"The Maze"

The Maze

Season	1
Episode	17 (17th overall)
Airdate	February 22, 1985
Repeat Airdate	June 28, 1985
TV Rating	TV-PG-V
Writer(s)	Michael Eric Stein
Director	Tim Zinemann
Guest Stars	Joe Morton Jay O. Sanders Garcelle Beauvais Ving Rhames Eddie Castrodad Alex Paez Julian Reyes and Adolfo Quinones
Previous Episode	"Rites of Passage"
Next Episode	"Made for Each Other"

"The Maze" is the seventeenth episode of Miami Vice's first season. It premiered on February 22, 1985, and was rerun on June 28, 1985.

Summary[]

Criminals hold a group of homeless people -- including an undercover Tubbs -- hostage in a rundown hotel.

Plot[]

Crockett and Tubbs are talking shop with Detectives Tim Duryea and Dickey Hawkins, discussing how the neighborhood has improved in six months due to watch programs, community cooperation and hard work, when a group of thugs break windows and assault the owner. The cops intervene but the thugs shoot Hawkins (after he and Duryea charge down the street after the thugs), killing him. Crockett chases one of them into a shopping mall, but he escapes after a shootout.

At OCB, Crockett blames Duryea and his John Wayne-style tactics for Hawkins' death. Castillo can do nothing but file a report, and Homicide wants Vice to help them on this case, as no one in the neighborhood will talk. The Escobar brothers are alleged to be responsible for the shooting; they were merely small-time cocaine dealers until they became cop-killers. Crockett canvasses the neighborhood and gets nothing. They find a dancer named Pepe in a club and ask him about the Escobars. He no longer runs with the group, but knows they are holed up in the Maze, an abandoned hotel large enough to get lost in.

Crockett has Switek and Zito go to the building owner and get blueprints of the Maze. Castillo makes plans to surround and enter the building. Duryea, still reeling from his partner's death and hungry for revenge, makes some outlandish suggestions at the meeting in OCB which are ignored. Castillo sends Tubbs in to evacuate the squatters inside, as he is better acclimated to their language. The police surround the building and Tubbs goes in. Duryea, impatient with the slow pace of things, charges the building, which gets the attention of the Escobars. After a brief exchange of gunfire the cops attempt to rush the building, but the Escobars threaten to kill all the families inside, taking Tubbs as another hostage, and the cops retreat.

Castillo orders Duryea to stay inside the command area until the final assault, while Lt. Jack Davis, a hostage specialist, takes charge of the situation and resolves to get all the hostages, including Tubbs, out safely. Castillo assures Crockett that Davis has lots of experience in these types of situations, and asks him to stay cool to help Tubbs. The Escobars are getting impatient with the hostages, especially the crying babies. When Davis speaks to Raul Escobar via megaphone, Raul demands a helicopter to the Bahamas and $100,000, or the hostages are dead. Davis asks that the women and children be released as good faith, but they refuse. Elio Escobar makes a move on Gabriella, but her brother Georges intervenes, and is almost shot. Elio takes her again, and this time Georges charges in (despite Tubbs' pleas not to), only to be shot dead, and his body is dumped outside.

Davis proposes luring the Escobars to the roof with a helicopter, and urges Raul to release the kids before the helicopter arrives. Raul, tired of the crying babies, agrees, and the cops pick them up. Tubbs is tied up and beaten by the Escobars, while warning them they are only making more trouble for themselves. Crockett volunteers to sneak in and guide the assault teams to the hostages. Tubbs works on Jaime Escobar, trying to convince him that his brothers are leading him to jail or worse. Crockett gets inside the building, locates the hostages and notifies Davis, who orders SRT in. Hearing the helicopter approach, the Escobars order everyone except Tubbs to the roof, and leaves Jaime to guard him. Tubbs lures Jaime over with a fake itch, which allows Tubbs to get to his gun and order Jaime to release him. Raul encounters the SRT squad, who gets them to back off when he holds a gun to Gabriella's head, but the other squatters get away. Tubbs kills Xavier Escobar and takes Jaime with him. They run into a group of cops led by Duryea, who nearly shoots Jaime and Tubbs. Tubbs tells Duryea he doesn't deserve to be a cop and leaves Jaime with them. Crockett pursues and kills Elio, while Raul makes it to the roof with Gabriella as his hostage, when Crockett, Tubbs and several SRT police flood the roof with guns pointed. Surrounded, after holding his gun to Gabriella's head again, Raul finally breaks down, crying "I'm sorry!", as he surrenders. Raul is handcuffed and Gabriella led away as Crockett and Tubbs face each other, the last two cops to come out of The Maze.

Cast[]

Don Johnson as Metro-Dade Detective James "Sonny" Crockett
Philip Michael Thomas as Metro-Dade Detective Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs
Saundra Santiago as Metro-Dade Detective Gina Calabrese
Michael Talbott as Metro-Dade Detective Stan Switek
John Diehl as Metro-Dade Detective Larry Zito
Olivia Brown as Metro-Dade Detective Trudy Joplin
Edward James Olmos as Metro-Dade Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo

Co-Starring[]

Danny Stone as Jim Bostwick
William Fiscus as Metro-Dade Detective Dickey Hawkins
Luis R. Garcia as Luigi
Michael Hernandez as Xavier Escobar
Wallace E. Howard Jr. as Sharpshooter
Maurice Kirksey as Julio Ruiz
Julio C. Martinez as Manuel Escobar
Pamela Ann Phillips as Luise Ruiz
Claudia Robinson as Alisha Carrieres
Robert E. Sharpton as Cornelius Carrieres
Rosse Uranga as Maria Ruiz

Notes[]

The maze building is the old Blue Waters Hotel, which would be visited again in season 2's "French Twist" (where Crockett, Tubbs and Switek find a booby-trapped room). It was demolished in May of 1987.
When Switek and Zito come out of the store with their Fanta drinks and food, you can see the title of the then-hit movie Mischief on the marquee, which featured Terry O'Quinn from the episode "Little Prince".
The footage of Crockett's Daytona speeding through the night is recycled from "Brother's Keeper", and was also used in the previous episode "Rites of Passage".
This episode features Philip Michael Thomas singing his song "Livin' the Book of My Life". His solo career had just launched, and the song was the title track from his new album. Its lead single, "Just the Way I Planned It", achieved little commercial success. Don Johnson would launch his own solo career a year later, and garner some success with his song "Heartbeat".
This episode marks the only time a member of the main cast sings one of their own songs in Miami Vice. Don Johnson had two songs used on the show, but both appeared in the background (although Olivia Brown did perform her spoken lines from Johnson's "Streetwise" in the episode of the same name), while Saundra Santiago sang two jazz standards in the episode "Heroes of the Revolution".
Jan Hammer's suspenseful music played while Crockett is looking for one of the Escobars in the mall and when Crockett goes into the maze would be used again in "The Prodigal Son".
Garcelle Beauvais is one of several Miami Vice guest stars to appear in Michael Mann's 1986 film Manhunter, alongside Bill Cwikowski (from "No Exit"), Chris Elliott (from "Down for the Count (Part II)"), Dennis Farina (from "One Eyed Jack", "Lombard" and "World of Trouble"), Kim Griest (from "Nobody Lives Forever"), Michele Shay (from "Theresa" and "Badge of Dishonor"), Bill Smitrovich (from "Brother's Keeper" and "The Prodigal Son") and Jim Zubiena (from "Calderone's Return (Part I)"). Miami Vice regular Michael Talbott also had a small role in the film, although his single scene was deleted from the theatrical cut of the movie.

Goofs[]

When Elio Escobar shouts to his brothers in the pickup to throw him a gun so he can cover them, his lips clearly aren't moving.
When the first two officers from the tactical unit start firing at the building after Duryea charges in, the man on the left is seen repeatedly pumping his shotgun, despite the fact he is clearly not firing.
While talking with Castillo outside the room where SRT has set up, Crockett mentions, "Four hours isn't a lot of time, Lieutenant." However, at this point, the Escobars have made no demands and no time limit has been set. They don't give the police a four hour deadline until Jack Davis first talks with them over loudspeaker later on.
In addition to the four identified Escobars (Raul, Elio, Jaime and Xavier), a fifth brother, whose name is revealed to be Manuel in the episode's credits, can be seen inside the Maze, wearing a green jacket and black hat. At the end of the episode, Manuel disappears without explanation -- he is last seen telling Raul that everything is quiet outside before they begin moving the hostages to the roof, but following this he is never seen or mentioned again. It can be inferred that he is captured by the SWAT team.
When Elio opens fire on Crockett just before he is killed, he moves forwards, away from the window he is standing in front of. When Crockett then shoots him, he is suddenly right back in front of the window, so that he can be blown out of it.
When Crockett crawls through the little hole in the wall to get inside the building, there are only pieces of rock right in front of the hole. However, when you see him crawl in from inside the building in the next shot, you can clearly see pillows on the ground outside the hole, probably to make crawling through the hole more comfortable for Don Johnson.

Production Notes[]

Filmed: January 23, 1985 - February 1, 1985
Production Number: 59523
Production Order: 17

Filming Locations[]

18-38 N. Miami Ave, Miami Downtown (shooting and foot chase in teaser)
Seybold Building, 36 NE 1st Street Downtown Miami (end of foot chase in teaser)
7331 and 7337 Collins Ave, Miami Beach (Crockett stops Luigi, Crockett at Collins Fruit Stand)
Suzanne´s in the Grove, 2843 S. Bayshore Drive, Coconut Grove (disco with Pepe, realtor office scene)
7430 Collins Ave, Miami Beach (Switek and Zito in Van)
Blue Waters Hotel, 7330 Ocean Terrace, Miami Beach (The Maze, used again in "French Twist", demolished in May 1987)
7400 and 7410 Ocean Terrace, Miami Beach (police stake-out in front of and inside of Ocean Terrace Apartment Hotel)

Music[]

"Renegades of Funk" by Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force (In club)
"Livin' the Book of My Life" by Philip Michael Thomas (Tubbs singing when entering the Maze)
"Tea in the Sahara" by The Police (in Maze on boombox)

Quotes[]

"Deney Terrio, eat your heart out!" -- Tubbs to Pepe in club
"Ladies and Gentlemen, this year's Nobel Peace Prize goes to...Tim Duryea!" -- Crockett commenting on Duryea's suggestion the squatters inside the Maze duck when the police bust in
"You're trigger-happy, man! You don't deserve to be a cop!" -- Tubbs to Duryea after nearly shooting he and Jaime