Miami Vice: Season 05 (1988) Reviews

The fifth and final season of the ultrahip crime series Miami Vice opens with a 2-parter resolving the incredible cliffhanger from Season Four. A blow on the head had caused Dade County vice cop Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) to assume the identity of his undercover alter ego Sonny Burnett, and while in this "role" he foments a deadly turf war between two crime families. Though Crockett's memory will return, his partner Det. Ricardo Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) worries that Sonny has passed the point of no return--and may have to be destroyed! This of course doesn't happen, and a few episodes later it's business as usual for the two cops. However, there are more personal crises in the offing for both Sonny and Tubbs--especially the latter when, while undercover, he falls in love with the widow of a murdered drug lord. The series' trademarked utilization of offbeat guest stars has fallen off a bit this season, with the supporting players cast along more traditional lines. A noteworthy exception is the young John Leguizamo, who, after making an indelible impression during the first few seasons as the chief "wiseguy" in the vicious Calderone crime clan, re-emerges in an entirely different role in the fifth-season episode "Victim of Circumstance" Highlights this year include the two-part episode "Freefall", in which Crockett and Tubbs virtually sign their own death warrants when they agree to protect the brutal dictator of "Costa Morada" (played with a florid Latino accent by Ian McShane!). And in "World of Trouble" the detectives are confronted with a ghost from the past as mob boss Al Lombard (Dennis Farina), presumed killed in the series' first-season finale, suddenly pops up as if nothing had happened. The series officially ends it run with Episode #110, "Leap of Faith", featuring Laura San Giacomo. There was, however, still one episode in the hopper. "Too Much Too Late" was never seen during Miami Vice's NBC run, but instead made its debut over cable's USA network on January 25, 1990, six months after the series' over-the-air cancellation. This poignant episode reunites Tubbs with his former love Valerie Gordon (Pam Grier), who unfortunately must keep Tubbs at arm's length as she protects an old friend from a homicidal drug dealer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi