Not the worst episode ever but nowhere near the greatest. Of course long-time Vice fans will know by now that season 4 is a big drop-off from prior seasons (although the beginnings of the downturn were in season 3).
I am always up for another star to get some needed spotlight, and this time it was Switek. Clearly he was in a lead role, which is great, but perhaps because Don Johnson, who obviously had a reduced role, wanted nothing to do with such a goofy episode. But to make the spotlight meaningful for any actor, the writing has to be taken seriously. And this episode was a joke. So I hate it for Michael Talbott that Switek got the lead in a bad episode. This is what they call in professional wrestling "burying your talent". However we do see the foreshadowing of his gambling problems in upcoming episodes as he "invested" in cow futures with Calvin only to be ripped off.
Harry Shearer was top-notch in this episode, him and Martin Ferrero really shined although I get tired of the show goofing on Izzy also. If one is looking for comedy relief, Shearer and Ferrero brought the goods, especially Ferrero's Izzy who is always the master at malapropisms.
However there was more bad than good. The whole cowboy schtick pervading this entire episode was ham-fisted to the point of tacky. If you want to do an alternative episode with a different vibe, fine. But do it smartly, which this episode wasn't in the least. Don't insult fans by putting a cowboy hat on Tubbs and Switek and think it'll be convincing. There is no excuse for this; because as we recall, MV had another cowboy-themed episode entitled "El Viejo" starring Willy Nelson as a former Texas Ranger bent on avenging the death of his old partner's son. That episode was incredibly well-done; it was thoughtful, creative, and used its actors wisely. Nelson, who isn't an actor by trade, pulled off a great role in no small part because of the great writing.
This show has also historically used modern songs to complement certain scenes. But it didn't this time. It used what can only be described as pre-canned corny, outdated country/western studio scores. Why couldn't the show have featured music from a famous country band from the 1980s, such as Alabama, Diamond Rio, the Judds, the Allman Brothers, etc? But that would have required a production crew that actually cared about this episode and remembered what made the show iconic to begin with.
They even had Crockett, not Switek, arrive at the end to confront Calvin. After all, Switek was the one who was ripped off, and if anyone had a grudge against Calvin, it was him. But no, the show decided to goof on Switek once again. Switek could have taken the money and sent Calvin on his way empty-handed, then perhaps given Izzy a good chunk of the money and sent him on his way (showing Stan has a heart), with Switek taking the lion's share for himself, then telling OCB that Calvin took the money and ran. This also would have enabled his gambling from the start. A future episode revolving around Switek's gambling could easily have shown Crockett/Tubbs asking Izzy about the money that Calvin long got away with, only for Izzy to say that Calvin never took the money with him; Switek took it. And go from there. Easy. But that would have required a production that showed respect to a co-star.
While this episode wasn't as bad as others (Missing Hours was terrible), it was a clear and likely deliberate deviation from what made this show such a success. It's amazing just how much better this episode could have been, and how easily so. But at this point, the show's producers were likely just slumming through the series, collecting their checks, and waiting for the end.
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