Miami Vice (TV Series) The Maze (1985) User Reviews

The Maze

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 7 November 2020]

The start of this episode has all the tropes of that era whether on television or the movies.

Detective Tim Duryea is a burnt out cop on the edge. His recklessness leave his partner dead as they go chasing after some wild hoodlums with machine guns.

The hoodlums are a gang run by the Escobar brothers are holed up in the Maze, A large run down hotel.

The hotel is also full of squatters and Tubbs goes in pretending to be a Haitian immigrant.

Due to Duryea's hot headedness Tubbs and the other squatters are held as hostages. Lieutenant Castillo calls in the SWAT.

This episode explores the least affluent part of Miami. Refugees and immigrants living as the underclass. It also a base under siege allowing the producers to shoot interior locations which contrasts with the outdoor settings of many earlier episodes.

It concentrates more on Tubbs as he tries to keep the other squatters safe. It also shows how guns lead to young hoodlums to go easy out of control.

A young and thinner Ving Rhames plays one of the men held captive.

A gripping and tense episode

[DVD_Connoisseur · 9/10 · 4 April 2007]

Following a bullet-ridden, night-time opening, "The Maze" follows a lone, undercover Tubbs into a run-down apartment complex, besieged by gun-toting, cop-killing youths.

"Miami Vice" was always a melting-pot of talent. This episode contains an early performance by a young Ving Rhames. Garcelle Beauvais ("NYPD Blue") plays the beautiful Gabriella.

The episode gives Philip Michael Thomas an opportunity to show off his impressive vocal talents. Thomas delivers "Living The Book Of My Life" as he begins his perilous task of infiltrating the apartment building.

This is a tense, exciting episode in which we see the mirror-side of Miami's high-gloss sheen - away from the affluence are people living in abject poverty.

The Police's "Tea In The Sahara" is a memorable track from this story.

9 out of 10.

Tubbs goes undercover

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 23 March 2012]

When a group of street punks who have been hassling local shopkeepers kill a cop they enter the big leagues and attract massive police attention. They are tracked down to a rundown former hotel; it won't be an easy building to storm though as the access routes would leave the police vulnerable. Tubbs offers to go inside posing as in immigrant just in from the islands looking for somewhere to stay. Things go well until the dead cop's partner decides things aren't moving fast enough for his liking and make a move. Once the punks know the building is surrounded by heavily armed police a hostage situation quickly ensues with Tubbs trapped inside.

This was another thrilling episode which opened with one shoot out and ended with another and remained tense throughout; the final storming of the building was particularly impressive managing to be exciting despite having a surprisingly low body count. It was good to see Philip Michael Thomas take the lead as Tubbs spent most of the episode trapped with the hostages where he had to try to defuse the tension without revealing that he was a cop. It was also good to see a different side of Miami; one where the poor people live rather than the usually array of beautiful people living in beautiful houses surrounded by fast cars and fast boats; the people here looked as if they'd be lucky to see the inside of a bus let alone a Ferrari!

Entraped in the Maze

[hellraiser7 · 9/10 · 28 November 2017]

Warning do not read unless seen episode.

This episode is an honorable mention in my book. It's another hostage situation plot line but it's one of the better ones because of it's execution.

I really like a couple of the actors they have in this episode I like which was surprising. Joe Morton was really solid as the S.W.A.T. commander/negotiator which is ironic considering he played the same type of role in the film "Speed". Ving Rhames is also really solid as the big brother of one of the hostages, I really got a good feel for his character which made what happens latter a little sad.

The suspense was great and really tense it's just really palpable you really feel the heat as well as the cramped quarters Tubbs is in, it just reflects the amount of suspense that just keeps building up, like just about anything could happen. The way it's handled is kinda realistic, like with all hostage situations it's all about disarming a terrible situations with minimal lives lost or non if possible which makes it one of the hardest situations to deal with because anything is possible.

This episode to me is one of the ones where Tubbs is at his best. He undercover skills are truly put to the test as he is not just posing as one of the civilians but as one of the hostages. Which makes his mission all the more harder because he has to somehow protect the hostages lives and disarm the situation while maintaining his cover which isn't an easy feat.

I really like how the gang leader Escabar is handled as you see his slow downfall. Where at first he's overconfident and cocky all because they have guns which they think equal power. But as the hostage situation becomes more tense he starts to lose that confidence and even becomes a bit remorseful of his actions. He learns the hard way even though you have guns your still mortal.

One of the things that make this episode unique is how it addresses the issue of poverty which has unfortunately became a bigger issue today. We see the not so pretty side of Miami, from a lot of people mainly immigrants legal and non legal living in a ghetto building. From Ving Rames character and a little moment or two with those hostages you really see that their good people but the problem is they have no access to certain things they need to live the life they want and need; which really made me wonder about our system whether it's really being fair, as well as how much and how little it's doing for it's fellow man.

That final assault sequence is great, the chirography is handled well as we see the S.W.A.T. formations and movements and how they use the small space. Along with see Crockett having to use stealth to infiltrate the structure as well as Tubbs finding and seizing his opportunity to strike. Sure it's not a big shootout, but I feel that's because the situation is a little more realistic as they have a big building they have to navigate though, perpetrators that could be anywhere, and lives of hostages at stake.

Instead of running to freedom, Escabar ran straight into a maze that lead him straight into a dead end.

Rating: 3 and a half stars

Lame.

[mm-39 · 5/10 · 27 August 2018]

Every series has a few lame episodes. The Maze is season ones less memorable episode. Starts out okay with an outlying character development with a shocking murder. Regrettably, the guest characters could be charged with over acting, but their defense would be bad script material to work with. In a vacated apartment/hotel their is a hostage situation. The middle part of The Maze de-evolves into a drama about the squatters, and over a stressed cop. Over dramatized scenes with flat characters with flat acting. The middle is too much information and slows down the story. The ending is interesting, but all done in the usual t v formula. If you are going to skip a Vice episode skip the Maze. 5 out of 10 stars.