The Checklist: Miami Vice (S4 Ep9) “The Rising Sun of Death”
It is time to return to one of the all-time great television shows set in Miami… no I am not talking about The Golden Girls, I am talking about Michael Mann’s masterpiece, Miami Vice.
In this edition of The Checklist, I will put an episode from the penultimate season of Miami Vice to The Checklist test, specifically Episode 9 from Season 4 entitled “The Rising Sun of Death”
- Synopsis: Lt. Castillo fears the Yakuza are trying to infiltrate Miami after the body of a businessman who had ties with a known Yakuza member washes up on shore. Crockett and Tubbs are put on the case, but a wild card from Japan makes his presence felt.
#1. Was popular music featured?
True to form “The Rising Sun of Death” featured songs by popular artists of the time. The playlist included “Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me” by The Smiths and in a perfect song for the strip club scene, Billy Idol’s “Flesh For Fantasy’. And OH YEAH… Yello had two songs featured as well, “Si Senor The Hairy Grill” and “Moon on Ice”. 1/1
#2. Was this a Sheena Easton episode?
Season 4 of Miami Vice introduced the Caitlin Davies character played by Sheena Easton. This was actually the second appearance of Caitlin, who after a whirlwind romance in Episode 8, is now Mrs. Sonny Crockett. As the episode begins, newlyweds Caitlin and Sonny (Don Johnson) are house hunting. 2/2
#3. Did Sonny Crockett use the same alias he always uses?
The short answer is yes, Sonny Crockett does use his nom de plume, Sonny Burnett. But instead of using this name with members of Miami’s criminal underworld, this is the name that Sonny and his wife Caitlin are using as they deal with the realtor during their house hunting excursion. 3/3
#4. Were there any notable guest stars?
The whole Yakuza aspect of the plot opened the door for several Asian American actors to appear… A bald James Hong (Big Trouble in Little China) played Riochi Tanaka, the main villain of the episode and head of the Japanese clan looking to gain a foothold in Miami… Danny Kamekona (The Karate Kid Part II) played Tanaka’s right hand man and muscle, Agawa… Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa (Showdown in Little Tokyo) played Japanese private investigator, Kenji Fujitsu. Fujitsu was at one time a member of the Tanaka clan, but he had a falling out with them when he joined the police force and went on to become one of the most decorated cops in Japanese history. The Kenji Fujitsu character is the straw that stirs the drink on this episode as Crockett and Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) take a back seat in this episode and it is Fujitsu and Lt. Martin Castillo (Edward James Olmos) that team up in the third act to take down Tanaka and Agawa.
If those names weren’t notable enough for you, R. Lee Ermey (Chain of Command) played Detective Haskell, a dirty cop who got hooked up with Tanaka and Agawa when he was serving over seas. 4/4
#5. Was there a car chase?
Miami Vice fans know Sonny Crockett was always seen driving fast and exotic cars. At this point in the series Crockett was driving a white Ferrari Testarossa. What is the point of having a cop with a car that can go from zero to sixty in less than six seconds if you aren’t going to have him chase bad guys.
There is a car chase tease when Crockett and Tubbs go to look for clues at the office of the guy Tanaka had killed at the start of the show, only to find out some Yakuza dudes got their first. Crockett and Tubbs haul ass out of the parking garage so we briefly get to see Crockett’s high performance vehicle in action but I would not qualify it as a proper car chase.
There’s another tease when Kenji Fujitsu showed up on the scene driving a black Firebird. Two cool cars in the same show?!?! Certainly this had to lead to a car chase! But alas, Fujitsu made a quick exit after he crashed a shootout between Crocket/Tubbs and the members of the Yakuza they were chasing. 4/5
Extra Credit
The action void that the lack of a car chase created was filled towards the end of the episode when Fujitsu and Agawa went one on one in a sword fight! The unexpected sword fight allowed “The Rising Sun of Death” to redeem itself action wise and for that I award the episode an extra credit point. 5/5
- Final Score = 5/5 (100%) At this stage in the game, Miami Vice’s best days were behind them. This episode was a great example of them seemingly running out of things for Crockett and Tubbs to do. But with that said, there was still enough of what put the show on the map to begin with along with a strong cast of supporting characters and an interesting plot to make this one of the stronger episodes from Season 4.
