MIAMI VICE: CALDERONE'S RETURN {2-PART EPISODE: THE HIT LIST; CALDERONE'S DEMISE} (TV)
Summary
One in this series of police dramas concerning Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs, undercover detectives for the Miami vice squad. In the first installment of this two-part episode, Tubbs and Sonny keep watch on a drug-dealing couple, the Castranovas, and are soon joined by Zito and Switek. Sonny, however, is preoccupied with his impending divorce, and meets with his wife Caroline and their lawyers at the courthouse, where they argue about custody of their son, Billy. However, they reconsider and fire their attorneys. Back at the hotel, the detectives are stunned when an unknown man appears and guns down one of the Castranovas as well as two other people. They give chase, but the suspect gets away, and Rodriguez, arriving at the crime scene, finds a notebook containing a “hit list.” He and Tubbs visit Sonny, who has reunited with Caroline, and they inform him that he is number eight on the list, with the first six already dead. They note that the other six are mid-level drug dealers and conclude that the killer is eliminating those who could threaten their business. They find the name “Carlos Mendez” on a receipt at the crime scene and pursue the lead. Caroline and Billy are put into protective custody, and though he wants to work the case, Sonny is forced by Rodriguez to join them in safety. Tubbs finds a photograph of the shooter with some others and realizes that a criminal named Calderone, whom he has encountered before, is behind everything. Sonny goes to his boat to collect some of his belongings, accompanied by Rodriguez, but they are fired upon by a sniper, and Rodriguez is hit trying to protect Sonny. At the hospital, Rodriguez is in critical condition and Tubbs tells Sonny about Calderone. Sonny feels guilty about Rodriguez, but Tubbs orders him to handle the case by the book and not go off on his own.
Gina and Tubbs catch up with another dealer number Linus Oliver and inform him that he is number seven on Calderone’s hit list. They demand information about Mendez, and he calls and arranges a meeting with Mendez that night at a club. Sonny, nervous about the case, leaves Caroline and Billy behind at the safe house, saying he cannot stay and has to help. At the nightclub, a number of undercover cops look for Mendez, making Linus anxious. Gina rejects a man’s advances on the dance floor, and a fight breaks out just as Mendez appears. Tubbs manages to catch him, unaware that he is being watched by the shooter, Armstrong. Believing that Mendez is Calderone’s only operative, Sonny goes to get his wife and son and go home, thinking the case is solved. However, as Tubbs questions Mendez about Calderone, he receives word that Linus has been shot and killed, proving that they have the wrong man. They hurry to Sonny’s home, where he and his family narrowly avoid being gunned down by Armstrong. The cops outside take Armstrong down, but Caroline is shaken, saying that their relationship will not work after all, and he sadly agrees to resume divorce proceedings. Tubbs receives word that Rodriguez has died in the hospital, and he tells Sonny that Mendez gave up that Calderone is in the Bahamas. The two detectives grimly plan to head off to track him down.
In the second installment, Tubbs demands further details from Mendez, who says that Calderone is using new supply routes for his drug trade in the many islands of the Bahamas and hired Armstrong to eliminate his competition. They show Mendez a photo of a mysterious woman associated with Calderone, but he does not know her. He states that Armstrong still had another payment coming to him, though, and since no one knew his face, the detectives can impersonate him to catch the criminals. Tubbs’ boss reminds him to handle the Calderone case professional and reveals that Tubbs’ cop brother was murdered by Calderone in New York. In St. Andrew’s, Tubbs and Sonny meet a friendly bartender, “Jimbo,” and learn that the woman in the photo is named Angelina. Tubbs tracks her down as Sonny meets with the chief of police, Albury, who says he does not know where Calderone is hiding out. Tubbs finds Angelina painting on the beach and they flirt before she returns to a yacht just offshore. Sonny spies Calderone on the same yacht and cautions Tubbs not to be a “vigilante” despite his personal stakes in the case. They plant a fake story about Sonny’s death in the newspaper and arrange a meeting with Calderone’s deputy, with Sonny still pretending to be Armstrong. He receives the $60,000 as payment for the hits, but demands $30,000 more from Calderone personally, threatening to make him “number nine” if he refuses. Elsewhere, Tubbs finds Angelina again and asks her to dinner, and she agrees. He then talks with Sonny and wonders how she got mixed up with Calderone, assuming he is her boyfriend. As they drive along, they notice a truck full of people in masks, noting that there is a festival that night, but are then pursued by gunmen, also masked, and are forced to drive into the ocean to escape. When they emerge, Albury says that Calderone’s yacht has departed for places unknown, but Sonny notes that something is wrong and guesses that Albury is on Calderone’s side.
That night, Tubbs goes to Angelina’s and they have a romantic evening together, after which she reveals that Calderone is actually her father, much to his surprise. She invites him to a masquerade party, and he plots with Sonny to catch Calderone there. Tubbs cannot believe that Angelina knows so little about her father’s criminal behavior and says he genuinely cares for her. At the party, everyone dons masks, and after a while Tubbs spots Sonny being hauled away by Calderone’s men. Tubbs reveals himself to be a detective, which upsets Angelina, believing he was using her. She refuses to believe that her father is a killer, despite Tubbs’ claims, and he finally blurts out that he killed his brother. On Calderone’s boat, Sonny is restrained and Calderone boasts about their inability to capture him, but Angelina arrives and demands the truth from him. Tubbs arrives as well, armed, and a gunfight breaks out in which Sonny guns Calderone down, much to Angelina’s horror. Later, Tubbs tries to apologize to her, saying he never meant to involve her, but she is heartbroken. The case closed, Sonny and Tubbs head back to Miami. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: October 19, 1984 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:36:59
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:11175
- GENRE: Drama, police
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police; African-American Collection - Drama
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1984-1990
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Michael Mann … Executive Producer
- Anthony Yerkovich … Executive Producer, Created by
- John Nicolella … Producer
- George E. Crosby … Co-Producer
- Richard Brams … Co-Producer
- Patti Kent … Associate Producer
- Joel Surnow … Writer
- Alfonse Ruggiero Jr. … Writer
- Richard Colla … Director
- Paul Michael Glaser … Director
- Jan Hammer … Music by
- Don Johnson … Cast, Detective James Crockett
- Philip Michael Thomas … Cast, Detective Ricardo Tubbs
- Saundra Santiago … Cast, Detective Gina Calabrese
- Michael Talbott … Cast, Detective Stan Switek
- John Diehl … Cast, Detective Larry Zito
- Olivia Brown … Cast, Detective Trudy Joplin
- Gregory Sierra … Cast, Lou Rodriguez
- Jim Zubiena … Cast, Ludovici Armstrong
- Ron Taylor … Cast, Linus Oliver
- Belinda Montgomery … Cast, Caroline Crockett
- Jim Borrelli … Cast, Felix Castranova
- Tara King … Cast, Susan Castranova
- Tito Goya … Cast, Mendez
- Raymond Forchion … Cast, Don
- Will Knickerbocker … Cast, Fields
- Ken Little … Cast, Monahan
- Ryan St. Leon … Cast, Billy Crockett
- Miguel Pinero … Cast, Esteban Calderone
- Sam McMurray … Cast, Jimmy Walters
- Jose Santana … Cast, Pino
- Phane Napoli … Cast, Angelina
- Benjamin R. Rixson … Cast, Albury