"Down for the Count (Part II)"

Down for the Count (Part II)
Season	3
Episode	13 (57th Overall)
Airdate	January 16, 1987
Repeat Airdate	May 15, 1987 (as a two-hour movie)
TV Rating	TV-14 L-V
Writer(s)	Dick Wolf Teleplay: Dick Wolf & John Schulian
Director	Richard Compton
Guest Stars	Pepe Serna Mark Breland Chris Elliott Robert Pastorelli and Joe Dallesandro
Previous Episode	"Down for the Count (Part I)"
Next Episode	"Cuba Libre"

"Down for the Count (Part II)" is the thirteenth episode of Miami Vice's third season. The episode premiered on January 16, 1987 and repeated as a two-hour movie on May 15, 1987.

Summary

Shaken and angered by Zito's death and the results of an IAD investigation, Switek, Crockett and Tubbs vow to take down Guzman.

Plot

Zito's funeral is held, and Switek is asked to do the eulogy, which he cuts short after a few words, overcome with grief. At OCB the entire team is trying to recover from the shock of Zito's death. Forensics indicate no signs of physical trauma, and Zito's fingerprints were on the syringe found in his arm, indicating the death was not a homicide. The team, especially Switek, is outraged, as they all believe Guzman had Zito killed, but IAD wants to talk to Switek about Zito, and Stan has a few spiteful words with Crockett before leaving. Trudy tried to forget what happened by bringing home an old friend for the night, which didn't help, and Gina breaks a pencil in half in anger. Switek is grilled by IAD about Zito's drinking habits (according to Switek, Zito had been sober for five years and never missed an AA meeting), and storms out when they ask him about Zito's drug use.

Crockett and Tubbs stop by Zito's apartment and they find Harriet, the goldfish he got when his house blew up. They discover he was an avid snowglobe collector, and they find in his mail a certified letter that wasn't picked up. The letter contained Guzman's gambling book, sent from Moon, and they take it for analysis. At Guzman's, they cannot locate Sykes, who hasn't been seen in over a week, but then he shows up at Guzman's place wanting to be under contract with him. In Las Vegas, mobster Alfredo Giulinni (Joe Dallesandro) has learned of Guzman's huge profits from gambling in Miami, an enterprise his organization had previously dominated, and decides to "teach him a lesson about turf". He places a call to Vespa (Robert Pastorelli) to find out about Guzman and his connections, including Crockett and Tubbs (as Burnett and Cooper). However, the FBI has a tap on Giullini's phone, picks up the call, and sends an agent down to Miami to warn them.

Gina and Trudy find the customized gator-covered gambling book either belongs to Guzman or a bishop in the church. Crockett refers them to a cryptographer (and old war buddy) named Danny Allred (Chris Elliott) who can decode the book faster than the lab can. Switek is still in a grief-stricken daze. IAD writes up Zito's death as an OD, infuriating Crockett and Tubbs, who mentions Zito was afraid of needles, especially when OCB had their blood drive. Castillo says the book on Zito is closed unless new evidence arises. Guzman's attorney Sordoni calls Crockett for a meet with Guzman, who tells them Sykes is with him now, and Crockett agrees to set up the deal with the satellite network. Tubbs points out that they have no network, and therefore no prayer with Guzman; Crockett plans to stay on it until Guzman is in jail and Zito's name is cleared. Gina and Trudy stop by an airstrip to meet with Allred (while an FBI agent observes), who will have the book decoded by the next day. Gilluini arrives in Miami and meets with Vespa; apparently, every time Sardoni puts a bet down on a fight he wins, and Gilluini suspects Burnett and Cooper are working for a satellite sports TV network. Gilluini wants to meet with Sardoni, Burnett and Cooper. En route to the meet Crockett and Tubbs are caught in a trap by Vespa and another thug car, but they manage to wreck their pursuers' cars after a lengthy chase which ends in a game of chicken.

At OCB, the FBI agent says Gilluini ("a combination of Bugsy Siegel and Charles Manson") has been taking a huge loss on boxing bets to Guzman, and so wants him dead, and possibly Crockett and Tubbs too. Gina and Trudy go see Allred, who has the book decoded, and finds that Guzman is building up fighters, driving the odds way up and then having the fighters take a fall to a no-name, making huge money all along; his latest is Sykes. Gilluini meets with Sardoni, who threatens his family unless Sardoni tells him all of Guzman's activities. Castillo wants to pull Switek off because he's still out of it; Switek promises to carry his weight, and does surveillance on Guzman, who is using Crockett and Tubbs' satellite deal to get more action. Crockett plans to pitch his deal to Gilluini, hoping he'll bite, which will cause a war between Gilluini & Guzman. Crockett and Tubbs go to see Sykes, but he wants nothing to do with them because they lied to and used him; however, he wants to kill Guzman for all he did.

Crockett and Tubbs go see Gilluini to pitch their satellite deal; he says he can get fighters from Guzman, who won't be needing them. Gina and Trudy bring in a printout of the book Allred decoded; they find Guzman's made over a million dollars in six months on fights, with Guillini eating the most losses. Castillo orders 24 hour surveillance on both Guillini and Guzman. Crockett and Tubbs cancel their deal with Guzman, citing their meeting with Guillini. Guzman orders a hit on Guillini, and has Sardoni set it up. Switek (as a delivery man) brings a copy of the decoded book to Guillini, who realizes how big a hit he has taken because of Guzman, who is fixing his fights to make money. Sardoni calls Guillini to let him know about the hit Guzman ordered on him, and that Guzman will be at his jewelry shop at the mall that evening (which is where his bookmaking operation is). Switek monitors this call, but chooses not to tell anyone about it.

Later, with 14 minutes before the hit is to go down, Switek's conscience gets the best of him and calls Crockett to tell him what he heard, and they speed to the mall. Guillini's goons arrive at the jewelry store, and a shootout entails with Guzman and his men as the Vice cops move in. All the goons are killed and Guzman runs to the second floor, briefly taking a woman hostage before Switek (thinking about Zito) shoots Guzman and he knocks him through a window to the first floor. With Zito's name cleared, Crockett, Tubbs, Switek and Sykes toast to Zito's memory on the St. Vitus Dance.

Cast

• Don Johnson as Metro-Dade Detective James "Sonny" Crockett
• Philip Michael Thomas as Metro-Dade Detective Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs
• Saundra Santiago as Metro-Dade Detective Gina Calabrese
• Michael Talbott as Metro-Dade Detective Stan Switek
• John Diehl as Metro-Dade Detective Larry Zito
• Olivia Brown as Metro-Dade Detective Trudy Joplin
• Edward James Olmos as Metro-Dade Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo

Guest Stars

• Pepe Serna as Oswaldo Guzman
• Mark Breland as Bobby Sykes
• Chris Elliott as Danny Allred
• Robert Pastorelli as Vespa
• Joe Dallesandro as Alfredo Giulinni

Co-Starring

• Antoni Corone as George Sordoni
• Kenny Enriquez as Echevarria
• Joe Hess as Javier Escobar
• Robert Moresco as Frankie

Notes

• This is the only two-part episode that was actually originally aired in two parts; "Brother's Keeper", "The Prodigal Son" and "Freefall" originally aired as two hour episodes that were changed to two part episodes in syndication. Conversely, "Calderone's Return" and "Golden Triangle" were initially made up of separate episodes with unrelated titles ("The Hit List"/"Calderone's Demise" and "Score"/"Golden Triangle" respectively); they only became two part episodes in syndication.
• Zito's goldfish, Harriet, never reappeared in the series and her fate was never known.

• Crockett and Tubbs visit Zito's apartment and learn he collected snow globes.
• Joe Dallesandro appeared as bookmaker Vincent DeMarco in Season 1's "One Eyed Jack".
• This episode is an example of how rough the language had become starting in the third season, with the frequent use of "bitch" and "bastard", something very rare in the first two seasons.
• The end credits feature still images taken from the show instead of the usual stock footage of Miami landmarks used in virtually every other episode of the series, in this case scenes of Zito from "Made for Each Other", "Rites of Passage" and his final scene (alive) in "Down for the Count (Part I)". "Heart of Darkness" and "Leap of Faith" also featured this style of end credit imagery, although utilising still images from the respective episode.
• It is clear the producers committed a sizeable portion of the season's budget to this pivotal episode, as it features many large, impressive action sequences, in particular the highly destructive car chase between Crockett and Tubbs and Giullini's Mafia goons.
• At Zito's funeral, we see Crockett wearing a tie, one of the few times he does so in the series. He also wore one for his divorce hearing in "Calderone's Return (Part I)", at Robbie Cann's son's baptism in "Buddies", and at Angelina Madeira's funeral in "Sons and Lovers", and would do so again at his wedding to Caitlin Davies in "Like a Hurricane". He would be seen with a tie more frequently during his time as Sonny Burnett in seasons 4 and 5.
• Chris Elliot also appeared in Michael Mann's Manhunter alongside fellow Miami Vice guest stars Garcelle Beauvais (from "Give a Little, Take a Little" and "The Maze"), Bill Cwikowski (from "No Exit"), Dennis Farina (from "One Eyed Jack", "Lombard" and "World of Trouble"), Kim Griest (from "Nobody Lives Forever"), Michele Shay (from "Theresa" and "Badge of Dishonor"), Bill Smitrovich (from "Brother's Keeper" and "The Prodigal Son") and Jim Zubiena (from "Calderone's Return (Part I)"), as well as Miami Vice regular Michael Talbott, although his single scene was deleted from the theatrical cut of the film.
• Danny Allred is said to have met Crockett in Vietnam in 1971. Crockett's age in "A Bullet for Crockett" (1988) is said to be 35; this would have made him 18 in 1971, the youngest it was possible for a serving infantryman to be during the Vietnam War.
• It is revealed that Zito used to be an alcoholic, but according to Switek, he hadn't had a drop in five years and "went to all the meetings". No mention of Zito's alcoholism was ever made on the show before this.

Goofs

• The opening recap of the events leading to Zito's death does not match up with what actually happened in the previous episode. In Part I, Zito ultimately agrees to sell Sykes' contract to Guzman, but only in exchange for a piece of his illegal gambling action; it is revealing that he knows of Guzman's illegal activities in this way that gets Zito killed, either because he knows too much or simply because Guzman considers him too greedy. However, the opening to Part II makes it seem as though Zito rejected any offers on Sykes' contract to the end, and even implies that this was in fact the reason he was killed (through the rather crude repetition of Guzman's line, "Wrong answer!" which was originally delivered to Zito's friend Moon earlier in the recap). This change was probably implemented to simplify the scene and allow it to fit into the brief timeslot allocated to the recap.
• If you look closely at Crockett's Testarossa as it leaves the U.S. Post Office where Crockett picked up the certified package, the car's rear bumper is missing, as noted by the black void below the tail light strip and the visible exhaust system.
• Several shots during the car chase have obviously been sped up.
• When Crockett comes to a dead end while being chased by Vespa, he pulls on the handbrake to spin his Testarossa to a halt. Immediately before this, it is possible to see skid marks already on the ground before he even performs the maneuver, evidently from an earlier take.
• After Vespa's car overturns, a stage light and some of the film crew can be seen in the left corner of the screen.
• When Crockett, Tubbs and Switek enter the mall to stop the hit at the end of the episode, Tubbs has clearly been replaced by a stand-in. What's more, Tubbs disappears altogether after this shot and does not participate in the final gunfight at all.
• Although it is stated at the end of the episode that Zito's name has been cleared and that his death has been rightfully ruled as murder, it is never explained why this is so -- no physical evidence or witness testimony was indicated, and neither Guzman nor any of his goons confessed to anything before they were all killed by the Vice team.

Production Notes

• Filmed: October 29, 1986 - November 6, 1986
• Production Code: 62023
• Production Order: 58

Filming Locations

• 734 10th Street, Miami Beach (Zito's apartment)
• Miami Beach Post Office, 1300 Washington Ave, Miami Beach (Crockett picks up Zito's package)
• 1415 North View Drive, Miami Beach (Guzman's Home)
• Bal Harbor Boulevard / Bal Harbor Way East, Miami Beach (Giulini's Apartment)
• Biscayne Blvd-22nd/23rd Street to North Miami Avenue/SE 1st and SE 2nd Street to South Miami Avenue Bridge to SW 1st Avenue/SW7th Street (Crockett/Tubbs chased by Vespa)
• Town and Country Mall, 8505 Mills Drive, Kendall (Shootout at mall)
• Miami 66 Marina, 1050 MacArthurCauseway, Miami (St. Vitus Dance)

Music

• "Blind Faith" by Corey Hart (Zito's funeral)
• "All Along The Watchtower" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience (playing in Allred's plane)
• "Don't Need A Gun" by Billy Idol (during car chase)
• "I Wanna Make The World Turn Around" by Steve Miller Band (Switek deciding to tell Crockett about the hit and drive to mall)

Jan Hammer Music

• "Evan" (Opening recap of previous episode)
• "Lombard Trial" (Guillini scenes/shootout at mall)
• "One Way Out" (Switek toasts to Zito's memory on St. Vitus Dance)

Quotes

• "Larry Zito was my partner, but to me, he was more like my brother!" -- Switek's eulogy for Zito
• "I know you all hurt inside, but do your grieving in private, the street has no sympathy." -- Castillo to the team after Zito's funeral
• "Been around a guy everyday for the past seven years, turns out you don't know anything about him!" -- Crockett after visiting Zito's apartment and noticing his large snowglobe collection
• "They're (IAD) dumping trash on a good cop's grave!" -- Crockett to Castillo after IAD's findings on Zito's death were revealed
• "Where here to roast a turkey, not learn about how it grew up." -- Trudy to Allred
• "I don't just want to know when Guzman goes to the bathroom, I want to know what he does when he's in there!" -- Gilluini to Sardoni
• "You aint seen nothing." -- Guzman to Burnett
• "Well now you make sure you call us when the view's better. All right?" -- Crockett's response
• "To Lawrence Zito, a cop, a man, and a great friend!" -- Switek's toast to Zito