Miami Vice (TV Series) Heroes of the Revolution (1987) User Reviews

A season 3 standout.

[frankenbenz · 9/10 · 7 August 2007]

From a convincing opening flashback of early Castro Cuba, to the satisfying melancholy ending, this episode is one of the more accomplished chapters in MV.

The first episode to revolve around Gina's back story, Sandra Santiago is able to showcase her singing skills making you wonder why it was PMT and DJ who release pop albums, not Santiago.

Strong acting and solid writing (despite yet another drug kingpin making another mindless decision for the sake of plot convenience) make this a great finish to an otherwise spotty season. The standout performance was Jeroen Krabbé who played Klaus Herzog, the avenging KGB agent with close ties to Gina's mother.

Despite the bad guy getting killed in an all-too-neat closure, it's worth recognizing that Crockett went through an entire episode without killing anyone!

Sandra Santiago's best "Vice"

[wallykennedy · 8/10 · 16 November 2019]

Nice to see her get a show, pretty much to herself. She handles it well. "Vice" was pretty much Johnson and Thomas's show, but this show highlights Santiago's talent, like "Dutch Oven" did for Trudy.

A great stand-alone episode and a Santiago feast

[bob-larrance · 8/10 · 3 September 2015]

The season three finale is a wonderful episode featuring Saundra Santiago as both her mother and her regular character, Gina Calabrese. Jeroen Krabbé and Shawn Elliott guest as former lovers of Gina's mother, and in supporting roles are the regulars: Crockett, Tubbs, Joplin, etc.

Flashbacks from Cuba in the early 60's provide the opening background for an episode that focuses on lost love and revenge. By the end we have learned a great deal about Gina's 'backstory' and seen one of the strongest performances Santiago provided during her five years on the program.

Krabbé provides the sort of strong performance that many prominent guest stars brought during the life of the program. Elliott does a nice job in a fairly familiar role, but Krabbé really shines in a piece of inspired casting. Much like Liam Neeson, in the first episode of Season Three, Krabbé adds a nice performance in scenes with Santiago's 'Gina' and her normally supporting female character is able to really show her stuff as the lead.

In addition to the regular Jan Hammer soundtrack this episode mixes in some strong torch songs from the 30's. The well-constructed finale fits around a classic tune as the ending matches the tone set in the opening scene. Heroes of the Revolution is yet another example of why Miami Vice was the must see crime show of the 80's. It was and is simply superior television.

For those that aren't familiar with the series this is a good episode to enjoy as a 'stand-alone' item. You don't need to know the history of the characters or be a strict Don Johnson fan. A nice hour of well-written and well-acted cop drama is here for you to experience. You will get a little taste of all the regular characters and a full banquet of Saundra Santiago.

Some back-story for Gina

[Tweekums · 1 June 2012]

This, the final episode of season three, opens in early '60s Cuba where Gina's mother goes on stage to sing; she is shot and killed by Orrestes Pedrosa, an army officer... her lover, an East German Intelligence officer swears that he will kill the murderer. Jumping forward just over twenty years Switek is taking surveillance photographs of Pedrosa's house when he sees somebody else doing exactly the same thing. Castillo asks a few questions of other agencies and it becomes apparent that the mystery man is the same East German who swore to kill Pedrosa all those years before. Around the same time Castillo is learning this from the FBI, Gina is learning it from the man himself; Klaus Herzog, he also tells her about her mother and why he intends to kill Pedrosa. Later on the team are told that Herzog is to be arrested on sight be Gina continues to meet him and at his suggestion gets a job at a jazz club to lure Pedrosa out... the only real question now is will Herzog kill Pedrosa or will he be brought to justice by Gina!

This episode was a fine conclusion to the excellent third season; it was nice to have a bit of back-story for Gina even if it did rely on quite a large coincidence to bring her and her mother's ex together. Miami Vice regular Saundra Santiago did a fine job as Gina; managing to carry the episode and show that she has a decent singing voice. Guest star, Dutch actor, Jeroen Krabbé did a fine job as STASI agent Herzog. While there wasn't a huge amount of action things still remained tense and what action there was, was pretty good... even if the blood stain an a bad guy's white jacket looked laughably small for a gunshot victim.

Saundra Santiago is a stunning singer

[safenoe · 9/10 · 25 August 2020]

This season 3 finale showcases Saundra Santiago, who is a stunning singer. The backstory is impressive, with glimpses of the Cuba of old. Kind of reminded me of the underrated film Havana with Robert Redford. Anyway, I would have hoped that a Miami Vice episode would focus on the singing talents of Don Johnson.

Did Gina become Cuban overnight?

[theonejackdry · 1/10 · 6 February 2022]

This was one of the worst episodes so far. Are we to believe that Gina suddenly wasn't Italian American but Cuban? Or that her mother was an Italian singer in Cuba? The whole thing made no sense. Gina was stunning and cute as usual nevertheless.

Flat!

[mm-39 · 5/10 · 20 February 2017]

Heroes of the Revolution is a flat episode. A great story of revenge where Gina's mother was killed by a Cuban government/military agent and Gina's mother's lover (a East German spy) seeks revenge. A great story! The script writers must of enjoyed writing the spy book script. A script which would make a great book, but not for a 40 minute show. I found the transference of the story to visual flat. The Cuba scene looks choppy as the story hits the present. The rest of the show looks rushed. Gina meets the agents rushed. The jazz scene get across choppy. Maybe a two part episode would fit better for the story. 5 out of 10.