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in: Season 2 episodes

"One Way Ticket"

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One Way Ticket

Onewaytickettitle

Season
Episode
14 (36th overall)
Airdate
January 24, 1986
Repeat Airdate
June 6, 1986
TV Rating
TV-14 V
Writer(s)
Director
Guest Stars
Previous Episode
Next Episode

"One Way Ticket" is the fourteenth episode of Miami Vice's second season. It premiered on January 24, 1986, and was rerun on June 6, 1986.

Summary[]

The death of a prominent district attorney leads Crockett and Tubbs to an attorney who has a history of getting dealers out of drug raps.

Plot[]

Crockett and Tubbs are attending the wedding of the daughter of Deputy District Attorney Richard Langley. During the reception an assassin, Philippe Sagot, disguised as a waiter, shoots and kills Langley along with twin teen-age bridesmaids and escapes in a boat.

Janhammerwedding1

Jan Hammer playing at wedding

Attorney Laurence Thurmond, an old adversary of Crockett's and Langley's best friend, has a heated discussion with Crockett over their history together before Tubbs intervenes. Crockett tells Tubbs that years earlier he was breaking in a new Vice cop named Grainy (who just had a child) when they encountered a drug rip-off while undercover. The drug dealer shot and killed Grainy, Crockett apprehended the shooter, roughed him up a little, then Thurmond was able to get the shooter a mistrial due to a "shaky due process rap". At OCB, Castillo and the team review the killings, that Langley was guiding the DEA in bringing pressure against Jean Faber, a French-Canadian drug connection, and wants the team to concentrate on a bar in Fort Lauderdale where Faber's people have been spotted. Sagot and Marcel get into a heated argument (resulting in Sagot pulling a fork on Marcel) over whether Faber would approve of what was done when Switek and Zito take him in on possession charges. While in jail, Thurmond shows up and begins questioning Sagot and reveals that Thurmond is being paid for defense and to get him out of jail. Jean Faber and Thurmond discuss the Langley killing and Thurmond cannot continue to defend his associates after Langley is killed and wants out of his association, Faber will not allow it and insists Thurmond get Sagot off. Crockett is due for a briefing with Tubbs and Castillo over the Langley killings, but Crockett begs off, saying he "went to see his therapist" and heads for the rifle range while Thurmond boards his private jet he pilots and takes off for a flight. Crockett picks up his Ferrari at Tommy's garage (which is where Thurmond's is also being repaired) and gets an anonymous call that Sagot is the killer. Castillo feels Crockett doesn't have enough evidence to tie Sagot to the killings but allows him to investigate further. They bring in Marcel and he says Sagot may be crazy enough to kill Langley but won't confirm anything and "lawyers up". Thurmond and his ex-wife Alecia are talking when Crockett stops in to confront Thurmond about Sagot and how he is the prime suspect in Langley's killing; Thurmond seems indifferent. Later Marcel is killed by Sagot while in the shower.

Trudy said that Thurmond and Sagot met together in Lauderdale, possibly telling Sagot about the tip which caused Marcel to be killed. Castillo likes the theory but wants a case. Faber is concerned about the heat Sagot's actions are causing, but Sagot is confident Thrumond will make sure he's covered, but Faber wants Sagot to disappear and Thurmond "taken care of". Sagot (while being tailed by Switek and Trudy) stops to tell them that he was leaving the country the next day. Thurmond, meanwhile, is taking his jet for some "high altitude meditation", but can't get Crockett's words about allowing Sagot to go free and Langley dying out of his head, and he takes his jet into freefall and crashes into the ocean. The plane wreckage was recovered but no body. Crockett receives another anonymous tip saying that the gun used in the killing is in a safe deposit box at First Miami Bank and the caterers uniform used was stolen a week before. Tubbs traced the call to an apartment where they found an answering machine which can be triggered from any phone. Sagot is leaving on a plane out of the country and Zito obtains a warrant to get into the safe deposit box to retrieve the gun, which Castillo says is needed for probable cause to arrest Sagot. Zito did retrieve the gun and they move in, but Sagot pulls out another gun and shoots his way out, then steals a boat to escape with Crockett, Tubbs, and the harbor patrol on his heels. The police catch up to and arrest Sagot. Crockett and Tubbs go see Tommy about Thurmond's car, and Tommy gave them a package Thurmond had delivered there specifically for Crockett, which were signed affidavits about the whole Faber operation, and they arrest Faber.

Bangyourdead

"Bang, you're dead."

Crockett and Tubbs then go to see Alecia about the anonymous calls (one was made after the crash). She shows them a picture of Thurmond on an island, Rum Cay, which is near Bimini, where he was the most happy. So, Crockett and Tubbs head for Rum Cay, where they find Thurmond alive, having parachuted to a life raft, which was then sailed to Bimini, before taking a seaplane to Rum Cay. Thurmond explains how he's given up everything to try to make things right, even though he knows it doesn't square him with Crockett. Crockett considers this for a moment, before replying - "Hell, you want to be dead? Bang, you're dead!"

Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

Co-Starring[]

Notes[]

  • When the episode was repeated in June 1986, it was the first episode broadcast in the 9:00 timeslot, the time Vice would appear in starting with with season 3.
  • Jan Hammer has a cameo as a wedding musician in this episode. He would play at another wedding (Sonny and Caitlin's) in the season 4 episode "Like a Hurricane".
  • This marks the first of two appearances of Annie Golden as Crockett's mechanic, Tommy. The second would be in the episode "Florence Italy".
  • Vice producer Richard Brams makes a cameo appearance as the firing range supervisor where Crockett takes target practice.
  • This episode marks the last time that Crockett is seen smoking a cigarette, after he was previously portrayed as a heavy-smoking character. His quitting was barely acknowledged in the series, although in "Death and the Lady", when Crockett is talking with Milton Glantz in his studio, Glantz asks Crockett if he has a light, to which Crockett responds, "Nope, gave it up!" 
  • Thurmond's fly yellow Ferrari 365 GTS is the only other time that a genuine Ferrari Daytona can be seen in the series besides a brief scene in the pilot, Brother's Keeper. 

Goofs[]

  • Zito's beard reappears for a final time, despite him being clean-shaven in the two preceding episodes. This continuity error is because the network changed the running order of the episodes when they broadcast them, and it happened several times during season 2.
  • The establishing shot of the stables and riding track where Thurmond meets with Faber shows mountains in the background. Florida has no mountains; in fact, the highest elevation in the entire state is only 345 feet, in the northern part of the state.
  • The sequence of Thurmond flying his personal jet set to Pete Townshend's "Face the Face" involves footage of at least three different aircraft -- note the varying number of passenger windows along the fuselage, as well as the varying aircraft registration numbers on the tail.
  • One of the shots of the pilot in the changing plane scene----pilot is wearing a blue shirt. Thurmond is wearing an off-white shirt when he is shown just before takeoff.
  • When Crockett and Tubbs turn the Daytona around and take off from Chalk's Air to pursue Sagot in the cigarette boat, there is no license plate on the rear of the Ferrari.
  • When Crockett jumps off of the bridge into Sagot's stolen boat, he is facing the bow. However, in the next shot, he lands in the boat facing Sagot, toward the stern.
  • The concept of a lawyer (Larry Thurmond) "giving everything" on a client to the police is preposterous; to do so would be a clear violation of the attorney-client privilege, would never be permitted in court, and would result in the attorney being disbarred -- probably for life. Even Crockett telling Thurmond that he had to return from Rum Cay to testify (against his own client), because, as Crockett said, "Nothing beats live testimony," is absurd.

Production Notes[]

  • Filmed: September 16, 1985 - September 27, 1985
  • Production Code: 60040
  • Production Order: 30

Filming Locations[]

  • Quayside Great House, 5000 Towerside Terrace, Miami Shores (wedding)
  • Tijodee Farms, 28200 SW 182 Ave, Homestead (horse farm)
  • Ft Lauderdale Executive Airport 6000 NW 21 Ave, Ft Lauderdale and using Personal Jet Charter aircraft (Courtesy of Corwin "Corky" Zimmer) (Thurmond at the airport)
  • Metro Dade Training Center, 9601 NW 58th Street, Miami (shooting range)
  • Fina gas station, 370 NE 15th Street, Miami (Tommy´s garage, gone)
  • Hokin Gallery 1086 Kane Concourse, Bay Harbor Islands (art gallery interior)
  • Washington Ave on 6-7th street blocks, Miami Beach (Stan & Trudy tail Sagot)
  • Victor Hotel 1144 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach (hotel room with decoy phone)
  • Chalk´s Airlines, Watson Island MacArthur Causeway, Miami Beach (Sagot wants to fly off)
  • under Venetian Causeway northbound - Pine Tree Drive Bridge - Venetian Causeway - Indian Creek southbound - W41th Street bridge - footbridge over Collins Canal at 23th Street, Miami Beach (boat chase, jump Crockett onto boat)
  • East side of Virginia Key (final scene Rum Cay Bahamas)
  • „La Lieu“ bar interior was a studio set
  • the Fein Gallery exterior was an outdoor NYC set on the Universal studio lot in L.A. that was re-used from a „Kojak“ episode.

Music[]

Jan Hammer Music[]

  • "Last Flight" (throughout episode)
  • "Rum Cay" (throughout episode)

Quotes[]

  • "What'd you do, trade in your conscience when you passed the bar!?" -- Crockett to Thurmond
  • "Don't read me the record, pal, there aren't any technicalities to hide behind on the street!" -- Crockett to Thurmond after Langley's murder
  • "You've been running up a BIG phone bill!" -- Sagot to Marcel before shooting him
  • "You think the guy practices being a tubesteak?" -- Switek about Sagot
  • "Blink, and you're MINE!" -- Crockett after apprehending Sagot
Season 2 Episodes:

"The Prodigal Son" • "Whatever Works" • "Out Where the Buses Don't Run" • "The Dutch Oven" • "Buddies" • "Junk Love" • "Tale of the Goat" • "Bushido" • "Bought and Paid For" • "Back in the World" • "Phil the Shill" • "Definitely Miami" • "Yankee Dollar" • "One Way Ticket" • "Little Miss Dangerous" • "Florence Italy" • "French Twist" • "The Fix" • "Payback" • "Free Verse" • "Trust Fund Pirates" • "Sons and Lovers"

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