The plot of "Smuggler's Blues is either well-known to the reader, having been written of in many other places, or else shouldn't be spoiled, so I won't cover it again here. Instead I'll just critique it-and the critique is that it's one terrific episode.
A fair amount of humor found its way into the first couple of seasons of Miami Vice-for instance, the scene in "Brother's Keeper" in which the lights go out in the courtroom, or many of the scenes involving Elvis-but there's none to be found in this iconic first-season episode. It's as cool as a polar bear on ice skates and gritty without being nihilistic, as many of the later episodes are. The tropical vibe is in full force, thanks in part to the trip to Cartagena (shooting location stand-in was actually San Juan).
Some of the typical Vice ingredients are downplayed or entirely absent here. There's very little glitz and glitter and conspicuous consumption, aside from Crockett's and Tubbs's wardrobe and a gorgeous '60s vintage Mustang convertible seen briefly in their getaway from Cartagena. There's no sex (aside from a shot or two of Trudy's thigh), and in fact practically no women. Trudy's role is brief and essentially passive, and Gina has only a few seconds of screen time and one or two very short lines of dialogue. Despite this, the episode is pure Vice, focusing entirely on the "shady characters" and "dirty deals" that underlie all the usual glitz. Crockett and Tubbs, not distracted this go-round by the party-and-sex scene, are all business here, edgy and dangerous, a fact underscored by the great blocking, camera work, and scoring.
Speaking of scoring: Glenn Frey's iconic song was written before Miami Vice and in fact inspired the episode. Michael Mann heard the song on the radio and had Miguel Piñero (aka notorious first season drug dealer Esteban Calderone) write the episode around it. (Piñero wrote very little else for Vice, and one can only wish that he'd done a lot more.) Nevertheless, the song worked so well as an inspiration that it could have been made with the series in mind, and the producers wrung every advantage out of it in this episode. Frey, in his debut acting appearance, fits the Vice vibe perfectly and would have been a great regular addition to the series.
In short, the episode is pure dynamite. As Miami Vice goes, it doesn't get any better than this.
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