Episode #2 "Heart of Darkness"


Ferrariman

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This episode was pretty good, I gave it a 7. Ed O'Neill was awesome and is a very good actor! I like seeing him in more serious or dramatic roles besides his crude, goof-ball trademark role of 'Al Bundy' from "Married With Children." He was on an episode of "Hunter" too that had him as a psycho cop that was out of control. I also remember him on a new updated but short-lived version of "Dragnet"--2001?? I wish that show had lasted, as I thought it was pretty good.Anyway, "Heart of Darkness" was good, but not necessarily superb or majorly captivating. Acting was good, but you can sometimes tell the show was still getting started at this point and there's just not anything "special" or "sizzling" about this episode. But, there's some good action and again the acting is pretty good on O'Neill's part.

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  • 2 months later...

H0D isn't one of my favorites, but still one of the better ones of the 1st season. The end always makes me sad, O'Neil's character was a good cop that simply got in too deep. But did the right thing in the end. George Benson's "Masquerade" was the perfect song for the final scene.

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  • 8 months later...

At the latest now it's clear that VICE is a remarkable series!:thumbsup::happy::happy:The first regular episode is also one of the best episodes of the whole series!:thumbsup:On the one hand the audience is faced with the sunny, bright and relaxed life of Miami, full of good-looking women and well-dressed people, but on the other hand it's faced with the dark and abysmal everyday-life of undercover cops.:clap:I agree with the lexikon if it's said that Heart of Darkness is like an ep of the fifth season. Everything's very dark and depressive. It's interesting that Sonny is like Artie Rollins at the end of the series. I think they are very similar at all. That's the reason why Sonny can identify himself with Artie. He intimately knows how dangerous and exhausting an undercover-cop-life can be.When I watched this episode for the first time, I was really shocked that Artie commits suicide.:oFirstly you are happy that Artie doesn't get killed by Kovacs and later you get informed that he's dead.But THAT'S VICE !:clap:Futhermore the main characters are introduced very well. You get to know the life of Sonny and the life of Rico which are very different at this moment.A proof for this is shown in the last minutes of the episode when Rico says to Sonny that the job is unbearable.Concerning the style it's typical VICE: in almost each scene Sonny and Rico wear different clothes, espeacially Sonny's linen-jacket with the blue stripes appeals to me!:clap:Music is also very very good: from She's a Beauty until Going Under by Devo, the songs are fantastically choosed.:radio:The first 1-hour episode gets 10 of 10 points due to a very good and deep-going story coupled with wonderful style and music!:happy:

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  • 1 month later...
This is another one of my favorites! The use of music in this episode is outstanding. I remember a few years ago, when I was a senior in high school, I watched this episode on my cell phone during my absolutely worthless “family life anddevelopment†blow-off class! “She’s a Beauty†is a classic ‘80s tune that fits seamlessly with the opening porno set scene. You’ve also got to love the “MissingYou†montage of the ever-beautiful Miami skyline. I gave a 10 out of 10 for this one.
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  • 2 months later...

Heart of Darkness2. Heart of Darkness The first time I saw this episode I thought it was good but didn’t think of it that much otherwise. After watching it now for the 6th time (my 6th time going through the series), I really like it a lot. This gives us a good glimpse of undercover work and how it affects a cop’s life. Like Artie said, sometimes they have to do marginal things to keep up the persona. Anyway, “Missing You†at the beginning along with the shots of greater Miami was perfect. The song makes me think of Vice City. Anyway, throughout the whole episode, I wasn’t quite sold either like Tubbs and Crockett were that Artie hadn’t turned to the other side. Ed O’Neill did a great job guest starring. His character was very believable and he played an edgy fed very well. The final shootout was a great scene. Tubbs and Crockett looked liked goners but Artie saves the day. We get to hear the short bit of “Rain†which is a great Hammer tune. Artie summed up his role perfectly, he didn’t think that he could go back to a normal life thereby affirming Crockett’s thoughts on him. You’re so far undercover at times that you don’t know which way is up and which way is down. It takes its toll at you. The final scene using “Masquerade†was a good ending. A pretty mellow feel and then we find out Artie hung himself. Sad but he obviously couldn’t take the normal life again. All in all, a good episode that got better for me after watching it a couple more times. 9/10

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  • 1 month later...

I voted a 7. Seems this episode is all about explaining undercover work to the innocent 80's viewer.Although watching it for the second time, the scene with Artie holding the gun against C&T was still thrilling.The leader hasn't found its form yet. That applies for the whole episode. Camerawork and lines, the show still has to grow into a final shape.I thought the bar scene in the end was a bit too much. Although the things about working undercover are quite serious, this episode has a lighter tone than later episodes (in later seasons). There are more funny and lighter scenes, like the intermezzo's with Switek and Zito and Elvis. Further I noticed more human and personal stories. We see a lot of the team at OCB and there are other characters like Lester. A lot of screenplay for Lou.I thought Trudy's acting was poor, but Ed O'Neill was very convincing.And then the Sonny part... :happy:Love to see Sonny smoking. Love seeing the men getting ready for the 'date' with Artie Rollins. Nice shot of Sonny's Rolex. Did anyone notice DJ has such fine, almost feminine, hands? Love to see Sonny wearing his pink three-buttoned shirt, yummie.Things that were not clear to me:Did Artie kill Kovics when shooting the car? Why was it suddenly daytime after that?Did Sonny wear a see-through shirt under his jacket to the dinner with Artie and Kovics?All in all a fine episode, but not one of my favourites.

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  • 1 year later...
I voted a 7. Seems this episode is all about explaining undercover work to the innocent 80's viewer. Although watching it for the second time' date=' the scene with Artie holding the gun against C&T was still thrilling. The leader hasn't found its form yet. That applies for the whole episode. Camerawork and lines, the show still has to grow into a final shape. I thought the bar scene in the end was a bit too much. Although the things about working undercover are quite serious, this episode has a lighter tone than later episodes (in later seasons). There are more funny and lighter scenes, like the intermezzo's with Switek and Zito and Elvis. Further I noticed more human and personal stories. We see a lot of the team at OCB and there are other characters like Lester. A lot of screenplay for Lou. I thought Trudy's acting was poor, but Ed O'Neill was very convincing. And then the Sonny part... :happy: Love to see Sonny smoking. Love seeing the men getting ready for the 'date' with Artie Rollins. Nice shot of Sonny's Rolex. Did anyone notice DJ has such fine, almost feminine, hands? Love to see Sonny wearing his pink three-buttoned shirt, yummie. Things that were not clear to me: Did Artie kill Kovics when shooting the car? Why was it suddenly daytime after that? Did Sonny wear a see-through shirt under his jacket to the dinner with Artie and Kovics? All in all a fine episode, but not one of my favourites.[/quote'] This also wasn't clear to me but I think there is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot of the cops getting Kovacs out of the car directly after the shootout. I can only assume the shootout took place just before dawn and that's why the daylight.
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  • 1 year later...

I posted this one in Favorite Episode section a while ago, but since I watched this one right after the pilot episode I thought I might copy it and use it here.

 

Heart of Darkness: Episode 2: (1984)
The first Miami Vice episode I ever saw and it's still my all time favorite. 

Ed O'Neill delivered one hell of a job as the tragic anti-hero Artie Lawson/Rollins, an undercover cop who has gone over to the "dark side", and it was quite a surprise to see the funny family man from Married With Children in such a complete different role. 
Everything about this episode is done so well from the "cheezy" opening that almost seems like an ordinary Jane Fonda workout session to then suddenly reveal its much darker side. 
Also great use of pop music as always, especially the scene where Crockett and Tubbs is ready for a night out on town with Devo's Going Under blasting through the speakers. 
It has to be one the coolest scenes in any Miami Vice episode.
 
Opening scene with James Cameron's future wife Suzy Amis as Penny McGraw and music by The Tubes - She's A Beauty:
Crockett and Tubbs are Going Under with music by Devo:
Also I noticed that this was the first time Jan Hammer used his beautiful yet sad theme
, in the scene where Artie tells Sonny and Rico that he'll be alright and he can take whatever the feds might throw at him in the upcoming interrogations.
8/10

 

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I posted this one in Favorite Episode section a while ago, but since I watched this one right after the pilot episode I thought I might copy it and use it here.

 

Heart of Darkness: Episode 2: (1984)

The first Miami Vice episode I ever saw and it's still my all time favorite. 

Ed O'Neill delivered one hell of a job as the tragic anti-hero Artie Lawson/Rollins, an undercover cop who has gone over to the "dark side", and it was quite a surprise to see the funny family man from Married With Children in such a complete different role. 
Everything about this episode is done so well from the "cheezy" opening that almost seems like an ordinary Jane Fonda workout session to then suddenly reveal its much darker side. 
Also great use of pop music as always, especially the scene where Crockett and Tubbs is ready for a night out on town with Devo's Going Under blasting through the speakers. 
It has to be one the coolest scenes in any Miami Vice episode.
 
Opening scene with James Cameron's future wife Suzy Amis as Penny McGraw and music by The Tubes - She's A Beauty:
Crockett and Tubbs are Going Under with music by Devo:
Also I noticed that this was the first time Jan Hammer used his beautiful yet sad theme
, in the scene where Artie tells Sonny and Rico that he'll be alright and he can take whatever the feds might throw at him in the upcoming interrogations.
8/10

 

There were elements of the "Rain" theme in this episode yes  :D

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  • 1 month later...

This may have been mentioned already. I was watching this today for the first time in years. I never saw this during the first season. I came in when summer reruns started. I saw it on USA network. The two federal agents Doyle & Russo, those are the names of the detectives that were the inspiration for The French Connection. Just caught that.

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  • 5 months later...

I saw this one a while ago, it was pretty good. The ending was very profound and showed early on in the series how difficult it can be going undercover and feeling like you have to do things that you wouldn't do, and how some people actually turn to the other side. They also used one of my favorite songs in this episode, Missing You. The episode also showed the easy rapport between Tubbs and Crockett and how they'd now been working together for a couple of months by that time. Another interesting thing is that it's like Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, as the undercover cop has become corrupted and has now become like the people he was fighting against and doesn't really know who he is anymore. Definitely one of the strongest episodes of the season.

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One of my favorite episodes ever, I love Missing You by John Waite and I love The Tubes - She's a beauty playing, everything style and music wise in this episode is amazing, and I really love the end credits theme, that had to be one of the best versions of the theme I had ever heard)

 

Really great episode 9/10 really shows the dark side of Undercover work and how deep a cop can get, Crockett and Tubbs are at their best in this episode and Sonny understanding what Artie has been going through.

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One of my favorite episodes ever, I love Missing You by John Waite and I love The Tubes - She's a beauty playing, everything style and music wise in this episode is amazing, and I really love the end credits theme, that had to be one of the best versions of the theme I had ever heard)

 

Really great episode 9/10 really shows the dark side of Undercover work and how deep a cop can get, Crockett and Tubbs are at their best in this episode and Sonny understanding what Artie has been going through.

Even when the show's tone was optimistic in the beginning, it was still dark.

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Funny story with this one. When i first saw it i didn't think too much of it. But I was just being an idiot 14 year old. Now I realize what a solid episode this is.

First off, the music, especially Missing You, is fantastic. Ed O'Neill is one of my favorite actors. I saw this before I saw Married with Children. By the way, MWC is probably my favorite comedy. Probably because of Kelly Bundy. Lol anyway, he's really good in this.

It's funny how different the earliest episodes feel in comparison to the rest of Season 1. This almost feels like a S5 episode because of it's more muted cinematography and downer ending.

The only real flaws I can think of is some of the drama. Really just the "Oh my God" look Crockett and Tubbs give each other during certain scenes.

9/10

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  • 1 year later...

Following up the perfect pilot is another perfect episode! I was intrigued by the introspective into undercover work and how derailing, maddening it can be. Perhaps its basic but it gives us everything we need to know. The ending actually hit me a little hard, just wow. I liked seeing OCB at the bar, just hanging out. Stellar performance by Ed 'O Neill. I thought 'O Neill looked familiar the first time I saw this last year. What do ya know, Married with Children! One of my childhood shows...yeah, my parents didn't exactly care what I watched or played hehe..."you reinvented radio last night, didn't you!?"

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  • 7 months later...

I was never fond of Heart of Darkness, but it had been literally years since I had seen it, so when it was on Starz the other day, I DVD'd it and watched it again.

In the past, I had only watched the reruns (USA) of this episode , so there were some scenes I had never seen before (I hate how the rerun-networks decide what needs to be cut or included-infuriating! )

Anyway, now that I've seen the "entire"  story,  my opinion has changed, for sure. 

It was one of the early ones, so it was a  little raw on dialogue and plot,  but the theme for the most part was spot on! Throughout the five seasons, we see Crockett's struggle with undercover work. He hunts down drug dealers and he's good at it, but he has his own issues with addiction. Alcohol is obviously one; smoking another; and of course, the adrenaline rush from the undercover work itself.  He can't give up the life he has chosen, even though it means losing his wife, child and almost, his sanity.

In my opinion, Artie Rollins' downfall was Crockett's real "Mirror Image"!

And Rollin's suicide was a huge red flag for Crockett! All along, I thought it was a miracle he didn't kill himself, especially after Caitlin was murdered. I often wondered why Castillo and Rico didn't make sure Crockett didn't have access to a gun while he isolated himself on the St. Vitus!

Now, when I watch the Burnett Arc episodes, I will think back to Artie Rollins death and how it foreshadowed Crockett's own struggle to survive! In my opinion, Heart of Darkness is an MV Classic! 

I give this episode a 9-10, which is a real change from my initial review. 

Edited by mjcmmv
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This is a good episode, but it's also a fine example of Miami Vice's "time warp." Notice how there's no real mention of Eddie or Scott in this episode? Two significant figures from Crockett's recent past just disappear. This was one of the episodes that got me really considering that Sonny was just an avatar for us to experience the perils of undercover work as opposed to a solid character. That and Tubbs just morphs from renegade NYC cop to member of the team with minimal fuss. It's magic!

That said, I really liked how they portrayed both Artie Rollins and the institutional indifference of the FBI to what he was going through. So long as he made cases they really didn't care what happened to him, and once it looked like he was going off the rails they were more concerned with their image than they were helping the man who'd given his entire life (literally as it turns out) for the Bureau and the Job. Focusing it on the porn industry was pretty radical for the time, another example of Vice pushing envelopes. This is one of the episodes Sanders looks at in detail in his book, and it's interesting to watch the episode while reviewing his thoughts.

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57 minutes ago, Robbie C. said:

This is a good episode, but it's also a fine example of Miami Vice's "time warp." Notice how there's no real mention of Eddie or Scott in this episode? Two significant figures from Crockett's recent past just disappear. This was one of the episodes that got me really considering that Sonny was just an avatar for us to experience the perils of undercover work as opposed to a solid character. That and Tubbs just morphs from renegade NYC cop to member of the team with minimal fuss. It's magic!

 

The writers did that all the time; ignoring what happened in previous episodes and refusing to make reference to major events as the show went on. Many times I was left with a ton of questions that were never resolved. 

Edited by mjcmmv
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The way I see they just move on to the next case, to me it has to be relevant anyway, like Gina in "Bought and Paid for" when Sonny is questioning her about Odette saying she is not her conscience and she responds by saying "you have a short memory Sonny" a clear reference to "Give a Little Take a Little". I mean why mention Wheeler or Eddie in "Heart of Darkness?" they are aware of what went on weeks or months ago, I just think Sonny didn't want to dwell on negative moments. 

And is Tubbs isn't naturally a renegade cop, what we saw initially was a cop seeking revenge, so of course he is going to be unhinged but is that him on every given day? he is an intelligent, level headed cop. He shelved his vengeance for the sake of his new role in Miami, and the fact that his new partner was very compassionate about nailing Calderone, Tubbs clearly appreciated Sonny's help and understanding. I mean what was he supposed to do in the first few days at OCB? kick bins over complain about how Calderone got away, next punch his locker saying my brothers dead Sonny!

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4 hours ago, RedDragon86 said:

The way I see they just move on to the next case, to me it has to be relevant anyway, like Gina in "Bought and Paid for" when Sonny is questioning her about Odette saying she is not her conscience and she responds by saying "you have a short memory Sonny" a clear reference to "Give a Little Take a Little". I mean why mention Wheeler or Eddie in "Heart of Darkness?" they are aware of what went on weeks or months ago, I just think Sonny didn't want to dwell on negative moments. 

And is Tubbs isn't naturally a renegade cop, what we saw initially was a cop seeking revenge, so of course he is going to be unhinged but is that him on every given day? he is an intelligent, level headed cop. He shelved his vengeance for the sake of his new role in Miami, and the fact that his new partner was very compassionate about nailing Calderone, Tubbs clearly appreciated Sonny's help and understanding. I mean what was he supposed to do in the first few days at OCB? kick bins over complain about how Calderone got away, next punch his locker saying my brothers dead Sonny!

You made some good points here! 

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5 hours ago, RedDragon86 said:

 I mean what was he supposed to do in the first few days at OCB? kick bins over complain about how Calderone got away, next punch his locker saying my brothers dead Sonny!

Yet Tubbs does this in other episodes, and with less motivation than he'd have here. It's part of his passionate nature and might speak to why Lou would go out on a limb and try to keep someone who'd broken any number of NYPD policies (and likely a law or two in the process) to get to Miami.

And as for moving on to the next case, in some ways yes. But isn't it odd that Crockett is the only character that never really references things from his past? Evan disappears after that episode. Lou vanishes very quickly as well. But only for Crockett. Focusing on the positive or whatever doesn't adequately explain that. They wheel Caroline and/or Billy in when they want to make a point in an episode, but you don't hear about them otherwise. When you try writing a solid story for Crockett you discover just how much of his story they leave blank, which is exceedingly unusual for any series main character. Crockett is more of a window than a fully-realized character throughout quite a bit of the series. This quality makes him quite vivid in individual episodes, but doesn't hold the same depth as (say) Tubbs and his repeated encounters with Valerie or Castillo and his ever-present past.

We see this (perhaps unintentionally) with Artie/Arthur. His 'real self' is lost in deep shadows, while his cover persona is vivid and starkly drawn. He sees himself the same way Sonny saw himself when he looked in the mirror as Burnett. What's real is the cover. The show never grounded him in much of anything else, just like the FBI left Artie under for too long and then tried to evade responsibility. 

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5 hours ago, Robbie C. said:

(snipped)They wheel Caroline and/or Billy in when they want to make a point in an episode, but you don't hear about them otherwise. When you try writing a solid story for Crockett you discover just how much of his story they leave blank, which is exceedingly unusual for any series main character. Crockett is more of a window than a fully-realized character throughout quite a bit of the series. This quality makes him quite vivid in individual episodes, but doesn't hold the same depth as (say) Tubbs and his repeated encounters with Valerie or Castillo and his ever-present past.

We see this (perhaps unintentionally) with Artie/Arthur. His 'real self' is lost in deep shadows, while his cover persona is vivid and starkly drawn. He sees himself the same way Sonny saw himself when he looked in the mirror as Burnett. What's real is the cover. The show never grounded him in much of anything else, just like the FBI left Artie under for too long and then tried to evade responsibility. 

I definitely noticed this in regard to Caroline and Billy's appearances, but until you raised this issue, I never thought of Crockett in the same way you're describing.  Your comment about Artie Rollins, and Sonny losing himself in his undercover persona to the point that the cover takes over hit home.  I am wondering how much of that was intentional for the writers/Michael Mann, etc., and how much is only detectable in hindsight.  Based on some past comments about Mann's other work, it seems likely that some of it was purposeful.

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vor 8 Stunden schrieb Robbie C.:

Crockett is more of a window

Thats remarkable! When I saw MV first, I thought, Crockett is something like "translucent". Hard to find an expression.

But nevertheless Crockett is a very real character for me. I think, it is typically for MV to tell a lot not ecplicit.

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