Season 5: Overall Assessment


rodriguezisdead

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For some reason, I dug out series 5 again over the weekend and started watching it.

Not seen it for years.  I have got as far as Asian Cut which is a great dark episode.

 

Heart of Night was poor, as was Borrasca.............no Don in ether of theses makes it Dade County Cops.  Not Miami Vice.

Bad Timing wasn't up to much either.

 

 

Looking forward to watching the rest again anyway........apart from Freefall and Miracle Man.

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For some reason, I dug out series 5 again over the weekend and started watching it.

Not seen it for years.  I have got as far as Asian Cut which is a great dark episode.

 

Heart of Night was poor, as was Borrasca.............no Don in ether of theses makes it Dade County Cops.  Not Miami Vice.

Bad Timing wasn't up to much either.

 

 

Looking forward to watching the rest again anyway........apart from Freefall and Miracle Man.

 

Yes a great season 

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I clicked on this Topic tonight and realized a couple years have passed since I posted about it.

Rodriquezisdead who started this Topic in 2009 gave a great analysis of the main episodes in Season 5.

After reading most of the comments, it's hard to believe this is a Miami Vice Fan website! It looks more like a 'hate MV website.'

I love Miami Vice even though I haven't watched many episodes in about a year, because of lack of time. I plan to start watching my DVDs again in order, from Season 1 to 5.

Season 5, after the Burnett Trilogy is disappointing to me only because it lacks the cool, suave, handsome newness & pizazz that were contained in Seas. 1,2&3. But like I said, I love Miami Vice and no matter how far from the early episodes season 5 has strayed...it's still Miami Vice, the best cop show with my favorite actors.

For me, "Missing Hours" & "Line of Fire" are the worst episodes, and even they have some redeeming value.

Come on Fans! Think about how excited you got when a new episode was about to be shown & seek out the good that will be found in even the worst episodes of Miami Vice.

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DJ was in the beginning of "Heart of Night" and Matt5 posted that he liked the DJ scene at the OCB .

 

Tom posted that "Borrasca" was a good episode even without DJ.

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DJ was in the beginning of "Heart of Night" and Matt5 posted that he liked the DJ scene at the OCB .

 

Tom posted that "Borrasca" was a good episode even without DJ.

 

yes Tony I did enjoythe DJ scene at the Ocb it was very different to what we had seen before.

:D

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  • 2 weeks later...

I started watching Miami Vice for the first time in 2009, and while I didn't intend for this to happen it is fitting that five years later I'm wrapping up Season 5.  I can certainly understand how S5 gets its fair share of critics- after all, it is the lasting impression for the dedicated fans that watched the series through its original run.  The Mirror Image story arc has to be one of those things that you either love or hate (I though it was riveting and loved every moment of it).  Last night I watched 'Miami Squeeze,' which in my estimation is a top 5 episode.  There were so many memorable scenes, like Crockett explaining to the kid going undercover that you're not trying to get them to sell you drugs, you're actually selling them on YOU.  Also when Crockett is at the shrink, and he says something to the effect of: "I get that your goal is to have me better understand myself, but you're under the impression that that will be a good thing."  To me the darker tone started in Season 4 and continuing into 5 seems right.  I'll always love how light the first couple seasons were, with the 'hey look how pretty these clothes/women/cars/songs are' mentality, but Ive also immensely enjoyed the focus on the shadows that are cast from that light.

 

Quick question for the MV faithful- what order should I watch the 'lost episodes' in?  Do I just put them in before Freefall, or is there another order that makes more sense (you know, in the magically reappearing black Daytona sense :-)

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I would watch the lost episodes before Freefall and Too much, too late just before Freefall. That's the filming order and makes most sense to me characterwise.

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I started watching Miami Vice for the first time in 2009, and while I didn't intend for this to happen it is fitting that five years later I'm wrapping up Season 5.  I can certainly understand how S5 gets its fair share of critics- after all, it is the lasting impression for the dedicated fans that watched the series through its original run.  The Mirror Image story arc has to be one of those things that you either love or hate (I though it was riveting and loved every moment of it).  Last night I watched 'Miami Squeeze,' which in my estimation is a top 5 episode.  There were so many memorable scenes, like Crockett explaining to the kid going undercover that you're not trying to get them to sell you drugs, you're actually selling them on YOU.  Also when Crockett is at the shrink, and he says something to the effect of: "I get that your goal is to have me better understand myself, but you're under the impression that that will be a good thing."  To me the darker tone started in Season 4 and continuing into 5 seems right.  I'll always love how light the first couple seasons were, with the 'hey look how pretty these clothes/women/cars/songs are' mentality, but Ive also immensely enjoyed the focus on the shadows that are cast from that light.

 

Quick question for the MV faithful- what order should I watch the 'lost episodes' in?  Do I just put them in before Freefall, or is there another order that makes more sense (you know, in the magically reappearing black Daytona sense :-)

 

Welcome to the site! Yes Season 5 is a great season and shows the full circle of Miami Vice !! :D  :fireworks:

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My rating for the entire Season is 6.62. Season 3 & 4 both scored higher than this in my book, so that says it all really! I also gave the first 2 eps (the end of the Burnett trilogy) 10 out of 10 each, raising my overall score for the Season, so without them this Season would've scored unbelievably low. The Burnett trilogy is probably the best of MV in my book. But following the return of Sonny's memory he is a changed man, and is never fully accepted back into the OCB fold IMO. He is sulky and cynical for most of the eps in which we see him after this and although this is necessary to convince us that his time (and hence the show's time) is over, it just doesn't make for particularly entertaining viewing. It doesn't help that we see so little of so many of the cast for most of the Season either eg. Castillo, Rico at times. The one thing that Season 5 has to do, and it does it well in my book, is show us how Sonny's total disenchantment with the System must logically end. Top 5 Eps:1 - Redemption in Blood - 10/10 - Conclusion of the Burnett trilogy. Sonny's memory finally returns after wondering in to OCB during one of the most memorable scenes that MV ever gave us. One or two other scenes also showcase some of DJ's acting ability. Sonny still looks superb in this one.2 - Hostile Takeover - 10/10 - Weakest of the Burnett trilogy but still packing a heck of a punch. Sonny looks superb once again.3 - World of Trouble - 8.5/10 - Glorious throwback to early Seasons of Vice in terms of characters and style. Lombard is a great character who always makes a welcome return.4 - Fruit of the Poison Tree - 8.5/10 - Very clever plot and twists, great acting, very dark - classic Season 5. Great Vice style in some of the scenery.5 - Line of Fire - 8/10 - Great intro for Joey, classic late plot twists and revelations. Super face-off scene for Sonny. Other eps worth a mention and equally scoring 8/10 in my book: Miami Squeeze, and Freefall - although both of these only score so highly for a few ideas or strong scenes rather than the whole ep. 3 Weakest Eps:1 - Leap of Faith - 2/10 - Hope I never have to watch this again. Labelled as MV but it really is not. Awful ep.2 - Miracle Man - 3/10 - Popular opinion is that this is the worst ever MV ep. IMO it had potential to be very dark and much better, but abysmal execution let it down.3 - Bad Timing - 5/10 - The thugs are terrible, guitar is awful, poor acting. Only Sonny's excellent therapy scenes raise this to a score of 5. Top 16/Most memorable Scenes/Moments from Season 5: 1) Redemption in Blood - Return to OCB scene is perhaps in my top 3 scenes for the entire show. Beautifully melancholic piece of music accompanies Sonny's very private journey of self re-discovery, which it is simply an honour to share in. 2) Redemption in Blood - The scene where the bandage is taken off Burnett's eyes and he subsequently almost shoots Celeste at point-blank range is absolutely compelling viewing and is as good a showcase of DJ's superb range of acting ability as we get throughout the whole of MV and, dare I say it, probably throughout DJ's entire career. He is almost as psychotic as Pacino in Scent of a Woman. I also love how much of that scene is shot as a reflection of mirrors - heavy symbolism with what is going on inside Sonny's head.3) Hostile Takeover - Sonny steps off his jet and strides over to meet the Commandante with his shades and amazing suit and ponytail - looks so cool and self-assured - the epitomy of a supremely successful and ambitious head of a drug empire - it's another of those scenes that has stuck in my head for 20 years. 4) Line of Fire - Had they ended the ep with the excellent 'It ain't over til it's over' face-off shot between Sonny and Quinterro, it would've been a better ending IMO. This was an excellent scene as C&T leave court - Sonny looks superb - almost as good as Burnett with shades on again. 5) World of Trouble - loved the final scene with the spanish guitar, merging the scenes where Lombard says farewell to his grandson, and the final showdown. 'Inspiration' by the Gipsy Kings - a truly beautiful track. Works so well here:

6) The Lost Madonna - the party scene with Burnett and the Professor with Tanita Tikaram's Twist in my Sobriety playing in the background. Wonderful tune - just seems to fit Vice so perfectly, especially S5 - so laid-back. This scene is really cool and Burnett looks ace throughout it - hair, shades, dark clothes - seems very close to Burnett in the trilogy as far as looks go. Heck even the colour contrasts are given thought in this scene with blacks and whites all over the place. Joey and Nikos in silhouette is a good example. 7) Fruit of the Poison Tree - the line at the end 'did you think it was gonna look pretty?' - or words to that effect - followed by Sonny just walking off - superbly dark - so Season 5. 8) Freefall - The final 10 mins or so are classic - the Bad Attitude shootout, the Do it if you got the stones scene, the handshake scene, and the inimitable Tell Me montage. 9) Too Much, Too Late - the scene where C&T fallout at the lockers at OCB - all it needed was a dirty fist-fight to really clear the air! But again it's a sign of just how burnt-out Sonny is that he just doesn't even get riled enough to raise his fists. Never have these guys seemed so far apart. 10) World of Trouble - the scene where Lombard comes to his son's house and meets his grandson and pushes him on the swing - those trees the swing is hanging from look so aged and beautiful. They even manage to capture the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves of the trees - wonderful detail. 11) World of Trouble - scenes at OCB are cool - Sonny and Lombard in particular seem to be so light about it all - it's like a re-union of old adversaries - not too dissimilar to De Niro and Pacino in Heat actually - there's respect there on both sides, but both of them also know clearly where the line is drawn: Sonny says "Don't even J-walk" and Lombard retorts with a smile "I wouldn't have it any other way". Great stuff. 12) Miami Squeeze - specialist's office Sonny goes to see is superb - wow, what a stunner. Wouldn't you love to have an office like that? Well, maybe at least sometimes, sure would miss a window or two eventually... Sonny is also excellent in these scenes - I don't think we ever see him in Season 5 being this introspective for this length of time. 13) Miami Squeeze - Castillo and Sonny in the final scene are excellent. Castillo worried about how it all looked to the team, but Sonny just supports him 100% and calls him the 'glue man', binding the team together. The music in the background is good. As is the sun shining through the rain on the window onto Sonny and Castillo - odd, but seems to work.14) To Have and to Hold - final scene on the boat - great sunset - C&T musing over how tired they are of losing people - now that's what Season 5 is all about.15) Bad Timing - DJ's acting outside the police hearing room is excellent. 16) Borrasca - Worth watching for Castillo and Reese scenes alone. It's not often that Castillo comes up against such a chilling adversary. There's obviously history between these two and it's a shame we don't see Reese again - or before this ep for that matter.

 

I love "Inspiration" by the Gypsy Kings, especially since I play guitar. Beautiful ! Must watch the episode again. :radio:  :thumbsup:

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Just watched Freefall again and it was much better than I remembered.

 

I actually loved it.  A classic episode, even though it is the end of the team. 

Kind of sad too.

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I agree about the order on the DVD's.

 

I'm now going to watch World of Trouble after Freefall, which doesn't really work.

Strange order of episodes. 

 

Were they originally broadcast in this order?

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I agree about the order on the DVD's.

 

I'm now going to watch World of Trouble after Freefall, which doesn't really work.

Strange order of episodes. 

 

Were they originally broadcast in this order?

 

 

Yes just doesnt work - it was Nbc they gave up on MV in Season 5 at the end 

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  • 1 month later...

This isn't vice to me. Crockett wearing Leather and jeans, Tubbs wearing god knows what.

 

There's hardly any music, action or sense of production values. Atleast in Season 4 Crockett wore some pastels, there were some cool montages and action(the boat chase in God's work) etc. But this season just feels like a generic A team esque rip off from the late 80s. 

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Guest MetroVice

This isn't vice to me. Crockett wearing Leather and jeans, Tubbs wearing god knows what.

 

There's hardly any music, action or sense of production values. Atleast in Season 4 Crockett wore some pastels, there were some cool montages and action(the boat chase in God's work) etc. But this season just feels like a generic A team esque rip off from the late 80s. 

 

Same for me... Crockett's leather, jeans and cowboy boots strayed much too far from the classic Vice look and I didn't care for it but I understand some did. For me this was the sad slope the show took before finally ending. Personally I would have liked to have seen them go back to the early look of the show and rather than have C&T get fed up with with everything and leave their jobs, I would have preferred they continued working or getting promoted maybe to another division or whatever... anything but having both of them simply walk off the job, leaving forever. Some may find it appropriate but not me. Oh well . . .  ;(

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I'll get the season 5 DVD when I can. I haven't watched these episodes since they originally aired. Maybe a few when it was in USA in the 90's. I remember watching the Burnett storyline & a few other early episodes & kinda checking out. I probably haven't seen 10 or more episodes. I've written before but I wonder if the weary nature of the characters will play better now than I'm older than it did when I was a teen.

I think season 5 saw Vice moving toward tighter continuity in the stories. Tv was moving away from purely episodic shows so each episode had to show consequences of earlier ones. Thus you get everybody burnt out. It's logical but I so preferred the energy of season 1 & 2. I remember watching the show on Wednesday night & it felt so sad.

I always hated that the final shot had Tubbs facing away from the camera. Surely they coukd have done better there. Always bugged me.

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I'll get the season 5 DVD when I can. I haven't watched these episodes since they originally aired. Maybe a few when it was in USA in the 90's. I remember watching the Burnett storyline & a few other early episodes & kinda checking out. I probably haven't seen 10 or more episodes. I've written before but I wonder if the weary nature of the characters will play better now than I'm older than it did when I was a teen.I think season 5 saw Vice moving toward tighter continuity in the stories. Tv was moving away from purely episodic shows so each episode had to show consequences of earlier ones. Thus you get everybody burnt out. It's logical but I so preferred the energy of season 1 & 2. I remember watching the show on Wednesday night & it felt so sad.I always hated that the final shot had Tubbs facing away from the camera. Surely they coukd have done better there. Always bugged me.

 

You don't want to relive through the nightmare pal >.< trust me.. Just watch line of fire and the rest are reminiscent cows of october in quality..

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Oddly enough, Line of Fire was one I remembered liking. Had it on tape. I don't remember many episodes with Crockett & Tubbs together like previous seasons.

 

 

Youll love it - it has a great feel . "Line of Fire", "Bad Timing" , "Asian Cut" , "Fruit of the Poison Tree" and "The Lost Madonna" - many great episodes.

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Youll love it - it has a great feel . "Line of Fire", "Bad Timing" , "Asian Cut" , "Fruit of the Poison Tree" and "The Lost Madonna" - many great episodes.

 

alright that's 5 decent episodes..That leaves like a dozen abysmal ones :p lol

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Bad Timing was the one where Crockett is in the small town with the girl at the bar right? That was the other one I remember liking. It had a "Glades" sort of feel.

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Tubbs outfits in S5 are awful.. You can tell that's all PMT and the directors were like.."screw it…wear whatever you want"

 

And for some reason he's caked in make up. He's got more eye liner on than the mayor dude in "The dark knight"

Edited by thedeparted94
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