It's been said that Miami Vice wasn't very good at sports episode. Granted, "Florence Italy" didn't have the best guest acting. "Down For the Count" has been widely considered one of the better episodes of the underrated 3rd season of MV. While it was a good episode, I prefer "The Good Collar."
The guest acting mostly fine. Charles S. Dutton, previously seen in "The Prodigal Son" from the previous season, returns as the social worker of a promising young athlete who agrees to help the police bust a teenage drug dealer. The actor playing the athlete turns in a solid sympathetic performance as the boy who wants to do the right thing and earn his way out of the hood.
Other memorable aspects of this episode include a frightening murder about halfway through, and the tragic kick-in-the-gut resolution. I'll never forget the justified fit Crockett throws.
Another noticeable aspect of the episode is the theme of younger people helping their mentors make the community safer. In addition to Archie, the athlete, a Metro Gangs boss is aided by Ramirez, an ill-fated young crimefighter dying to clean up the hood.
If you were in the majority that dropped out of watching Miami Vice during the 3rd season, I say you missed out. Make up your own mind and give it a chance.
4 Reviews
Dangerous youths
Tweekums28 April 2012
Warning: Spoilers
While Crockett is arresting school kid Archie Ellis for heroin possession a group of gang members turn up making threats; Tubbs gives chase but the man he catches is actually an undercover cop. He has been investigating the gangs for some time; his unit's main target is 'Count' Curtis Walker a fifteen year old who runs one of the gangs and is behind the trade in dangerous heroin; he isn't too worried though he is has a lifestyle others in the neighbourhood can't even dream about and because of his age he won't do any real time unless he is personally caught doing something very serious. To this end Archie is released; after a meeting with a lower level gang member goes wrong he saves Crockett and Tubbs so is promised he won't be charged so he will be free to pursue his dream of trying for a football scholarship... that is until the state attorney reneges on the deal in order to force him to get direct evidence against Walker.
This series goes from strength to strength with another great episode; once again it continues the serious tone. Set in a neighbourhood of drug dealing youths it felt like an episode of 'The Wire' made twenty years before! There was a sense that the neighbourhood was locked in a deadly cycle as the young kids clearly looked on Walker as a role model. The tone is down beat but there is some exciting action including an impressive explosion. Don Johnson did a fine job portraying Crockett; a man who wanted to do the right thing but in the end was unable to help. Guest star Keith Diamond did a decent job as Archie; making us believe in a character who had made a mistake but was desperate to fix it. The ending had a feel of inevitability about it which made it all the more tragic.
This series goes from strength to strength with another great episode; once again it continues the serious tone. Set in a neighbourhood of drug dealing youths it felt like an episode of 'The Wire' made twenty years before! There was a sense that the neighbourhood was locked in a deadly cycle as the young kids clearly looked on Walker as a role model. The tone is down beat but there is some exciting action including an impressive explosion. Don Johnson did a fine job portraying Crockett; a man who wanted to do the right thing but in the end was unable to help. Guest star Keith Diamond did a decent job as Archie; making us believe in a character who had made a mistake but was desperate to fix it. The ending had a feel of inevitability about it which made it all the more tragic.
The Good Collar
randall-oneil18 January 2008
Warning: Spoilers
This was an unbelievable episode. One of the main characters, Archie, a high school athlete who lived in the "hood" and got mixed up with a dealer named "Count Walker" illustrated two conflicts: good kids in a bad neighborhood who sometimes had to deal with "monied" thugs to get by to attain basic necessities and the cops who felt bound to collar anyone involved with those associated with the drug trade.
Absent of one bad mark, Archie was on his way to a college career playing football. The cops felt bound to thwart him from his well deserved glory due to his minor transgression with being a one time drug mule. How many times does this play out in the real world? Anyway, Archie winds up dead after being caught wearing a wire to catch the "count" talking about his trade. The dealer is arrested but his fate is never known. At that point, does it matter? Charles Dutton and Don Johnson played their roles to the utmost of guilt and despair. At the end, when Archie's grandmother hands Johnson the shoes he gave Archie earlier, you knew it was going to be a long time before he forgot about his role in this case.
See this episode the next time it's on and you'll feel what it must be like to battle the tenants of job responsibility and the reality of doing the right thing.
Absent of one bad mark, Archie was on his way to a college career playing football. The cops felt bound to thwart him from his well deserved glory due to his minor transgression with being a one time drug mule. How many times does this play out in the real world? Anyway, Archie winds up dead after being caught wearing a wire to catch the "count" talking about his trade. The dealer is arrested but his fate is never known. At that point, does it matter? Charles Dutton and Don Johnson played their roles to the utmost of guilt and despair. At the end, when Archie's grandmother hands Johnson the shoes he gave Archie earlier, you knew it was going to be a long time before he forgot about his role in this case.
See this episode the next time it's on and you'll feel what it must be like to battle the tenants of job responsibility and the reality of doing the right thing.
Not the most memorable episode!
mm-3925 November 2023
Warning: Spoilers
The Good Collar was, not the most memorable episode! What works: The viewer see the confliction of the Crocket character about duty vs using a youth to get the job done! The dangers and risks of undercover work was believable. What did not work: The characters come across flat. The Good Collar script keeps the viewer interested, but the characters seemed rushed and squished into the story. Not as much character develop as expected from previous episodes. The ending hits the viewer hard! Either in a positive was or negative way! Either a real downer or an impact on how hard crime hits and hits the viewer hard. Maybe I don't like this particular episode because of the ending, but ? 4 stars.
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