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EPISODES / SEASON 2
Episode 23 – The Prodigal Son – Synopsis This second season opener begins in Bogota, Colombia. DEA agent Henry Drummond is driving Crockett and Tubbs to a site in the jungle so they can get some information about drug trafficking flight schedules from a man who's being held prisoner there. The jeep they're riding in is ambushed by the local powers that be, and the three are roughly detained. Drummond, however, knows these locals and manages to obtain an audience with the prisoner, whose torture obviously disturbs Sonny and Rico. Tubbs manages to speak to the man briefly, and he receives the only clue they get to the location of the drop point - "Cross of Jesus." When the locals resume their torture, Crockett and Tubbs fly off the handle, and nearly get themselves killed before Drummond can drag them away from the scene. Sonny remembers a similarly named drop point from another case - "Christ's Crossing." Could they be the same place? The vice squad and the DEA set up at this drop point, located in the bug-infested, swampy Everglades, and wait for their quarry - the Revilla brothers and their compatriots. Two hours later than the designated time, they finally show. Shooting erupts and the shipment is successfully intercepted. The one Revilla brother they saw, however, escapes. Henry Drummond throws a party after the bust. Gina's arrived a little earlier than the others. As Sonny, Rico, and Trudy enter the address at which the party's being held, they hear shots fired. A number of people are killed, including Drummond, and Gina is badly wounded. At the hospital, the vice squad meets with the DEA folks while Gina is in surgery. The DEA tells them that there's been some kind of leak, and the Revillas have to be caught before any more DEA agents get killed. The DEA agents need to lay low, but the vice cops could do the job. The Revillas are working, primarily, out of New York City, but there's a local Miami connection to the New York drug trade - one Newton Windsor Blade. Crockett and Tubbs, posing as Burnett and Cooper, respectively, pay Newton a visit on his yacht. They tell Blade they've stolen the drugs from the Revilla bust and are looking for some buyers. Newton gives them a contact name in New York - Jimmy Borgess - and Crockett and Tubbs head for the Big Apple. The vice cops are not exactly welcomed by the New York City police department, but they get grudging cooperation for a while, thanks to a phone conversation between their chief and Martin Castillo. Sonny and Rico pay a visit to Jimmy Borgess, who tells them he's retired. But Crockett and Tubbs convince him otherwise. Borgess agrees to make a few calls and says he'll meet back up with them later at the Club Delirious. As Crockett and Tubbs enter the club that evening, Sonny catches the eye of a lady across the room, but she magically disappears before he can make contact. Borgess introduces Sonny and Rico to Frank Saccho. He's with a woman named Valerie, who Tubbs and Crockett obviously recognize. Borgess leaves the four at a table and goes into a restroom. There, he runs into one of Revilla's men, who warns him not to get back into the drug business. Tubbs dances with Valerie, who turns out to be a cop who used to work with them in Miami. She gives him the lowdown on Saccho. She's been trying to infiltrate a major NYC crime organization, and Saccho's an important link she's working. Saccho, meanwhile, tells Sonny that he's not interested in a drug deal at the moment. Later that evening, Crockett walks the streets of New York to the strains of Glenn Frey's "You Belong to the City," while Tubbs attempts to rekindle his relationship with Valerie. Tubbs dances with the lady, but that's as far as he gets. The woman Sonny noticed earlier at the club appears at his side in another bar. The two play a little cat and mouse game for a short time, but ultimately, Crockett ends up in her apartment for the night (Music = "Do You Believe in Love," by Huey Lewis and the News). The next day, we see Rico shadowing Valerie, who's obviously deeply involved with Saccho. Sonny prepares to leave the apartment of the woman with whom he's spent the night, only to find that she's pilfered his gun. Later in the day, Jimmy tells Crockett and Tubbs that the Revillas are pressuring him to stay out of this deal. So Sonny and Rico up the ante to entice Borgess. Borgess, Sonny, and Rico go searching for buyers, but come up empty (Music = Debbie Harry's "Liar, Liar"). No one wants to cross the Revillas. Crockett and Tubbs run into some of New York's finest. The cops also pressure them to give it up and get out of town. Sonny plays along to get them out of his hair, saying that they'll go back to Miami. Instead, he and Rico come up with the idea of turning the tables by cutting off the Revilla's drug supply. They go see Borgess at the Club Delirious again. While the three are talking, one of Revilla's men shows up and attempts to take them out. Thanks to Sonny's quick reactions, the man ends up dead instead. Borgess, scared out of his wits, tells Crockett and Tubbs how the Revillas collect their shipments. Crockett returns to the apartment of the woman who stole his gun, determined to retrieve his weapon and leave. Margaret, the woman in question, has other ideas. She tells him she only stole it to guarantee Sonny would return and, sure enough, Crockett is once again smitten with her. Tubbs pays Valerie another visit at her apartment. She becomes angry with him when he accuses her of having an affair with Saccho. She throws him out. Having better luck, Crockett spends another night with Margaret. The next evening, Crockett and Tubbs witness the Revilla's drug pick-up, then follow the drugs to the building where they're being stashed. Once Revilla's man has dropped off the drugs and left, Crockett and Tubbs steal the drugs and blow up the building. The Revillas are not happy, and neither is the NYPD. The police meet with Sonny and Rico, who accuse them of not doing their best to catch the Revillas. The cops fire back that the Miami Vice cops have overstepped their bounds. The New York cops refuse to cooperate any further with Sonny and Rico. Valerie, still working undercover, sees Frank Saccho meeting with Crockett's friend, Margaret, of all people. At about the same time, Sonny and Rico pay a visit to Jimmy Borgess' apartment. On the way there, they talk about the fact that something is not quite right about this whole thing. Indeed, they arrive to find Jimmy dead - shot in the head - and some men lying in wait for them. Gunfire erupts, but they finally manage to escape from the building. Now, they suspect Saccho of putting out a contract on them. Tubbs once again goes to see Valerie. Saccho is there and tries to kill him, but Rico kills Frankie instead. Rico tells Valerie she's got to recognize that the operation she's involved in is not quite what it seems. She pulls a gun on Rico and forces him to leave. But before he disappears out the door, she tells him to check out Crockett's friend, Margaret. Crockett calls to check in with Tubbs, and Tubbs tells him the bad news about Margaret. The next morning, they go to see her. An angry, but controlled, Sonny is her accuser. Margaret says she doesn't know the big picture; she just sets up meetings and collects information. She claims she tried to warn Sonny about the ambush at Jimmy Borgess' apartment. This time, Sonny doesn't soften. Before Crockett and Tubbs leave, a very guilty Margaret gives them a business card. Sonny and Rico head for the firm listed on the card and confront a Mr. Johnston, a creepy man who knows all about them, including who they really are. Mr. Johnston tells him it's all about money. They've loaned large amounts of money to Latin American countries; they simply must support these companies' production of "cash crops" so that the loans will be repaid. He asks Crockett and Tubbs to cease and desist in their operation which, of course, our heroes have no intention of doing. They have made a deal to supply the Revillas, and a meeting is set up for that night. But the meeting goes awry when Valerie shows up to arrest the Revillas. Shooting breaks out, and several of Revilla's men are killed. Sonny pursues one of the men who is trying to escape in a waiting helicopter. Sonny chases him across a field, and shoots down the helicopter as it attempts to take off. Tubbs goes home with Valerie to an evening of romance (Music = Phil Collins' "Take Me Home"). Sonny heads to the airport the next morning minus Rico. As he sits reading in the airport lounge, Rico is rushing through the airport to make the flight, meeting Sonny at the gate. They return to Miami where it's business as usual at the OCB. Gina, who's out of the hospital but still on medical leave, stops by to welcome them back and to announce that she'll be returning to work in a few weeks.
Episode 24 – Whatever Works – Synopsis Welcome to an evening in South Beach. Two Metro Dade uniform policemen, Rainey and Lockhardt, out of their jurisdiction, have been executed in what looks like a ritualistic fashion, with a lighted candle and other symbols left in the patrol car with their bodies. Castillo suspects a religious group – Santeria. While Castillo and company are on the scene, two other patrolmen show up very upset, threatening to take their own revenge on the killer or killers. The next morning, in one of the show’s lighter moments, Maxwell Burke, from the city’s accounting department, pays Crockett a visit on his boat. Burke wants to confiscate the Ferrari to auction it off at a department fundraiser. Izzy happens along as Burke is informing Crockett, and goes ballistic, defending Crockett’s honor and rights to the Ferrari. Sonny sends Burke below deck, telling him the keys to the car are down there. But Elvis awaits the unsuspecting accountant, and Burke comes scrambling out of there. Once Burke is out of the way, at least temporarily, Crockett asks Izzy if he has any intelligence concerning the dead cops. Izzy gives him the name of a mid-level dealer – Orville Rivera. Crockett and Tubbs go to visit Rivera at his home, but before the introductions are even completed the shooting starts and Sonny and Rico scamper for cover. When reinforcements arrive, they move in and arrest everyone at Rivera’s. Inside the house, they find drugs and ritualistic symbols similar to those found at the scene where the cops were killed. They talk with Rivera, who intimates that dirty cops were involved in the killings. But something sounds wrong to Castillo. Why would Rivera’s people be firing on cops? Castillo, Crockett, and Tubbs go to visit a Santeria priest. Shown the symbols, the priest tells them that the person who did the killings considered the victims to be evil spirits to be eliminated – not cops, and that the killer is out of control. She agrees to do what she can to find out more about the situation. On the lighter side of things, Maxwell Burke has, indeed, managed to appropriate Crockett’s Ferrari. Izzy, posing as a wealthy marina owner, attempts to get it back from Burke. Crockett shows up and roughly prevents Izzy from making a deal for the car. At the same time, he sadly learns that Burke has left the Ferrari out in the rain with the top down…and there’s a kitten now relaxing in the front seat. Rico checks the credit records of the cops who were killed, and thinks he knows the approximate point in time when the cops went bad. Meanwhile, on a street following the coastline, two local cops pull over two men in a white sports car who have been driving slowly along and flirting with the local bathing beauties (Music = ZZ Top’s “Sharp Dressed Man”?). The cops are nervous in light of the events in South Beach and draw their guns as they approach the car on foot. The two men in the car balk at providing ID’s and registration to the cops, and when it appears that the men in the car are reaching for their own weapons, the cops, perhaps a bit prematurely, blow them away. Crockett and Tubbs, in search of further evidence on crooked cops, visit a South Beach club where the local police hang out. Crockett approaches a table of police officers and tells them that their buddies, Rainey and Lockhardt, were dirty. This incites the men and a fistfight breaks out (Music = “Get it on (Bang a Gong) by The Power Station). Bouncers break up the fight. Sonny has seen and heard enough, however, to convince him that some of these other cops are dirty, as well. We next see a man named Ramon Mirandez paying a visit to another man, Davila, on a boat. Mirandez is angry and complains that Davila is causing trouble for business. Davila, on the other hand, claims that the cops kidnapped his son and invaded his home. He wants revenge. The two men get into a shouting match, after which Mirandez storms off. According to the Santeria priest, Ramon Mirandez wants to meet with Castillo. She advises against his going, but Castillo sets up the meeting anyway. While Castillo heads to his meeting, Tubbs is being tailed around town by two of the policemen Crockett suspects are dirty (Music = “Dark Night,” by The Blasters). Rico angrily stops his car and shouts verbal threats as the patrol car passes by him. At the meeting at a Santeria temple, Mirandez tells Castillo that the person who killed the cops was Victor Davila, a dealer. Victor’s son was kidnapped because Victor refused to pay the price the cops were asking in order to do business in the city. Victor paid the cops $100,000 to get his son back, then turned around and killed them. Mirandez tells Castillo he would kill Davila himself, but that would cause a war. He wants Castillo to arrest Davila. It turns out that at least two of the remaining cops are dirty, Blakeney and Solon. Castillo tells the vice squad that Internal Affairs will deal with the crooked cops. The vice squad, in turn, will stake out Davila and pick him up when he ventures out. Davila, has been busy in the interim; one of the bad cops goes to pick up his partner at his home, only to find that both he and his wife have been executed by Davila. In a rage, he heads to Davila’s house. Crockett and Tubbs, on stakeout, have hit a few glitches of their own. They’re sitting in a utilities truck. A woman approaches the truck on foot, takes pictures of Sonny and Rico, then proceeds to walk up to the door of the truck. Peering in at Crockett and Tubbs with disdain, she tells them she’s paying too much for electricity, while electric company personnel sit in their truck all day wasting time. She informs our heroes that she will be sending the photographs she’s taken to their boss. Suddenly, the enraged cop blasts onto Davila’s property, with vice cops in pursuit. Davila’s men are alerted by the racket and the shooting starts. Davila is killed, and the dirty cop is injured when his vehicle rolls over. Case now closed. In the final scene, Crockett goes with Izzy, who’s still posing as the marina owner, to redeem his Ferrari. Castillo has mailed in the legitimate papers required to retrieve the car, and Crockett knows all will be well. But Izzy has taken the time to prepare some fake paperwork, so Crockett gets the Ferrari back a few days sooner. Note: This was another example of a relatively weak script, in which it’s clear that a lot of essentially irrelevant scenes have been added merely to fill time. It’s relatively easy to spot these once you see the synopsis.
Episode 25 – Out Where the Busses Don’t Run - Synopsis A roller skater on the boardwalk, street musicians, an evangelical preacher spreading The Word – just another day at the beach (Music = “Baba O’Riley,” by The Who). Crockett and Tubbs are watching the roller skater, Manuel “Skates” Santino, because he’s been dealing dope. Sure enough, Skates stops to make a sale, and Sonny and Rico chase him down with a “assist,” or lack thereof, from some of the preacher’s “missionaries.” Back at the OCB later, a pudgy man in a Hawaiian shirt bounces into the OCB like he owns the place. Crockett knows the retired cop by reputation and welcomes him warmly, but Castillo is taken aback by what can only be called the weird, off-kilter behavior of the man, one Hank Weldon. But Weldon seems to be up-to-date on the current business of the vice squad. He tells them that he knows they’re really looking for Freddy Constanza, who’s above Skates in this particular drug hierarchy, but that the man they really want is Tony Arcaro. Castillo claims Arcaro is dead, but it’s also the case that a body’s never been found. And Hank has more to say. He tells the vice squad that one of Constanza’s lieutenants, Ray Conchida, has plans of his own. Conchida is going to hit Constanza the next day at lunch at the Ocean Club – on orders from Tony Arcaro. Crockett and Tubbs don’t know what to make of Weldon, but figure the best way to find out his real story is to talk with his old partner, Martin Lang. They visit Marty the next morning, and find a man who’s hostile and not at all eager to talk. But finally he tells them that Weldon took a medical leave that turned into a medical discharge and that he spent time in a psychiatric facility. It seems that Weldon snapped when Tony Arcaro, whom he’d doggedly pursued for years and final caught, was released free and clear on a technicality. Marty says that Constanza then killed Arcaro, supposedly, but Sonny and Rico sense that Marty’s not telling them the whole story. As they’re leaving Marty’s office, they run into Weldon, who takes them to his makeshift office to meet Lorraine, his computer. On the way there, Weldon sits in the back of car, enthusiastically singing “I Fought the Law and the Law Won.” At the office, Lorraine displays some pictures of Bernie Wingo with Ray Constanza. Wingo disappeared about the same time Arcaro did. But there’s no time to ponder that; they’ve got to get to lunch at the Ocean Club. True to Weldon’s prediction – eerily so – the hit he’d describes takes place exactly as he’d described it. Sonny and Rico arrest Weldon and confiscate Lorraine. Eventually, Castillo lets Weldon go. But now Hank has another story for them. While in lock-up, he says, he met Stilcy O’Brien, one of Wingo’s operatives. O’Brien claimed he needed to get released that day, because he was expecting a big shipment. Crockett certainly believes that Hank is crazy, but also suspects he might be right. The information certainly can’t be ignored. The shipment is supposed to arrive at an offshore docking platform, so the vice squad stakes it out. Sure enough, the deal goes down, and the vice cops, including Weldon, move in. Weldon maniacally searches the platform for Tony Arcaro, but he is nowhere to be found. That evening, after it’s all over, Weldon calls Castillo, talking strangely about Lorraine. Castillo tries to lure him back to the OCB, but Weldon isn’t cooperating. Crockett and Tubbs go to Weldon’s office. He’s destroyed Lorraine. They return to the OCB and talk with Castillo about getting Hank some help. While they’re with Marty, Hank calls and says he’s got Arcaro. Sonny and Rico drive to the address Weldon gives them (Music = Dire Straits’ “Brothers in Arms”). Hank leads them to a room and tells them to “meet Mr. Tony Arcaro.” But the room is empty. When Rico points this out, Hank promptly begins to tear down one of the walls of the room. Here, they find Arcaro, who’s been killed and sealed inside the wall for what looks to be a very long time. Crockett, a look of disgust on his face, reaches inside the wall and pulls out a newspaper whose headline story is about Arcaro’s release on a fluke. Marty Lang walks into the room with Castillo, and admits to Crockett that he knew about Weldon’s deed and that he helped Hank build the wall. One of the simplest of Vice episodes, in terms of plot, “Out Where the Busses Don’t Run” is an audience favorite, no doubt due to the inspired performance of Bruce McGill as the tortured Hank Weldon.
The Dutch Oven – Episode 26 – Synopsis In a good episode, music-wise, we first see Trudy getting all dolled up for a stake-out, to the sounds of Foreigner’s “Women.” The vice squad goes to the Dynamo Club, where they’re set to make a drug deal and bust. Tubbs carries the money to a room at the back of the club. Just outside its door, he’s accosted by a man who forces him roughly into the room. Inside are the man’s buddies and the drug dealer, who’s all tied up. It’s a rip-off; the man takes the drugs and the money and dashes for his car. Tubbs, who’s wired, notifies Crockett and Trudy, who take off after the man in Sonny’s car. They pursue him through the narrow Miami streets and corner him in an alley (Music = “Diamond Field,” by Pat Benatar). The man jumps out and pulls a gun. When he starts shooting even after the police have identified themselves, Trudy shoots and kills him. Trudy is very upset by the shooting and can’t sleep, so she heads for a local club, where an old musician boyfriend, David, is performing (Music = Cleavant Derricks – “Love is for Sale”). Not wanting to be alone, she hooks up with David for the evening. A friend of his, Adonis, sits down beside her when David is elsewhere in the club attending to business, and offers to sell her some drugs. She’s hardly listening; it’s clear she’s watching David and David alone. She and David spend the night together. The next day Trudy and Crockett meet with men from Internal Affairs, who give them a pretty hard time about the shooting, after which Trudy begins to second-guess herself. Crockett reassures her, however, that she did the right thing. Castillo wants Trudy to take some time off, but she declines. She’s obviously not herself, though. Later in the day, when she and Gina are out posing as hookers, they’re approached by a man who wants them to “do” two young boys who are eagerly sitting in the back seat of his car. Trudy orders them to pull into an alley; when the man gets out of the car, Trudy moves to arrest him with a roughness and anger that is uncharacteristic. Trudy and David continue to pursue their romance. David takes her to a party (Music = David Johansen – “King of Babylon”) where there are a lot of people openly doing coke. Trudy would like to bust them. David, on the other hand, asks her simply to be his date, or else they should leave the party. She opts for leaving. But before they can depart, she again runs into Adonis, who wants to sell her dope. David’s made it clear that he’s not involved with Adonis’ activities. Adonis is just a friend and letting him hang around the club is not a problem in his view. Trudy, however, is not comfortable with this. She takes a little cruise on the St. Vitus with Sonny and queries him about where to draw the line that separates a cop from a regular human being when it comes to these sorts of things. The vice squad checks out Adonis, and finds that he’s approaching middle management with respect to the operations of a major Colombian drug dealer, Lopez de Oyez. The Colombian would be a big catch. Trudy thinks about the situation (Music = Amy Grant – “Who to Listen To”) and decides to go after Adonis, despite the risk to her relationship with David and the slim likelihood that they will actually be able to get to the Colombian through Adonis. Trudy sets up a drug deal between Adonis and Crockett, and Adonis is busted when the deal goes down. David, of course, feels betrayed, and Trudy loses him.
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