Episode #009

Air Date: 30 Nov 1984 (NBC)
Director: Stan Lathan
Writers: Rex Weiner & Allan Weisberger

Episode Summary
This episode opens on a Miami street scene [We Gotta Get Out of This Place] and moves very quickly to a run-down hotel room where Crockett and Tubbs are hiding a protected witness named Bramlin. Bramlin is watching “Deputy Dawg” on TV and irritating Sonny, who’s trying to read. Shortly
thereafter, Zito and Switek show up to relieve Sonny and Rico and drop off the mail. Bramlin receives a letter that obviously disturbs him.

Crockett and Tubbs head into court that Friday morning, where Rico testifies against a dealer defendant named Ruiz. Though Tubbs gives incriminating evidence, Ruiz doesn’t seem worried. The cops are, nevertheless, confident that Bramlin’s testimony the following Monday should convict Ruiz. Bramlin has other ideas. When Zito and Switek aren’t paying attention, Bramlin slips away from the hotel room. Needless to say, Castillo is not happy with this unfortunate turn of events. He gives Crockett and Tubbs until Monday morning to find Bramlin. The pair go to Harry’s — a club where Bramlin typically hangs out. They take in some female boxing action [Send a Message] while waiting for Harry, who tells them they should look for Bramlin in Okeechobee Springs in the Everglades.

Sonny and Rico dress for a fishing trip and drive to the Everglades [Girls with Guns]. The two attempt to make friends with the locals, who eventually appear to warm up to them. Crockett and Tubbs ask about Joey Bramlin’s whereabouts under the pretense of hiring him as a guide. The locals offer to take them to Joey, but end up driving Crockett and Tubbs deep into the swamps, knocking them around a bit, and deserting them.

Now Sonny and Rico are lost, battling swamp bugs, snakes, and other nasty stuff, trying to get out of the swamp. They’re both irritable and griping at each other. To make matters worse, they run smack dab into some men with guns who now take them prisoner. They are led on foot to a woman named Cassie, who also has a gun and orders them to a boat in the swamp. She takes them for a lazy boat ride, all the while saying nothing, and eventually brings them in to shore near a house where a number of men with guns await, including Bramlin.

Bramlin proceeds to introduce his family and friends, and tells Sonny and Rico that the letter he’d received back at the hotel stated that his 9-year-old daughter, Tammy, had been kidnapped by Ruiz’ people, who said they’d kill her if Bramlin testified. When Crockett asked Bramlin why he didn’t just clam up in court, Bramlin says Ruiz would kill her anyway. He has to get her back, and he wants Crockett and Tubbs to help him. He continues by telling them that about 20 Columbians are holding Tammy in a house. Between his family, friends, and Crockett and Tubbs, it’d be 20 against eight – lousy odds. But Bramlin also says that about half the Columbians will be busy with an incoming shipment the next night, bettering the odds a bit. Crockett and Tubbs agree to check out the house, at least. Bramlin admits that his family and friends are all smugglers, but says that only Ruiz’ people are murderers.

The next day, Bramlin sends his friend Clint to find out when and where the drug shipment is coming in, and proceeds to tell Sonny and Rico the family’s story. In effect, they were peaceful pot smugglers, just doing enough business to feed their families, until Ruiz moved in. Ruiz forced everyone to work for him and didn’t deal kindly with freelancers. Crockett and Tubbs begin to warm to these backwoodsy folks. Meanwhile, Clint cleverly gets the information about the shipment, and the Bramlins and company devise a plan to recover Tammy.

When the seaplane carrying the shipment arrives, one group of Ruiz’s men goes to the dock to meet the plane, and Rico and some of the Bramlin family keep them pinned down. Crockett and the rest of the Bramlins pick off the remaining Columbians at the house, and Sonny goes in to get Tammy. He’s greeted by the sight of a wide-eyed innocent little girl with a gun held to her head. The Columbian says that if Crockett so much as twitches, he’ll blow the girl away; Crockett wonders aloud if there’ll even be a twitch. The Columbian is shot down before he can take another breath. Crockett coaxes the girl away from the dead man, out to her anxiously waiting family. But there is still a Columbian lurking. While Crockett has his back turned, the Columbian prepares to take his best shot. Clint saves Crockett by finally getting his temperamental alligator gun to fire.

Sonny, Rico, and Joey Bramlin scurry back to Miami and make it back to the courtroom just in time.

–Daryle Gardner-Bonneau