Episode #104 "The Lost Madonna"

[ViceFanMan]

14 minutes ago, RedDragon86 said:

He only joined up to beef up his CV. 

Then Don Johnson got him booted out and did that monotonous law crap.

Yeah, I know he didn’t fare well on MV. I do feel he did better later on...such as with the original Law & Order. But, that was a show (along with its spin-offs...including the never-ending SVU) that I could only watch periodically. Sometimes it was too boring, other times too depressing...but, that’s just me. 

[Augusta]

What was the path of Dick Wolf with his monumental Law and Order franchise?  Yerkovich and Mann left Miami Vice (to arguable degrees), and I have to accept they had a right to if they felt necessary.  I hated that they left their series floating in the Hollywood shark infested sea, but, oh well.

What did Dick Wolf do with his Law And Order?  As it branched out into different versions, was that Wolf remaining at the helm all through the years and navigating everything (the way I wish Mann had stayed and done with Miami Vice)?  
Or did Dick eventually hand the reigns to others, and stay on just as a loose "exec producer" or something?

Was Dick Wolf the functional opposite to Mann and Yerkovich?  Just curious.

[RedDragon86]

16 hours ago, ViceFanMan said:

Yeah, I know he didn’t fare well on MV. I do feel he did better later on...such as with the original Law & Order. But, that was a show (along with its spin-offs...including the never-ending SVU) that I could only watch periodically. Sometimes it was too boring, other times too depressing...but, that’s just me. 

I think Wolf was the wrong fit, completely. He even had nothing to do with any of the stand out, great episodes in season 3 e.g "Forgive Us Our Debts" The Good Collar" "Duty and Honor" "Shadow in the Dark" etc.  I know he would have been busy doing other projects and movies but just for maybe 2 seasons, Brian De Palma would have been such a great option. 

Another disappointing aspect of Michael Mann leaving was he took Nicollela with him, he would have been a great executive producer along with Dennis Cooper. 

That would have worked a treat.

Edited December 28, 2021 by RedDragon86

[pahonu]

1 hour ago, RedDragon86 said:

I think Wolf was the wrong fit, completely. He even had nothing to do with any of the stand out, great episodes in season 3 e.g "Forgive Us Our Debts" The Good Collar" "Duty and Honor" "Shadow in the Dark" etc.  I know he would have been busy doing other projects and movies but just for maybe 2 seasons, Brian De Palma would have been such a great option. 

Another disappointing aspect of Michael Mann leaving was he took Nicollela with him, he would have been a great executive producer along with Dennis Cooper. 

That would have worked a treat.

He’s actually credited as co-producer or co-executive producer for all the episodes you listed above and 46 in total.

[Eillio Martin Imbasciati]

2 hours ago, RedDragon86 said:

I think Wolf was the wrong fit, completely. He even had nothing to do with any of the stand out, great episodes in season 3 e.g "Forgive Us Our Debts" The Good Collar" "Duty and Honor" "Shadow in the Dark" etc.  I know he would have been busy doing other projects and movies but just for maybe 2 seasons, Brian De Palma would have been such a great option. 

Another disappointing aspect of Michael Mann leaving was he took Nicollela with him, he would have been a great executive producer along with Dennis Cooper. 

That would have worked a treat.

I see what you mean about the Wolf man; as tight as I think some of the episodes he helmed, I also feel there was a clinical detachment to the whole thing. Vice to me is all about energy & emotion (one of the many "everythings" I love about the show), and that was toned down a little (along with the fun fashion). I do like the stark reality of many of the Wolf episodes, but I still think you make an excellent point.

[RedDragon86]

17 hours ago, pahonu said:

He’s actually credited as co-producer or co-executive producer for all the episodes you listed above and 46 in total.

Yeah but when he did get involved in the writing in season 3 and wasn't part of the stand out ones, which is no surprise. 

Think he had a hand in "Viking Bikers from Hell" and "Better Living Through Chemistry"

When he took full control it hit the iceberg. 

Edited December 29, 2021 by RedDragon86

[pahonu]

44 minutes ago, RedDragon86 said:

Yeah but when he did get involved in the writing in season 3 and wasn't part of the stand out ones, which is no surprise. 

Think he had a hand in "Viking Bikers from Hell" and "Better Living Through Chemistry"

When he took full control it hit the iceberg. 

He’s also credited with the excellent stories for Deliver Us from Evil, Down for the Count, and Lend Me an Ear.  Both Viking Bikers from Hell and Better Living Through Chemistry were other writer’s stories and he is credited with the teleplays, or script writing of the episodes from their stories.  Michael Mann is credited as writer with only Golden Triangle part II, meaning he contributed to both the story and the script.

[sdiegolo78]

Another fun episode after the weird "cell within". Not hilariously funny as 'jack of all trades', yet it had its moments. The intro was pretty dark and among the best in S5. Tubbs dressing style and outfit reaches a whole new level. and what's with the slicked back hairstyle? He did look good for sure. Not ridiculous as Switek in Borrasca .

I too had a crush on Julia Scianti. That actress is really cute. Joey and Sal Scianti to me were more like a couple of bozos than efficient gangsters. Julia was the one with brains who fooled both Whitehead and her brother by getting her hands on the original triptych. Speaking of Whitehead, his attempted escape at the port was lame as it was his disguise ...Crockett made him immediately.

On a side note, every time i see Ned Eisenberg i know it's a great one. He was a great character actor for the MV sleazeball roles! But to me he will always be Charlie Glide and Librizzi. One of my favorite MV guest stars, along with Stanley Tucci and Dennis Farina.

The photography and camera shots were excellent, especially the party sequence.

I wholeheartedly agree with previous reviews stating this feels more like a S2 episode. It just has got that kind of vibe.

I want to give this episode a solid 8.5, for the music as well (Tim Truman's score, and I dig Tanita Tikaram and Eric Clapton songs).

Edited March 14, 2022 by sdiegolo78

[Augusta]

Michael Chiklis has got to be the most nearly perfect example of what every performer wants in his/her career:  the chance to play a wholesome, polly-pure-bread, inspiring character of virtue in front of an audience, and the chance to play a corrupt, rotted, deplorable veteran-villain in front of an audience.  AND... get to play each of them over a long series or franchise, so that the audience entrenches him in that character and lets him OWN the character completely.

 
That ONE scene, where Crockett does a double-take looking through the airport crowd, and sees Michael in that dress, and Michael slowly turns his head and LOOKS at Crockett---THAT LOOK, is almost slasher-movie evil.  No, seriously, check it carefully the next time you watch the episode. There's something so "off" in his eyes, that....that look could scare a street cop.  

Michael was danged lovable and inspiring as The Commish--you believed in that George Washington heart he had when solving problems.  
Michael is completely unrecognizable when he plays the corrupt monster in The Shield, that cop who solves problems by burying you in a shallow grave and pushing the bags of smack down your dead throat to confuse investigators.  THAT is the same actor?  Yep, the same actor.  

Awesome acting, Michael.  

Edited March 15, 2022 by Augusta

[Kalci]

Not my favorite episode but I really like Crockett's hair and also there are funny moment's in this episode.

This song really awesome so I edited a short vid with it

[dragon48]

Good episode.  I gave it an 8.  It was entertaining, which is the most important thing.  I love how Switek already knows about art, and how quickly Crockett and Tubs pick up the finer points enough to do their jobs.  The show, as always, went out of its way to not portray the detectives as dumb, or having no class or culture.   I love Crockett turning down the 8 million and the girl at the end.  The ending banter dialogue was precious, and classic Crockett. 

Some points of criticism:

The plot is a too-often rehashed one, with a good guy expert at the beginning turning out to be one of the bad guys, such as Professor Eric Haliwell in "Asian Cut," who turns out to be the real killer.

Also, it was hard to take Ned Eisenberg’s dull, lack of character performance as Sal Castelli, after the brilliant job he did of portraying Charlie Glide in “Yankee Dollar.”  Charlie Glide was one of the best, if not the best villain in the series, and seeing Ned like this with Charlie Glide in mind was hard to take.

Finally, did they use real money in the show?  I also thought the money in the boat at the end of "Payback" looked pretty real.  Take a look at my attachment from this episode.  I don't see any text indicating play money or movie money.

Edited February 11, 2023 by dragon48

[Dadrian]

Idk about the image you posted—the edges look a little wide to me (I was a teller in college  ), but the money flying out of the boat in Payback was absolutely bogus. It’s completely white on the backs in some frames.   

[Tom]

vor 3 Stunden schrieb Dadrian:

Idk about the image you posted—the edges look a little wide to me (I was a teller in college  ), but the money flying out of the boat in Payback was absolutely bogus. It’s completely white on the backs in some frames.   

I am also confident that the money at the end of Payback was bogus, otherwise that would have been a 4m+ episode (1.5m normal budget plus 3m Fuente money) and hard to explain to NBC that ultimately paid for it 

As for the bill in Lost Madonna: what’s the big deal in showing one bill of real money on TV? In a close-up shot you have no choice anyway, showing a counterfeit one would look obviously stupid in this case.

[pahonu]

There are only a handful of companies that supply prop money to film and TV productions versus hundreds of other prop companies supplying all manner of other objects.  It’s a very blurry line between producing very realistic prop money and what the law describes as counterfeiting.  Most companies don’t want to touch it.  Importing prop money from overseas is actually illegal and may catch the attention of the Secret Service.  Here’s an article giving a little more detail:

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/94829/how-us-counterfeit-laws-impact-hollywood-prop-money

Randomly, one of the few companies that does provide prop money is very near to where I work.  It’s been used by all the networks and major studios in hundreds of productions.  It’s about five blocks away near a rail yard in an industrial area of Santa Fe Springs.  One of my colleagues mentioned it to me years ago.  I think he knew the owner or something like that.

Edit:

I was curious after writing this, having not thought about it for many years.  It’s an impressive list of productions they’ve been a part of.  I found a link to the company.

https://propmoney.com

 

Edited February 11, 2023 by pahonu

[Matt5]

Fast paced - and directed by Chip Chalmers who was an assistant director on the show. Good strong guest stars and locations including exclusive shooting at the Port of Miami in the early part of 1989. 
10 out of 10

Edited April 12 by Matt5