Episode #31 "Bought And Paid For"


Ferrariman

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You may be right...that could be what she was referring to! However' date=' I wouldn't consider what happened to Gina, in "Give a Little, Take a Little" rape. She got too "involved" in her undercover role and let things go too far without any backup. Earlier in that episode Trudy tried to talk Gina into not going with Young that night without anyone there...but Gina wouldn't listen. Later she didn't know how to say no, without breaking her cover, so she just went along with it. Afterwards, of course, she felt horrible and "dirty". It was a bad situation...but not really rape. However, that may be what Gina was referring to in this episode...I guess she could compare Young treating her like a sex-slave and/or less than human, to Odette being treated that way by Arroyo. So, I bet you're right and that's what Gina meant with her comment. I've just always not quite figured out what she was referring to and have wondered about it. Thanks! :thumbsup:[/quote']huh you just described rape lol..Doesn't really matter that it was on the job. Trudy does some of her best acting when she finds out what happens, heartbreaking man.
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huh you just described rape lol..Doesn't really matter that it was on the job. Trudy does some of her best acting when she finds out what happens' date=' heartbreaking man.[/quote']I just described rape? No...not really. If Young had forced Gina to have sex after she'd said no or refused it (like Odette had with Arroyo)...then we'd be talking rape. Gina had the option to say no and walk out...yes it would have blown her cover (as at that point Young didn't know she was a cop and thought she was just a high-class hooker) but she still could have done it. Young did not force her to have sex, and even though she didn't want to Gina eventually went along with it...all to not blow her cover. So, actually being on the job did have something to do with Gina's situation.It was a compromising situation and dumb to put herself in it...Trudy was right that she should have not gone to Young's house alone. But, it still wasn't rape. However, I suppose Gina could still feel sexually violated in a way, and could somewhat relate to Odette.Both Gina and Trudy did superb acting jobs in this one and "Give a Little, Take a Little"! :clap:
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  • 1 year later...

This episode was good because the disgusting sleazebag got what he deserved. He thought he could do whatever he wanted because daddy is rich. Odette shouldn't have accepted the money and was naive to think that he would leave her alone. All his dad paying did was just give him a ticket in his mind to make her his sex slave. Gina stood up for what was right, and it's sad that she doubted herself there for a while. It is appalling that he was going to get away with everything because of his money, and he thought he owned people. As for what Gina did in the end when she shot him, she was well within her rights. He had broken into her home and was going to rape her. It didn't matter that he dropped his weapon. Just the fact that he had unlawfully entered her residence and was going to physically attack her makes it 100% self-defense. Also as to the matter of whether Gina was raped in the other episode, it is obvious she did not want to have sex with  Ramirez, and she felt violated. It's just lousy writing though that the made that happen to her character, because it's not believable that a trained cop would 1. not bring a (hidden) gun and 2. even when she didn't bring a gun, she still could have defended herself against him given that she's a trained officer. We already know she can easily take care of herself. They made her a total idiot in that episode, wrote her completely out-of-character, I don't know what the hell they were thinking, but it was definitely a wrong move on the writers' part there. Back to this episode, it was an okay episode, not the most exciting of plots, but it was good because it showed that piece of crap Arroyo getting what he deserved, good thing that Gina ended his measly life, and I bet even his father was glad about his demise.

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  • 5 months later...

(snipped)  :clap: After the outstanding EJO-episode Bushido, the niveau of the story is enormous - and Bought and Paid for IS able to hold a candle to it! :clap: The combination of a deeply touching plot, fantastic music, good humour, cool fashion and first-class style fits more than perfectly together! The plot is terribly real: a rich and coward mollycoddle rapes Gina's friend Odette who hasn't the heart to press charges against him. So Gina tries to nail him down.The situation of Gina is very real, I think. She can't help Odette when Odette won't testify. This is the difficult legal situation of rape. (snipped) I like the Sonny's part in Bought And Paid For. Everybody notices that he still loves Gina and he wants to help her to arrest Arroyo unconditionally. (snipped)  Interesting is that Sonny isn't as hot-headed as he's otherwise! He tries to keep a cool head and to look at the case objectively and realistically. Wonderful is the scene when he solaces Gina and Karla Bonoff's masterpiece Cold Wind Blows begins :radio: - one of the best songs of VICE! Unfortunately Bonoff didn't release it because it's so emotional and touching ... also the instrumental at the end.However the story leads in the death of Arroyo. He can't withstand his desire to rape a police woman and Gina has to shoot him.This end is typical for VICE because it's arguable whether Gina provoked Arroyo to assault her (and so she has a reason to arrest him) or not... All in all a very very awesome episode with good music (I'm So Afraid, You Wear It Well and Rhythm Of The Night), brilliant style and a first class plot!10 of 10 points!

 

This episode has one of the strongest plots of the series and packs an emotional wallop! I agree that it's one of the best and has a storyline that is true to life.  Odette, played by Lynn Whitfield, is a very believable young girl who has come to America in search of a better life for herself and also for her family, still home in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.  To that end, she sends her mother $50 every week and is proud to be able to do so.  If the show actually told us what Odette's job was, I missed it.  Since she had worked in the Arroyo home as a domestic (and apparently quit due to Nico Arroyo's behavior to the young women who worked there), my impression was that she was basically an independent contractor who cleaned house for people (Gina perhaps being one of them).  Gina thinks of Odette as a friend, but she may also have been Gina's employee in that sense.  Odette likes Gina and appreciates her job (whatever it is) but she has lived most of her life as a powerless member of the underclass, and she doesn't trust the US legal system to protect her after she is raped by Arroyo the first time.  She knows how powerful people like the Arroyos can get their way through the use of bribes and threats.  She thinks if she doesn't make waves, she can continue her quiet life.  Gina is furious with Arroyo and still influenced by her own feelings of powerlessness after Ramirez forced himself on her.  She did push Odette to press charges and could not see the circumstances from Odette's point of view.  Once Sonny understood that Gina was still reacting to her own sexual attack, he gently helped her to see why Odette was unwilling to stand up to the Arroyos.  This was another instance, as seen throughout the series, of Sonny's empathic ability to relate to women victims. 

 

I felt that General Arroyo may possibly have intended his payoff of Odette's mother to simply be a way to buy her silence.  He told his son to stay away from her.  But the unintended consequence was that Nico indeed felt that the Arroyo money had bought him the right to do as he pleased with Odette.  When she discovered this was his intention--to use her for sex whenever he felt like it--she could not face continued existence.  The $10,000 had guaranteed her mom and sisters a good life, but now her own life was ruined.  Her friend, Gina, didn't understand before...why would she understand better now?  It had all turned out just like Gina had said.  No longer able to hope, she ended her life.

 

Throughout the episode, the music suited the events and emotions beautifully.  Cold Wind Blows is especially awesome, but I'm So Afraid, You Wear it Well, and Rhythm of the Night add great atmosphere as well.  During Cold Wind Blows, I especially noted the way the thunder sound accentuated what's happening.  I don't know if the thunder was added for the show, or if it's part of the original song, but it's great.

 

A little humor to lighten the mood:  I had to chuckle when Gina, Sonny, Rico and Odette went to the club and Gina tries to get Sonny on the dance floor.  "I've got a trick knee; every time somebody asks me to dance it goes out" (or similar).  It's especially funny in this ep because earlier, when he was pursuing Arroyo on foot, the knee didn't seem to bother him at all :)   And it was funny when Gina invited him for dinner after her date stood her up and he was so nonchalant about it.  Instead of allowing her feelings to be hurt, she made a little face and said something to the effect of "better than nothing" ;).  I was glad later when they were showing more affection for each other, though  :) 

 

It was also pretty cool to notice the color coordination in this episode (because sometimes I don't pay that much attention to the colors!):  When Gina and Trudy are called into Castillo's office, both of their outfits coordinate with the pink walls in his office (and are very close in color to the pink appliances in Gina's apartment).  Sonny wears a pink henley and Gina continues with the pink outfits for most of the ep.

 

Finally:  it seems most here feel that Gina did try to lure Nico Arroyo to her apartment at the end so she could dispense justice to him.  I agree it's possible and fits with Gina's usual modus operandi (her passion for justice overrides her ability to let the justice system work).  I truly like Gina as a character (and wish she, as well as the rest of the team, had been developed more), but she does let it get personal.  But I think if she was really expecting him to show up, she would have had her gun under her pillow, instead of needing to reach into her nightstand to get it out of the drawer.  And unless he was terminally stupid, why in the world would he have returned to her apartment, where he'd left "a ton" of trace evidence already?  I don't think she thought he was that stupid--even though it turned out he actually was.

 

I usually don't give number ratings, since as far as I know the polls are closed.  But I would definitely give this ep a 9 (at least!).  

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  • 1 year later...
  • 1 month later...

Here's a fun fact to add to this thread. Saundra Santiago said these were her personal shades. :thumbsup::happy::fireworks:

 

IMG_6945.JPG

Edited by Dadrian
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On 02/03/2017 at 4:22 AM, Dadrian said:

Here's a fun fact to add to this thread. Saundra Santiago said these were her personal shades. :thumbsup::happy::fireworks:

 

IMG_6945.JPG

Interesting she only wore them in this episode I think ? We didn't see her in shades that much but Crockett lived in them !:):done:

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  • 2 months later...

Another solid episode.

The guy who played Arroyyo was perfect. I liked him in 24. And i really want his pool.

Saundra Santiago, while no Meryl Streep, was a decent actress and she was good here.

Another bland actress with the girl who played Odette. Oh well.

Love the car chase and the music. The nightclub scenes were good too.

Extra point for the ending.

8/10

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  • 1 year later...

Extremely good episode, if I had to nitpick something it'd be that Saundra Santiago could've been a little better in some scenes but she tried her best bless her. The chick who played Odette was cute but her accent was little annoying "Ohh noooo..Geee-naa".

I wish they handled more guest appearances like they did with debarge. They are in a club and there just happens to be a notable performer playing in the background and C&Ts don't really interact with him. Excellent!. Why couldn't more guest stars be like that? I.e Crockett hanging out with the ex-Duran Duran guys bugged me. "Hey RT.." yuck. It reminded me of when the "A-Team" would hang out with Hulk Hogan or Boy George for an episode.

The car chase is one of the best in the whole series, Beautifully shot. I really liked the montage of Odette and Tubbs dancing at the club as her mother is unwittingly flown into Miami and bribed. The Fleetwood Mac song "I'm so afraid" is one of my favourites and Cold Wind Blows is one of the saddest songs ever. That's a song you'd never hear unless you were vice fan so I'm appreciative.

Great stuff. 10/10

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I also really like that song "Cold Wind Blows". It's a shame it never got officially released. It's on youtube somewhere but it's really only a DVD rip off the audio track of that episode.

I think it was never released because Karla Bonoff was in the middle of recording an album and then touring, and this was really just meant as a one-off favor to Miami Vice that she never quite found the time to get back to and release properly as a single.

But yeah, good episode. With all the trimmings.

Edited by Daytona74
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Arroyo's maid was smokin' hot IMO.  I'm not the only one since they put her in a scene where Gina confronts the Arroyo’s maid in a Coral Gables supermarket, but sadly it was cut from the final version.

The huge haired chick in the red dress in the club scene was VERY nice as well.

 

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On 3/1/2017 at 10:22 PM, Dadrian said:

Here's a fun fact to add to this thread. Saundra Santiago said these were her personal shades. :thumbsup::happy::fireworks:

 

IMG_6945.JPG

Muy caliente'!!!!

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  • 2 years later...

Watched it again last night, this episode is so good on so many levels.

In my opinion this is Sandra's best performance on this show, you could really sense cared about this role. Her display is just like when Crockett is in his emotional mode like in "Yankee Dollar" or "Buddies"

I love her in this.

10/10.

Edited by RedDragon86
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  • 5 months later...
On 5/26/2009 at 5:43 PM, COOPER&BURNETT said:

or Trudy doing yet ANOTHER version of that line somewhere else in the series.

I think that was Trudy in 'Hell Hath No Fury'

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Watched this last night and it's a great episode. It deals with a controversial topic as well and gets away from the usual drug smuggling and related crimes.

Most of all, I liked the car chase and the scene between Sonny and Gina at the disco when he mentions the tricked knee as the reason for not going to dance.And the intro was fantastic, one of the best. We have Switek being annoyed at Gina (to Zito amusement) for her going back to the shop and making everyone wait. The OCB gang then breaks in the warehouse for the bust and the meeting turns out to be about some sweetener powder (due to a bad tip). Then Izzy steals the mighty bug van! (how dare he!?) I particularly liked the Jan Hammer score during this episode intro sequence.

A true MV episode with the perp. seemingly getting away with murder/rape/insert crime name and getting shot right before the episode ends on a freeze frame (sort of similar to Traynor demise in 'rites of passage'). Although sometimes this is not the case.

And i do agree with people saying Arroyo has been stupid to just walk in Gina's with a knife. That was just like asking for trouble! This scene must have been done to reward the viewers and those (most people) who dislike Arroyo. I'd say it could have worked too if the same character came back in another episode of S2 or later.

Last but not least Gina/Saundra Santiago looks absolutely gorgeous with her "real life" black shades :p.

This deserves a solid 8/10.

Edited by sdiegolo78
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On 10/7/2010 at 6:53 PM, sunnyburnett said:

Where was Tubbs...he only made a few appearance. Was he out filming something?

He was rehearsing his dance moves for the disco scene with Odette.

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48 minutes ago, sdiegolo78 said:

Watched this last night and it's a great episode. It deals with a controversial topic as well and gets away from the usual drug smuggling and related crimes.

Most of all, I liked the car chase and the scene between Sonny and Gina at the disco when he mentions the tricked knee as the reason for not going to dance.And the intro was fantastic, one of the best. We have Switek being annoyed at Gina (to Zito amusement) for her going back to the shop and making everyone wait. The OCB gang then breaks in the warehouse for the bust and the meeting turns out to be about some sweetener powder (due to a bad tip). Then Izzy steals the mighty bug van! (how dare he!?) I particularly liked the Jan Hammer score during this episode intro sequence.

A true MV episode with the perp. seemingly getting away with murder/rape/insert crime name and getting shot right before the episode ends on a freeze frame (sort of similar to Traynor demise in 'rites of passage'). Although sometimes this is not the case.

And i do agree with people saying Arroyo has been stupid to just walk in Gina's with a knife. That was just like asking for trouble! This scene must have been done to reward the viewers and those (most people) who dislike Arroyo. I'd say it could have worked too if the same character came back in another episode of S2 or later.

Last but not least Gina/Saundra Santiago looks absolutely gorgeous with her "real life" black shades :p.

This deserves a solid 8/10.

I never really had a issue with Arroyo walking in on Gina with a knife. I put it down to what he was, an arrogant sociopath.

Someone back mentioned that it was silly for him to come at Gina while she was pointing a gun at him, but that was before he knew she was armed, hence the reason he put it down. Maybe he was hoping she wouldn't wake up and threaten her up close with the knife. 

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2 hours ago, RedDragon86 said:

Maybe he was hoping she wouldn't wake up and threaten her up close with the knife. 

She's a light sleeper for sure :)

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On 9/9/2015 at 1:47 AM, vicegirl85 said:

 But I think if she was really expecting him to show up, she would have had her gun under her pillow, instead of needing to reach into her nightstand to get it out of the drawer.  And unless he was terminally stupid, why in the world would he have returned to her apartment, where he'd left "a ton" of trace evidence already?  I don't think she thought he was that stupid--even though it turned out he actually was.

Good point. I do think Arroyo had brains of a dishwasher at best. And yes he did out to be moronic. He was hoping to surprise her in her sleep. They could have probably scripted that scene better with some physical struggle and Gina reaching out for the gun in the drawer to shoot.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'll never forget the first time I saw this one...I was spending the night at a friend's house and although my family didn't always watch MV every Friday night...his family did. So, I got to see a lot of the first couple seasons of the show originally that way.

Anyway, this one really impacted me! The acting jobs were superb & very heartfelt, and it was a very emotional episode for Gina...and of course for Odette! You really "feel" for them, and want to jump in to help! Very sad and tragic ;(—but captivating still the same. The girl who played Odette did an amazing job & was very believable! :clap:

I loved the chase scene towards the beginning between Crockett and Arroyo...and I love Gina's awesome white '71 Mercury Cougar Convertible! :thumbsup: I wish they had shown it more, like Crockett's Ferrari and Tubbs' Caddy. The music, the teal/aqua & pink MV colors of the buildings/clothes, the acting performances, the action, etc...everything was there! :glossy: 

Love Gina’s scene when she baits Arroyo towards the end...the coral dress and her (Saundra Santiago’s) real-life sunglasses were beautiful and captivating—wished she’d of worn more dresses like that! :happy: 

The ever-famous "abrupt" Michael Mann ending (with Gina shooting Arroyo, the camera freezing on her face, and the credits roll) is awesome and definitely a “fitting” ending for the Arroyo! The rape & attack scenes are hard for me to watch, as they seem so real, but this one is always intersting and fun to watch. Overall I really like this one, and I originally gave it a 9...still stand by that!  :clap:

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  • 2 months later...

Superb episode! and I think the reason why Tubbs didn't interact with Sonny so much is he was too pre-occupied with Gina.

These episode are the reason why I feel in love with the show.

Lynn was magic and Joaquim de Almeida is one the best villains in the entire run. 10/10.

Edited by RedDragon86
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  • 1 month later...

This is an episode that really makes my blood boil.  Sweet Lynn Whitfield being taking advantage of by smug creep Joaquim de Almeida. Just when you think everything's going to be all right for her, the gods of tragedy rain down hard.  Karla Bonoff's "Cold Wind Blows" is haunting in that scene with the ambulance. 

We really need comedy relief in this one, and we get it with Switek, Zito, Izzy, Manny and the bug van.  

Oh, so manipulative the way Gina set up Nico Arroyo to entice him into paying her a visit at night so she could shoot him as an intruder.  Talk about crossing the line, talk about entrapment..... But, eh, who cares.  The dude was a psycho a-hole of the first degree. 

Edited by Jack Gretsky
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