Miami Vice: Season 4

It's interesting to note that Season 4 suffers from the misfortune of having occurred after most of the original writers and producers for the show, including creators Anthony Yerkovich and Michael Mann, had long-since bailed and freelance writers were brought in to write for the show, most of whom had probably not even seen an episode of Miami Vice and had no clue how to write for the series cast. The result is an unforgiveably mixed bag of erratic episodes that are all over the map. The season opener "Contempt of Court" features great performances by Stanley Tucci and Meg Foster but it feels more like a mid-season filler episode than an explosive opener compared to Season 3's "When Irish Eyes Are Crying" but nonetheless gets the season off to an awkward start. By the fourth episode in, however, the season gets pretty much derailed beginning with "The Big Thaw" about a Rastafarian Michael Jackson reggae singer preserved in a cryogenic sleep chamber and then there's the infamous "Missing Hours" featuring James Brown and a whacked-out plot revolving around Trudy's alien abduction and it's time to call in Mulder and Scully instead of Crockett and Tubbs. If Vice hadn't already "Jumped the Shark" at that point, the introduction of Sheena Easton in the following episode "Like A Hurricane" as Sonny's recurring love-interest Caitlin Davies is enough to make you shriek like nails screeching on chalkboard when Sonny's lovey-dovey side reduces the season into a series of mushy soap-opera escapades and inevitable wedding bells ring while poor Rico is left on the sidelines. Then there's the throwaway "flashback" episode aptly titled "A Bullet For Crockett" which is nothing more than a series of clips from previous episodes including "Evan" from which the episode derives its name from as Sonny fights for his life after being shot in action, an oft-imitated television cheat which would be recycled again in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Shades of Gray" with Riker fighting for his life intercut with a series of episode flashbacks. On the plus side there's some good cinematography and lighting this season and DJ looks good with his longer hairstyle and PMT looks pretty suave with his GQ beard and there's a pretty decent selection of alternative music featuring tracks by artists like Yello, Love and Rockets, Gene Loves Jezebel, Billy Idol, Iggy Pop, U2 and Peter Gabriel peppered throughout but any misgivings you may have about season 4 eventually payoff with patience building to the last two dramatically stunning episodes of the season, "Deliver Us From Evil" when Crockett's nemesis Frank Hackman returns to settle the score and "Mirror Image" with Crockett suffering from amnesia and believing he is his undercover persona Burnett ("That's B-U-R-N-E-double T") that set the stage for the jaw-dropping season-ender and the three-part Burnett story-arc that continues into Vice's fifth and final season.

I searched all over for this video to give to my son as a Christmas present!

Sometimes, this season is considered the weakest season but in my opinion it features many of what would be my favorite episodes. The first few episodes are rather run of the mill - though "Amen .. send money" is a great episode but is different to other MV - and certainly "The big thaw" is terrible, but "Child's play" and "God's work" are very strong and inventive episodes. "Missing hours" is often cited as the worst episode of all but while this is clearly not MV in style, it is the kind of stuff people would be watching later on "Twin peaks" or "X-Files". I like the Caitlin Davies episodes (Crockett's revenge on Frank Hackman - that episode is one of the best ever MV episodes imo) and "Mirror image", where Sonny loses his mind after his Caitlin's death. "Bad of dishonor", "Indian wars" and "Hell hath no fury" are great action-packed episodes. The anti-Pinochet episode "Baseballs of death" is not only fiction but shows the kind of people the West supported against communism (this is the best political episode since "Stones war" in season 3).The only problem with season four is there are about 4 very pointless episodes (the boring "Vote of confidence", the ridiculous "Cows of October" and "The big thaw" and - if you want to - "Missing hours" (the strongest of these 4 actually!)) that sometimes were back to back. The fact that the season also had many of the best episodes ever is not well known as a result.

Miami Vice is to me (a new fan) one of the best shows ever made with its first three seasons. The first two exemplified a new style, but remained a focused and well made television show that transcends its famed style and was a great show. The third season made things a little darker and a little more real, losing the style to a certain extent, most likely hoping to establish itself as a show with substance over style. With season 4, the show was at a bit of a cross-roads, strugling greatly with the chance to be taken more seriously beyond the label of MTV Cops. The focus was less team/partner oriented and more single character based (usually), and the popular songs are greatly toned down. While it turned up some winners, it turned up some clunkers as well. With the clunkers the problem was repeating already established themes and stories (crokect not wanting to testify, Gina with men in...poor situations), as well as stories that were just plain silly (cryo-frozen jamaican?). However, amongst this was some really great episodes, and some real surprisingly dark turns. Crocket went darker than I ever expected, and did it surprisingly well. Ultimately, this season still was fun, and easily recomended for Miami Vice fans. Though flawed, with some clunkers, it was still fun to watch, and I can't wait for the fifth season.

Miami Vice defined the 80s. I preferred to own the original issued DVDs in the original "foil" looking package instead of the newer repackaging. Excellent picture quality with the original outstanding soundtrack. In my case, HPB delivered two of the original five seasons in a prompt timely matter. Very happy the results.

This includes the marriage to Caitlin (Sheena Easton), which broke millions of hearts, Sonny!MAIN CAST : Don Johnson, Philip Michael Thomas, Edward James Olmos, Saundra Santiago, Olivia BrownDisc 1:~ CONTEMPT OF COURT~ AMEN...SEND MONEY~ DEATH AND THE LADY~ THE BIG THAWDisc 2:~ CHILD'S PLAY~ GOD'S WORK~ MISSING HOURS~ LIKE A HURRICANEDisc 3:~ THE RISING SUN OF DEATH~ LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT~ ROCK AND A HARD PLACE~ THE COWS OF OCTOBERDisc 4:~ VOTE OF CONFIDENCE~ BASEBALLS OF DEATH~ INDIAN WARS~ HONOR AMONG THIEVES?Disc 5:~ HELL HATH NO FURY...~ BADGE OF DISHONOR~ BLOOD AND ROSESDisc 6:~ A BULLET FOR CROCKETT~ DELIVER US FROM EVIL~ MIRROR IMAGE

Miami vice personified all the good and bad about the 1980's. The clothes, the cars, the hair, the shallow lifestyles, the greed, the unending quest for more of everything. Ironically, this is neatly reflected in the production values and the quality of the content during this season.Everything has been ramped up to the max here, including crocket's famous wedding scene and relationship with sheena easton, and the ott designer clothes and furnishings, which were now starting to induce vomit with the garishness en masse. However, once you get beyond the halfway mark, you notice that Jan Hammer is handing over his regins to someone else, michael mann seems to have departed, and the script and direction in general is becoming lacklustre. The "keep 'em glued" cliffhangar for season 5, is crocket's boat accident on a surveillance run, which induces a complete change of character. This is pretty well done.Overall, half of the episodes are good, the other half vary in quality between nonsensical to average at best. If you own the other three seasons, and need this for completist purposes, then feel free to buy. If not, i wouldnt lose too much sleep over not seeing anything from this season.

Season 4 starts well, but tumbles downhill quickly. Focusing mainly on Crockett, Tubbs and the rest of the Vice squad seem to take a back seat, with brief appearances through the episodes. The series is also renowned for featuring the show's two most critically-panned episodes, which deal with UFOs and Bull Semen respectively, which might give you some idea of how the quality has wained. Pop star Sheena Easton joins the regular cast as Crockett's wife, although the very idea that an undercover cop like Crockett would marry a A-list celebrity and compromise both their lives is frankly ridiculous. Besides, Easton's acting is hammy, her accent constantly slips between American and Scottish and despite Crockett's obsession with her, you end up hoping they'll kill her off.

Another great addition to the collection if you have bought them season by season. Another amaray cased box set as are the re released seasons box sets. I'm assuming that the carded box sets have been discontinued. Only really important if you're an absolute completist. Spliler alert! Crockett gets married! Plenty lf action and an 80's soundtrack to die for. Story wise a little slacker than seasons 1 and 2 - I believe that they had different writers for the last couple of seasons. Still worthwhile and kicks the ass of a great many of its contemporaries. Season 5 next...

My brother loved it