Episode #59 "The Savage" ("Duty & Honor")


Ferrariman

Recommended Posts

  • 1 year later...
Guest neworder

Apart from the scene with Blood & Roses by The Smithereens, the scene where Castillo & Trang go after The savage at the house and the scene with the car chase, this episode doesn’t have much merit. In traditional Castillo episode fashion it’s fairly ridiculous, tries to be deep and just comes off incredibly boring. Castillo’s friend trang is a terrible actor, can’t hear what he says half the time and his voice over for the letter at the end was fairly stupid and not vice like. This is the worst Castillo episode, the joint weakest episode (with Killshot) of Season 3 SO FAR and it bored me a lot but it does have a few merits as I’ve already mentioned and as per usual, EJO acts well. 5/10

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Season 3 is so great around this period. There are a lot of very strong episodes in succession, and this is one of them.The Savage is excellent. A very high quality episode. Good story, well directed and acted and it holds your attention the whole way through. Good intro that juxtaposes the murder in Vietnam with the murder in Miami 15 years later. I liked the nightime scene where they zero in on The Savage. Trudy and Gina looked fine in that scene. I really liked the car chase that followed. Excellent chase sequence well underscored by The Damned. The second Damned song heard on Vice, not as good as ‘In Dulce Decorum’ though. The climax at Espinosa’s house was tense and well done.Haing S. Ngor did a good job. The actor playing The Savage did a good job too. He was very convincing as a psycho killer.Moe from Slap Shot made an excellent guest star. He gave a very good performance. Looks like he finally went to FLA for the sweet snatch. Some lovely scenery and location work in this ep including Espinosa’s house and the hotels of both Coleman and The Savage. Coleman’s hotel was the Park Central on Ocean Drive.The music was good, the aforementioned Damned song and ‘White Rabbit’ by Jefferson Airplane is a classic song. Some nice Jan Hammer tunes too.By far my favourite scene in the ep is the closing scene on the beach. A glorious scene. It’s looks so gorgeous. The clear blue sky and the sparkling blue sea water. Stunning. Miami is so photogenic. That scene always makes me wish I was there. I love South Beach. It’s my favourite place on Earth. Beautiful closing scene.Overall The Savage is an excellent episode. 9/10

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Years later I still couldn't agree more with Tommy's review above. This is a great episode that gets under your skin a bit. Michael Wright as "The Savage" was great and gave a credible performance which felt layered. Brad Sullivan who would go on to play a sheriff in Johnson's "Dead-Bang" also gives a solid performance as the handler Jack Coleman. The music and cinematography were top-notch and made for a dark, foreboding episode and the final scenes were top-notch. Heck might be enough to bump this up to a 10/10.

Edited by agent 47
New review due to Blu-ray viewing.
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I find funny about these polls is that SOMEBODY always gives every episode a 10. Even episodes that are bad.Can it be confired or denied that every poll so far has at least one 10?I can't wait till I see the poll for MIRACLE MAN or MISSING HOURS.SOMEBODY will give it a perfect 10 too. :D

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The "Savage" got a new name "Duty & Honor". I wouldn't call this one of my favorites, but it was an interesting episode because of Castillo's mystique. I wonder if his ponytail in 'Nam was real or a wig? The serial killer was a real sick person, but Colman turned out to be a sick savage also. I liked the car chase but there wasn't enough Sonny & Rico in this for me. The ending confused me. I thought Espinoza was killed but it must have been his bodyguard. Castillo with all his training, went around the doorway with his back to it & got stabbed. Didn't seem likely. I rate this a 6 . P.S. - I like "Miracle Man" but not 10 points worth! :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I find funny about these polls is that SOMEBODY always gives every episode a 10. Even episodes that are bad.Can it be confired or denied that every poll so far has at least one 10?I can't wait till I see the poll for MIRACLE MAN or MISSING HOURS.SOMEBODY will give it a perfect 10 too. :D

Coop, you've just named 2 of my favourite vice episodes!:D
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Coop' date=' you've just named 2 of my favourite vice episodes!:D[/quote']I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!! :)(After my post a few hours ago, now three more people are dick'in with us and have given this episode three more perfect 10's. Now FOUR people think it was a perfect 10? C'mon man, you can't be serious. This is a flawed poll.)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My original review 05 July 2007 at 5:10pmThis is another episode I like. I rate it an 8. I like the musical choices used in this episode. Jan Hammer's East Asian music at the beginning helps depict the scene from early 1970's Vietnam. I don't know the geography enough to know what those neon lights at the beginning were supposed to depict, but it helped set the stage along with Hammer's music that we were suppose to be in a foreign country in Asia. Also nice touch showing Castillo looking vastly different than he does in present day 1987. "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane was a perfect kind of song to depict that the veterans were still living in the past with their nightmares. Again we get a little glimpse of Crockett's past as he tells the doc that he served two tours in Vietnam (In Country) DJ does a good job showing Crockett's reluctance to do what he has to do and his empathy with their pain. "Blood and Roses" was spot on showing Frank picking up the hooker and doing the murder "...I want to love but it comes out wrong..." while Crockett and Tubbs are busy talking to these vets with their nightmares. "It was long ago seems like yesterday ...I want to live but I don't belong..." "Anything" was a good choice musically for the chase scene between Frank and Crockett, it had a nice beat and very intense and it was kind of dark rather than perky. It's interesting that they set up the next episode with Theresa and Crockett being interrupted on the St. Vitus, and how he's obviously comfortable about leaving her alone on the St. Vitus even though he doesn't want to report to duty. Evidently Theresa is quite at home on the St, Vitus since Crockett tells her not to tease Elvis. That sounds like something he'd tell Tubbs. This is quite a contrast to Crockett with other women. The only other woman we see him with that is that familiar with the St. Vitus and with Elvis is Gina. The rest of the episode is kind of far out there, but only because we're asked to suspend our belief that this former Saigon cop has all this access to things. I know he's a friend of Marty's and they investigated the hooker killings in Saigon, but a civilian from Galveston TX former cop or no shouldn't have had that much access. He must have been a good friend though since he obviously was staying with Castillo, but even if he had all that access to OCB, I can't believe that Marty would take him with him to meet an ex CIA spook. The character of Frank was interesting. He obviously was mentally unstable because he had been hurt bad by a hooker in Saigon, he tells Coleman that he tried not to do the hooker killings and only do the job, but it's obvious that he can't separate the two. He's in as much pain as some of those veterans. When we see him begin to kill the hooker, it's obvious that he's in pain and distress about it. So the bad guy we thought was the bad guy like Tran said was only a weapon and was being used by the real villain Coleman. When I first saw this episode back in 2001, I was shocked that Coleman got killed at the end, I was also shocked that Castillo's pal was really an operative for North Vietnam. 12/9/09 - I have not yet been able to see this episode recently, when I do, I'll see if my original review fits my now day impressions. So I will not voting in the poll yet. I originally gave this an 8 but when I view it again in the next few days, maybe I'll feel differently.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I find funny about these polls is that SOMEBODY always gives every episode a 10. Even episodes that are bad.Can it be confired or denied that every poll so far has at least one 10?I can't wait till I see the poll for MIRACLE MAN or MISSING HOURS.SOMEBODY will give it a perfect 10 too. :D

I guess somebody just l:happy:ves Miami Vice so much they can't find a single problem with any episode, that or Anthony Yerkovich is hiding out on the site somewhere and takes turns with Dick Wolf rating the episodes.By the way Shill, I agree, that burger was awesome.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I thought it was a good episode and I gave it an 8. Maybe it did not have enough of Crockett and Tubbs. Who cares? This was a story dealing with Castillo's past so naturally the focus should be on him. Castillo is a mysterious character and not a whole lot is known about him. So anytime a story focuses on him it is a good opportunity to find out a little more about his background.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

best thing about this episode is the burger and fries meal near the end. man that ketchup looked tasty. i gave this a 6

It did look appetising, until the Savage shoved his hand into it. Not that that seemed to put Coleman off. Never insult a man while you are having a good meal!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess "Duty and Honor " was more Politically Correct! I thought it was one the better ones of the season...with one of the best endings with the guy getting knifed. Also like the part where Sonny had Gina speak to him in Viet Namese. I'll give it an 8.:tasse_prost:
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another solid episode I thought. I thought they did a good job of making EJO look younger. EJO did a good acting job here as well because Castillo came across more forceful and dynamic during this first scene. This contrasted with the later more reserved and serious Castillo. A difference that you would expect to come with age.I'll expand on this review later, but in the meantime I'll give this episode 8 out of 10.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another solid episode I thought. I thought they did a good job of making EJO look younger. EJO did a good acting job here as well because Castillo came across more forceful and dynamic during this first scene. This contrasted with the later more reserved and serious Castillo. A difference that you would expect to come with age.I'll expand on this review later' date=' but in the meantime I'll give this episode 8 out of 10.[/quote']If you look real close, it looks like they put makeup over Castillo's 'stash. If I could grow one like that, I wouldn't shave it off either! He does look younger.In an early ep, you can see his eyeliner and makeup. Wonder how things will look in Blu-Ray?:clap:We got a 50" High Def for Christmas. You can count Annie (Rene) Wershing's freckles on "24!'...not that I mind.:o
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you look real close' date=' it looks like they put makeup over Castillo's 'stash. If I could grow one like that, I wouldn't shave it off either! He does look younger.[/color']

Really? I'll have to rewatch that scene because I never noticed that. I assumed he'd shaved it off and the scene was pre-filmed inbetween Seasons 2 and 3 or post filmed between Seasons 3 and 4, and EJO had just regrown the tasche in the meantime.Speaking of looking young, the major flaw to this episode was using Michael Wright in the title role. Considering that the episode was set in 1986, he looked way too young to have been a proficient serial killer and combat soldier in 1972. I looked up his bio, and Michael Wright was actually 25 when this episode was filmed, which would have made him 11 years old during the period when the Hooker killings were supposed to have taken place. They should have used someone who was at least 35 to play the part.Again I loved Jan Hammer's music during this episode, and I thought his music was particularly strong during this period of Vice. I loved the music right at the start of the episode and also his spooky music during the finale where Castillo and his Vietnamese buddy break into Espinoza's house.By complete coincidence, the hotel where the Savage was staying was the same hotel that I stayed in during my 07 and 08 trips to Miami. This hotel is now the Best Western on the corner of 11th and Washington on Southbeach. The whole lobby area looks exactly the same as it did back then. It was awe inspiring to be checking in at the very same desk that DJ jumped over in the episode.I don't know what anybody else thought, but personally I could have done with subtitles to hear what Haing S Ngor was saying.I love how once again you see Crockett's intuitive radar working at full steam when when he realises that the guy on the opposite side of the road may be the killer. I love the subsequent car chase. "Anything" is a great tune. There is a small continuity goof here though. The chase starts in downtown Miami and only two minutes later ends several miles away in Southbeach.All in all a good episode, and like I say I'll give it 8 out of 10.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
  • 2 months later...

I liked this one, I give it an 8. Not much Sonny and Rico but I also really like Castillo so it's a nice change.The only thing that was really stupid to me was Gina screaming "Miami Vice" right away; all the guy did was grab her hands! A bit overreacting on her part :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.