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Mirror Image

Mirrorimagetitle

Season
4
Episode
22 (90th Overall)
Airdate
May 6, 1988
Repeat Airdate
October 28, 1988
TV Rating
TV-14 D-L-V
Writer(s)
Director
Guest Stars
Previous Episode
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"Mirror Image" is the twenty-second episode and season finale of Miami Vice's fourth season. The episode premiered on May 6, 1988, repeated on October 28, 1988 (final repeat of the fourth season) and is the only cliffhanger in the series.

Summary

Crockett is presumed dead after an explosion on a dealer's boat, but survives with amnesia, believes he's his alter-ego Sonny Burnett and begins working for a drug boss. It is the second episode of the Sonny Burnett Arc.

Plot

Crockett (still reeling from Caitlin's murder) and Tubbs are observing a drug lord summit on a boat between Alejandro Gutierrez (Antonio Fargas) and people from a rival organization. Crockett is going aboard undercover to try and turn Gutierrez against his boss, Miguel Manolo, hoping that doing so will further his investigation. While Crockett is fishing, he tells Gutierrez he has info on Manolo's plan to squeeze him out, but fails to pass on the full details. Gutierrez toasts to peace and prosperity to both groups... before going below deck to activate a bomb he's planted, hoping to wipe out not only his opposition but a sizeable chunk of his boss' men too, thereby setting himself up as a major player. He urges Crockett to leave with him, but Crockett is too involved in the Marlin he has hooked to take the hint, and the boat explodes as Gutierrez escapes in a waiting speedboat.

Castillo wants Crockett's files turned over to Homicide, as they are handling the case. The whole team is stunned at what happened. Tubbs goes through Crockett's file on Manolo to begin his own investigation. Meanwhile, Crockett is at an unspecified location with a concussion that has brought about amnesia; Gutierrez wants him better ASAP, anxious to learn Manolo's plans for him. When Crockett begins to function properly again, the on-site doctor tells him he's Sonny Burnett, a drug dealer, and warns him about Gutierrez. Burnett (whose memory is still foggy) arrives at Manolo's place in Fort Lauderdale and meets Polly Wheeler (Julia Roberts), Manolo's assistant. While observing his cockfighting birds, Manolo assigns Burnett to get to the bottom of his peace conference debacle. Gutierrez (who has his arm in a sling from the explosion) is still trying to get out of Burnett what he was about to tell him on the boat, but Burnett cannot remember what it was. Tubbs goes to Manolo's Miami locale and finds it abandoned save for a bunch of mail, including a letter to a Doris Gumble, who tells Tubbs Manolo moved up to Lauderdale. Gutierrez continues to badger Burnett (interrupting a conversation with Polly) about the boat info when Burnett remembers that he (Gutierrez) lit a cigar at the hospital with his "bad" arm. He tells Manolo that Gutierrez was behind the boat explosion.

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Dream on the beach

Tubbs takes some time off to continue his own investigation; Castillo prefers that Homicide handle it but wants Tubbs to find the body, as it hasn't turned up. Burnett (at a meet) stops a potential rip-off of Manolo's drugs by shooting one of the dealers and throwing the other two in the trunk of their car. The next morning Polly, after an attempt at flirting with Burnett, lets him know he's expected with Manolo in an hour. Manolo wants Gutierrez to take Burnett with him to meet the Arzamenis, who have set up a deal. Tubbs stops by Lauderdale PD to meet his old friend Sgt. Rolando Jordan (Brent Jennings) and Detective Jimmy Hagovitch (Chris Cooper), asking for help with Manolo. Jordan says there's a leak in the department regarding Manolo and IAD has the lid clamped on it. While waiting for the Arzamenis (who don't show because no deal exists), Burnett gets a call from Manolo. Gutierrez can guess what it's about and tries to convince Burnett to go into business with him, but Burnett has none of it and shoots Gutierrez in the face, blowing out the driver-side window.

Manolo expresses approval at Burnett's effectiveness, while Tubbs gets a call from Jordan, who tells him about Gutierrez's death

Crockettinmirror

Crockett looking at his darker Burnett side

and directs him to Manolo's art gallery. Tubbs meets Polly and asks for a meet with Manolo (while he watches/listens), leaving his contact number. Tubbs asks Jordan for $10K in front money; Jordan agrees on the condition that Tubbs wear a vest. Hagovitch (who is the leak) contacts Manolo to tell him that both Burnett and Cooper are cops, and Manolo arranges to have Cooper meet in an alley behind his gallery, to see where Burnett's loyalties lie. Tubbs arrives, only to be met—and shot—by Burnett.

Burnett begins to have strange dreams of his former life, seeing Castillo and Switek in black, first Tubbs then himself in a coffin, and awakens in bed with Polly. Tubbs is saved by the vest, and knows he saw his partner shoot him. Tubbs calls Castillo while Hagovitch calls Manolo to confirm Tubbs is alive, and that he needs to do what's necessary. Manolo sets Burnett up with a deal and has Hagovitch tag along. Castillo checks with Lauderdale IAD and they have fingered Hagovitch as the leak, but he's already left to meet Burnett at the gallery marina, offering to be his partner. Tubbs and Jordan rush to the gallery and search frantically for Burnett and Hagovitch. When Hagovitch pulls a gun and confronts Burnett about being a cop, Burnett shoots Hagovitch dead and takes off in a boat, with Tubbs calling out to him from the gallery.

Cast

Guest Stars

Co-Starring

Notes

  • This is Jan Hammer's final musical appearance on Miami Vice. Tim Truman will take over in the fifth season, but Hammer's theme would remain. Some of Hammer's classic Vice tracks are featured in this episode, including the music when Crockett and Tubbs meet Grocero in the smoke-filled room (used during Burnett's dealings with Manolo and Gutierrez, as well as when he first wakes up after the explosion) in the episode "Smuggler's Blues", "Rico's Blues" (when Rico is visiting Manolo's Miami HQ), and the Hammer track featured during the scene where Crockett/Burnett drives off in his speedboat with Tubbs calling out to him is a mixture of the haunting melody first used when Tubbs remembers his brother's death in "Brother's Keeper" and Crockett's Theme. The final song is called "Angelina Flashback", which appeared on Jan Hammer's album Miami Vice: The Complete Collection.
  • This was Miami Vice's only "cliffhanger" episode. Previous to 1980 "cliffhangers" (shows with unresolved endings that carryover to the next season) were unheard of in television. After Dallas' "Who Shot J.R.?" cliffhanger in 1980 captured the nation's imagination (and became the most-watched TV show in America until the 1983 M*A*S*H series finale), networks began using cliffhangers as a way to pique interest in a series over the summer reruns. (Of course, sometimes cliffhangers were used and then a show was cancelled, leaving fans and viewers "hung out to dry", as was the case with Michael Mann's other television series Crime Story).
Mirrorimage03

Outside the gallery

  • Manolo's gallery is the same house used by Tony Amato in Season 1's "No Exit".
  • Antonio Fargas (Huggy-Bear) is the third member of the cast of Starsky & Hutch to be involved in Miami Vice. Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky) and David Soul (Hutch) directed several early episodes of the series.
  • Tony Azito makes Manolo different than the average drug boss by moving in rapid, jerky rushes, then standing completely still, cocking his head at odd angles, paralleling his body language to that of the fighting cocks with which he identifies.
  • Don Johnson shows such a total change in personality when he portrays Burnett that even his walk is different, more constrained and intent and less rhythmic than Crockett's easy stride.
  • Burnett's noticeable restlessness, being unwilling to sit or rest for any period of time, reflects his lack of peace with himself and perhaps his sense that he actually belongs somewhere else.
  • The dream sequence on the beach seems to be a salute to the surrealistic filmmaker Federico Fellini.  Tubb's body in the glass coffin calling out to Crockett seems to be his conscience upbrading him for shooting Tubbs, while Crockett seeing himself in a coffin suggests that his unconscious is trying to tell him that his current actions are killing his true self.
  • The episode was repeated one week before the fifth season premiere "Hostile Takeover".
  • The visual style of this episode is more formal and mannered than recent season 4 episodes, recalling the deco landscapes, buildings and careful and closed compositions particularly of Season 1.
  • Sonny's final line (spelling out "Burnett") was previously spoken by him in the episode "Rock and a Hard Place," when Crockett agreed to a drug deal with Caitlin's managers.

Goofs

  • The explosion of the boat hosting the meeting between the rival organizations has very obviously been created using a rather crude model.

Production Notes

  • Filmed: March 9, 1988 - March 18, 1988
  • Production Code: 63526
  • Production Order: 90

Filming Locations

  • Clevelander Hotel, 1020 Ocean Drive (Tubbs speaks with Doris)
  • Spear House in Miami Shores (Manolo's gallery, Burnett shoots Hagovitch)
  • 1438 Collins Ave (Tubbs is met and shot by Burnett)

Music

Jan Hammer Music

  • "Marina" (Opening with Crockett onboard boat with Manolo/Gutierrez meeting)
  • "Rico's Blues" (Tubbs searching Manolo's Miami location)
  • "Airport Swap" (Burnett meets and shoots dealers)
  • "Angelina Flashback/Crockett's Theme" (Burnett shoots Hagovitch and drives off in boat)

Quotes

  • "What else is there to do around here?" Burnett to Manolo, then suggestively locks eyes with Polly Wheeler
  • "That's B-U-R-N-E-double-T!" -- Burnett to Hagovitch before shooting him down
    Sonny!

    "SONNY!"

  • "SONNY!" -- Tubbs to Burnett as he leaves in the boat
Season 4 Episodes:

"Contempt of Court" "Amen... Send Money" "Death and the Lady" "The Big Thaw" "Child's Play" "God's Work" "Missing Hours" "Like a Hurricane" "The Rising Sun of Death" "Love at First Sight" "Rock and a Hard Place" "The Cows of October" "Vote of Confidence" "Baseballs of Death" "Indian Wars" "Honor Among Thieves?" "Hell Hath No Fury..." "Badge of Dishonor" "Blood & Roses" "A Bullet for Crockett" "Deliver Us from Evil" "Mirror Image"

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