The BEST episodes of Miami Vice

Every episode of Miami Vice ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Miami Vice!

Miami Vice centers around the unlikely partnership of Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Ricardo Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas), two undercover detectives from the Miami Police Department’s vice squad battling against drug trafficking and prostitution in the city’s seamy underworld. Its use of New Wave music and colorful Italian men’s fashion was groundbreaking and the series had a defining influence on the popular culture of the 1980s.

Last Updated: 2/23/2024Network: NBCStatus: Ended
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Deliver Us from Evil (1)
star
9.05
95 votes

#1 - Deliver Us from Evil (1)

Season 4 - Episode 21 - Aired 4/29/1988

A murder case that hits close to home reunites Crockett with the man who used him to trick his way off Death Row.

Directors: George Mendeluk
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Mirror Image (2)
star
9.05
87 votes

#2 - Mirror Image (2)

Season 4 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/6/1988

A concussion leaves Crockett thinking he is his drug dealer alter-ego Burnett and goes to work for a Colombian crime boss.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
God's Work
star
9.02
125 votes

#3 - God's Work

Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/6/1987

The return of a kingpin's financial wizard son sets off speculations in the Miami underworld.

Directors: Jan Eliasberg
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Lost Madonna
star
8.90
169 votes

#4 - The Lost Madonna

Season 5 - Episode 14 - Aired 3/17/1989

Crockett & Tubbs help an NYPD detective retrieve a stolen 15th century Madonna statue in the possession of a mob family.

Directors: Chip Chalmers
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Freefall
star
8.89
167 votes

#5 - Freefall

Season 5 - Episode 17 - Aired 5/21/1989

Crockett & Tubbs embark on what they see as a suicide mission. They are recruited by a Special Drug Taskforce to escort the corrupt dictator of Costa Morada, a fictional Revolution ravaged Latin American country. Gen. Manuel Borbon has promised to reveal the members of the most powerful South American drug cartel. Crockett & Tubbs are faced with what might be their final showdown.

Directors: Russ Mayberry
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Over the Line
star
8.89
166 votes

#6 - Over the Line

Season 5 - Episode 15 - Aired 4/28/1989

In the midst of working an undercover assignment, Crockett and Tubbs come across a clandestine vigilante group of frustrated law enforcement officers working within the department. Aware of Sonny and Rico's own frustration with how easily the bad guys seem to circumvent the law, the vigilante organization offers them an opportunity to join in. Lieutenant Castillo encourages them to accept the offer and work undercover in ferreting out the identities of everyone involved and to make sure that no one gets hurt. Unfortunately, that is too tall an order for his detectives to accomplish successfully.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Line of Fire
star
8.88
171 votes

#7 - Line of Fire

Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 12/16/1988

Crockett & Tubbs reluctantly comply with an FBI request to guard their key witness in a drug overlord's trial.

Directors: Richard Compton
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Victims of Circumstance
star
8.84
167 votes

#8 - Victims of Circumstance

Season 5 - Episode 16 - Aired 5/5/1989

Holocaust survivors are being murdered in Miami. Crockett and Switek infiltrate a White-supremacist group that might be responsible.

Directors: Colin Bucksey
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Bad Timing
star
8.65
168 votes

#9 - Bad Timing

Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 12/2/1988

Ordered to take time off, Crockett's vacation is cut short when he is kidnapped by 3 homicidal prison escapees.

Directors: Virgil Vogel
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Redemption in Blood (4)
star
8.59
79 votes

#10 - Redemption in Blood (4)

Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/11/1988

As now drug-lord Crockett's memory returns, Tubbs feels his partner has gone bad and must be destroyed.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Child's Play
star
8.45
74 votes

#11 - Child's Play

Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/30/1987

Crockett agonizes about shooting a child during a weapons investigation.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
To Have and to Hold (a.k.a. Second Chance)
star
8.44
134 votes

#12 - To Have and to Hold (a.k.a. Second Chance)

Season 5 - Episode 10 - Aired 2/10/1989

While undercover, Tubbs falls for the widow of a slain drug kingpin. Crockett must leave to help his son deal with the pregnancy of his remarried mother.

Directors: Eugene Corr
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Hostile Takeover (3)
star
8.42
120 votes

#13 - Hostile Takeover (3)

Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/4/1988

Still thinking he is really Sonny Burnett, Crockett starts a war between the crime family he has joined and a rival clan.

Directors: Don Johnson
Writer: Ken Solarz
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Miami Squeeze
star
8.36
112 votes

#14 - Miami Squeeze

Season 5 - Episode 11 - Aired 2/17/1989

The irresponsible son of a fierce, anti-drug-minded Congresswoman jeopardizes his mother's political career when he incurs the wrath of a British drug lord by stealing his shipment of drugs.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Down for the Count (1)
star
8.35
57 votes

#15 - Down for the Count (1)

Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/9/1987

Zito reluctantly uses a boxer as bait to help the vice squad nail a former drug kingpin involved in bookmaking; it ends in tragedy and the loss of a comrade for the vice cops.

Directors: Richard Compton
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Heart of Night
star
8.30
152 votes

#16 - Heart of Night

Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/18/1988

Castillo grapples with emotions while protecting his ex-wife from a drug kingpin trying to kill her current husband.

Directors: Paul Krasny
Writer: James Becket
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Out Where the Buses Don't Run
star
8.22
175 votes

#17 - Out Where the Buses Don't Run

Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/18/1985

Crockett and Tubbs question the sanity of a retired vice cop who wants them to chase after a coke dealer thought to be dead.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
One Way Ticket
star
8.16
155 votes

#18 - One Way Ticket

Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/24/1986

Efforts to convict a drug dealer who murdered a deputy DA are hampered by a lack of evidence and by a defense attorney disliked by Crockett.

Directors: Craig Bolotin
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Hard Knocks
star
8.14
108 votes

#19 - Hard Knocks

Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired 1/20/1989

Switek sinks into drinking and gambling when thugs convince him to talk a friend's son, a major college quarterback, into throwing a game.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Lombard
star
7.99
162 votes

#20 - Lombard

Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/10/1985

After crime boss Al Lombard is subpeonaed to testify against the Family, Crockett & Tubbs are assigned to provide his protective custody.

Writer: David Assael
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
By Hooker by Crook
star
7.98
65 votes

#21 - By Hooker by Crook

Season 3 - Episode 20 - Aired 3/20/1987

Crockett & Tubbs seek a murder witness, unaware that she works for a madame who is Sonny's lover.

Directors: Don Johnson
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Badge of Dishonor
star
7.97
60 votes

#22 - Badge of Dishonor

Season 4 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/18/1988

When a string of murders is linked to another unit, Crockett & Tubbs believe an undercover officer may be the killer.

Directors: Virgil Vogel
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Brother's Keeper
star
7.96
641 votes

#23 - Brother's Keeper

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/16/1984

Miami Vice Squad detective James 'Sonny' Crockett has just lost his partner, Eddie Rivera, in a car bombing. Crockett was investigating Esteban Calderone, a Colombian cocaine dealer, when he meets a New York City narcotics detective, Rafael Tubbs. Since they are having difficulties approaching Calderone, Crockett and Tubbs are forced to work together. Crockett later confronts "Rafael" and discovers that he is actually Ricardo, Rafael's younger brother and a New York detective, who is seeking revenge on Calderone for killing his brother. They agree to work together and Calderone is collared, but he pays $2 million bail and escapes. In the end, Crockett persuades Tubbs to enter a career in "Southern law enforcement." NOTE: This was originally a two-hour pilot movie, but in syndication it is shown as two separate episodes.

Directors: Thomas Carter
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Forgive Us Our Debts
star
7.96
93 votes

#24 - Forgive Us Our Debts

Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/12/1986

New leads persuade Crockett that a man he put on death row might be innocent, but a campaign-conscious DA is reluctant to help.

Directors: Jan Eliasberg
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Evan
star
7.93
144 votes

#25 - Evan

Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/3/1985

A former Vice member, Evan Freed, is now working undercover with ATF to bring down an arms dealer. Sonny and Evan have a mysterious past that Tubbs is determined to learn. They must reconcile long enough to calibrate efforts in the weapons sting.

Directors: Rob Cohen
Writer: Paul Diamond
Watch Now:Amazon