Episode #56 "Down For The Count" Part 1


Ferrariman

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  • 1 year later...
The ending gave me a lump in my throat! Very well done and very memorable! Good build up throughout the episode to the final scene. 8.5/10 (rounded up to 9)
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Here it is. Down For The Count, my favourite episode (tied with Death & The Lady). Pardon me if I rave but Down For The Count is a masterpiece. It is fantastic, brilliant, superb. I can watch it over and over and never get bored of it. Part II is breathtakingly spectacular but Part I is also superb. I love both installments. Suffice it to say, everything that’s great about Vice is here. This is a flawless, brilliantly written and executed two parter. It is superb in every way. This was event episode in that we bid farewell to a regular character, our good friend Larry Zito. They really pulled out all the stops to make it a truly world class Vice episode and they succeeded spectacularly. This episode really shows what a missed opportunity Made For Eachother was. That was such a stupid and instantly forgettable episode. There could have been more episodes like this if Switek and Zito were given a more serious and well written episode early on. Pity.The scene in the intro in Guzman’s house is excellent. Very good character interaction and a shocking moment in Guzman smashing the man’s hand. Guzman’s house looks gorgeous. What a great view. Every time I see this ep I think “I’d love to live there!â€I really liked the boxing theme in this ep. It was original and an effective backdrop to Part I. I liked the scene where Zito and Sykes were sparring with that Jan Hammer tune that was also in Made For Eachother. John Diehl did an absolutely superb job. He was finally given something tangible to do on the show and he shined. His performance was excellent. He really got to expand Zito’s personality and we saw things that we hadn’t seen in the character before. I really enjoyed seeing him having an episode he could really get his teeth into. He was such a grievous loss to the show. I really missed him after he left. But at least he got a great send-off. Too bad there couldn’t have been more episodes like this for Zito. Then maybe John Diehl wouldn’t have left.Oswaldo Guzman is an excellent villain played very well by Pepe Serna. You may remember him getting chopped up with a chainsaw as Angel Fernandez in Scarface.Mark Breland did a good job as Bobby Sykes. He and Zito had really good chemistry and some very good bonding scenes. I especially liked their walk and talk scene at marina. That was a beautiful looking scene. I really liked the boxing montage with the Ratt song ’Dance’. I’m a fan of Ratt. They were a great ’80s metal group. ’Round & Round’ is probably their best known song. The Jan Hammer tunes featured in this ep were fantastic too. This is the first episode directed by Richard Compton, who is my favourite Vice director. He directed some of my favourite episodes including Mirror Image and Line of Fire. Excellent guest stars in this ep. Randall ‘Tex’ Cobb was first rate as Moon. He and Zito had great chemistry. I enjoyed all of his scenes, especially when he was ransacking Guzman’s house (Gorgeous shots of the bay and back of the house in that scene). The confrontation scene between Moon and Guzman was an excellent and quite brutal scene. I enjoyed Don King’s cameo too. Miami / Florida movie regular Antoni Corone was also excellent as Guzman’s lawyer Sordoni. He’s a familiar face to Only Fools and Horses fans. Excellent performances by DJ and PMT in this ep too.The closing scene with Switek discovering Zito’s was done beautifully. ‘There’s A River’ by Steve Winwood was a perfect choice for the scene. You couldn’t have asked for a better song to match the scene. Very nicely played by Talbott when he discovers Zito in the shower. It is a very moving sequence. There’s always something in my way when I see it. Sodifficult to say our final goodbyes to Larry.Down For The Count Part I is a superb episode. Vice doesn’t get much better than this. A perfect 10.And we still have yet to get Part II, an episode that defines Vice excellence

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This has always been one of my favorite episodes, & I was prepared to give it a 10, but now that I'm objectively watching the MV episodes & commenting on them, I must be honest & say I was surprised to find myself thinking that there was not enough MV atmosphere in it. I like boxing, but watching this episode made me feel like I was watching "Rocky" instead of Miami Vice. Finally, John Diehl gets an episode that shows off his acting ability & it's his swan song on MV. He did a great job as the boxer's trainer, & undercover cop. The best scene, although saddest is Switek holding the lifeless body of his partner & friend, with the song "There's a River" by Steve Winward playing in the background. It was hard for me to hold back a tear. I only give this episode a 7 because I felt there were too many boxing scenes for a MV episode, and not enough of Crockett & Tubbs. I'm raising my rating to a 9 for this poll, because of the last scene & the great acting of all involved!

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good review Tommy Vercetti :thumbsup:I like Part 1 more than Part 2. Part 1 had more drama and emotion and you kinda knew the ending would be great! Part 2 didn't have the same intensity.

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Guest neworder

Interesting that some of you have stated you prefer Part 1 to Part 2, I'm the opposite. Part 2 is legendary but more on that next week. One of the big plus points is Zito does get a decent non-cheesy storyline befitting of his character (finally) and unfortunatly it's his last. Guzman is a decent villain. Crockett & Tubbs are interesting in this, they don't seem to show much remorse for Zito when he looses his pal Moon, we don't see this much in Vice because the majority of the time it's either Crockett or Tubbs being affected in this way. They are always pushing Zito into doing things he probably doesn't either. C&T were fantastic however when pitching to Guzman about the sports network and laughing OTT and stupidly. Ok so why don't I like this episode? I don't really like boxing so got fairly bored in all the boxing scenes, especially the last match which went on too long and Zito's death scene was a little short in all fairness. And although it was emotional, I just ... kinda think it could've been a bit more emotional, maybe's it's the music ... I dunno. All that said, great to see Zito with a good story but the boxing bores me and yeah nothing much happens except for Zito dying, which is significant. This 2 parter really does mark a distinct shift in Miami Vice, stories start to go down hill and the wheels kinda fall off. John Diehl got out at the right time really! It also ends a very consistent run of fantastic episodes all season with the exception of Killshot. 7/10

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I'm not interested in boxing either but I still liked it's inclusion in this ep. You don't have to be a boxing fan to enjoy it in this ep.Boxing was something we saw before in Vice in Milk Run and we saw it again in the Burnett trilogy.Down For The Count 1 is a brilliant episode and is often underrated

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Guest neworder

Well I do 'enjoy' this episode, I've given it a 7 which is very good score, the boxing does affect this enjoyment so I don't enjoy as much as say an 8 or 9 episode. You may feel it's brilliant and underrated, but to be fair the majority of scores are 9 and 10 so I feel it's anything but underrated. Each to their own when it comes to these reviews, you Vercetti for example have given some disastrously underrated scores to episodes I think are very good but I respected that it was your opinion.

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My original review from 12 June 2007 at 6:56pmPt 1 of this episode is definitely a guy episode or at least for people who like boxing, which I don't. It's pretty well done although except for the daytime shot of Guzman's place and the scenery it didn't seem much like a Miami Vice episode except that the OCB gang was there and Crockett and Tubbs were running their game. We also had Sonny's intensity. Ratt's Dance Dance Dance was a good selection of music to show the montage of fights as fighting chorography and the foot work is a bit like a dance. It's interesting to note that although the fight arena is Zito's thing, Sonny and Rico were still in the front seats with Zito leaning forward to talk to both of them and then leaning back so that he could see and have his vision not blocked by Sonny. The dialogue between Don Cash and Sonny was a little strange. It looked to me like DJ couldn't keep a straight face. At last we finally get around to what Sonny wants to know, how to get in tight with Guzman. At least we find out that Don Cash was in the pokey for a few years, and that he doesn't like Guzman, but he is aware of what Guzman is doing. I also caught for the first time, that Guzman evidently had a sports network offer but blew the deal. This made more sense that he bit the hook Sonny and Rico were dangling before him. It's hard to talk about just one part of this episode since I never watch the parts separately unless I'm only going to watch part II. Sonny and Larry seem at odds with each other. One minute they're getting along, and then Sonny goes real intense (nothing new for anyone that knows or works with him) and Larry gets upset because they're using his friend Moon and Bobby for their scam. When Moon gets killed he blames Sonny and himself. Sonny sometimes strikes me at times not the most sympathetic person I mean "This is what we do" comment didn't address the fact that Larry was blaming himself for getting Moon involved. Did Larry know what kind of person Moon was? I mean he knew he liked a good fight, but I doubt if he thought Moon was going to go over to Guzman's and ransack his house and make it very obvious that he was the one who took his betting book. I mean Moon may have been a good trainer, but it looked to me like he didn't have much sense, especially when he told Guzman that if he wanted Bobby Sykes's contract he was going to have to kill him. Guzman had a shady reputation and he never went anywhere without body guards, I mean what did Moon think was going to happen when he made such a statement? I know this was Larry's swansong, but I mean after setting the trap for the sting on Guzman, and knowing that Guzman was hot after Sykes' contract and Larry was in a sense blackmailing him for more than just money but a taste of Guzman's book operation why would he let himself be alone in the abandoned gym at that time of night nobody would be around? Didn't he figure Guzman would try something? I mean Guzman killed his friend Moon? Guzman had every reason to get rid of Larry. Zito just wasn't thinking. Stan wasn't much better since he didn't even protest when Larry asked him to drive Bobby home and meet him at the gym. Those partners should have stuck together and been more on guard, especially the night before a big sting operation. Another thing that I've always puzzled about is why did Sonny have to explain to Zito that he was going to have to wear a wire? I mean Zito's been in Vice how many years (at least 7 according to something Sonny says in part II) So why did Sonny have to explain this to Larry? Did Stan take his time and stop at the donut shop and get something to eat before he got back to Larry? He's clearly carrying a white bag that looks like some kind of food bag. He also seems to be taken unawares that there is something wrong as he drops the bag and grabs his gun. The music playing at this time always makes me cry "In the Even tide it's good to be alive.." So ironic since Larry is no longer alive, and Stan looks like he wishes he wasn't either. I guess I need to rate this episode a 7. 11/20/2009 - I watched both parts of this episode last weekend. I still don't like part 1 as much as part 2. I do love the drawl and sleeziness that Sonny Burnett projects while trying to set up Guzman, but all in all I still don't like this episode. Is Guzman's house one of the houses on the Biscayne boat tour? It kind of looks like one. I still think the writers got lazy in the stupid actions they made Lary and Stan take in order to get Lary killed. I'm sure there could have been a more logical and way to do it without both Lary and Stan looking so stupid in their job. For that reason I can't raise this episode any higher than a 7.

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Episode 56: Down for the CountThis is a suprisingly strong episode with some great acting and writing, the ending is one of the biggest moments in the series, although it has to be noted as others have that the finale was just a quick way to set up Larry's demise.I give it an 8.
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  • 3 weeks later...

For me this episode merits a 7. As I found it was just too focused on the boxing scene. It was a very heart felt ending though, that being Larry Zito's death.

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  • 1 month later...
For me this episode merits a 7. As I found it was just too focused on the boxing scene. It was a very heart felt ending though' date=' that being Larry Zito's death.[/quote']I agree exactly with you Vicenarc. I think the problem was that as they spread the story over two episodes, then the story dragged more, and was filled in by extended boxing scenes. Whilst I don't have anything against Boxing, I think the actual boxing scenes could have been shaved down a bit. Therefore I give it a 7 as well.However, as one of the main reasons for John Diehl's departure was so that he could focus on his boxing career, it was apt that his final episode should be devoted to Boxing.One of the things that didn't add up to me that Guzman clearly already knows Burnett by his comment during their first meeting "You're always the same Burnett, always the smart mouth". Presumably he already knows Burnett as a small time drug dealer. In which case why would he now buy for a second that Burnett suddenly now had a new career working for the Sunbelt Satellite Network? Not to mention that he now seemed to have developed a more colourful and richly Southern personality, as opposed to Burnett's usual cool and tough persona. Also, if Switek was working undercover at the gym as a cleaner, then he wouldn't be acting as Zito's manager during his fight.The episode definately had a very poignant ending and this, toegther with the music that was played made it very much a tearjerker. I still felt though in the same way that many of the episodes felt a little rushed when forced into 48 minutes, this one felt a little too drawn out, probably because the story occurs over two full episodes.
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  • 3 months later...

That final scene ...Having seen this episode a few times recently on Centric, there is something that really disturbs me about the final scene. When Switek walks into the gym, the punching bag is swinging back and forth as if to indicate the bad guys had just left seconds earlier. This means Zito had likely only OD'd seconds before. As poignant as it is for Switek to hug Larry, what he should have done was put him on the floor and started CPR! And then called 911. In those days, paramedics were carrying Narcan, which could reverse the effects of narcotics like heroin (which I'm assuming is what he was shot up with or something similar). At least it would have given Larry a chance. As a trained police officer, but not a trained EMS person, Switek should have known that he needed to do CPR and not simply declared him dead at the scene. I know they had to kill Larry off, but it would have been more believable to have him shot or something where he was obviously dead. In my opinion, he may have survived the overdose and could have possibly been resuscitated. So now when I watch it, instead of feeling sorry for Stan, I feel like shouting ... Dude! CPR!!

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  • 6 months later...

7/10

I love boxing. Its easy to forget now, but at the time when this show first aired middle weight boxing perhaps was at its peak in popularity. Tommy Hearns, Marvin Hargler, Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, John Mugabi...shoot even Iran Barkley was a stud. Consequently, I loved the boxing element of this episode and I find it quite apropo considering John Diehl's decision of a career change. This is what I mainly disagree with New Order over. I'm not saying this marked the jump the shark moment for MV, but it did represent a major shift in quality of the show. Not that there weren't some great episodes and themes still to come...just that the consistancy really wasn't there. The show often became more cookie cutter and the variety seemed to be fewer and farther between. An emotional episode that really honestly is great in a sucky sort of way. John puts in a great performance. He really gets some room to breathe and certainly delivers a powerful goodbye. I liked Sykes as a boxer and an actor. I thought he showed grit and the part where he and Larry spar is entertaining with a comical flair. A tear jerker ensues and things certainly are set thanks to the excellent climatic scene. As was mentioned by many others, the Winwood song played the final act appropriately.Oh and anything with Randall Tex Cobb in it gets a serious high five by me (pardon my reference to Sneaking Into the Movies...aka Hollywood Shuffle).
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I agree exactly with you Vicenarc. I think the problem was that as they spread the story over two episodes' date=' then the story dragged more, and was filled in by extended boxing scenes. Whilst I don't have anything against Boxing, I think the actual boxing scenes could have been shaved down a bit. Therefore I give it a 7 as well.However, as one of the main reasons for John Diehl's departure was so that he could focus on his boxing career, it was apt that his final episode should be devoted to Boxing.One of the things that didn't add up to me that Guzman clearly already knows Burnett by his comment during their first meeting "You're always the same Burnett, always the smart mouth". Presumably he already knows Burnett as a small time drug dealer. In which case why would he now buy for a second that Burnett suddenly now had a new career working for the Sunbelt Satellite Network? Not to mention that he now seemed to have developed a more colourful and richly Southern personality, as opposed to Burnett's usual cool and tough persona. Also, if Switek was working undercover at the gym as a cleaner, then he wouldn't be acting as Zito's manager during his fight.The episode definately had a very poignant ending and this, toegther with the music that was played made it very much a tearjerker. I still felt though in the same way that many of the episodes felt a little rushed when forced into 48 minutes, this one felt a little too drawn out, probably because the story occurs over two full episodes.[/quote'] Actually Papa, Sonny sort of clears this up when he says that he's representing certain interests on the side that he wants to remane nameless. Its obvious that he's covering for a criminal eliment...since Sonny has worked as the classic mule for so many low lifes its not unbelievable that he'd be muling in a different capacity.
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  • 2 months later...

In hindsight, part one should've been the final episode of S3, with the following one picking up in S4 with the team going after Zito's killers.With that said, the end scene guts me everytime and breaks my heart.Especially when Zito slumps over into Stan's arms, dude looks like he's asleep.8/10

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  • 2 months later...

this was an ok ep for me, still gave it a 7 for Larry. A little too much boxing for me and the story line wasnt all that great. The ending was the best (with the music) even though it brought tears to my eyes.But the thing I didnt get at all was the way he died. Doesnt make sense to me whatsoever. Did they just walk up and tell him, here, stick a needle in your arm? Wouldnt he have fought them? Even if they threatend him with a gun, wouldnt he have rather risked a bullet then voluntarily OD'ing?? Nope, dont get it..

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  • 10 months later...

Just watched this episode, for the first time in a few years. Thought I would play the Miami Vice drinking game tonight. But, bugger, ended up a mess when Zitto died. Maybe too many JD's and remembering the 80's. Probably a bit too many fight scenes, although I do like boxing. Love how Castillo is always "get the job done, emotionally detached" attitude. Also watched episode 2, with my wife. Shew likes MV but she came in half way through ep1. After Zitto died I turned off the DVD and said "what do you want to watch" she said "episode 2 I want to see em get revenge for his death". Great night, watching Miami Vice with my love. Will stop now before I start sluring my keyboard. Bloody JD.

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  • 4 months later...

One of the most impressive and likewise depressive episodes of the whole series!!!:happy::cry:It's such a strong and thrilling plot - that's really too bad that one permanently thinks of Larry's death.I will never understand why John Diehl decided to leave the show. He acted very very well (Down for the Count is the proof!!!) and portrays a really likeable character who rounds out the episodes with wonderful humour. He leaves a big big void inside VICE!!:cry:The formal reason why he left the show was his devotion to his boxing career and other projects.But we know that he didn't want to play such a minor character any longer who's always the dub.I can understand that because I think for an actor it's annoying when your colleagues always get the best and most sophisticated parts (DJ and PMT) and you can't develop the full range of your character (Zito)!In principle, it's a shame not to promote such a strong actor. Irony of fate that only the last episode of character Larry Zito permits Diehl to take a serious part.One scene proves Diehl's skills: when Sonny, Rico and Larry find dead Moon and Larry rampages! :clap:Now to the plot: to settle the plot in the boxing milieu was a great idea. On the one hand, there isn't another episode which takes place there and on the other hand this fits to Zito respectively John Diehl.The boxing ring and boxing-arena scenes are very well shot - typical VICE!!! They are also very brutal which was uncommon for 80s-TV series.The balance between the pure sport topic and Guzman's criminal acts is handled really well. The plot doesn't concentrate itself too much to Zito's near death which makes the plot more realistic. One doesn't bargain on Larry's death, this really comes unexpected to the viewers - therefore it's so much shocking!!!:oThe final scenes where Stan finds Larry in the shower are one of the most emotional and sadest scenes of VICE and likewise one of the best filmed - large and long lasting close ups etc. - scenes of VICE. Steve Winwood's There's A River is the final straw for us.:cry:Concerning music, there could be a few more tracks. Especially during the boxing scenes. Instead we hear wonderful Jan Hammer sounds, for ex. Marina.:radio:Concerning fashion and design, this ep is top notch. Sonny wears a wide range of different coloured Spencer-jackets. And interior design (Guzman's villa) is first class.10 of 10 points!

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  • 1 month later...
This episode is so BRUTAL to watch. You can see the pain in Switeks eyes knowing his buddy is gone. John Diehl saw the writing on the wall after MM left the show and left at the right time. Granted he said he wanted to focus on other acting roles but I assume he saw Dick Wolf coming in as the end for MV. The loss of Zito hurt the show IMO. I give it a 9/10.
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