Brother's Keeper (Miami Vice)

“Brother's Keeper”
Miami Vice episode
"In The Air Tonight" scene from the episode.
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 1
Written by	Anthony Yerkovich
Directed by	Thomas Carter
Guest stars	Jimmy Smits Belinda Montgomery Martin Ferrero Mykelti Williamson Miguel Pinero
Original airdate	September 16 1984
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → – "Heart of Darkness"
List of Miami Vice episodes

"Brother's Keeper" is the pilot episode of Miami Vice's first season. The episode premiered on September 16 1984 with a two hour (including commercials) season premiere. The episode was received well critically, winning two out of three Emmy award nominations.^[1]

Contents 1 Plot 2 Notes 3 Style 4 Awards and recognitions 5 Music 6 References 7 External links

Plot

James "Sonny" Crockett (Don Johnson) is a Miami Vice Squad policeman who has just lost his colleague Eddie Rivera (Jimmy Smits) at a car bombing, when they were trying to arrest a small drug dealer. He also is in the middle of an ugly divorce, since his wife can't stand the stress of having a husband working undercover with criminals. In fact, even his boss, Lt. Rodriguez (Gregory Sierra) has trouble with keeping him between the law limits. Crockett is investigating a Colombian drug dealer, called Calderone, when he meets a New York police agent called Rafael Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas). Since they are having problems approaching Calderone (it is obvious that there is a traitor inside the Vice squad), Crockett and Tubbs are forced to work together, even though they do not like each other. Crockett is also dating a colleague, Gina Calabrese (Saundra Santiago). But he is not very fortunate, since he whispers his wife's name at Gina, when they are in bed. Anyway, Gina and her colleague Trudy Joplin (Olivia Brown) still help Crockett at all job matters, and they discover that Rafael Tubbs is actually a dead New York officer. Crockett confronts "Rafael" and discovers that in fact he is Ricardo his brother, that wants to catch Calderone, his brother's murderer. They still decide to work together and it pays off, since the traitor (another policeman) is discovered, and Calderone is arrested. The problem is that he is freed when he pays two million dollars bail. Calderone escapes. Crockett and Tubbs decide that they like working with each other after all, and Tubbs decides to transfer to Miami.

Notes

Most of the series regular cast are introduced in this pilot episode: Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson), Ricardo Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas), Gina Calabrese (Saundra Santiago), Trudy Joplin (Olivia Brown), Stan Switek (Michael Talbott) and Larry Zito (John Diehl). Only Edward James Olmos is missing, since his character, Lt. Martin Castillo would not show until the sixth episode. The Squad's boss was for the first four episodes Lt. Rodriguez (Gregory Sierra). This episode also featured regular supporting actor Martin Ferrero, but he played the transvestite killer Trini DeSoto instead of his usual Izzy Moreno character, the small and incompetent criminal who confides to Crockett and Tubbs (and gives a comic tone to the series). This episode, which has a 2 hour duration (with commercials) also has been presented as two different 1 hour episodes at some countries and at the series 1st season's DVD.

Style

This episode started developing the trademark Vice style. Aspects of Miami Vice considered revolutionary lay in its music, cinematography, and imagery, which made large segments of each episode resemble a protracted music video. A good example of combining these three aspects is found in this episode when Crockett and Tubbs are in the Ferrari Daytona Spyder, driving through a damp, nighttime Miami downtown heading to a somber showdown with a sinister, murdering druglord as "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins surrealistically plays along. As Lee H. Katzin, one of the series' directors, once stated, "The show is written for an MTV audience, which is more interested in images, emotions and energy than plot and character and words."^[2] The pilot included some of the series trademarks, such as Crocketts' Ferrari Daytona Spyder 365 GTS/4, his boat, the St. Vitus Dance and Elvis, his pet alligator.

Awards and recognitions

This episode was nominated for three Emmy awards and won two Emmy's, for best sound editing and cinematography.^[3]

Year	Result	Award	Category	Recipient(s)
1985	Nominated	Emmy Award	Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series	Anthony Yerkovich[1]
	Winner		Outstanding Cinematography for a Series	Robert E. Collins, Cinematographer[1]
	Winner		Outstanding Film Sound Editing for a Series	Bruce Bell, Sound Editor; Jerry Sanford Cohen, Music Editor; Victor B. Lackey, Sound Editor; Ian MacGregor-Scott, Sound Editor; Carl Mahakian, Sound Editor; Chuck Moran, Supervising Sound Editor; John Oettinger, Sound Editor; Bernie Pincus, Sound Editor; Warren Smith, Sound Editor; Bruce Stambler, Sound Editor; Mike Wilhoit, Sound Editor; Paul Wittenberg, ADR Editor; Kyle Wright, Sound Editor[1]

Music

• "Miss You" by The Rolling Stones
• "Body Talk" by The Deele
• "All Night Long (All Night)" by Lionel Richie
• "Somebody's Watching Me" by Rockwell
• "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper
• "In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins

The Region 1 DVD of season one does not include original versions of the Lionel Richie and Cyndi Lauper hits; cover versions are substituted instead.

References

External links

• Miami Vice at wildhorse.com
• Miami Vice at tv.com