Miami Vice: Difference between revisions

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Conceived by Brandon Tartikoff as "[[MTV]] Cops," the series drew much of its premise from real-life laws allowing property seized from drug dealers to be used in drug enforcement. In other words, if a drug dealer has a [[Cool Car]] or [[Cool Boat]], and that drug dealer is jailed, the police can use his stuff. These laws gave the producers a perfectly valid excuse for putting their public-servant characters in Ferraris and Armani suits.

 

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* [[Affably Evil]]: Some of the bad guys are polite enough... until it comes time to pull the weapons out...

* [[Anyone Can Die]]: {{spoiler|Rodriguez and Zito.}}

* [[Battle Couple]]: Of the few times they're paired together, Tubbs and Valerie are this.

* [[Beleaguered Childhood Friend]]/[[Broken Pedestal]]: The repeated moments when one of the heroes would find out an old friend, love interest, or a colleague they trusted had gone bad.

* [[Berserk Button]]: Tubbs hates machine guns... especially when they are being fired directly ''at'' him. Kind of ironic since he himself keeps an arsenal that would make the NRA squeal with delight.

** Also Crockett and men who abuse women. Taking an ugly turn if he's drunk.

* [[Cool Pet]]: Crockett has a pet ''alligator'', Elvis.

* [[Cool Shades]]

* [[Cowboy Cop]]: Willie Nelson shows up as a Texas Ranger.

* [[Criminal Amnesiac]]: Crockett loses his memory while undercover as a drug dealer. As a result, he ''becomes'' the drug dealer and {{spoiler|proceeds to take over much of the Miami market. But in the process he shoots Tubbs when his ex-partner tries to force his memories back. When Crockett does regain his memory and tries to return to the vice squad, he's arrested. It takes a convoluted plot of defeating an [[Ax Crazy]] criminal and saving Tubbs' life to return Crockett to the force.}}

* [[Da Chief]]: Castillo, played by Edward James Olmos.

* [[Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangster!]]

* [[Dramatic Gun Cock]]

* [[Drugs Are Bad]]

* [[Fake Defector]]

* [[Fashion Dissonance]]: Textbook example.

* [[Karma Houdini]]: Some villains (and some heroes) never answer for the crimes they commit.

* [[Magical Computer]]: The crazed ex-cop Hank in "Out Where The Buses Don't Run" works with a computer to track the "missing" drug lord that Hank is obsessed with catching. The computer "Lorraine" (named for Hank's ex-wife) operates with a mind and personality of its own, and does things that computers in 1985 really didn't do.

* [[Montage]]

* [[Music Video Syndrome]]: Especially in the pilot.

* [[Product Placement]]: The [[Cool Car]] and cool clothes throughout the series.

** Also applies to Crockett's handguns in the the television series, namely the Bren Ten for the first two seasons, and the Smith & Wesson 645 for the rest of the series.

* [[Ripped from the Headlines]]: Started being integrated into the plot more once [[Law and Order|Dick Wolf]] became executive producer. Considering the number [[Only in Florida|of crazy things]] that happen in Florida, it was easy.

* [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]: How Tubbs ends up in Miami as Crockett's partner. It pops up as motivation for some of the more [[Ax Crazy]] villains that would guest-star every other week.

* [[Sacrificial Lamb]]: The department's original boss, Lieutenant Rodriguez.

* [[Salt and Pepper]]

* [[Shoot Your Mate]]

* [[Shout-Out]]: Several episodes of the show "borrowed" plots from various movies, such as ''[[High Noon]]'' or ''[[The Trouble with Harry]]''. Season 3's "Shadow in the Dark" was pretty much one giant allusion to ''[[Manhunter (film)|Manhunter]]'', which Michael Mann himself directed.

[[Category:American Series]]

[[Category:Miami Vice]]