Episode #46 "Stone's War"


Ferrariman

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  • 1 year later...

Stone's War is a good ep. Well acted (in some cases), scripted, directed and executed. It used the situation in Central America as a subject for an ep, and shortly before the Iran-Contra scandal. Some great moments like Sonny getting his new car (Great to hear 'Crockett's Theme' in that scene. A very nice intro to the Testarossa) and the opening sequence made even more powerful by ex-Sex Pistol Steve Jones' 'Mercy'. The song compemented the opening very well. Another great song in 'Lives In The Balance' by Jackson Browne. The lyrics are so resonant. Dubya really could've done with listening to that song. Peter Gabriel's 'Red Rain' was good too but I thought 'When The Rain Comes Down' was not a good choice. It was too pop and upbeat for such a serious, politically charged episode. The car chase it accompanied was a good sequence though.Not really a great ep for some of the supporting cast. Zito was obviously abscent, Castillo was suprisingly underused and Gina was also abscent. Saundra no doubt needed the week off since Irish Eyes exhausted all of her wooden acting abilities. Elvis' final appearance was here too. Sonny no doubt got rid of him since he was such a useless watch gator. I really enjoyed the scenery in this episode. The St. Vitus is now moored at Watson Island which offers a great view of the downtown skyline. I liked the exterior of the Brickell building where Crockett was talking with Alesha. I loved the great views of the city from the high rise offices and elevators. And I really liked the view from the scene with Crockett and Maynard in the car park. I also really liked the last scene of Crockett fishing on the St. Vitus at dusk.
Balaban isn't too appealling but Liddy is great again. 

On Balance, I prefer Stone's War to Back In The World. Overall, Stone's War is a great episode. 9/10

 

Edited by Tommy Vercetti
Changed opinions. Updated thoughts
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An impressive episode. I find this to be better than Back in the World. A significant episode in regards to the Testarossa introduction (the speeding up is annoying in the car chase may I add but this is only a minor issue) and it's the last time we see Elvis. The music is great in this episode, Mercy, Red Rain, Lives in the Balance all great tracks and even When the Rain Comes Down is ok. The key reason that this episode is better than Back in the World is because the story makes sense and is less messy. Also the story has quite a lot of depth and is very political, a clear example of the change in direction Season 3 takes. Acting all round is fairly decent (apart from perhaps when Crockett and Stone first arrive on Crocketts boat) and I enjoy the return of Maynard because he is a great character. I love this scene, the music and the snooping round the house, fantastic stuff; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FGtf_NwnaMOverall, a Quality episode that I view a lot more than Back In The World. 9/10

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(And why didn't Crockett give Maynard the original tape and keep the copy)

Because Allisha or however you spell her name wanted to keep the original tape for the story, to increase authenticity of the story if anyone questioned it, so Tubbs got her to make a copy...did you fall asleep during the scene where Crockett and Allisha argue??? lol
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I feel like this one fares better now than Back in the World did. The overall plot seemed fleshed out more although Maynard jumping from drug dealer on the run to boardroom death squad leader seemed a little bit of a stretch. Gordon Liddy's acting wasn't as a strong as it was in Season Two as his character doesn't seem to have been given as much meat to work with. His henchman played by Raymond Forchion on the other hand had way more menace and weight. The use of music was particularly great throughout especially "Lives in the Balance" over the finale. Overall I'll bump this up to a 9/10.

Edited by agent 47
New review due to Blu-ray viewing.
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What can I say about "Stone's War" except that for me it's a depressing episode. The poverty of Nicaragua, the killing of the people & the priest, the waste of Stone's cameraman, killing of the news reporter in Miami & finally Stone's torture & death. No fun-in-the sun Miami pics in this episode! My wife said," Are the cops that stupid they didn't make a backup copy of the tape?" More blunders: The Customs agent let Stone through with the tapes; Switek was fooled by the phoney FBI agent. My favorite song is "Lives in the Balance" which is relevent today - "they sell us our President, like they sell us our cars" - very meaningful words & nice bottle flute & guitar sound. The ending was great with Sonny hearing the slanted newscast while he was trying to unwind by fishing. Depressing episode but I give it a 7 . P.S. - There were a few laughs, like when Stone asks Crockett, "Where's the Ferrari?" & he says " beggars can't be choosey." Also when Crockett tells Castillo he can't be dealing with drug lords looking like "lil Abner"

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This was a very dark and nihilistic episode, but none the less much better than "Back in the world". Another political episode. I was surprised that the prodcuers of the show stuck their necks out on this one. American troops taking part in the invasion of a foreign country to plunder it's resources for the material gain of wealthy businessmen? The CIA being implicated in this? This sounds very familiar to the consiracy theories made around much later events such as the American invasion of Iraq, and 9/11. If the dominant broadcaster in the UK could censor "When Irish eyes are crying" for being politically sensitive, I'm surprised the same thing didn't happen for "Stone's War" for portraying American political agendas in a negative light. There was an important ambiguity though in this episode. Was Maynard a renegade who put together his own mini army to conduct an off the books purging of a foreign country for financial gain? or was he in fact employed by the CIA (or other political figures) to carry out this operation, and was merely carrying out their orders. Surely though if he was arranging his own group, he would be careful not to make them look so obviously like American troops, which would lead me to believe that this was part of a wider operation.There was some great music in this episode, especially "Mercy" by Sex Pistol himself, Steve Jones..I like how Stone uses psychology in his bargaining. No matter who contacts him about the tape, he always makes out like he is manically fighting off other bidders and is always busy, in order to create this perception that his tape is hot property.I like how after one of Maynard's heavies erases all the tapes, you see him about to hit Alicia with the magnet, and then the screen cuts off, and goes blank. Almost as if her life has been erased just like one of the tapes.The only thing that puzzles me is that in "Back in the world", Crockett asks for permission from Castillo to help Stone for a couple of days with his investigation. However in this episode, Crockett and Tubbs appear to have all the free time in the world to go after Maynard and rescue Stone, without any permission needed from anyone.I would have liked Maynard to return in a later episode, preferably even in "Freefall". Either replacing Bourbon as the bad guy, or working alongside him in some dodgy deal. Maynard and Bourbon could have been being protected by the same sinister government forces and we finally get to see who's been pulling Maynard's strings all along. Seeing Maynard finally take a bullet (or even blow up in a Chalks plane!) would have been the ultimate finale to Vice. Every fan would have been cheering at the screen. Bourbon was just a nobody, and Ian McShane had already played another character in Season 3, thus damaging the credibility anyway. This episode represented the darkness of Season 3. Not only were the colours darker (earth tones replaced pastels), but so were the endings.I thought this was a classic, solid episode. 8.5 out of 10.

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My original review from April 2007This is one of my favorite episodes of season 3. It had a very relevant story that still resonates today. It’s also a very political episode and commentary on what was going on at the time. We get another inside to Sonny’s character. He’s loyal to Stone, he may not trust him or like him but he’s loyal to him, but at the same time he doesn’t want Stone to think he’s gotten over on him. It just turns out that Stone’s story happens to be true. The character of Ira Stone here is interesting. We see at the beginning when he ‘s directing the camera man Art Edes that he really does know how to go for the best shot. Also when He and Art are shot at, we see Stone hightail it out of there deaf to the pleas of his cameraman. To be fair to Stone, there wasn’t really anything Stone could have done for Art at this point, so I guess he made the right decision to leave. The musical selection "Mercy"? here is spot on as what is going on in the back ground Americans yelling at each other to shoot him shoot them, and then shooting civilians and the priest fit the lyrics. It was a good place to end the teaser and bring the audience back to the state of mind This is Miami Vice complete with the theme locale shots and credits. Stone’s actions are questionable, we know that he definitely wants to get the story out there, but is it because he is morally offended at the idea of a secret American troops fighting in Central America, or is it because he sees it as his big chance for a Peabody. He mentions it’s his ticket to a Peabody, but yet he seems just as concerned that Americans were fighting secretly in Central America and it was going to become another Vietnam. At the end when Sonny lies to him and tells him that everybody is going to see it on the air tonight and that Stone was going to be famous, Stone just says it’s nice. Sonny seemed to think it was important to let Ira die believing he had accomplished his goal, but was it to be famous or to inform the American people of what was really going on. The music used Red Rain by Peter Gabriel was spot on as the reporter was killed by O’Hara, and the footage of the shooting of the civilians and priest were shown in the background until it was finally erased into static. A nice commentary that in the long run in history it will all just be static and no one will really be that bothered about it in another 100 years. The gathering of Maynard and his Military Industrial Complex friends was telling. Maynard felt contempt for all of them, but he knew they were necessary to front his operations in Central America. It was also interesting how he characterized the American people. They would support a winning war & army. He seemed to think that the only reason Americans were against getting involved was because they would lose instead of the bigger question do we have the right to interfere? – Aside I saw a Jean Claude Van Dame movie I think it was called Universal Soldier in which one of the characters wore a necklace of Ears of the oposition he had killed around his neck (I think it was Dolf Lungren) Which came first Stone’s War or Universal Soldier? Anyway, I saw Universal Soldier first so this scene the scene with the dead ears in Vice brought it to mind. At the end Crockett still has a little optimism left, Maynard told him he couldn’t stop history, and Sonny shrugged and said I can try. Again the music is spot on with Jackson Brown’s “Lives in the Balance†playing while all the military boarding was going on and Crockett and Tubbs riding in the Jeep as Crockett binds up his wound and see the plane take off headed away from them and toward Central America. – Shades of Calderone’s plane in Brother’s Keeper. Again Sonny failed to stop a major player and again he was beaten by Maynard, and he lost another friend although Ira was not his best friend. It was nice to see Sonny's reaction to the new Testarossa (nice use of Jan's Crockett's Theme here) and the trick taking advantage of his lowness to the ground so that it could go under the truck trailer, and watch the guys chasing them do the same thing and fail. Also the Testarossa was presented in such a contrast to that truck that Sonny was driving before he got the new car. Remember before we saw this episode Sonny was riding with Rico in Rico's Caddy, something Sonny did when he had the Daytona, and something he continues to do every once in awhile when he has the testarossa. While the Testarossa was nice, it wouldn't have been such a spectacular contrast if we hadn't seen Sonny dressed as lil Abner and driving that truck! I give this episode an 8.5 9-9-09 - I recently saw this episode again this weekend, and I'm still struck by how this episode still rings with me today. I still remember my feelings back during the Vietnam era, and the Ira/Contra era. This episode still rings true with me today, also the Lives in the Balance song seems to fit in today as well as it did then. About the only thing that doesn't ring true, is Vice or not. Sonny and Rico would have been dealt with and wiped out too. No loose ends. As it was mentioned this was the last time we saw Elvis, but to my knowledge up through 4th season Sonny still had him as he's referred to in Love at First Sight in Sonny's video tape. This one stands the test of time, and the more I see it, the more I like it. I'm raising my rating from an 8.5 to a 9.

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this ep is the first one i remember watching as the original broadcast, so i'm a little biased by that when i say its a 10 all the way.i just can't look at it objectively. it will always be one of my faves.

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I also gave this episode an eight. Yes, the Testarossa is here and a nice intro. From here on out, I'll miss the Daytona(until another episode coming up) and I have to say, this is one of my favorite episodes. Nice back-drops in just about all the shoots and the fashion is awesome. Now, I've wondered this for some time.....The shots inside the St Vitus...Has to be a separate set as I believe there simply isn't enough room(width) to get shots they're getting being aboard the real thing...Takers?....Anyway, I absolutely love the scene where Sonny picks up Stone at the airport and when the Ferrari leaves, the back-end is going a bit sideways and the front is come up a little(we call this weight transfer in the drag racing world) and the car moves off...Now, the car chase is sweet and you gotta hand it to the Dodge Diplomat...It did a pretty good job keeping up, right?...Loving Hollywood a little here. Anyway, I like it and the music was awesome...Played Crockett's theme a few times and well, got covered previously....Mike

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This is one of my favorites. Great story, music is awesome, we see Elvis, and Crockett gets the Testarossa. Too bad Maynard didn't re-appear in another ep (Freefall would have been a perfect ep since the storyline is somewhat similar) so Crockett could finally catch him.I give it a 9/10.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I give this wpisode an 8! Not so much for the entire episode, but more so because having the introduction of the new Testarossa. One of my favorite moments is Sonny speaking to Castillo about not having a proper undercover vehicle, and then looking out back in awe what's parked there! And then the speed chase from Maynard's pretend federal agents. That alone for me put the stamp of approval on this ep!

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  • 3 weeks later...

It's a 10 from me.many have said it before, but the soundtrack is spot on, esp the usage of Steve Jones' Mercy.Again the BBC cut it to ribbons here, so no shooting of the Priest for a start, all you got was shoot that B*****, then it cut away to something else ! one of many cuts.

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  • 6 months later...

Great ep all round.It's definitely one of the very best episodes in that Season.It's also has something really special to it cause this is the episode that introduced a new Crockett's car to us.10/10

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  • 6 months later...

Stone dying was the best part of this one for me.What an annoying little TURD he was.6/10

Like the lady at the airport said, Stone needed a bath. Admired Sonny's devotion to saving his friend, though, especially his fervor over getting back Stone's tape, back in the ol' days of Super 8. These days, Maynard would just download the video. :)
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Like the lady at the airport said' date=' Stone needed a bath. Admired Sonny's devotion to saving his friend, though, especially his fervor over getting back Stone's tape, back in the ol' days of Super 8. These days, Maynard would just download the video. :)[/quote'] Ummmmmmmmmmm, that was a woman at the airport?:confused:
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I like the episode but it was once again amateur hour in regards to how Crockett et al behaved, you always make copies, and you have backup for backupsAFA the episode I liked it, G Gordon Liddy I like, he plays that character well IMO and is believeable in that rollI have to give it a 9

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...

In my opinion Stone's War is one of the best episodes of the whole show and almost the best TV-production which I've ever seen.:happy::happy::happy::happy::clap::clap:I don't know another TV series which created such an impressive and deep-going plot. Especially producing such a critical plot (against the US) in the 80s is very extraordinary. Today, this is common practice maybe, but in '86 it was a milestone in TV!!!Probably a few fans of VICE don't like such episodes because often they are gloomy and don't show the cheerful, flashy Miami of the 1st and 2nd Season.I'm not of the same opinion 'cause one feature of VICE is progress. And Season 3 is a progress of Season 2 and 1, the dark atmosphere fits to the mood of the characters.The storyline of Stone's War surpasses those of Back In The World, not least due to extreme tension. Anyway I envisaged that Stone will survive or at least that Maynard will die - neither applies.:cry:The ending of the story is even unusual for VICE: the good one dies and the bad one escapes (usually the good and the bad one die).For the first time I saw the teaser with the Nicaragua-scenes underlaid with Mercy (the German version doesn't include these). During these scenes, you notice that Stone's War is a specific episode because it's clear that the plot doesn't cover drug topics or prostitution, but a delicate foreign-policy US-topic. :glossy:Then Ira Stone appears and you think the topic revolves again about Vietnam stories etc., but never ever about a political story in the ballpark!!!:clap:Music (Red Rain by Peter Gabriel :radio::happy:, When The Rain Comes Down by Andy Taylor), locations (Alicia Mena's office) and really strong actors - with Donnie and Balaban leading the way - round out the complete plot. Donnie proves again what an outstanding actor he is. He perfectly portrays the "little city-cop" which want to reveal a nearly unsoluble political crime with "Washington-background".Not to forget the Testarossa!!! Interesting why they have chosen this episode for introducing the Testa.My rating for the best TV-production: 10.000.000.000.000.000.000.000 points

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I’ve been just listening :radio: to Andy Taylor –Rain comes down :rain: –while driving the last couple days….Great scene –great driving –just hard to stop on stoplights and under speed limit…. :thumbsup:

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"Stone's War"

Stone's War is a good ep. Well acted (in some cases)' date=' scripted, directed and executed. It used the situation in Central America as a subject for an ep, and shortly before the Iran-Contra scandal. Some great moments like Sonny getting his new car (Great to hear 'Crockett's Theme' in that scene. A very nice intro to the Testarossa) and the opening sequence made even more powerful by ex-Sex Pistol Steve Jones' 'Mercy'. The song compemented the opening very well. Another great song in 'Lives In The Balance' by Jackson Browne. The lyrics are so resonant. Dubya really could've done with listening to that song. Peter Gabriel's 'Red Rain' was good too but I thought 'When The Rain Comes Down' was not a good choice. It was too pop and upbeat for such a serious, politically charged episode. The car chase it accompanied was a good sequence though.Not really a great ep for some of the supporting cast. Zito was obviously abscent, Castillo was suprisingly underused and Gina was also abscent. Saundra no doubt needed the week off since Irish Eyes exhausted all of her wooden acting abilities. Elvis' final appearance was here too. Sonny no doubt got rid of him since he was such a useless watch gator. I really enjoyed the scenery in this episode. The St. Vitus is now moored at Watson Island which offers a great view of the downtown skyline. I liked the exterior of the Brickell building where Crockett was talking with Alesha. I loved the great views of the city from the high rise offices and elevators. And I really liked the view from the scene with Crockett and Maynard in the car park. I also really liked the last scene of Crockett fishing on the St. Vitus at dusk.I have the same problem with Stone's War as I do with Back In The World and it's that I don't like either Ira Stone or Maynard. Stone is an annoying whiney little git. Why did Crockett want him back anyway (And why didn't Crockett give Maynard the original tape and keep the copy). G. Gordon Liddy is a crap actor, and he's a common burglar too. On Balance, I prefer Stone's War to Back In The World. Overall, Stone's War is a good episode. 8.5/10[/quote']I'd have to agree totally with you that Bob Balabans character was a real low point in both episodes. He had to be the most annoying person in the entire series.:thumbsdown: Overall, I'd have to rate the episode as a 7.0.
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