Episode #008

Air Date: 16 Nov 1984 (NBC)
Director: Georg Stanford Brown
Writers: Philip Reed and Joel Surnow

Episode Summary
Crockett and Tubbs are chasing a slippery character, whom they finally corner in a building under construction. It turns out to be Izzy Moreno, and he is apprehended along with some drugs. Izzy’s known for ratting on everyone with whom he’s ever had contact, in order to get himself out of trouble. In this case, back at the OCB, he gives the vice squad a new name – Louis McCarthy. Izzy’s been moving drugs for him and tells Crockett and Tubbs that McCarthy has a new shipment coming in soon.

Tubbs, posing as Richard Taylor, goes to meet with McCarthy, under the pretense of getting himself and Sonny into a boat race to Bimini that McCarthy is planning for the upcoming weekend. McCarthy won’t agree to let them into the race, but invites Rico to attend the festivities. During the course of their conversation, Rico makes it clear that he’s interested in doing business beyond the boat race. Also at the meeting with McCarthy is a “first class weasel” named Giff, who’s been an police informant in the past.

After the meeting with McCarthy, Sonny and Rico pay a visit to Giff and lean on him. They pressure Giff into showing them McCarthy’s books. As it turns out, Giff is skimming money off of the accounts, not for himself, but for Vanessa, McCarthy’s woman, who runs an exclusive clothing store owned by McCarthy. Crockett and Tubbs then pay a visit to Vanessa. Tubbs finds himself attracted to her and manages to get invited to have brunch with her the next day. Unfortunately, for Tubbs, Crockett is included in Vanessa’s brunch invitation. McCarthy also attends the brunch and, when the meal is over, Crockett speaks with McCarthy, trying to entice him to deal, but McCarthy won’t bite. He does, however, invite Crockett and Tubbs to a party that night. They attend the party, where Tubbs becomes even more enamored of Vanessa, and Crockett wins a place in the boat race in return for beating McCarthy in a game of pool. McCarthy confronts Tubbs about his flirtations with Vanessa, but before Tubbs can respond, their conversation is interrupted by a scream from outside. Rushing outside, they find that Giff has been murdered.

Sonny tells Rico he thinks McCarthy had Giff killed because he found out Giff was fooling around with Vanessa and skimming money from his accounts. Rico doesn’t want to believe it. Crockett and Tubbs assure Castillo that their cover is intact. Castillo tells them, however, that he can’t supply them with good faith money, and that Crockett and Tubbs will have to get that from Gina and Trudy, who are about to arrest a college professor who is dealing cocaine. Sonny and Rico show up when Gina and Trudy arrest the professor, and convince the ladies to let them use the money they had for the bust.

Rico goes back to see Vanessa and ends up making love with her. The next day is the boat race [Born to Be Wild]. Crockett wins the race despite the fact that McCarthy cheats by having two identical boats in the race, one of which has the cocaine on it. The vice squad arrests McCarthy on the dock after the race and confiscates the drugs.

That evening, Tubbs is relaxing with Vanessa at her place, while Crockett is relaxing on his boat with Gina. Izzy shows up at Crockett’s boat with the gun that killed Giff. It turns out that the gun is Vanessa’s and has her fingerprints on it. Rico winds up arresting her for Giff’s murder.

— Daryle Gardner-Bonneau