CrimeDrama1984–1989NBC

The Best Episodes of Miami Vice

Every episode of Miami Vice ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Miami Vice!

Best episode
S2E3 Out Where the Buses Don't Run
8.81,166 votes
Worst episode
S4E7 Missing Hours
4.5566 votes
Top season
Season 1
7.9avg
Binge time
3d 14h
110 episodes
BestEpisodes
WorstEpisodes
BestSeasons
AllEpisodes

Seasons5

All12345

Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    Miami Vice Season 2 Episode 3 - Out Where the Buses Don't Run
    8.8/10(1166 votes)

    S2:E3

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

    Director:Jim Johnston
    Writer:Maurice Hurley

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  2. Miami Vice Season 2 Episode 12 - Definitely Miami
    8.7/10(2193 votes)

    S2:E12

    Crockett finds out first hand about Charlie Basset as a violent drug runner with an enticing wife that Sonny just can't get out of his mind.

    Director:Rob Cohen
    Writers:John Mankiewicz, Daniel Pyne

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  3. Miami Vice Season 1 Episode 21 - Evan
    8.6/10(907 votes)

    S1:E21

    Crockett and Tubbs join forces with the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms ... including Crockett's old partner Evan Freed. Tubbs tries to understand their troubled relationship.

    Director:Rob Cohen
    Writer:Edward di Lorenzo

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  4. Miami Vice Season 3 Episode 11 - Forgive Us Our Debts
    8.6/10(623 votes)

    S3:E11

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

    Director:Jan Eliasberg
    Writer:Gustave Reininger

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  5. Miami Vice Season 1 Episode 4 - Calderone's Return: The Hit List (1)
    8.5/10(1184 votes)

    S1:E4

    The team moves to protect Crockett and his family from an assassin, hired by Calderone to re-empty the void he left behind.

    Director:Richard A. Colla
    Writer:Joel Surnow

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  6. Miami Vice Season 2 Episode 22 - Sons and Lovers
    8.5/10(629 votes)

    S2:E22

    The son of Tubbs' arch-enemy Calderone oozes to the surface with a $1 million contract on Tubbs, while Calderone's sister Angelina says Tubbs is the father of her child.

    Director:John Nicolella
    Writer:Dennis Cooper

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Miami Vice

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  7. Miami Vice Season 1 Episode 15 - Smuggler's Blues
    8.4/10(992 votes)

    S1:E15

    Someone in law enforcement is murdering drug dealers and their families in cold blood. To find the culprit, Crockett and Tubbs go undercover and travel to Colombia with a laid-back pilot to pose as dealers.

    Director:Paul Michael Glaser
    Writer:Miguel Piñero

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  8. Miami Vice Season 1 Episode 1 - Brother's Keeper
    8.3/10(2913 votes)

    S1:E1

    Miami detective Sonny Crockett reluctantly teams with New York cop Rico Tubbs when both of them end up pursuing a drug dealer who killed their partners.

    Director:Thomas Carter
    Writer:Anthony Yerkovich

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  9. Miami Vice Season 2 Episode 1 - The Prodigal Son
    8.3/10(995 votes)

    S2:E1

    Crockett & Tubbs go to Manhattan to find a group of Colombian drug dealers who are killing federal agents.

    Director:Paul Michael Glaser
    Writer:Daniel Pyne

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  10. Miami Vice Season 2 Episode 15 - Little Miss Dangerous
    8.3/10(768 votes)

    S2:E15

    Crocket and Tubbs visit Miami's kinky Sex World parlor when a sailor shows up murdered. The trail leads to a mysterious underage dancer Tubbs tries to straighten out - but is this more than social work?

    Director:Leon Ichaso
    Writer:Frank Military

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  11. Miami Vice Season 2 Episode 19 - Payback
    8.3/10(634 votes)

    S2:E19

    A reclusive drug supplier thinks Crockett has the $3 million stolen by the dealer's former employee.

    Director:Aaron Lipstadt
    Writer:Shel Willens

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  12. Miami Vice Season 3 Episode 4 - Walk Alone
    8.3/10(634 votes)

    S3:E4

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

    Director:David Jackson
    Writer:W.K. Scott Meyer

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  13. Miami Vice Season 3 Episode 5 - The Good Collar
    8.3/10(593 votes)

    S3:E5

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

    Director:Mario DiLeo
    Writer:Dennis Cooper

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  14. Miami Vice Season 3 Episode 12 - Down for the Count (1)
    8.3/10(580 votes)

    S3:E12

    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.

    Director:Richard Compton
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Miami Vice Season 3 Episode 15 - Duty and Honor (a.k.a. The Savage)
    8.3/10(568 votes)

    S3:E15

    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.

    Director:John Nicolella
    Writer:Marvin Kupfer

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  16. Miami Vice Season 4 Episode 22 - Mirror Image (2)
    8.3/10(505 votes)

    S4:E22

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

    Director:Richard Compton
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Miami Vice Season 5 Episode 1 - Hostile Takeover (3)
    8.3/10(482 votes)

    S5:E1

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

    Director:Don Johnson
    Writer:Ken Solarz

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  18. Miami Vice Season 4 Episode 21 - Deliver Us from Evil (1)
    8.3/10(470 votes)

    S4:E21

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

    Director:George Mendeluk
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Miami Vice Season 1 Episode 5 - Calderone's Return: Calderone's Demise (2)
    8.2/10(1138 votes)

    S1:E5

    While on the trail of Calderone in Bimini, Tubbs falls in love with a woman who forces him to consider his loyalties.

    Director:Paul Michael Glaser
    Writers:Joel Surnow, Alfonse Ruggiero

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  20. Miami Vice Season 1 Episode 19 - The Home Invaders
    8.2/10(854 votes)

    S1:E19

    The squad is assigned to assist Robbery with a string of brutal home invasions. Castillo is concerned the officer in charge - who was Crockett's mentor - is mishandling the investigation and the two clash, leaving Crockett torn between loyalty and a resolved case.

    Director:Abel Ferrara
    Writer:Chuck Adamson

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  21. Miami Vice Season 1 Episode 22 - Lombard
    8.2/10(778 votes)

    S1:E22

    Crockett and Tubbs must protect a reluctant witness from his prior employers -- the Mafia family that wants to silence him.

    Director:John Nicolella
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Miami Vice Season 2 Episode 8 - Bushido
    8.2/10(773 votes)

    S2:E8

    Castillo is forced to choose between friendship and duty when Jack Gretsky, his best friend from his days in Vietnam with the CIA, reemerges from the criminal underground complete with a Russian wife who is being pursued by the KGB.

    Director:Edward James Olmos
    Writer:John Leekley

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  23. Miami Vice Season 3 Episode 7 - El Viejo
    8.2/10(640 votes)

    S3:E7

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

    Director:Aaron Lipstadt
    Writer:Alan Moskowitz

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  24. Miami Vice Season 3 Episode 19 - Red Tape
    8.2/10(585 votes)

    S3:E19

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

    Director:Gabrielle Beaumont
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Miami Vice Season 3 Episode 13 - Down for the Count (2)
    8.2/10(525 votes)

    S3:E13

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

    Director:Richard Compton
    Writer:Unknown

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Best Episodes Summary

"Out Where the Buses Don't Run" is the best rated episode of Miami Vice. It scored 8.8/10 from 1,166 votes. Directed by Jim Johnston and written by Maurice Hurley, it aired on October 18, 1985. This episode scored 0.1 points higher than the second highest rated, "Definitely Miami".

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