Miami Vice S1E3: Cool Runnin’

This was the first episode that had a significant comedic deviation, mainly in the form of “Noogie”, a character with a ridiculously over-the-top persona. I don’t know if the show was trying to find itself or what. It wasn’t very amusing, and it didn’t really fit the rest of the show.

Instead of car chases, the sensationalism was focused on guns. They name-dropped the KG-99 several times, calling it a “machine pistol” and portraying it on the show as fully-automatic. The minimal effort on cinematic shots was slow-mo gun play.

The writing was reasonably solid, if perhaps a bit shallow. There were a few minutes devoted Crockett’s divorce difficulties. The acting of the supporting actors was finally toned down to fit the show.

We’re still a long way from the depth I remember as a kid, but the show seems to be working out some of its bugs.