It’s been a while, but I have finally gotten a chance to watch some more Miami Vice. Wow, it looks like it’s been over 2 months since the last episode. No more waiting! Let’s get back into this!
Summary
This episode was directed by Bobby Roth. It was written by Chuck Adamson. The original air date was December 4, 1984.
This episode had a couple of big story lines. Crockett and Tubbs bust a scared, young guy who was guarding boxes of drugs. Instead of arresting him, Crockett gets information from him about the drug 
supplier, Alvarado (Michael Madsen). They catch Alvarado after a car chase, which ended in classic ’80s form – crashing into a hot dog stand. However, in order for the charges to stick, the judge wants Crockett to give up the name of the informant – which we all know, he is not about to do. So, he is thrown in jail.
In the meantime, Gina and Trudy infiltrate a prostitution ring, which is run by Lupo Ramirez (Burt Young – Paulie from the Rocky movies). He becomes suspicious when his goon/bodyguard, Cinco, finds bugs all over the place. Cinco looked very familiar to me. Thanks to imdb, I found out that he was Jefe in ¡Three Amigos! !
Ramirez forced Gina to have sex with him, since she was supposed to be a prostitute. She didn’t want to blow her cover, not knowing that he already had a feeling that she was a cop.
Crockett is freed from jail. He thanks Lt. Castillo for pulling some strings. But, he didn’t pull strings. Crockett was freed because the informant turned himself in. To make matters worse, due to a technicality, Alvarado was a free man. This led to this great Crockett quote: “Wonderful. That’s just wonderful. We’ve got a pusher, a suspected mob hit man and God knows what else and he does less time in this case than I did!” which was followed by a kick to a waste basket.
It turns out that our two stories are tied together. Our friend Noogie (Charlie Barnett) is back! Noogie brought a druggie friend to Crockett and Tubbs. The druggie had information to hopefully help put Alvarado away. It turns out that Alvarado works for Paulie Ramirez. They also had further news that Ramirez was putting out a hit that night – on Gina!
Trudy was already visiting Gina, to comfort her, when the hitman arrived. Crockett and Tubbs also made it there just in time. We had ourselves a Miami Vice shootout! Trudy shot him as he tried to escape. It was Cinco. He fessed up that he works for Alvarado and Paulie Ramirez. He wouldn’t give up any details about Ramirez, but he gave enough details about Alvarado to make the charges stick this time. El Guapo would be very disappointed.
Crockett and Tubbs arrested Alvarado at a nightclub that Ramirez owned. As part of the infilterization, Switek was performing stand-up comedy – and he was horrible at it. Zito loved it though, and was laughing hysterically. I couldn’t tell if he was laughing because Switek was bombing, or if he really thought those stupid jokes and impersonations were funny.
Crockett and Tubbs and Gina and Trudy went to arrest Ramirez since Alvarado gave him up. Ramirez started to come at them with a knife, and Gina shot him, and the screen went dark.
Then we have a nice scene of Crockett consoling Gina.
The End.
Music
There were a few songs in this episode, but there is only one that has a video that can be found online anywhere. The songs were
“You Want More” by Etta James
“Today’s A Beginning” by Jill Colucci & Brian Ray
It’s too bad I couldn’t find this song. I really liked it a lot. It was in the last scene of the show.
“You Better Be Good To Me” by Tina Turner
Final Thoughts
This was a great episode that had it all. Car chase. Check. Humor. Check. Awesome guest stars. Check. Gunfight. Check. Music. Check.
This episode went by so fast too. I highly recommend it, and I can’t wait for the next episode.
Return to the 80s 