Episode #108 "Miracle Man"


Ferrariman

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  • 2 years later...

I don't remember a lot of Season Five so I've avoided commenting on most of it but this particular episode I do remember ... sadly.:cry:There have been some bad episodes of Vice before but this takes the cake then has the nerve to toss it at the audience trying to be funny. If you ever wonder why there are some people who criticize Vice for campiness, well this might be an episode that would give anyone that impression. It's like the Police Academy of Miami Vice episodes, it's trying to be funny but it comes off stale and painful to sit through, it's almost like it's from the same guy behind Police Academy .. (Reads Glossary) ... it is!:eek:I never payed much attention to who's directing an episode of Vice before (except "The Home Invaders" director Abel Ferrara who went on to direct the excellent films King of New York and Bad Lieutenant) but for here ... it's hard to ignore knowing how similar in quality this is to the director's more well-known film.Score: 1 out of 10:thumbsdown:

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1.5 ... if there was such a rating.The .5 is for Izzy, because his scenes are pretty enjoyable. But really a TERRIBLE episode. Right there with Leap of Faith in the weakest of Season 5, and definitely of the series.The show was just dead freakin' tired at this point.

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  • 1 month later...

I can only go as high as 5 for this episode. It just had too much silliness written into it. I gave a me a few chuckles here and there, but for the wrong reasons, lol.

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  • 1 year later...

I didn't think it was all that bad. Quite dull but not too silly until the final 4 minutes. It reminded me of Season 2 of Hill Street Blues where they introduced a character called Captain Freedom (which I hated but was well received by audiences). Definitely in the bottom third of episodes of MV but there are plenty worse than this - most of Season 4 for starters. 5/10

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  • 1 year later...

question: where is castillo in Mircale Man and later on ?hello friends,I am bought all sessions last year and started to watch at the beginning.But now, in this episode I did find a new chief from Tubbs and Sonny ?Did I miss something in one movie ?Where is Castillo ? Did he died or why there is another chief in the department ?You know? That guy, which allows the television team to follow Tubs and Switek when the were disturbed by the Mircacle Man time !?Best regards and thanks for answerDidiP.S.: Today I will watch the last movies, than I have seen all of them:[TABLE=class: prettytable][TR][TD]Too Much Too Late[/TD][TD][/TD][TD][/TD][/TR][TR][TD]and[/TD][TD][/TD][TD]Freefall[/TD][/TR][/TABLE]

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Hi DidiCommissioner Williford is The Chief of Police and Castillo's boss. he appeared before in episode "Miami squeeze" where he urged Castillo to share police internal information of an investigation with a politician. Williford is a spine-less guy who is brownnosing frequently on his own police crew's expense.Castillo and Crockett are absent as they are testifying in another case in Orlando. That was the reason given during the opening credits.

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Hi DidiCommissioner Williford is The Chief of Police and Castillo's boss. he appeared before in episode "Miami squeeze" where he urged Castillo to share police internal information of an investigation with a politician. Williford is a spine-less guy who is brownnosing frequently on his own police crew's expense.Castillo and Crockett are absent as they are testifying in another case in Orlando. That was the reason given during the opening credits.

Yes I forgot Castillo was also testifying in Orlando .:thumbsup::cool::D
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Yes I forgot Castillo was also testifying in Orlando .:thumbsup::cool::D

Ohhh yes...you are right...I do remember now at the movie with the politican. Yes you right.That guy was also there to help that department. He said, it would be good to help, because that department will get more money than from the goverment.Hmm..in the german version, there was nothing to hear about that Castillo and Sonny are abroad or away for testifying. Also the next movie...Freefly....Was not so bad, but was also without Sonny and the rest....only at the beginning Sonny was in for 2 minutes and playing pool billiard and discussing with the other chief of the young team.Hopefully I will watch the last both series today.And I hope the end will be good as the beginning was.Because Miracle and Freefall were not the best ;-)Take careand thanks a lot for your informationDidi from GermanyP.S.: I like most the both serious, where you can see the night train driving through Miami in the night...directly within the beginning...and I liked also the serie at the Blue Water Ocean Hotel...the old and closed Hotel where some poor people are living in.
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The hint why Crockett and Castillo are absent is included in the German version as well (during the opening credits).I think you're mixing up two episodes. in "Leap of Faith" Crockett is playing billard and only on screen for the first minutes. "Freefall" is the final episode which is all about Crockett and Tubbs.

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The hint why Crockett and Castillo are absent is included in the German version as well (during the opening credits).I think you're mixing up two episodes. in "Leap of Faith" Crockett is playing billard and only on screen for the first minutes. "Freefall" is the final episode which is all about Crockett and Tubbs.

Interesting about the German version , Tom :thumbsup::cool::D
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Guest MetroVice

Miracle Man . . . Ohhhhhh boyThis was yet another episode where they use recycled actors from earlier seasons. The Miracle Man character played by José Pérez was formerly another character in season two's Junk Love who portrayed Juan Carlos Silva, a nasty father who was having intimate relations with his own daughter.Many television shows recycle actors but Vice seemed to do this often... VERY often. There was one man who always portrayed a heavy bodyguard (can't recall his name now), and he was killed so many times in each episode that I lost count early on.I found Miracle Man to be almost as silly as Missing Hours, which I personally consider to be the worst episode of all five seasons. Still, it did have some entertaining value, whereas Missing Hours was just plain stupid from start to finish - especially when they tried to superimpose Trudy's face over Lou Delong's (James Brown) when she had her little UFO moment with empty jars of peanut butter of all things. Christ almighty that was stupid.I don't know where the writing went when it came time to shoot these particular episodes, and you know the actors were all cringing at the thought of putting their heart & soul into what was once THE hottest show of all time. I just don't know how you go from being the envy of television production to just plain silly in such a short time but they sure enough did it. It's quite sad really when you consider it was the writing that went down the toilet. The actors seemed to be doing their thing as best they could but bad writing will kill a series every bit as poor acting - maybe even quicker.That said, I gave Miracle Man a 4, which I think was generous. Then again this is merely my own opinion. I certainly don't have any problem with those who loved it and rated it higher. I firmly believe in "to each their own" but it just didn't cut it with me :thumbsdown:

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  • 5 weeks later...

The Worst One of Season 5??This one was definitely whacked-out, and one of the most pointless of the show. Very weak and boring plot--terrible writing! :sick: This one was just off the radar :radar: and left you going...huh? :confused:Even though the guest-stars in this episode were pretty good (and appeared in earlier episodes as other characters) this one was almost as bizarre as "Missing Hours", "Cows of October", or "Everybody's In Showbiz". :rolleyes:Oddly enough, even though I typically could not hardly stand Izzy...I actually found his scenes in this episode to be some of the best. :eek: The only in-depth aspects to this were Izz's heart-felt pleas to his cousin (Miracle Man) to not take the drugs the scuzzy TV reporter was offering him.The colors with buildings and clothes were once again superb--the pastels were awesome! :thumbsup:This episode is possibly the worst one of the season (although "Hard Knocks" or "Jack of All Trades" could run a close second), and it's pretty hard to get all the way through. :thumbsdown: I probably would rate this one a 1 or 2...but, because of Izzy's scenes and the colors/fashion used...I rate this one a 3. :(

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  • 7 months later...
  • 1 year later...
  • 1 month later...

:)   I'm going to be probably the only one (or very few) that like this episode.  In the first two-thirds of the episode, I thought it was going to be a comedy episode with how outlandish "Miracle Man" was portraying himself, and especially how Izzy was trying to capitalize off of his cousin's popularity, with Aguila and Perena actually being worried about him being around, but when "Miracle Man" revealed his backstory about the loss of his daughter, it became a hairpin tonal twist (being serious and sobering), which just kept on going farther in revealing his manic depression, and resorting back to the same drug that he was trying to get rid of in the first place, and then ultimately dying.  Was it inevitable he would die if it were real life?  Of course.  Was the superhero concept absurd?  Oh yeah, and funny too.  ...But the abrupt, unexpected change in tonal direction is what made it so good.

 

I kind of wondered if the image of "Miracle Man" and Eric Terry's camera work (in trying to make an "entertaining" show about the Vice cops and the criminal underworld), were metaphorically commenting on itself, Miami Vice.  How in the beginning (as in the earlier seasons), Miami Vice was seen as having a glitzy entertaining premise with fast cars, gorgeous bodies, expensive clothes, and scenic landscapes that were all entertaining, but as Miami Vice progressed (as with finding out who "Miracle Man" truly was, and Terry's show), the superficial "entertaining" layers are gradually pulled away, and the audience sees the grim, devastating, and sobering core reality of this criminal underworld though crippling addictions, emotional trauma, and loss of life.  The episode seems to greatly stress this message when it makes the show's most humorous comic relief character (Izzy Moreno) experience heartache and loss for the first time.  If there was any doubt that this season was to mark just how dark and serious this show has become, showing Izzy experience immense grief was the absolute confirmation.

 

It's a pretty remarkable feat in turning what I thought was going to be a comic relief, absurdly humorous episode in the beginning, to the complete opposite when the episode ended.

Edited by Vice Immersion
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  • 1 year later...

just rewatched this episode yesterday. the notion of a vigilante, of sorts, wasn't a bad idea. i thought it was handled fairly well until the last few minutes where izzy breaks georgie out of the hospital and then the tv host directs him to the bust---after happening to over hear it at the police hq , were out there and yet another easy way out for MV, which always killed everyone in the end. 7/10

 

side note: second consecutive episode without Castillo (when adjusted for the order they were filmed.Victims of circumstance previous ep) they  should have done that right after he got shot in Miami Squeeze.

episode also features the first scene in season 5 where Gina is actually featured.:(

Edited by AzVice
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  • 7 months later...

Some nice Gina moments she gets some scenes in this one - first time for many episodes . 

Martin Ferrero steals the show as Izzy and boy "Miracle Man" was sure different to how he was in "Junk Love":D

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I remember on the documentary of MV E! True Hollywood story, where both Saundra and Olivia mention nagging the producers or writers to be written on more on the show in the 5th Season. I think, I'm going to watch those videos again. It's been a long while, since I last saw them. There were also some rare behind the scenes stuff, I didn't pay attention to the first time. 

But anyway, that actor got some horrible/bad roles to portray in both episodes.  

Still I like Vice Immersions review of it. :thumbsup:

Edit: Gina did have some of her own scenes/screen time before the episode "Miracle Man" in "Fruit of the Poison Tree."

Edited by summer84
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it really stood out to me last year rewatching season 5. Don and EJO miss some episodes and yet Saundra gets almost nothing to do the whole season.

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23 hours ago, summer84 said:

I remember on the documentary of MV E! True Hollywood story, where both Saundra and Olivia mention nagging the producers or writers to be written on more on the show in the 5th Season. I think, I'm going to watch those videos again. It's been a long while, since I last saw them. There were also some rare behind the scenes stuff, I didn't pay attention to the first time. 

But anyway, that actor got some horrible/bad roles to portray in both episodes.  

Still I like Vice Immersions review of it. :thumbsup:

Edit: Gina did have some of her own scenes/screen time before the episode "Miracle Man" in "Fruit of the Poison Tree."

Youre right she did have a sizeable role in "Fruit of the Poison Tree" and Trudy in "Asian Cut" - Gina had some scenes in "Miracle Man" as we mentioned. But then afterwards nothing they even had cameos in "Freefall" almost . Strange considering DJ was in less episodes .:) Michael Talbott got the best deal out of the three of them ( Sandra, Olivia)

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On 27/03/2017 at 6:42 PM, summer84 said:

I remember on the documentary of MV E! True Hollywood story, where both Saundra and Olivia mention nagging the producers or writers to be written on more on the show in the 5th Season. I think, I'm going to watch those videos again. It's been a long while, since I last saw them. There were also some rare behind the scenes stuff, I didn't pay attention to the first time. 

But anyway, that actor got some horrible/bad roles to portray in both episodes.  

Still I like Vice Immersions review of it. :thumbsup:

Edit: Gina did have some of her own scenes/screen time before the episode "Miracle Man" in "Fruit of the Poison Tree."

Yes I remember the E! Hollywood story on Vice 

At least that will tide you over till you get the new MV blu ray Summer. I have ordered the new FF set also will keep you informed :done::fireworks::D:)

Edited by Matt5
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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 year later...

If Miracle Man were replaced with a gritty gunslinger and maybe rewrite some other stuff, this could've been a great episode. As it stands, its watchable. 2/5.

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