Episode #45 "When Irish Eyes Are Crying"


Ferrariman

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Irish Eyes is not hugely impressive in terms of a season starter, especially when you consider what it was up against; Prodigal Son and the Pilot, both immense two parters. This episode seems rushed, the story rushes around all over the place, there is a lot to fit in in 45 minutes. It is a fairly deep episode with the IRA background and I think if it were made into a two parter then the story could have been explored in the depth that to be fair it needed. That said there was plenty enough Gina story going on in this episode, wouldn't want any more. She was pretty annoying in the end sequence, and the intro and in fact in most of the episode. So apart from these weaknesses, this episode is good. The story involving Crockett & Tubbs and the arms dealers, including good old General Goggle from the Bond Movies is top class. I would have liked more development here. The daytona scene is a classic sequence, fantastic. Music wise not much interesting going on in this episode though the score Hammer implements where Crockett goes for his first meet with Eddy K is top class. Hammer's score for the last 7 minutes or so although good, gets too repetitive. New styles in this episode also needs to be addressed; Crocketts wardrobe is not brilliant to be fair and doesn't represent the best Season 3 has to offer, but his threads during the Daytona explosion scene were good. Tubbs' certainly looked interesting with those glasses on!So overall, this episode needed more time to create more depth. It rushes around a lot, Gina's story is annoying as per usual and slows the pace too much. That said the scene where the Daytona blows up is significant and one of the greatest scenes of the whole series. So overall I give this episode a fairly competent 7/10

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I like this episode because it seems to herald a welcome change in direction for season 3. It's just a shame that season 3 begins and ends with Gina episodes as her acting ability has never been too impressive. Not a bad episode with some classic scenes - Daytona blowing up was another welcome scene, doing away with that retro 60's converatble and opening up the way for the uber cool 80's testerossa later on. Nice backdrop of the Miami skyline as Caroon and Gina take a stroll and he romances her. Nice part for Paul Gleason fresh from Breakfast Club. Highlight has to be Castillo in the chopper! I give it a 7.

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One of my favourite episodes. Looking forward to writing my War and Peace synopsis on this one. However I've left my notes at work so for the time being it'll have to wait. Ba!

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BOOM .....no more Daytona Spyder. I was as shocked as Sonny as Eddie Kaye blew up the Ferrari. Why didn't Sonny say, "Hey don't aim that thing at my car"?? I cracked up when Tubbs said, "Sold!" I loved the opening, with John Lennon's "Imagine" playing. Izzy had good info about Caroon for Stan & Larry after all. Gina seems to fall for the losers quite often, & winds up shooting them.... (Frank Mosca). I got chills watching the Cowboy Cadillac weaving through traffic to get to the airport garage. The ending was cool with Caroon landing on the yellow STOP marking in the lot. I dug the clothes, like Izzy's yellow shirt. The color saturation of the DVD is great for a 20 yr. old show. I was hoping Sonny would shoot some pool when he met with Eddie Kaye. Kaye's line, " wrong turn slick, Disney Worlds' the other way, cracked me up, but Crockett shot back with " I'm not here for mouse ears but big boy's toys" or something to that effect. I liked this ep much better than when I first saw it and I give it an 8 .

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The only bad thing I can say about this episode is the heatstopper when the Ferrari was blown up!My heart split when that happened....................

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The Dick Wolf years start here. I'm a big fan of season 3. There was a vast improvement in the storylines compared to season 2. I really dig the new look too. Michael Mann obviously figured he needed to adjust the look of the show as the season one/two look was getting a bit stale. I really like Crockett's new wardrobe and haircut and the whole new look of season 3. It kept the show fresh.But on to the episode itself. I always greet a Gina episode with 'Oh no, a Gina episode!'. Saundra Santiago is a dreadful actress. She's so wooden and one dimensional and she speaks in that bimboish voice. She's like a Latino Melanie Griffith. Maybe that's why DJ liked her. She gives her customary crap over the top performance here. Although she met her match in Liam Neeson. He was so wooden too and he has such a lunkhead voice. The way he said 'How did ya end up with the badge?' and 'Who the hell is this? Who's talkin?' One scene I loved was the scene with Gina and Caroon with the stunning view of downtown and Brickell behind them. Gorgeous scene.Jeff Fahey was a great guest star though. The epiosde really picked up when he came into it. The Daytona's last stand is a classic Vice scene and paved the way for a new kickass car in the next episode. They shouldn't have used the black Testarossa in this ep though. How to get the IRA in Miami. They're there to blow up the Concrode. That sounds feasible enough, I suppose. But apparently the Concrode never flew to Miami. And the Breakfast Club man and that old guy are the IRA's weapons suppliers? Colonel Gaddafi was the IRA's main arms dealer. They probably weren't going for 100% realism. But then, this is a Vice episode, not a Neil Jordan film. Apparently they toyed with the idea of Crockett & Tubbs going to Northern Ireland. Now that would liked to have seen. The music is OK. Jan Hammer brings some Celtic-like sounds to his synths. As for the songs. The Last Unbroken Heart is too soppy and I never liked Imagine. It's an overrated song. But The Pogues song 'Wildcats of Kilkenny' was a great choice though. Good action at the climax. But it's a bit of a stretch how Caroon was able to overpower both Switek and Zito. And the shot of Caroon on the airport tarmac is similar to a shot in Dumb & Dumber ("Fell off the jetway again").This episode has it's weak points but overall it's quite a good episode. But they should've used El Viejo as the season opener as it's a better episode and it would've avoided the continuity error with the Daytona.8/10

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I'll give it 8 or 9 as compared to other Season 3 eps.Blowing up DaytonaGood MusicCastillo in the copterLiked the scene where Crockett meets Jeff Fahey's character in the bar...Best Quote,"Crocket-I'm not looking to buy mouse ears.":)

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My review originally posted 3/24/2007Warning this is LONG! Others have commented that this was not a very good episode. I disagree. It’s one of my favorite season 3 episodes. We’ve got everything in it. we got Sonny and Rico undercover buying military weapons, we have a sleazy guy selling them, We have a no-nonsense seller selling them, and not afraid to make a better deal. It’s all about the profit. We have the Irish Terrorist and the opposite point of view brought out by Sonny’s comment about the Irish have rights and they might have a different point of view. It seemed to be a contemporary concern at the time. (Didn’t U2’s Sunday Bloody Sunday come out around that time, at least MTV was playing it a lot). We had Castillo having more words to say than just the usual 3 or 4 lines. He was active in this one. We had Sweitek and Zito doing their surveillance and their usual bantering, plus we saw an example of why Sonny needs such a fast car. The Bug Van couldn’t keep up with the black Testarossa. We saw beautiful scenery of Miami. The scene where Sean and Gina talk, The walk in Biscayne Park, The exteriors of Sean’s hotel or wherever he was staying. Classic Sonny and Rico getting info from Izzy. We also saw Sonny do a wonderful bit of deduction putting the facts together, the stingers, the interest in the Concord, the walk in Biscayne Park, and the timing of the Stingers delivery and the time of the flight of Atlantic International which happens to be the Concord. Some have commented that Crockett and Tubbs were relegated to the background. I disagree. They were very much a part of this episode especially the glimpse of Sonny’s and Gina’s relationship. This is another one of those episodes I call a Sonny/Gina episode. Again we see a little of the special relationship Sonny and Gina have with each other. Her comment to Rico when Rico tries to update her on what OCB has learned about Sean illustrates this. He says she’s way out there and Sonny thinks so too. And Gina comes back with that’s great Sonny would be real objective. Again Sonny doesn’t like it when Gina gets involved romantically with someone else, but at the same time is the first one to her defense. Trudy comments that Gina is really walking on clouds about Sean, and The British Counter terrorist guy tells OCB don’t tell her anything! Sonny quickly gets in his face verbally by saying. Hey we take care of our own people or something like that. He then goes on to defend and take Gina’s side because Gina isn’t there to speak for herself. He points out that they’ve no proof that Sean hasn’t turned peaceful, that the British terrorist guy has given them no proof. He than further says what if she’s right? What about her? Sonny says it with real passion also. Later when Sonny does have proof that Sean is up to non peaceful things since Kleiser finally gave up who was taking delivery on the Stingers Sonny and Rico were supposed to get, he’s not gloating. He talks to Gina quietly with Rico by his side, and tries to break it to her as gently but as firmly as possible. Later after the OCB briefing when Castillo tells Gina to keep the date with Sean so everything looks normal, Sonny goes to her holds her and asks if she’ll be able to maintain, and then gently kisses her on the forehead, still obviously worried about her. (Nice touch with Jan’s Gina music) At the end when Gina tries to talk Sean out of it, She tries to shoot him, it looks like Sean is going for his weapon. What was he going to do shoot Gina? Sonny gets there and yells freeze just before Gina shoots Sean . Then after Sean goes over the side and they all rush to look over the Parking garage roof. Gina immediately turns and grabs Sonny and cries. As he tries to comfort her, and Rico tries to comfort both of them. One note on how Sean landed. Was this an indication that Sean had a chance to do the right thing and turn his back on the violence like he said, and he chose to go out the violent (wrong) way, and that’s why he was laying more toward the left arrow than the right arrow on the pavement. One word about the music. The use of John Lennon’s Imagine was very powerful with the slideshow presentation of the Irish situation. The words very appropriate to the situation. People have to imagine it because it surely isn’t happening at that present time. The song used at the end and during Sean’s and Gina’s romance was appropriate also since part of the lyrics were I’ll take my chance with you. Gina did, and she lost again. I think Sean is more complicated than just an Irish terrorist. I think he really wished he could put the violence behind him and settle with Gina but he was dedicated to what he believed was important, right, and imperative. He had to be loyal to his beliefs and people. I give this episode a 9 Like I said I liked it I still cry when the Daytona blows up. 9/2/2009 - I recently rewatched this, and I still feel the same things I saw the first time I saw it. After all this time, I still like the Daytona better than the white testerossa. but I must admit, I would probably like the Testarossa better if it was a convertable and black also. I still experience a little shock when I see them blow up the Daytona! I still like the plot of the episode, and the music used, and I'm still wondering if the landing of Sean in the parking lot was dliberate and symbolic, or if I'm just reading things into it. Still rate it a nine. I love Sonny's look here. As to Caroon overpowering both Sweitek and Zito, Caroon wasn't alone. He had Eddie K, and that Irish finacier Bunny so there were actually three against two not to mention the surprise factor. Stan and Larry probably thought they were the hunters, but it turned out the hunted turned the tables and captured them.

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7/10.Good episode, although underwhelming as a season opener (IMO El Viejo would have been underwhelming as well). As someone once put it, S3 and this opener specifically sort of marked MV as "just another show" to NBC. S1 was groundbreaking, and S2 was an 'event'. Not so much here.That said, I do like the new direction the series took, as it corrected many of the story problems found in S2, and attempted to introduce a complete new look.As for the episode itself, not a definitive ep, but solid.

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Warning. This one's longer than Nancy's!This is one of my favourite episodes. I too also thought that Michael Mann managed to pull off the very wise move of reinventing the style of Vice in Season 3. This kept the series fresh and contemporary. A Season 3 with the same look as 1 and 2 in my opinion might have killed off Vice sooner. Viewing figures may have been lost due to the fact that the novelty factor may have worn off with the viewing public at large. In Seasons 1 and 2, pinks and whites were the predominant colours. In Season 3 it was more earth tones. A new car was brought in, and Crockett changed his hair. I also agree that whilst Season 2 is my personal favourite, the storylines in Season 3 were the strongest out of any of the Seasons.Not that I'm bothered by it, it was interesting to note a distinctly anti-British theme in this episode with regards to the Northern Ireland issue. It was the closest that Vice has ever come to making a political statement. The British intelligence officer, Cross, seemed to be a deliberate symbol of British arrogance with respect to the Northern Ireland issue. There were other indications of this in the episode. Crockett challenges Cross by saying to him "seems to me that there's a lot of people in Northern Ireland who might see the troubles differently". Also Castillo challenges Cross by saying to him "The Irish have rights". Now this is particularly interesting if you've grown up in England like me during the 70's and 80's, and watched the endless news reports about acts of terrorism carried out by the IRA during that time throughout mainland Britain. They were the Al-Quada of the day. The terrorist acts centred around bombings (usually with advanced warning) of shopping malls and government buildings. The last notable IRA bombing was one in Manchester in 1996, shortly after I moved from there. Then 9/11 came along and suddenly the face of Terrorism changed forever. Ever since then, Islamic fundamentalists became the new IRA, and the IRA appeared to have permantly disappeared from the face of British news. Now by the time I saw this episode for the first time in about 1993/94, I'd become used to years of being told by the British news media that the IRA were essentially the devil. Yet you never heard any explanation of the history behind why this conflict had occurred in the first place. Almost like it was a taboo subject. Around the time when I first saw this episode, I was friends with an Irishman from my university days, who casually told me about all the atrocities that the British had committed against the Irish in the past. Then I also watched this episode, which further reinforced the idea that there was "another way of looking at things". Now don't get me wrong, I'm not condoning terrorism, but it made me realise how much the media was tightly controlled in my country, and how the history was glossed over and the British were portrayed as an innocent country under siege from evil people. The very fact that the two most widely spoken languages in the world are Spanish and English proves just how colonial and Imperialistic England and Spain one were. Watching "When Irish eyes are crying", made me realise how a completely different message came across when the issue was portrayed in a tv series produced by a another, more objective Country.What I find even more interesting is the fact that the whole reason why it wasn't until 1993/94 that I saw this episode was because this was again one of the original episodes axed by the BBC during the Season's original airing in 1988, following the Hungerford Massacre in 1987. All the other episodes that were axed such as "Little Miss Dangerous" and "Trust fund pirates" were either graphic or contained scenes of gratuitous gun violence. Yet "When Irish eyes are crying" contained neither! I firmly believe that the only reason that this innocuous episode was axed was because it portayed the issue in a way that compromised the dogmatic propaganda maintained by the British media at the time, which just goes to show how much of the world's media is controlled by it's government! These days, with Islamic fundamentalists being the new Terrorist kids on the block, the episode would have probably been shown.Anyway back to the episode! As this is one of my favourite episodes, DanJ took me to one or two of the "When Irish eyes are crying" filming locations during our last Miami trip. We actually walked across the same stretch of beach where Gina and Caroon walked. We also visited the spot where the Daytona blew up. This second location is also the spot where James Brown sat in "Missing hours", and where "Burnett" and Cliff King steal the bag dropped from the plane in "Redemption in blood" (remember the line "you dropped something?").I liked Caroon's ambiguous conversation with Berrigan along the beach. You're clearly meant to believe that his "I represent an alternative" speech was him referring to selling peace rather than terrorism. When in actual fact, "representing an alternative" actually meant "bombing shopping malls isn't getting our point across, which is why I'm going to blow up Concorde instead". My favourite scene out of the whole episode is the chase/surveillance of Caroon within the last 10 minutes of the episode. I loved the Jan Hammer background score, and I loved the Testarossa as black rather than white, which I thought was a much cooler look. Michael Mann (as most of us here already know) had to have the car resprayed white as he feared that otherwise the car would not show up well during night time shots.Another scene I love is the entire scene where the Daytona blows up. This is one of my all time favourite Vice scenes. The whole dialogue between Crockett, Tubbs, and Eddie Kay is hilarious. "Do we look like we fell of a cabbage truck or what? This stuffs been on the shelf six years". "So what? The Missouri was 45 years old. Lebanese didn't know the difference!".The scene that followed where Crockett smashes Max's ornaments was also a classic. I also had to laugh when Cross said "Corcorde is as much a symbol of England as the Queen". I thought Concorde was French?! Notice as well how whilst sat in a very loud helecopter, Castillo still manages to say in his usual barely audible, gruff voice "Let's go down".Although I prefer "When Irish eyes are crying" to "El Viejo", I have to agree that for the sake of continuity, "El Viejo" should have been used as the Season opener.The only downside to the episode was that I thought the romantic scenes between Caroon and Gina dragged a little. Notice how in Vice and in other tv dramas of the day, the cop for whom the issue is the most personal is the one who ends up shooting the bad guy dead. There is also a lack of realism regarding jurisdiction issues which slowly builds up throughout the course of the five Seasons. but it's particularly noticeable in Season 3. For example in this episode, the local Vice squad would not even be involved in surveilling a former IRA terrorist in the first place. If this was needed at all, this would probably be handled by the CIA or FBI (or ATF considering there was some kind of gun running issue going on). Secondly, Crockett and Tubbs would not be getting involved in an arms deal, this would be dealt with again by ATF or the FBI. Finally, by the time Castillo became aware that Caroon was about to undertake an act of terrorism, if it hadn't have done already, the whole operation would have been handed over to the FBI or CIA at this point.Whilst watching this episode, my partner also pointed out that as her partner, it should have been Trudy who comforted Gina after the strategy room meeting about Caroon, not Crockett. Maybe she had a point?In summary a great episode. 9 out of 10.

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I thought Concorde was French?! .

It's as much English as it is French, it was a combined manufacturing effort by Aérospatiale in France and the British Aircraft Corporation. It's a significant Icon for both the countries. Wish more had been built, in the words of Jeremy Clarkson when the Concorde was withdrawn "One small step for man, one giant leap backwards for mankind". PLUS it was a ****ty US made DC-10 that caused the Concorde crash ... I do love the Concorde and I believe it is a significant symbol for Britain!
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people have given such good, in depth reviews for this one...well, i don't know what to add as its all been written!maybe for the next one, i'll write something first so I'll look like i'm actually inputting something worthwhile rather than just repeat or write a non-value added post like this one!:)

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Can you tell us how you rated this episode' date=' Chum981?[/quote']oh...8/10 (wasn't good enough for a season opener, the acting wasn't so great from Gina, but still a very decent episode)
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Saundra Santiago is a dreadful actress. She's so wooden and one dimensional and she speaks in that bimboish voice. She's like a Latino Melanie Griffith. Maybe that's why DJ liked her.

Was DJ into Saundra? Was there something going on here that I don't know about?
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Well, here we are, after a short vacation, I'm ready to start the reviews of season three, so now I'm going to shut and well ... get started."When Irish Eyes Are Crying"A well written season opener, the plot, while sharing some similarities to the Season One episode No Exit (arms dealing, stinger missiles, Tubbs going undercover as a war hungry foreigner wanting some of them) has some aspects not seen in a Miami Vice episode, showing how the show started to become darker and more culturally relevant for the times, this story centers around the IRA (Irish Republican Army) and their supposed plot to kill a peaceful Irish war protester, but of course scotland yard doesn't believe the protester is what he says he is, and we see twist and turns as Gina falls for him.The cast to this episode is great, Liam Neeson from various blockbuster hits such as Taken and playing Ras Al Ghoul from Batman Begins plays Caroon, the protester, who Gina falls in love with, of course the envitable happens, his real intentions were to blow up a jet liner with a stinger missile, leading Gina to shoot and kill him in the end. (like every other dumb smuck who isn't Crockett that sleeps with her.) Another noteworthy cast member is Walter Gotell, who plays the arms dealer, Gotell is a terrific actor who played General Gogol in the Bond films The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octo(censored), A View To A Kill and The Living Daylights, he brings his great acting style from those films to here as well, it certainly was a suprise to see him on Miami Vice.And now down to my favorite part of Vice, the action and music, I really can't comment on the music, but this episode has one of my favorite action sequences in the series, Castillo shooting an assault rifle from a helicopter at some arms dealers, this scene definitely gave me a Vice City feel while watching it, this show certainly had such a huge influence on that videogame and this one of those great moments in TV history, Castillo showing off that he's a true bad-ass.In the end, he only complaint I have is another cheesy Gina romance, thus ending with another guy getting shot, keep away from this woman, she acts horribly and shoots you if you sleep with her.I give this episode an 8 out of 10.

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I gave this one an '8' and was a nice season opener....Appears everyone has this one covered and season three shows this series to really come together and It may make me change my mind on my favorite season. Does it seem that all of the guys Gina gets involved with, she shoots?....Sonny seems to be the exception....Hmmm.....Mike

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