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"Viking Bikers from Hell"

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Viking Bikers from Hell

Season
Episode
22 (66th Overall)
Airdate
April 3, 1987
Repeat Airdate
July 15, 1988
TV Rating
TV-14 L-V
Writer(s)
Director
Guest Stars
Previous Episode
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"Viking Bikers from Hell" is the twenty-second episode of Miami Vice's third season. It premiered on April 3, 1987, and was rerun on July 15, 1988.

Summary[]

A motorcycle gang seeks revenge for the death of their drug dealing friend by killing his customers, including Sonny Burnett.

Plot[]

A former bike gang member named Reb Gustafson gets out of jail and joins his old gang, consisting of Lascoe, Toad, and a new member named Charlie, who has some information about customers of their other member, Edward "The Wire" Constantine. "The Wire" has died recently and his funeral is the following day. They bring Reb's gun, with which he shoots Charlie down rather than ride on the back of his bike.

At The Wire's funeral, the Vice squad is taking pics of the attendees, as it was Crockett who took out The Wire when his cover was blown. Unbeknownst to them, the bike gang is also taking pics at the funeral. The squad reviews the pics they took, singling out two people, including a woman who no one recognizes. Reb watches a taped last will & testament from The Wire, who leaves everything to his sister Victoria Elizabeth; he requests that Reb take care of her and ensure she gets everything. Crockett & Tubbs go see the limo service used in the funeral and find the limo was rented to Victoria. Reb goes to see Victoria, who wants nothing to do with him, let alone her brother's stuff. The gang goes to see a man named Salazar to get his Krugerrands; he gives them up but is drowned in a pool by Reb, who then kills another person with his gun. At their hideout, Reb lets them in on something he learned in prison, about Nietzsche's words on The Will To Power and Eternal Life, and his "mission" is almost done.

Crockett & Tubbs go to see Victoria, who again insists she never knew her brother's business and knows nothing about it. The bikers visit Izzy (who is singing and talking to a group of uninterested senior citizens) where Reb shows him some photos and Izzy gives him names, including Crockett & Tubbs, who are visiting a hotel room under a man named Peña (the doorman said he heard screaming coming from there) and they find him dead, shot and wrapped in a sheet. At OCB, they determine that The Wire used the bike gang (called the Violators) for security, led by Jack Cragun, whom Crockett goes to see at a biker bar where he roughs him up until he reveals Reb is going to kill eight people who were The Wire's customers for the past two weeks (including Salazar and Peña). The Violators set up at a park across from a dealer named Bernier's party (after chasing off a couple having lunch by dumping food on the woman's head) and shoot him dead from long range, his body falling into his birthday cake.

There are three remaining on Reb's list, including Crockett, so he and Tubbs go to see Reb's prison psychiatrist, who says he is a true psychopath, having formed a strong bond with The Wire and vowing to avenge his death. Reb interrupts his friends' cavorting with girls to ride that night. Switek is monitoring Victoria at her place and she leaves alone. Tubbs is at a dealer named Zifarelli's place when the gang comes out, having rigged the house to blow up. Tubbs orders them to freeze and puts two shots into Reb, who shrugs them off and grazes Tubbs' head with a bullet.

Tubbs survives but is suffering from a concussion, saying he can't kill Reb while drifting in and out of consciousness. Castillo wants to bring Crockett off the streets, but Crockett refuses, wanting to take Reb out in the open. Reb takes The Wire's possessions to Victoria, who doesn't want them, but he leaves them anyway and she looks over them. Switek sees Reb leaving Victoria's place and follows him back to the bikers' hangout, then calls Trudy to alert the squad as to its' location, and Gina reluctantly informs Crockett, despite Castillo's insistence Crockett not go to their hideout. Metro-Dade SRT shows up and begins assaulting the hideout; in a massive shootout both Toad and Lascoe are killed, along with several SRT officers, but Reb tears out on a motorcycle, and Crockett pursues him into a junkyard. A cat & mouse game ensues, with Reb & Crockett exchanging fire until they get close enough for a hand-to-hand fight; Reb chokes Crockett until he pulls out his ankle gun and puts two slugs into Reb, who in an adrenaline rush comes at Crockett and drives them both over the side of a ship into the water. Crockett strikes his head on the side but survives, while Reb dies. Crockett goes to see Tubbs in the hospital and they talk about life on the street and Victoria's leaving town for good.

Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

Co-Starring[]

Notes[]

  • Episode writer John Milius used Marlon Brando's character from Apocalypse Now, Col. Walter Kurtz, as his pseudonym in the credits.
  • This episode marks Martin Ferrero's seventh and final appearance as Izzy Moreno in season 3 of Vice. The third season would include by far the greatest number of appearances from the comic relief character, somewhat ironic considering the show itself adopted a far more serious tone with this season.
  • Since Zito's death, Switek has taken to reading magic trick books during his stakeouts, having done so in almost every episode since including this one.
  • Jan Hammer's "Rain" music (heard in "Milk Run") was used in the scenes involving Victoria.
  • The beach from which Reb shoots one of the dealers also appeared in "When Irish Eyes Are Crying", where Bunny Berrigan and Sean Carroon talked and viewed the Concorde.
  • One of the bikes featured in this episode is a Kawasaki GPZ. It would later be redesigned and renamed the Ninja. Tom Cruise famously rode one in Top Gun.
  • The bike that Reb rides is a then fairly new Yamaha Fazer FZ700. It was known to be fast yet sleek. 
  • The hotel Victoria pulls in front of, the Breakwater, was, like the other Art Deco hotels in South Beach, renovated after Miami Vice went off the air, and is now a luxury hotel.
  • This is one of only three season 3 episodes in which Tubbs is shown brandishing his shotgun; the others are "Forgive Us Our Debts" and "Cuba Libre". Despite its appearance in these episodes, he never fires the weapon once in the entire third season.
  • According to Reb Brown, this episode had its origins in a motion picture film script called Fatal Beauty, which John Milius was unable to move into production when he failed to secure a major actress for the female lead. Jamie Lee Curtis, among others, turned it down. The movie was made in 1987 with a different director and starred Whoopi Goldberg, Ruben Blades, John P. Ryan, and Brad Dourif).
  • The convoluted production origin as well as multiple writers involved in this episode are evident in some plot problems. For example, Reb and his gang trace the Wire's customers because they are at his funeral, but many of them are outwardly respectable businessmen and it is unclear why they would attend the funeral of an underground biker just because he was their drug supplier.
  • This is the second time Tubbs is shot in the line of duty during the series. Previously, he was hit in the arm in the pilot "Brother's Keeper". Subsequent to this episode, he is shot in the chest (but saved by a bulletproof vest) by Sonny Burnett in "Mirror Image", has his shoulder grazed by a bullet in "To Have and to Hold", and finally gets hit in the arm in the series finale "Freefall". In comparison, Crockett was shot only twice during the series -- in "Stone's War" and, most notably, "A Bullet for Crockett".
  • Kim Coates later played another Biker named Alexander Trager A.K.A. Tig in Kurt Sutter's Sons of Anarchy along with Ron Perlman.
  • Olivia Brown and Sonny Landham were both in 48 Hrs.

Goofs[]

  • When Reb jumps his bike over a Metro-Dade squad car to escape the hideout, it switches from his usual chopper to a (much smaller and lighter) dirtbike, before changing back to a chopper again.
  • Crockett shoots Reb twice with his backup gun, yet when he staggers back he has three gunshot wounds on his stomach.

Production Notes[]

  • Filming: February 18, 1987 - February 26, 1987
  • Production Code: 62032
  • Production Order: 66

Filming Locations[]

  • west end of Dodge Island, Port of Miami (opening scene)
  • St. Patrick's Church, 3716 Garden Ave, Miami Beach (Funeral of "The Wire")
  • Jimbo's Place, Virginia Key (biker hideout)
  • Clevelander Hotel, 1020 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach (Crockett/Tubbs limo service)
  • Breakwater Hotel, 940 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach (Victoria's apartment)
  • Atlantis Condominium, 2025 Brickell Avenue, Miami (Salazar pool scene. Bernier birthday party)
  • Lummus Park at 9th Street, Miami Beach (Izzy)
  • Waldorf Towers, 860 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach (bar)
  • Rickenbacker Causeway (Reb shoots Bernier into cake)
  • 3650 Flamingo Drive, Miami Beach (Zeferelli's house)
  • 3850 NW N River Drive, Miami (end of Crockett/Reb chase and fight)

Music[]

Quotes[]

  • "The strong always eat well!" -- Reb
  • "You know, I knew you were in here.  I could smell you outside."--Crockett to Jack Cragun
  • "Maybe I should bite your nose off."--Jack Cragun to Crockett
  • "You know, I love it when you talk that way.  It makes me so hot! ...Now we're going to play Name The Wacko! I could do this all day, everyday. Who is it? Give me a name!" -- Crockett to Jack Cragun
  • "Parole violation will give you plenty of time to get rid of that postnasal drip!" -- Tubbs to TJ the limo renter
  • "He (Reb) makes Charles Manson look like Mr. Rogers!" -- Prison Doctor to Crockett & Tubbs
  • "They're out there... the freaks, the monsters... You think you know the streets, and then you find a whole new level.  We have to be better."--Crockett to Tubbs
Season 3 Episodes:

"When Irish Eyes Are Crying" • "Stone's War" • "Killshot" • "Walk-Alone" • "The Good Collar" • "Shadow in the Dark" • "El Viejo" • "Better Living Through Chemistry" • "Baby Blues" • "Streetwise" • "Forgive Us Our Debts" • "Down for the Count (Part I)" • "Down for the Count (Part II)" • "Cuba Libre" • "Duty and Honor" • "Theresa" • "The Afternoon Plane" • "Lend Me an Ear" • "Red Tape" • "By Hooker by Crook" • "Knock, Knock... Who's There?" • "Viking Bikers from Hell" • "Everybody's in Showbiz" • "Heroes of the Revolution"

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