in Miami just not share information with each other? Are they just that easily fooled? No wonder Fidel Castro hung onto power for all those years. (Boo! Castro! Boo!)

Anyway, it turns out that there is a member of Castro’s (boo!) government visiting Miami and Zamora and his army are planning on assassinating him. Crockett and Tubbs and the Vice Squad have to stop an international incident from happening in Florida. Or — considering all of the people that Castro had assassinated over the years (Boo!) — maybe they could have just stayed out of it and let Zamora do his thing. Seriously, in what world is a Southern good old boy and former CIA-connected football player like Sonny Crockett going to be so concerned with protecting the lives of communist diplomats? Is that was Larry Zito died for!? Regardless and as usuasl, everything ends with a shoot-out in which Sonny makes his final argument with a bullet. Pauline Kael once wrote that Oliver Stone had left-wing politics but a right-wing sensibility and that’s certainly true of Miami Vice as well.

This episode felt pretty routine. Especially after all the emotional drama of the previous two episodes, Cuba Libre felt like an example of the show on autopilot.

Retro Television Review: Miami Vice 3.13 “Down For The Count: Part Two”

Posted on January 13, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week is all about justice for Zito!

Episode 3.13 “Down For The Count: Part Two”

(Dir by Richard Compton, originally aired on January 16th, 1987)

Picking up where last week’s episode ended, Down For The Count: Part Two finds almost the entire Vice Squad mourning the death of Larry Zito. I say “almost” because, as usual, Castillo refuses to show any emotion or even look anyone in the eye. When he first appeared, Castillo’s stoicism made him an interesting character but I have to admit that I’m starting to get a bored with the character and his refusal to speak in anything more than terse growls. ZITO’S DEAD! WAKE UP, CASTILLO!

Switek, needless to say, is heart-broken. Trudy tells Gina that she had a totally meaningless one night stand with some guy she met at a club because she was depressed. (“Did it make you feel better?” Gina asks. “No!” Trudy wails.) Crockett is determined to take down crooked boxing promoter Oswaldo Guzman (Pepe Serna) and prove that Zito was not a junkie but that he was instead murdered by Guzman’s goons. As for Tubbs, he makes a few jokes. WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU, TUBBS!? ZITO’S DEAD!

Crockett and Tubbs go undercover as Burnett and Cooper and, once again, I find myself wondering how they can keep successfully doing that when their cover has gotten blown over a dozen times over the course of the series. Do criminals in Miami not talk to each other? This time, Crockett pretends to be involved with a cable sports network that wants to make a deal to air the fights that Guzman sponsors. When a Las Vegas gangster named Guilinni (former Warhol superstar Joe Dallesandro) shows up looking to kill Guzman, Crockett and Tubbs effortlessly manipulate both sides. It turns out that criminals aren’t that smart.

Meanwhile, Trudy and Gina meet one of Crockett’s associates from the Vietnam War. His name is Danny Allred (Chris Elliott) and he’s a former CIA agent who now lives in an abandoned airplane. Danny is a codebreaker and he helps them to figure out the code that Guzman was using to keep track of all of his crooked fights. Danny is a fun character and I hope he shows up in more episodes. He added some moments of levity to what was otherwise a pretty grim episode.

This episode had plenty of good moments. The scene where Crockett and Tubbs visited Zito’s apartment was both poignant and nicely-acted by both Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas. The final shoot-out was violent even by the standards of Miami Vice. That said, I’m a bit surprised that the episode didn’t revolve around Switek. Switek gets to express his anger and argue with Internal Affairs at the start of the episode and gets to repeatedly shoot Guzman at the end of the episode but he’s largely absent for the middle part of the story. As Switek was both Zito’s partner and his best friend, it really does seem like he should have been at the center of the entire episode.

Still, I was glad that Zito’s name was cleared and that Guzman ended up getting shot multiple times until he fell out a window. The show’s final credits featured still shots of John Diehl as Zito. I’m going to miss Larry.