The BEST episodes of Miami Vice season 3

Every episode of Miami Vice season 3, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Miami Vice season 3!

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: 12/5/2024Network: NBCStatus: Ended
Down for the Count (1)
star
8.28
61 votes

#1 - 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
By Hooker by Crook
star
7.94
71 votes

#2 - 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
Forgive Us Our Debts
star
7.92
99 votes

#3 - 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
Theresa
star
7.79
53 votes

#4 - Theresa

Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/13/1987

Crockett's romantic entanglement with a heroin-addicted doctor jeopardizes his case against a dealer.

Directors: Virgil Vogel
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Red Tape
star
7.70
57 votes

#5 - Red Tape

Season 3 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/13/1987

Tubbs searches desperately for the source of information leaks about future busts.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Duty and Honor (a.k.a. The Savage)
star
7.60
52 votes

#6 - Duty and Honor (a.k.a. The Savage)

Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/6/1987

Castillo is not the only one to realize that a series of prostitute murders matches the M.O. of killings in Vietnam in the early 70s; the cops get help on the case from a man claiming to be a Vietnamese inspector.

Directors: John Nicolella
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Good Collar
star
7.54
93 votes

#7 - The Good Collar

Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/24/1986

A star high school athlete, arrested for delivering heroin, agrees to help Crockett trap a 15-year-old drug lord; it turns ugly.

Directors: Mario Di Leo
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Walk-Alone
star
7.51
69 votes

#8 - Walk-Alone

Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/17/1986

Tubbs poses as a con to expose prison guards who are extorting drugs from inmates, and killing those who refuse.

Directors: David Jackson
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Streetwise
star
7.46
61 votes

#9 - Streetwise

Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/5/1986

An undercover cop and his hooker lover help the detectives find the source of some pharmaceutical grade cocaine.

Directors: Fred Walton
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Stone's War
star
7.39
85 votes

#10 - Stone's War

Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/3/1986

Crockett's Vietnam journalist buddy, Ira Stone, is back--claiming to have footage of a secret U.S war in Nicaragua; the trail leads Stone, Crockett & Tubbs to Maynard a.k.a. the elusive Captain Real Estate.

Directors: David Jackson
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Down for the Count (2)
star
7.38
78 votes

#11 - Down for the Count (2)

Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/16/1987

Switek is outraged by Internal Affairs' findings; Crockett and Tubbs' TV gambit may prove fatal when a mobster reclaims the action lost to Guzman.

Directors: Richard Compton
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
When Irish Eyes Are Crying
star
7.36
73 votes

#12 - When Irish Eyes Are Crying

Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/26/1986

Gina falls for an Irish pacifist who believes there is no point fighting fire with fire anymore - or so she thinks.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Killshot
star
7.31
103 votes

#13 - Killshot

Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/10/1986

Crockett and Tubbs are fingered as cops by a Customs agent who's being blackmailed by the drug kingpin the detectives are trying to nail.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Shadow in the Dark
star
7.25
122 votes

#14 - Shadow in the Dark

Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/31/1986

Crockett tries to nail a psychotic murderer by thinking like his quarry, despite the fact that another cop using that tactic wound up in a psych ward.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
El Viejo
star
7.23
88 votes

#15 - El Viejo

Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/7/1986

Crockett & Tubbs keep tabs on a crusty old stranger who plans to cut a deal with a murderous Bolivian drug dealer.

Directors: Aaron Lipstadt
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Heroes of the Revolution
star
7.22
85 votes

#16 - Heroes of the Revolution

Season 3 - Episode 24 - Aired 5/8/1987

An East German spy seeks to avenge the murder of Gina's mother in Cuba 26 years earlier, and uses her to lure the killer out.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Baby Blues
star
7.15
92 votes

#17 - Baby Blues

Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/21/1986

Unexpected contraband--babies and a stowaway mother seeking the child taken from her--puts the cops on the trail of an adoption ring.

Directors: Daniel Attias
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Lend Me an Ear
star
7.15
55 votes

#18 - Lend Me an Ear

Season 3 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/27/1987

The electronics whiz providing Crockett & Tubbs with surveillance devices also outfits their drug-dealing quarry.

Directors: David Jackson
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Cuba Libre
star
6.95
57 votes

#19 - Cuba Libre

Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/23/1987

Crockett & Tubbs stumble onto a plot by fanatical Cuban commandos to assassinate an important Cuban diplomat.

Directors: Virgil Vogel
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Knock, Knock...Who's There?
star
6.83
86 votes

#20 - Knock, Knock...Who's There?

Season 3 - Episode 21 - Aired 3/27/1987

Crockett & Tubbs probe drug busts ruined by phony federal agents who disappear with the evidence.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Better Living Through Chemistry
star
6.64
94 votes

#21 - Better Living Through Chemistry

Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/14/1986

Tubbs' former partner frames him when he abducts a chemist for some drug dealers.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Viking Bikers from Hell
star
6.14
96 votes

#22 - Viking Bikers from Hell

Season 3 - Episode 22 - Aired 4/3/1987

A motorcycle gang seeks to avenge a drug-dealing comrade's death by killing off his former customers.

Directors: James Quinn
Watch Now:Apple TV
Everybody's in Show Biz
star
6.00
101 votes

#23 - Everybody's in Show Biz

Season 3 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/1/1987

An actor/writer is in danger when he steals a drug dealer's briefcase and the vital information it contains.

Watch Now:Apple TV
The Afternoon Plane
star
5.94
62 votes

#24 - The Afternoon Plane

Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/20/1987

Tubbs finds out that his "raffle prize" --- a week in the Caribbean --- is set up by a vengeful con and the Calderones to lure him out of his jurisdiction.

Directors: David Jackson
Watch Now:Apple TV