Episode #40 "The Fix "


Ferrariman

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  • 1 year later...

A bit like Out Where the Buses Don't Run I'm a bit annoyed in that I knew what was going to happen at the end of this one before watching it - had seen the ending shot by accident when it was on one of the cable channels a year or two ago. But having said that I actually still managed to enjoy it as a full ep. Likes: Possibly the most Season-3-esque style ep outside of Season 3 ! This is a dark episode circling around the theme of something corrupt in the high levels of the justice system itself, and so it feels like the typical subject matter of Season 3. You can see how much this gets to the team at OCB when Sonny himself talks about 'destroying any remaining semblance of faith in the justice system', and then again the reaction of Castillo towards it when he finds out. When we see the Judge killing himself at the end this also IMO steps over the line from several S2 eps where we have a 'close shave' of an ending (eg. Buddies, Bought and Paid For), towards a more dark and desperate ending as seen in several S3 eps (eg. Good Collar, Forgive Us Our Debts). I think the end of Season 2 is building-up nicely to Season 3 from this angle. I also like the way the father-son relationship works in this one between the Judge and his son - the realisation that the son would have nothing to give away if it weren't for his father's striving in earlier days - the fact that the Judge even walks doubled-over like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. I also think the loan-shark who had the Judge by the short & curlies was one of the most convincing 'baddies' we ever see in MV - he is so easy to hate and says exactly what I'd expect him to say eg.'do you think the people I do business with even care about sitting the game out?' and 'Take your time... you got 2 days' - I hated him but he was very credible IMO. I also liked the heart-to-heart that Sonny has with the Judge on the bench at the ballpark - nice touch for him to mention Billy as well - I like this reflective role that Sonny often takes on in MV. Freeze-frame of Sonny's face at the end is excellent - 2 seconds later I can only imagine that he must have been in tears after that freeze. Great final shot - again very Season 3-esque. Dislikes: In essence the plot is pretty simple by MV standards, feels a little bit slow in places, and seems to lack something of that usual Season 2 style. Overall I think I give this an 8 out of 10.

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First off I found the Picture/Sound quality for this episode appalling, visually it looks extremely dated and like its 25 years old unlike the majority of Vice eps which have mostly stood the test of time.This aside, its a fairly standard episode. I like all the music usage, quite a lot of it. I enjoy the horse racing/grehound racing scene as I myself enjoy the races. Fairly standard story, plods along at a reasonable pace. Story is basically re-used in Killshot and Hard Knocks. I love the intro and the scenery in it. Some other nice scenery usage. Basically a standard episode, doesn't do anything wrong really, except a few minor hiccups in Fergusons acting. 7/10

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The Fix is a quite terrible. What a boring episode. Another one of those 'Is it over yet?' season 2 episodes. Slow paced, no good music, weak storyline, underdeveloped characters, no action and even the style was lacking.The intro in the bird sanctuary was quite good but it was downhill from there.The courtroom looked ridiculous. Do they really expect us to believe a courtroom would look like that?Racing track and basketball scenes weren't very interesting and seemed like filler.The acting by Bill Russell and his son was atrocious and I didn't like gravelly voiced Harvey Fierstein either. The disgraced Michael Richards was alright in his part.An episode with practically no merit. 3.5/10

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I forgot all about this episode! Man it's a good one! Starts out with pictures of beautiful tropical birds & tropical plants. All this from Miami Vice helped me make the decision to move to Florida, btw. We also get a dose of Tubbs' humor about "natural habitat" like having an alligator on a sailboat, while Crockett rolls his eyes . We also get to see the horse races & dog races in Miami plus college basketball. Rico wanted him & Crockett to relax with a Pin~a Collada, but Sonny opted for the basketball game, & a fast ride there in the Daytona. I feel bad for the judge, who got in too deep with the loan sharks and had to hurt his son's future in sports. He's a real nice kid too! The worst though is Sonny has to see another person kill themselves right before his eyes! A lot of episodes end this way! "The Fix" kept my interest throughout! The courtroom also caught my attention. It looked liked the Museum of Modern Art! Love that Bird Sanctuary! I give it a 9!

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As I've said before, this ep will always have a special place in my heart because it is the first ep I ever watched all the way through. The open is amazing, the story is solid, it's got "Water's Too Deep" and you get to see Kramer as a bad guy.Bill Russell's "acting" was painful, true, and so was his son's. The courtroom set was ridiculous. But the good far outweighs the bad in this one.(An aside. My wife and I have cats instead of children, and they become like your kids. I was watching this on DVD a few months ago, and one of my cats came rushing into the room during the open, because of all the bird noises. He sat there transfixed during the whole open, the opening theme, and several minutes after. A total of about 10 minutes. That's an eternity for a cat's attention span. I thought to myself, that's my boy!)

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I kind of like that cubist pastel courtroom! I gave this 10, again for nostalgic reasons and for a great selection of music. I love that lawyer's croaky voice and Ortega was one hot chick to bootEingefügtes Bild

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First off I found the Picture/Sound quality for this episode appalling' date=' [/quote'] I noticed this too - there are a few eps which have a few scenes like this on some of the DVD's - notably the first couple of Seasons although sporadically other seasons also seem to have suffered the same fate. Be interesting to see when/if the HD versions of MV come to DVD whether or not they're able to take from an alternative 'cleaner' source.
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He sat there transfixed during the whole open' date=' the opening theme, and several minutes after. A total of about 10 minutes. That's an eternity for a cat's attention span.[/quote'] :):):)
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To me, this is THE best episode of Season Two, they could have put this one out on it's own for $43.99 and it would have still have been worth the purchase.A great story, terrific acting, great music, and some of the best moments of season two (the basketball game specifically).That song by P. Machinery is one of the best songs on the show, the cinematography on this episode is some of the best on the season.I'm giving it a 10 only because the laws of the world forbid higher scores!

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I gave it a five and I was being considerate and I don't know why...Better than the prior couple of episodes but not by much...Surprisingly Michael Richards didn't do too bad for a 'bad guy' and from today's standards, I kinda expected him to stumble into something or the "gidigity" was gonna come out... This is sad, the story was way too played out as you kinda knew what was gonna happen and I can't believe Sonny didn't shoot the judge in the leg or arm to stop him with the hand cannon...At least the judge had a sweet car...The AMG...There's one in my neighborhood I've been chewing on and yep, as other's have said, the birds were cool although I had questioned look upon my face as this didn't fit for what I'm accustomed to in Vice and Shill, your right...Ortega looks yummy...Thanx for the photo...Until it gets way better next week, Mike...Oh yeah I almost forgot...Gina...Yeah, she always looks good, yet in uniform....Man-O-Man....BABY!!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:....Mike

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At least the judge had a sweet car...The AMG...

But wasn't that just the saddest dang thing you've ever seen, this big, tall guy sitting hunched over in that tiny car, I didn't know wether I would laugh:) or cry:cry:!
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What I like about the first scene in this episode is the fact that it's one of those starts to an episode that draws you in, simply because you're wondering what's going on. All you can see and hear is a load of birds in an aviary. It's only as the scene really gets underway do you realise that the team is surveilling a drug deal there. When I taped this episode the first time round when I was about 14, we had a pet Budgerigar that used to go mental when I played the first minute of this episode.What I didn't understand was, why did the dealer shoot and kill what appeared to be his associate, yet leave Burleois unharmed, merely snatching the briefcase from him and running off? I guess we didn't get to find out the full story there.I don't know about anyone else, but if you look closely, I don't think that was DJ running down those steps after the deal goes sour. DJ's double always had slightly different hair.Scenes at the beginning like the racecourse scene at the beginning (accompanied by Madonna's "Gambler") may suggest that this is a style over substance episode in places. However the scene did have a purpose, it demonstrated how much of an addicted Gambler Ferguson was. I also thought that this scene, like many others in Vice served as an excellent promotional video for Miami itself, in a way that other Miami based tv shows and films haven't done. Another example was in "Florence Italy", when we see the scenes of the Miami grand prix.What didn't add up was the fact that Crockett and Tubbs are astonished as to the obviously suspicious leniency that Ferguson grants Ortega, yet for what appears to be some time, Ferguson has managed to do what he's done whilst slipping underneath everyone else's radar. At the very least you would think there would be some kind of Federal body that would monitor the statistics of court case results, precisely to make sure that no frauds were taking place. In addition it would only take one newspaper to point the finger of suspicion at one of Ferguson's verdits for the proper authorities to conduct an audit on Ferguson's cases. Yet it appears that everyone's existed in a state of sleep until Crockett and Tubbs came along, by which time Ferguson is in too deep anyway.My favourite scene was the "P Machinery" scene at the basketball arena. I was always a fan of Propaganda in the 80's, and this was one of their classic songs, especially considering that it was an extended version. As a bonus there were even some cheerleaders in the scene!I'll write more on this episode later, but for the time being, although it's not one of my favourites, I thought it was good none the less. 8 out of 10.

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What didn't add up was the fact that Crockett and Tubbs are astonished as to the obviously suspicious leniency that Ferguson grants Ortega' date=' yet for what appears to be some time, Ferguson has managed to do what he's done whilst slipping underneath everyone else's radar. At the very least you would think there would be some kind of Federal body that would monitor the statistics of court case results, precisely to make sure that no frauds were taking place. In addition it would only take one newspaper to point the finger of suspicion at one of Ferguson's verdits for the proper authorities to conduct an audit on Ferguson's cases. Yet it appears that everyone's existed in a state of sleep until Crockett and Tubbs came along, by which time Ferguson is in too deep anyway.[/quote'] Has Ferguson been bent for a long time? Maybe I need to re-watch, I didn't get that feeling from anything said by anyone in the ep? But I guess he could've been betting on less suspicious facts pertaining to his cases which might not have been so easily auditable eg. a bet on the amount of bail being less than $10,000 rather than a bet on an actual result of a case. It could be that Ferguson was slipping more and more into debt or was becoming more and more desperate to pay off his debts so he was prepared to take bigger risks and perhaps the Ortega case was just one of the first of those big risks, or even the first.
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Story is basically re-used in Killshot and Hard Knocks.

Perhaps there are similarities but I think this is a better ep overall - not sure why - maybe something emotive (or even more credible?) to do with the whole 'got meself out of the ghetto' race issue. Interestingly though the final freeze-frame in Killshot is perhaps even more stylish than the similar final shot at the end of this ep.
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I gave it a 7/10...I think the story was a good one, but the acting wasn't good enough. The Judge needed to be more emotionally intense. With better acting, it could have been a 9/10.

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Episode #40As someone mentioned before, I found this episode boring. The only part I liked was when Sonny met the judge in the park and they had that heart to heart. Other than that, I, too found myself waiting impatiently for the credits. Sorry, but I give it a 5/10.

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Perhaps there are similarities but I think this is a better ep overall - not sure why - maybe something emotive (or even more credible?) to do with the whole 'got meself out of the ghetto' race issue. Interestingly though the final freeze-frame in Killshot is perhaps even more stylish than the similar final shot at the end of this ep.

Yeah I prefer it to Killshot, not sure about Hard Knocks though think I may prefer that slightely more, probs because it involves Stan instead of a character who's just been introduced, the stuff that happens means more because we know him better as a character.
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I gave it a 7. I just view it in the whole with S2, and the music and clothes and feel of the season just keeps me happy. I've nothing bad to say, after all, Danny Sullivan gets the S2 Bad Acting Award.

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Has Ferguson been bent for a long time?

Yes my friend, it's deal with in a scene that takes place between Crockett and Tubbs at OCB after the Ortega Court scene. Crockett and Tubbs have done some digging. Crockett's checked Ferguson's history of sentancing, whereas Tubbs has made some candid enquiries with some people at the Justice building. Crockett tells Tubbs that he's uncovered a string of "nickle and dime bonds" which Ferguson granted to major Dealers, whereas Tubbs says that the people at the Department of Justice have long since nicknamed Ferguson as "Let em run Ferguson".
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Yea, he talked to Ebersol (sp), and he was the one that said robbery had nick named him "let em run, Furguson".

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Ah ok cheers guys... I guess your point then Papa would hold some water - yeah you have to ask wouldn't the press have picked-up on it earlier...

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I think there's common themes between this episode, "Hard Knocks" and "Killshot", in all of them had storylines that dealt with blackmail. But other than that I felt like they were all distictive and original in their own rights.I felt that you could really empathise with Ferguson's predicament, and this was of course where the whole idea of the title "The Fix" comes from. He'd dug himself a hole that he couldn't get out of, and no matter what decision he made, it would ultimately harm him or his son. He could have accepted Crockett's olive branch and help them bring down Pagoni. It appeared that the only reason for refusing was his principles "That's how I got into this mess... always lookin to make a deal". Yet he seems to favour the alternative of murdering Pagoni and committing suicide. Working with OCB, he might have avoided any serious jail time by serving Pagoni on a plate to them. Having said this, Crockett's conversation with the District Attorney over the phone did not appear to be going well, so it appeared that the DA might have wanted to throw the book at Ferguson anyway. Wouldn't Ferguson have had to have been arrested first though before the DA got involved in the first place? Ferguson could have also been more apprehensive than most about serving jail time in case he bumped into anybody in there that he'd put away in the past. Plus by this point I think he'd got so ashamed of himself (particularly after he'd gone begging to his own son to sabotage his own career for him), and depressed, that he probably felt like ending it all anyway.I do agree that the acting from Bill Russell and Bernard King was bad, but to be fair to them they were professional Basketball players, not Actors, and the producers had to realise that this was always a sacrifice they were going to have to make when hiring celebrities of the day such as Russell and Danny Sullivan as guest stars to attract viewing figures. To digress for a second, I did think however that Phil Collins did a great acting job in "Phil the Shill" to say it was his first acting role, particularly when you consider that he not only managed to pull off acting in the episode, but also successfully managed (IMHO) to be funny as well.

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