Valerie

[ComplimentsofMrCalderone]

Hi all. I am new here but always have been a huge fan of Miami Vice since I was a pre-teen. It's still my favorite show of all time (followed by Breaking Bad).

I always wondered about Valerie and how she remained a cop. At the end of "Rites of Passage" she tells Crockett and Tubbs to read Valerie her rights. Her vengeance was murder, manslaughter at the least in the eyes of the law so she's got to be facing some serious jail time and will lose her badge. But then during "The Home Invaders"  Tubbs is visiting Valerie, and it's implied (to me) with a smile it's more of a casual/romantic visit. Then comes "The Prodigal Son" and she's still a cop and Crockett helped Valerie beat the rap back in Miami.

So my question is... did they ever mention again or explain more how Crockett exactly helped Valerie?  I know Valerie returned in one of the lost episides in Season 5 but this issue never came up (if I am remembering correctly).  To be honest the rest of the last couple seasons are kind of a blur to me... I prefer just to revisit the earlier seasons.. so maybe there is something I am not remembering?

Sorry if this topic was already addressed before.

Edited December 8, 2017 by ComplimentsofMrCalderone

[Dadrian]

This is one of the many things in MV you just have to overlook as being believable in  the real world. 

[ComplimentsofMrCalderone]

Gotcha. Maybe I'll just role with Tubbs paying off a neighborhood junkie or prostitute to say they heard screams inside or saw someone waving a gun through the window that gave Valerie probable cause to enter, then she defended herself inside. Crockett is so "by the book" though I have to imagine it would be hard for him to go along with something like that though, even though Valerie and her sister deserved justice. For playing along, Valerie and Tubbs would certainly owe Crockett big time.

Edited December 8, 2017 by ComplimentsofMrCalderone

[Dadrian]

Now you’re talking!  

[sdiegolo78]

On 12/8/2017 at 6:37 PM, ComplimentsofMrCalderone said:

Gotcha. Maybe I'll just role with Tubbs paying off a neighborhood junkie or prostitute to say they heard screams inside or saw someone waving a gun through the window that gave Valerie probable cause to enter, then she defended herself inside. Crockett is so "by the book" though I have to imagine it would be hard for him to go along with something like that though, even though Valerie and her sister deserved justice. For playing along, Valerie and Tubbs would certainly owe Crockett big time.

Nah...that's highly unlikely. If Crockett disapproved of something like that, let alone Lt. Castillo...

[Christine]

Some things were never explained. The same with some people who never showed up again. For example Wheelers wife (unfortunately I don´t remember her name). Sonny said that the Wheelers were friends of him and Caroline und that they celebrated many partys together.  But after Wheeler was arrested his family was never mentioned again.
Okay, they weren´t important, but it was only an example.

[pahonu]

Episodic television was different then than the last decade or two, particularly dramatic series.  Shows typically had more episodes and pre-planned story arcs were unheard of.  They were producing episodes just weeks before they aired and often scrambling to keep up.  For that reason, they accepted stories from multiple outside writers as a necessity.  Honestly, producers didn’t know what the next story was about six or eight weeks into the future, let alone the end of the season or later seasons.  Some series today only have eight episodes in a season.  Eight episodes was called cancellation back then!  
 

MV was actually better than most series of its era in bringing back characters.  I remember thinking that about Calderone at the time.  If you hold older series to today’s standards on this topic, you will be disappointed most of the time.

Edited March 8, 2021 by pahonu

[Eillio Martin Imbasciati]

I respect Vice for what it did in at least creating some sort continuity and recurring characters when such a practice was fairly uncommon. To me, the series was episodic with some serialized touches, and for 1980s TV that's all one could really hope for. Heck, even after Vice went off the air there were subsequent shows in which there was no guarantee to have recurring characters with developing storylines or proper series finales (a lot of shows just...ended). Nowadays, shows are given limited runs (for example, "Dexter" is returning for a 10-episode engagement) where purposeful character story arcs are created. Back in the 1980s that also was rare (I mean, Vice episodes were normally aired in order of network preference rather than order, so pure continuity was impossible).

Valerie? I thought her character was served well, it's just too bad that 'Too much, Too Late' had to settle for a Cable TV airing due to pushing the envelope with its content. now, for how she remained a cop...Crockett seemed to vouch for her on some level between 'Rites of Passage' & 'The Prodigal Son' (she thanked Crockett when he came with Tubbs to New York City), so she was able to keep her job (the fact that she was a NYC cop probably helped, since she wasn't official in Miami).

'The Home Invaders' explanation of Tubbs being with Valerie was something used to explain why Tubbs wasn't in that episode, since Philip Michael Thomas was injured during the filming of 'Made for Each Other'. I can live with that explanation (later episodes would explain character's absences by way of them testifying, but maybe that wasn't thought of yet) and actually liked that an effort was made to give an explanation in the first place (heck, they could've just said Tubbs was out with the flu and couldn't even be reached by phone; I now know that he's the Miami Troll and didn't have a phone. Kidding....maybe).

[Christine]

It is of course true that the image of television shows has changed a lot. It was worse in the 1970s. There were series in which the same protagonists always played, but no episode otherwise had anything to do with the next.
In the 80s the picture turned a little, but now we are all used to the fact that a series has a story arc and in the end all loose threads are unraveled.
I'm not a fan of Valerie because I think she was taking advantage of Tubbs. I don't like people like that in real life either. But if you say that she shouldn't have been allowed to work as a policewoman, then Tubbs should at least have received disciplinary proceedings. As far as I can remember, in the first part he even stole money to be able to travel to Miami, he acted without a mandate ... and I think there were still some misconduct.
As for Tubbs, I thought I knew a lot about him or the character he was playing, but in fact I don't know about the injury. Please explain to me, Eillio.

[Eillio Martin Imbasciati]

2 minutes ago, Christine said:

It is of course true that the image of television shows has changed a lot. It was worse in the 1970s. There were series in which the same protagonists always played, but no episode otherwise had anything to do with the next.
In the 80s the picture turned a little, but now we are all used to the fact that a series has a story arc and in the end all loose threads are unraveled.
I'm not a fan of Valerie because I think she was taking advantage of Tubbs. I don't like people like that in real life either. But if you say that she shouldn't have been allowed to work as a policewoman, then Tubbs should at least have received disciplinary proceedings. As far as I can remember, in the first part he even stole money to be able to travel to Miami, he acted without a mandate ... and I think there were still some misconduct.
As for Tubbs, I thought I knew a lot about him or the character he was playing, but in fact I don't know about the injury. Please explain to me, Eillio.

I don't know much about the specific injury, but from what I heard it happened during the warehouse explosion in 'Made for Each Other'. It could've been some burns, or maybe a a sprain of some sort (like the one he had in 'The Afternoon Plane', but that one was easy to spot since we saw it happen, and that one was also explained).

I agree about Valerie in that she treated Tubbs quite poorly, and seemed mostly dismissive of him (he he, I've gotten some of that treatment, and actually fairly recently). I thought it created compelling viewing, but didn't exactly show Valerie off in a good light. forget being career-minded (and by the time the viewer seen her she was burned-out anyway), she just seems like a bad girlfriend!

[Eillio Martin Imbasciati]

13 minutes ago, Christine said:

It is of course true that the image of television shows has changed a lot. It was worse in the 1970s. There were series in which the same protagonists always played, but no episode otherwise had anything to do with the next.
In the 80s the picture turned a little, but now we are all used to the fact that a series has a story arc and in the end all loose threads are unraveled.
I'm not a fan of Valerie because I think she was taking advantage of Tubbs. I don't like people like that in real life either. But if you say that she shouldn't have been allowed to work as a policewoman, then Tubbs should at least have received disciplinary proceedings. As far as I can remember, in the first part he even stole money to be able to travel to Miami, he acted without a mandate ... and I think there were still some misconduct.
As for Tubbs, I thought I knew a lot about him or the character he was playing, but in fact I don't know about the injury. Please explain to me, Eillio.

That's true about Tubbs and his misconduct as well; Lou Rodriguez brought that up to Tubbs in 'Heart of Darkness' when Tubbs complains about his living conditions, so it is at least addressed on some level.

[sdiegolo78]

6 hours ago, Christine said:

Some things were never explained. The same with some people who never showed up again. For example Wheelers wife (unfortunately I don´t remember her name). Sonny said that the Wheelers were friends of him and Caroline und that they celebrated many partys together.  But after Wheeler was arrested his family was never mentioned again.
Okay, they weren´t important, but it was only an example.

I guess they were so ashamed that moved out of town....who knows, but that's what it would happen in those kind of situations. Every time I watched the pilot, i felt bad for the Wheelers. Not for Scottyof course, but for his wife and kids...

[sdiegolo78]

3 hours ago, Eillio Martin Imbasciati said:

(heck, they could've just said Tubbs was out with the flu and couldn't even be reached by phone; I now know that he's the Miami Troll and didn't have a phone

LMAO! Just phone the nearest homeless shelter!

[Eillio Martin Imbasciati]

47 minutes ago, sdiegolo78 said:

LMAO! Just phone the nearest homeless shelter!

Oh, Tubbs doesn't seek shelter, he distributes guidance to those souls who need advice from the Miami Troll (remember, Castillo told Tubbs in 'Little Miss Dangerous' to do his social work on his own time, and he took that comment to heart).

[Robbie C.]

4 hours ago, Eillio Martin Imbasciati said:

That's true about Tubbs and his misconduct as well; Lou Rodriguez brought that up to Tubbs in 'Heart of Darkness' when Tubbs complains about his living conditions, so it is at least addressed on some level.

It was addressed in the second episode and then forgotten. Hence my story about how Tubbs got on Metro-Dade in the first place. Vice was never especially good at having characters own their mistakes...which is good in a way as that was one of the driving things behind my Task Force novels.

[sdiegolo78]

17 hours ago, Eillio Martin Imbasciati said:

Oh, Tubbs doesn't seek shelter, he distributes guidance to those souls who need advice from the Miami Troll (remember, Castillo told Tubbs in 'Little Miss Dangerous' to do his social work on his own time, and he took that comment to heart).

Haven't watched "Little ms dangerous" in a long time. Should do it again soon!

[Matt5]

21 hours ago, sdiegolo78 said:

Haven't watched "Little ms dangerous" in a long time. Should do it again soon!

It’s the best!

[RedDragon86]

it was implied in TPS. Sonny & Tubbs got her back, they obviously told a bs story to IA, they broke the rules to save her job.

Could have easily went own like this. Valarie went to see Traynor (which could be seen as wrong for her do do that) for an explanation, then she got irate with Traynor, he got angry and went for his gun then she shot him in self defense.

A dozen of made up situations like this could have worked.

 

 

[Eillio Martin Imbasciati]

On 3/8/2021 at 8:47 PM, Robbie C. said:

It was addressed in the second episode and then forgotten. Hence my story about how Tubbs got on Metro-Dade in the first place. Vice was never especially good at having characters own their mistakes...which is good in a way as that was one of the driving things behind my Task Force novels.

Ha ha, now it was ADDRESSED, but that didn't necessarily mean that anything was going to be done:-. It's like someone who's told about a gravy stain on their shirt: they acknowledge it, then maybe continue to wear the shirt anyway. But yeah, consequences were not a part of the Vice's protocol for sure. IAD having a hot poker for Crockett & Tubbs? Heck, they should've had their own separate unit for them. True Cowboys!

[sdiegolo78]

2 hours ago, RedDragon86 said:

it was implied in TPS. Sonny & Tubbs got her back, they obviously told a bs story to IA, they broke the rules to save her job.

Could have easily went own like this. Valarie went to see Traynor (which could be seen as wrong for her do do that) for an explanation, then she got irate with Traynor, he got angry and went for his gun then she shot him in self defense.

A dozen of made up situations like this could have worked.

 

 

That may be plausible explanation. But I'm not so sure it would go down with someone like Castillo, cause he'd definitely know about Traynor getting shot at.

Edited March 10, 2021 by sdiegolo78

[Eillio Martin Imbasciati]

50 minutes ago, sdiegolo78 said:

That may be plausible explanation. But I'm not so sure it would go down with someone like Castillo, cause he'd definitely know about Traynor getting shot at.

That's true about Castillo; if he didn't like how the latter Alan Beaks case was handled, he certainly wouldn't like how the Lile/Traynor situation shaped up (especially since Castillo witnessed Tubbs's angry interrogation of Traynor).

[sdiegolo78]

On 3/10/2021 at 8:20 PM, Eillio Martin Imbasciati said:

That's true about Castillo; if he didn't like how the latter Alan Beaks case was handled, he certainly wouldn't like how the Lile/Traynor situation shaped up (especially since Castillo witnessed Tubbs's angry interrogation of Traynor).

...ehm NOPE!