"Brother's Keeper", also known as simply "Miami Vice" or "Pilot", is the pilot episode of Miami Vice and the first episode of the first season. The episode (and series) premiered on September 16, 1984, and it was rerun on January 25, 1985, July 28, 1985, and as part of a special broadcast (for the release of the Miami Vice film) on July 22, 2006.

It was originally broadcast as an extended, two-hour episode, but is often split into two one-hour episodes for syndication.

An NYPD Armed Robbery "street cop" and a Miami Vice Detective team up to catch a murderous drug dealer named Calderone.

Part I (Syndicated) [ edit | edit source ]

In New York, a young black man stakes out a New York apartment, waiting for an affluent drug dealer. After scaring off some would-be muggers, he follows the dealer to a bar, where he pays a waiter to spill the dealer's drinks and force him into the men's room. The man moves to confront the dealer, only to be thwarted by two of the dealer's goons, who fight with him -- one of the men accidentally shoots his partner before he is himself shot by the black man. However, the confrontation delays the man long enough for the dealer to escape out the back door.

In Miami, Vice Detective James "Sonny" Crockett is waiting with his partner, Eddie Rivera, for a meet with Corky, a minor dealer with connections to a mysterious drug lord known only as "The Colombian". Eddie is concerned about his pregnant wife Maria, with whom he recently had a fight over her low-wage job in a diner -- he thinks the menial work is beneath her, while she insists on keeping it to support her family. Eddie wants to call her to make up, but before he can, Corky arrives, and the two undercover cops head off in his car. Corky informs them he has severed his ties with the Colombian and started out on his own, to the concern of Crockett and Rivera. The three men stop under a highway to review the product, and Corky sends Crockett to retrieve some scales from his car. As he collects the scales, Crockett drops his sunglasses; bending to pick them up, he notices a bomb attached to the underside of Corky's car, but just as he calls out it explodes, killing Corky and Eddie.

As the police cordon off the scene, Crockett briefs his superior, Lieutenant Lou Rodriguez, telling him that he is convinced the mysterious Colombian dealer is behind the deaths. When he voices his suspicion of a departmental leak, Rodriguez loses his temper and threatens to pull Crockett off the streets unless he does things by the book from now on. Crockett visits the diner where Maria works to tell her about Eddie, and she breaks down in agonized tears.

Due to the day's events, Crockett is late for his son Billy's birthday party at his estranged wife Caroline's house. Caroline is furious that he is late, but is stunned into silence when Crockett informs his friend and former partner Scottie Wheeler, now a DEA agent, of Rivera's death. After the Wheelers leave, Crockett and Caroline discuss his career and how it is incompatible with their marriage. She offers him the couch for the night, but he declines, going to check on Billy before he leaves. After some time, Caroline goes to check on him, finding him asleep on Billy's bed with his son in his arms; she turns the lights off.

Crockett tracks down his connection Leon Jefferson and demands at gunpoint to see the Colombian to settle the score after the deaths of Corky and Eddie. Leon refuses, but agrees to reset the original deal. Meanwhile, the black man from New York has now arrived in Miami, and is in a club trying to set up a deal with Wheeler, claiming to be a New York dealer named Teddy Prentiss. He is hoping to connect with a major player named Calderone (the dealer he tailed in New York), but Wheeler is reluctant. Prentiss leaves him a phone number, and receives a call for a meet that night.

Crockett and Leon head to their deal on Crockett's speedboat, where they find they are meeting with Wheeler and Prentiss. Before the deal can be competed, Corckett's backup arrives early -- Leon is caught, while Prentiss steals Crockett's boat and takes off. Chastising Switek and Zito for rolling in early and ruining the deal, Crockett pursues Prentiss by car, eventually catching up to him at a low bridge and leaping into the back of his speedboat. Crockett identifies himself as Miami Vice; to his shock, "Prentiss" identifies himself as NYPD officer Rafael Tubbs. The pair meet with Rodriguez, who informs Crockett that Tubbs is in Miami on NYPD priority clearance looking for a Colombian drug dealer named Calderone, who has killed two NYPD policemen. Deducing that Calderone and "The Colombian" are one and the same, Rodriguez suggests they work together.

The following morning, Tubbs goes to Crockett's boat, the St. Vitus Dance, bringing a copy of his surveillance photo of Calderone, and is introduced to Crockett's "watch-gator" Elvis, former mascot for the Florida Gators college football team. Crockett leaves to join Wheeler downtown in court for Leon's bond hearing; Judge Clarence P. Rupp releases Leon on his own recognizance for his "cooperation" with the District Attorney -- a ruse designed to make Leon beg for protective custody, knowing that Calderone will kill him for cooperating with anyone in law enforcement. Sure enough, Leon soon calls OCB and Rodriguez tells Crockett to meet him at the beach. Tubbs has tailed Leon on his own; however, a cross-dressing hitman kills Leon before the two cops can speak to him. Infuriated at their only lead getting killed, Crockett reluctantly agrees to a "temporary" working arrangement with Tubbs.

Part II (Syndicated) [ edit | edit source ]

Crockett and Tubbs go to Leon's apartment, bluffing their way inside with an out-of-date, unrelated warrant. They find the place ransacked; however,Tubbs does find an address book full of phone numbers, which they take to OCB to do back-traces. Tubbs points out that Leon was incredibly careful heading to the meet where he was killed, and that the only person on his tail was him, meaning the leak in the department must have told the hitman where Leon was. To Crockett's chagrin, Tubbs mentions that he discovered Rodriguez has recently made a large deposit in his bank account. Crockett quietly asks Gina to do a check on Tubbs to see what comes up. Since Calderone's people still believe "Prentiss" escaped with all of the money from the blown deal, Tubbs is contacted by Calderone's lieutenant Trini DeSoto, who arranges to meet with him and Crockett in a nightclub later that night.

At the nightclub, Crockett and Tubbs enjoy a night of partying with Gina and Trudy, during which time DeSoto shows up and introduces Tubbs to Calderone. Tubbs reluctantly shakes his hand, then leaves with Trudy. When Crockett tells Gina of Tubbs' identity, she informs him that Rafael Tubbs was killed in a shootout with Calderone's men three weeks earlier in New York. Later, Gina returns to the St. Vitus Dance with Crockett, who is upset about Tubbs' deception. Gina settles him down, and the couple end up enjoying a night of passion.

The next morning, Crockett wakes up to find Gina gone; Tubbs arrives on the boat, whereupon Crockett confronts him with the information about Rafael and threatens to "light up his whole intestinal tract" with a flare gun if he doesn't tell him who he really is. Tubbs finally reveals that he is in fact Ricardo Tubbs -- Rafael was his brother, and following his death Rico used forged NYPD documents to follow Calderone to Miami in the hopes of avenging his brother's murder. Their confrontation is interrupted by a phone call from DeSoto, who sets up the meet for later that night.

At OCB, Crockett obliquely confronts Rodriguez about his unexplained wealth, but the Lieutenant angrily refuses to explain. Afterwards, Crockett has OCB complete the back-trace on the numbers in Leon's address book ASAP, for his eyes only. Gina gives him the cold shoulder and he finds (after chasing her into the ladies' room) that he mentioned Caroline's name in bed. Later, Crockett leaves a rose for her as an apology. Meanwhile, Tubbs receives a call from DeSoto asking to meet immediately, and he goes to the rendezvous in an alley. Crockett gets the back-trace results and finds Wheeler's number listed in Leon's book, revealing that he is the leak.

Realising DeSoto must now know Tubbs is a cop, Crockett races to the alley where they are meeting, arriving just as DeSoto (disguised in drag) pulls his gun to kill Tubbs; in the ensuing confrontation, Tubbs shoots DeSoto dead. Crockett heads to Wheeler's house to confront him with the evidence, leading Wheeler to admit he received $70,000 from Calderone six months ago, with "compliments", and took the money to help catch up on his mortgage and pay for his handicapped son's mounting medical expenses. Soon afterwards, DeSoto began pressing him for information, which he provided, undermining Crockett's investigation. Crockett is infuriated that Wheeler betrayed his trust and caused Eddie's death, and Tubbs has to pull him off of his friend and former partner.

Crockett and Tubbs drive to intercept a boat carrying a shipment of drugs for Calderone, the existence of which they learn from Wheeler. On the way, Crockett pulls over and calls Caroline, just to ask if what they had was real; Caroline assures him that it was. At the docks the Vice cops get the drop on Calderone's men and shoot down the thugs, although Tubbs is hit in the arm. After nearly escaping during the shootout, Calderone finds himself staring down the barrels of Tubbs' sawed-off shotgun. Tubbs -- though sorely tempted, with Calderone egging him on -- refrains from shooting Calderone, and he is taken into custody. Crockett and Tubbs later go to transfer Calderone to a more remote jail, but learn that a judge in his employ has already sprung him on $2 million bail. They rush off in pursuit, but arrive just in time to see Calderone flee the country by seaplane. Dejected, Tubbs nevertheless decides to pursue a career in "Southern law enforcement" and remain in Miami as Crockett's partner.

Guest Stars [ edit | edit source ]

Differences from the Series Proper [ edit | edit source ]

As a result of "Brother's Keeper" being a pilot filmed prior to the remainder of the series, there are several notable differences between it and the series proper, including:

Olivia Brown is not listed during the opening credits, but is instead listed as a guest star afterwards. This was changed for the series proper, where her name appears between John Diehl and Gregory Sierra/Edward James Olmos' credits during the opening sequence. The syndicated, two-part version of the pilot also adds Brown's name to the opening credits.

Crockett's sidearm is a Browning BDA (the BDA was in fact a SIG Sauer P220 that was branded as the BDA by Browning, who were responsible for importing it into the United States). Once the show was picked up, Crockett's weapon was changed to a Dornaus & Dixon Bren Ten, which it would remain for the first two seasons. Various reasons for the change are cited, including the silver finish of the Bren Ten showing up better during night filming, or Michael Mann's preference for the Bren Ten's "flashier" styling, better suited to a man posing as a drug dealer.

Crockett's backup gun is also different in the pilot -- he carries a Detonics Pocket 9, whereas in the series he instead carries a Detonics Combat Master.

Tubbs uses the pseudonym Teddy Prentiss while chasing Calderone in Miami, instead of his usual alias of Rico Cooper.

Crockett's speedboat is a 1984 Stinger 390 with no radar arch, whereas his speedboat for the remainder of the first series is a Stinger 390x with an arch and a noticeably different paint scheme.

Similarly, the St. Vitus Dance is a Cabo Rico 38 sailboat in the pilot, but changed to an Endeavour 40 once the show was picked up as a series.

is a Cabo Rico 38 sailboat in the pilot, but changed to an Endeavour 40 once the show was picked up as a series. The scenes at OCB headquarters were filmed in a real office building, at 3033 N. NW River Drive in Miami. For the remainder of the series, OCB scenes were filmed in an office set built on a soundstage at Greenwich Studios in North Miami. The complete change in interior layout is never addressed or even acknowledged in the show.

When aired in syndication, "Brother's Keeper" is aired as two parts instead of a single two-hour episode (this is often the case for feature-length episodes of television shows). Strangely, this is how the episode is presented on the UK DVD releases of the series, despite being listed as a single episode on the packaging and the fact that other feature-length episodes from the series ("The Prodigal Son" and "Freefall") are presented in their original double-length form. DVD releases in other regions have the pilot as a single episode.

The version of the "Miami Vice Theme" used in the opening credits is incorrectly mixed and is missing the distinctive synthesized guitar hook. The problem occurs in every episode up to "Calderone's Return (Part I)".

The same problem with the "Miami Vice Theme" occurs during the chase scene between Crockett (in the Camaro) and Tubbs (in Crockett's Stinger).

In his hotel room, Tubbs gets a call to make the deal, on the bed are guns and an open briefcase full of cash. The shot changes to a close-up of Tubbs on the phone, then shows the bed again and the briefcase is suddenly closed, then Tubbs opens it to check the cash.

When the camera follows Leon walking along the street to his car before Sonny catches up with him you see the whole film crew moving the dolly along the street in the shop windows.

When Tubbs takes off in Crockett's speedboat, a second person, presumably a member of the film crew, can be seen on board.

When Tubbs is running from Crockett in Crockett's Stinger, he spots a barge ahead and turns to avoid it -- the closeup of Tubbs shows him turn the boat's wheel to his left, but the subsequent long shot shows the boat turning to the right.

The judge in Leon's court case is credited as Sumner D. Rupp, yet the name tag seen on his bench in the scene clearly reads Clarence P. Rupp.

Mykel T. Williamson is still listed among the guest stars during the opening credits for Part II of the syndicated version, despite the fact he was killed in Part I and never appears in the second part of the episode.

When Tubbs turns to look at Calderone in the nightclub after receiving his complimentary bottle of champagne, the house band begins playing the opening chords of "All Night Long (All Night)". However, despite the fact no one is singing, the band's female vocalist can be seen singing into her microphone over Tubb's shoulder.

When Tubbs is pointing his shotgun at Calderone at the docks, closeups clearly show his finger on the forward of the weapon's dual triggers. He then fires one barrel off-screen, before we return to the closeup of his finger on the trigger as he fires the second. However, his finger is seen to pull the forward trigger. If he had previously fired one of the weapon's barrels, he would have needed to pull the rear trigger to fire the other.

The engine tone heard coming from Crockett's Daytona is often nothing like the 4.4L Ferrari V12 found in genuine Daytonas. The cars used in the show were actually replicas built on the chassis of a Chevrolet Corvette C3, the engine noise of which was typically dubbed over in post-production, but this has not been done particularly effectively in the pilot. The discrepancy is most noticeable when Crockett and Tubbs are racing to catch Calderone after he has been sprung from jail.

Deleted Scenes [ edit | edit source ]

In the two-part version of this episode the following scenes are deleted, likely for time purposes to ensure the two parts fit into two standard-length installments:

Part I [ edit | edit source ]

The scene where Crockett explains to Tubbs why Elvis is "ticking".

Part II [ edit | edit source ]

Part of Crockett talking to Gina about their night of passion, after Gina confesses that Crockett whispered "Caroline" into her ear.

Part of Crockett's briefing where he explains when the bust goes down ("Big hand on the 12, little hand on the 6").

Production Notes [ edit | edit source ]

Filming: March 5, 1984 - April 5, 1984

Production Budget: $5,000,000

Production Code: 85304

Production Order: 1

Filming Locations [ edit | edit source ]

West 16th Street, New York City (Tubbs staking out Calderone)

Jay Street/Staple Street, New York City (Street Tubbs is in looking for Calderone)

Omni Hotel, 1601 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami (Bar in opening where Calderone is, Tubbs in strip club)

The Forge, 432 41st Street in Miami Beach (Restaurant shown in main title)

The Carlyle, 1250 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach (Crockett and Eddie first appear)

1300 NW 1st Avenue under Highway 395, Miami (Underpass where car bomb explodes)

Iberia Restaurant, 763 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach (Cafe where Eddie's wife works)

300 NE 34th Street, Miami (Tubbs' motel room)

Bridge NW 20th Street / NW South River Drive, Miami (Tubbs takes off in Crockett's boat)

Miami River/Intracoastal Waterway and Miami Beach near Konover Hotel (Crockett (in car) chasing Tubbs (in boat))

Railway Bridge between NW 36th Street and NW South River Drive (Crockett jumps onto Tubbs' boat)

Dade County Courthouse 73 West Flagler Street, Miami Downtown (Jefferson trial)

1116 Ocean Dr, Miami Beach (Leon's apartment)

Miamarina @ Bayside, 401 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami (Marina where Crockett and St. Vitus Dance are located)

are located) Clay Hotel, Espanola Way, Miami Beach (Where Crockett/Tubbs have lunch with DeSoto)

NE 51st Street, Miami (Scott Wheeler's house)

3033 N. NW River Drive (OCB and Calderone's jail)

Chalk's Ocean Airways, Watson Island on Mac Arthur Causeway (Calderone escapes in seaplane)

I-195, 5km/3 mi. connection between I95 and North Miami Beach (Crockett/Tubbs driving away, Crockett asking Tubbs about pursuing a career in "Southern law enforcement")

September 16, 1984 (Sunday) - 22.8 (37 Share)

January 26, 1985 (Friday) - 14.9 (23 Share)

July 28, 1985 (Sunday) - 17.7 (31 Share)

Jan Hammer Music [ edit | edit source ]

"Flashback" (Tubbs in hotel room thinking about Rafael's murder)

"Miami Vice Theme" (Crockett chasing Tubbs across Miami)

"Gina" (Crockett and Gina on St. Vitus Dance )

) "Chase" (Crockett and Tubbs chase Calderone to seaplane)