Miami Vice: Season 2

I'm only about a third of the way through this set and it just keeps getting better. It starts off great with a two-part premiere where Crockett and Tubbs chase a murderous drug runner (Luis Guzman) to New York. Along the way they cross paths with various characters played by such icons as Gene Simmons, Pam Grier, and Penn Gillette.

Then there's an episode with Miles Davis as a pimp named Ivory Jones. Well actually he runs a massage parlor so I don't know if that counts as being a pimp but if there's a slang word for running a massage parlor I just haven't heard it yet. Along with the jazz club scene in COLLATERAL, casting Davis here is a sure sign that Michael Mann must have been a huge fan of the guy because Davis has a big role and I could maybe understand about every 4th word he says. He's still pretty effective though.

But the real surprise has been seeing Nathan Lane play a sleazy hack comic. Lane actually attempts to rape a woman. He doesn't half-ass it either. He smacks her around, tears her shirt, and really gives it his all before failing in his quest for forcible coitus. I didn't think Lane had that type of rage in him.

All that and I haven't even mentioned the one with Little Richard and David Straithairn.

I wasn't really digging the episode I watched tonight. It featured Clarence Williams III as some kind of voodoo crime lord. The show really got bogged down by all the spiritual mumbo jumbo.

But then towards the end Crockett shot a buff midget and I felt like that justified the time spent watching the program.

Yes, and Phil Collins' "Take Me Home" has never sounded better! I can't get that tune out of my head... "Cos I don't remember!"

One of the little things that makes this show so unique is Tubbs' mini-shotgun. What a great little tool. So compact yet so effective. Any arms experts know if they still make those because I've been looking for something that you don't have to be a good shot with that I can fit in my glove compartment.

It's not so much speeding tickets. The mini-shotgun would be good for me because as the owner of an '01 Ford Focus I'm constantly running the risk of being car jacked for my sweet ride.

Oh great, thanks a lot James Brady!

They're probably illegal. All the cool guns are illegal. Oh well, as long as I can keep my Saturday Night Special I should be okay. But everytime I fire that thing I keep thinking to myself "Is this the time it's gonna jam and blow up in my hand?" You don't need those type of distractions when it's trigger pullin' time!

I'm not exagerating. Gang bangers are becomming more and more impressed with a car that gets 32 miles to the gallon on the highway and way more trunk space than similar sized automobiles. The Ford Focus ladies and gentleman, a small car with big ambition.

I haven't seen BLACK DAWN yet. I'm tempted to try and show some will power and skip it but like a battered wife I know I'll end up checking it out next week. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and how Seagal, his body double, and his stunt double perform this time around.

This evening it was a rare chance to see Crockett and Tubbs play a supporting role in a Castillo-centered episode titled "Bushido." Not only does Edward James Olmos get to flesh out a bit more of his character's mysterious past but he directs this episode as well. Dean Stockwell plays an old CIA buddy of Olmos who is on the run from both the Company and the KGB, and asks his comrade to provide safety to his wife and son. Some very good scenes, added with Olmos slicing a couple of guys with a samurai sword, make for a winning entry in the "Vice" cannon.

You got me. I was going to mention that but "Sledge Hammer" is becomming one of those references that fewer and fewer people take an interest in, a sad commentary on our modern society if you ask me. Rasche was great in this episode, especially his speech at the end as he stalks Castillo where he riffs about how beautiful Miami is. Rasche was almost as good here as he was in AN INNOCENT MAN.

For what it's worth, one of the other KGB guys was one of Charlize Theron's murder victims in MONSTER (the one who wanted to be called "daddy") and was part of the hit squad that wipes out Frank Castle's family in THE PUNISHER.