The longest streak of (near-)perfect episodes

[mirrorimageegamirorrim]

Where would you say this occurs?  For me it's season 2, from "Whatever Works" until "LMD".  That's 13 episodes of pure awesome. 

[James]

Season 1 - The Hit List - Smugglers Blues - 12 Episodes

Season 2 - The Prodigal Son - Little Miss Dangerous - 14 Episodes. But Buddies and Tale of the Goat I wouldn't really call "near-perfect" they're just average for me, so they break the streak for me. So maybe I'll lean more towards the season 1 streak.

The run from Bought and Paid For to Definitely Miami is masterpiece though. 

[mirrorimageegamirorrim]

11 hours ago, James said:

The run from Bought and Paid For to Definitely Miami is masterpiece though. 

Nice call.   On the old season 2 DVDs, this is disc 2, both sides.  I've always viewed this disc as the sine qua non of the series.    

[Robbie C.]

It all depends on what you like. Personally I never felt the 'streak' continued for more than 2-3 episodes, four at the most. But I find them in just about every season. Then again, I don't consider Vice to be defined the way others might.

[Tom]

For me that‘s season 3 until Viking bikers from hell (with only Streetwise interrupting).

[James]

10 hours ago, Tom said:

For me that‘s season 3 until Viking bikers from hell (with only Streetwise interrupting).

Streetwise is a good episode though, with Bill Paxton. 

[Robbie C.]

Just points out why this is such an individual proposition. I can't stand The Great McCarthy and consider Phil the Shill to be rather middling (funny, sure, but not one of the great episodes by any means). Glades is also pretty weak, again in my view. But then you have the stretch running from Deliver us from Evil to Redemption in Blood, which are some of my favorite episodes.

But if you had to sum up the whole thing in one hour-long episode, Noir and all, I'd say it has to be Definitely Miami. It's got TWO noir plots running at the same time and spectacular visuals. Not necessarily one of the best written episodes, but it checked pretty much all the Vice boxes in terms of what people expected to see when they tuned in.

[mjcmmv]

This is tough. I have favorite scenes in episodes like "The Great McCarthy"'s Pool Game and the scene in Glades when Crockett says, "Maybe you won't even twitch" before he shoots the guy holding the little girl.

Phil the Shill is not great for me at all so that kills the streak from Bushido to Little Miss Dangerous (That includes Definitely Miami, one of my all time favorites).

So, with that in mind, I'll stick with the streak form Brother's Keeper to Glades as the longest run. 

Edited July 29, 2019 by mjcmmv

[vicegirl85]

20 hours ago, Robbie C. said:

(snipped)But if you had to sum up the whole thing in one hour-long episode, Noir and all, I'd say it has to be Definitely Miami. It's got TWO noir plots running at the same time and spectacular visuals. Not necessarily one of the best written episodes, but it checked pretty much all the Vice boxes in terms of what people expected to see when they tuned in.

That's why I've always said if someone doesn't like Definitely Miami, they're not likely to be a fan of Miami Vice.  For me, it's the single most iconic episode, and it's one of my top 5 best-loved, even if I don't think it's objectively the best one.

As far as a streak of near-perfect episodes:

For S2, from Prodigal Son to Payback (eps 1-19), I thought all of them were worth watching!  Even Florence, Italy had its good points (for me).  That said, I don't pretend to be a great judge of the writing or guest-star acting, but as I've said in the episode discussions, I thought Bill Russell did a good job for the character he played.

For S3, from Irish Eyes to Theresa (eps 1-16) I thought all were good.  Irish Eyes is a favorite but I also loved Stone's War, El Viejo, and Forgive Us Our Debts.  There are a few eps in that string that were slightly weaker but all had something special, IMO.

In including these, for me each of them has something that ties it to Miami or brings out something in the history of one or more of our beloved characters.  Those things make the episodes special for me. 

Edited July 29, 2019 by vicegirl85
added my list of eps

[S.FL84]

I agree w/ James.  Just about every ep. in season #1 was perfect.  The same for season #2, especially the season opener.  IMO the show peaked in late season #2 and gradually crumbled from that point on.  As I've posted elsewhere - In 1985-86 Don Johnson IMO was the closest anyone has ever came to reaching the god-like statues of Elvis Presley. I mean hell even his damn music album made on the charts and in all honesty could have stood alone on its own w/out his MV fame as being not too damn bad. Sexy Barbara Streisand even sang back on the hit song "Heartbeat" which I'm sure her & Don were "dating" at the time and I don't blame him one bit.  She was sexy as hell in THE WAY WE WERE.