Almost done rewatching the series.

[zidders]

I've been following leshoffman-81902's fantastic episode viewing order list to revisit the series. You can check it out here https://www.imdb.com/list/ls064001008/ I'm up to 'Asian Cut' and so far I have to say it's one of the best dramatic series I've ever watched. I was pretty young when I first viewed the show (I''ll be 46 in August making me just over ten years old when it first aired) so watching it now was more like seeing it for the first time. This time around I've been able to fully appreciate just how different from any other show this one was when it first aired. Aside from a few cringe moments here and there it doesn't feel that dated. It does a lot of worldbuilding early on that sets it aside from reality placing it firmly in its own universe. The best comparison I can make to it is how the Grand Theft Auto series has created its own universe throughout every game since GTA III. Like Miami Vice it has its own atmosphere, sets up and follows its own laws (or interpretation of real law) and has its own look and sound. 

I think this is why it worked so well and still does. Things like Sonny & Rico doing things you could never get away with if you looked at it with too critical an eye work because we're told from the start the bad guys in the Miami Vice universe only realize they're cops undercover when it suits the plot. Of course they're supplied with confiscated clothes & allowed to drive around (and both bill the department to maintain & cause to get damaged) expensive cars. It all works because the show sticks to its own set of rules unwaveringly. It helps it had a fantastic ensemble cast-though said ensemble is what I feel led to Miami Vice falling apart. This is where I begin my criticism. While I love the clothes, the cars, the music and especially Sonny & Rico I don't love how Rico and to a greater extent the rest of the cast (except perhaps save for Marty) are treated. Gina & Trudy only get a few decent moments to shine. Same with Switek & Zito. The women are almost always prostitutes and most of the time where Sonny & Rico are shown as being capable Gina & Trudy often get shown as being weak.

Worse, rape is used as character development-only it happens and is never referred to so ends up being a lazy way to get a dramatic moment. It doesn't show the consequences. Sonny has almost a season's worth of recovering from a traumatic event and all he did was get blown up, live the high life, kill a bunch of people in cold blood then get away with it. Yeah-again-some cringe moments that drag down an otherwise solid (for the most part) series. Season 4 is pretty shaky overall but so far I've only had to skip through one episode (the one I'm currently on) due to a poor quality script (and it being another instance of either Gina or Trudy being made to look weak so that Sonny & Rico can look understanding & comforting). 

What can I say? As much as I love it I recognize despite being a show almost entirely out of time it still has some rough edges. I'm looking forward to see how it all ends but at the same time I'll be sad when it's over. i've been watching since October and it's become an everyday custom to watch an episode in the morning and one at night. I haven't always managed to keep that custom but It's rare a series captures me the way this one has. Now every time I hear a song featured on the show I have a dramatic moment to go with it. It's made that one Phil Collin's song (I know you know the one I mean) that much more air-drummable and it's made my favorite song from the series-You Belong to the City-so much more powerful. I don't know if I'll ever manage to sit through all five seasons of the show again but then I don't think I'll need to. When this show was good-and it was so very, very good so often-it was truly memorably. 

[Vicefan7777]

I was one of those fortunate ones to watch this amazing show in its original tv run when I was in my 20s and too thought it was very very good.  I get this warm feeling inside whenever I watch an episode. Takes me back to my free spirit days.  Enjoy watching the rest of the series. 

[jpaul1]

talking about the rape consequences in 85? not even sure psychiatrics existed back then. you need to put things back into their context

[Mr. Vigilante]

I watched it sporadically as a kid during it's original run.  My mom didn't like me watching it, so I'd go next door to my friends house and we would watch it.  We would then play cops and robbers with our toy guns and his dad's handcuffs (he was a cop).  We'd also sit in his unmarked detective car and pretend we were in the Ferrari.  Good times!  I didn't watch the series in it's entirety until I was an adult.  I watched each season as it was released on dvd.  I just finished watching the series again a few weeks ago.  What can I say??  Still think it's the best show ever.  Even with the stinker episodes, the good definitely outweigh the bad!

[zidders]

On 2/19/2020 at 6:07 AM, jpaul1 said:

talking about the rape consequences in 85? not even sure psychiatrics existed back then. you need to put things back into their context

The earliest known texts on mental disorders are from ancient India and the first hospitals for curing mental illness were established in India during the 3rd century BCE. On a more personal note my adoptive aunt was a nurse psychologist for almost 50 years. She was head of nurse-employee training at the Rhode Island state institute of mental health. While victims of rape weren't as fortunate as they are now in terms of psychiatric help & counseling (and even know it's lacking) it definitely did exist. I can remember a number of 'very special episodes' of many of the shows I watched back in the 80's being about rape. In fact the All in the Family episode 'Edith's 50th Birthday Party' from 1977 deals with Edith Bunker being sexually assaulted and its aftereffects. It showed her dealing with depression, denial, fear of coming forward and her eventually revealing to Archie what happened. 

Given Miami Vice was never afraid of shying away from dealing with weighty topics I don't see why the shows producers couldn't have given Saundra Santiago more ways of making her character having to go through that stuff more worthwhile. 

[zidders]

On 2/19/2020 at 1:46 AM, Vicefan7777 said:

I was one of those fortunate ones to watch this amazing show in its original tv run when I was in my 20s and too thought it was very very good.  I get this warm feeling inside whenever I watch an episode. Takes me back to my free spirit days.  Enjoy watching the rest of the series. 

I'm about 13 episodes into season 5 now. I think the first two seasons are my favorite but there's quite a lot from seasons 3-5 to love. I can definitely feel series fatigue setting in, though. The scripts are a little more all over the place quality-wise and much of the intensity from the first half of the series history is gone. It's sad but at the same time not bad for a dramatic series with an hour-long format. 

[zidders]

On 2/19/2020 at 2:14 PM, Mr. Vigilante said:

I watched it sporadically as a kid during it's original run.  My mom didn't like me watching it, so I'd go next door to my friends house and we would watch it.  We would then play cops and robbers with our toy guns and his dad's handcuffs (he was a cop).  We'd also sit in his unmarked detective car and pretend we were in the Ferrari.  Good times!  I didn't watch the series in it's entirety until I was an adult.  I watched each season as it was released on dvd.  I just finished watching the series again a few weeks ago.  What can I say??  Still think it's the best show ever.  Even with the stinker episodes, the good definitely outweigh the bad!

I definitely agree it's one of the best shows ever. That said I think I would have gotten a lot more from it if I was watching it as a weekly series instead of binging. In my opinion our current manner of watching series is a detriment to them in the long run. We blast through an entire season in one or two sittings and then what? We're onto the next one. There's no time to hang out and wonder what's going to happen. That was part of the excitement. But then i'm getting old lol. I have nothing against people binging shows. Hopefully if they get into Vice it just means they're more likely to repeatedly binge it over and over while dressing like Sonny, Rico, Gina, Marty....you get the idea lol. 

[jpaul1]

4 hours ago, zidders said:

The earliest known texts on mental disorders are from ancient India and the first hospitals for curing mental illness were established in India during the 3rd century BCE. On a more personal note my adoptive aunt was a nurse psychologist for almost 50 years. She was head of nurse-employee training at the Rhode Island state institute of mental health. While victims of rape weren't as fortunate as they are now in terms of psychiatric help & counseling (and even know it's lacking) it definitely did exist. I can remember a number of 'very special episodes' of many of the shows I watched back in the 80's being about rape. In fact the All in the Family episode 'Edith's 50th Birthday Party' from 1977 deals with Edith Bunker being sexually assaulted and its aftereffects. It showed her dealing with depression, denial, fear of coming forward and her eventually revealing to Archie what happened. 

Given Miami Vice was never afraid of shying away from dealing with weighty topics I don't see why the shows producers couldn't have given Saundra Santiago more ways of making her character having to go through that stuff more worthwhile. 

because it simply wasn't into the era habits. at that time it was pretty shameful to say you had psy issues. You speak about India, i can also quote you Volterra Italy that was only 90 years ago