#Glenn Frey

[petiteclover]

GLENN FREY photographed by Henry Diltz, in a dressing room while on tour with the eagles, 1974.

[retropopcult]

Eagles, 1979

[zimtrim]

The Eagles - Glenn Frey

[jt1674]

[theactioneer]

Beverly Hills Cop VHS ad (1985)

[jarofalicesgrunge]

Eagles

[joegramoe]

Linda Ronstadt with one of her band members from The Troubadour, Glenn Frey

[mitochondriaandbunnies]

Miami Vice S1E16: Smuggler's Blues

Sonny and Rico fly to Colombia with Eagles frontman Glenn Frey.

The first time I watched this one was before I'd watched Wiseguy, so I don't think I had much of an opinion about Glenn Frey other than TAKE IT EEEEEASY, TAKE IT EEEEEEASY

Anyway I actually really like him as an actor and I think he does a great job of playing a super burnt out aging hippie Vietnam vet here

This is also the second (and unfortunately the second to last) episode directed by my best pal Paul Michael Glaser, so it's thoughtful and well-paced and fairly homoerotic, which is all one really needs for a solid Vice episode

The DEA does not come off well at all in this episode:

Sonny tells a callous and "results oriented" DEA agent who blames casualties on the "politics of contraband" that "the politics of contraband does not involve killing children," and then straight up calls him a fascist

And later a Rico expresses a sense of surprise that they're involved in such "a big operation, moving people to Cartagena," and a DEA agent responds with "not people, just you two"

...which is all fair because the DEA is terrible, although we're still in the portion of the series where (Sonny especially believes) "regular cops" are still positioned as good, so a bit of pot-kettle going on there

Trudy SO wants to go to Cartagena and make a drug deal but the DEA agent tells her she is staying in Miami and posing as Rico's wife. : (

We'll see later in Prodigal Son that PMG is really good at directing Don Johnson, but it's very clear in this episode that he's also extremely good with Philip Michael Thomas

There's a bunch of moments in this one that are very Starsky & Hutch -- the fight in the alley could literally be ripped from an S&H episode, and the later scene where Sonny and Rico have a wordless conversation in matching doorways feels very S&H as well

The lyrics to the Glenn Frey song Smuggler's Blues straight up narrate part of the episode, to the point where it feels a little silly. Trudy sure does have a suitcase when you're singing about suitcases

We don't get to see if their hotel room only has one bed but I like to believe

So. I think this is the episode where Sonny, who is very good at ignoring his own feelings and refusing to process anything, suddenly realizes that he might care about Rico More Than Is Normal or Acceptable. When Tubbs is captured by the Colombian police, he lets him go fairly quickly, and without pushing back too much on Jimmy-- until they get back to the hotel. He doesn't freak out until he has the time and space to process, and then he snaps. Jimmy asks if he's going to just take on the entire Colombian police force, and Sonny says 'maybe,' and he tries to strangle Jimmy. When he calms down, and Jimmy offers him a cigarette, he breaks the filter off. And then as he and Jimmy sit and discuss loss, Sonny genuinely looks like he is (and frankly he could be) crying. He tells Jimmy that Rico is the one guy he's "gotta wait for," and then when Rico gets out of jail, he sees that Jimmy has left and Sonny has completely trashed the hotel room.

You know.

Normal coworker kind of behavior.

Thank you PMG for always supporting your loyal queers

There is an unremarked upon and incredibly ominous small boy who follows Grocero (the drug dealer) around throughout the episode, and I'm sure the intention is something-something the way the drug trade fucks up kids bla bla BUT what it actually comes off as is just. David Lynch Red Room shit. Haunted child.

When Trudy is captured later and Castillo is deciding who is going to try to defuse the bomb she's strapped to, twice Gina asks for it to be her, and twice the entire rest of the team ignores her. It's a really interesting little moment, especially coupled with the DEA agent shutting down Trudy's desire to go to Colombia earlier-- Gina and Trudy are often given short shrift, but it's not usually remarked upon. These lines didn't need to be included-- Gina and Trudy could've just been excluded from the missions as they often are-- but instead this episode actually highlights the ways they're sometimes dismissed and prevented from fully participating in things the men of Vice are never questioned on. I'm not 100% certain, but from what I recall this may be the only time this tendency is lampshaded in this way-- I suspect because this episode was written by Miguel Piñero, which is to say: Calderone himself.

Piñero was a playwright and poet known for piercing portrayals of modern society and its ills (especially with regards to the treatment of Black and Hispanic populations). He died very young, but in that time was nominated for or received a number of prestigious writing awards and helped found the Nuyorican art movement. I do not think it's a coincidence that this man saw some things (Vice's iffy track record with women, the abject uselessness and evil of the DEA, even the portrayal of the Colombian police captain not as corrupt but desperate) more clearly than many of the other writers on the show. It's also worth noting that Piñero was bisexual, and in a relationship with gay painter Martin Wong at the likely time of writing this episode-- which is to say I don't think Sonny's "oh. Oh no." moment about Rico ought to be brushed off as "straight writer accidentally makes something homoerotic because they don't think or care about women."

Tubbs blesses himself when he hears that Sonny and Trudy are okay-- he is not generally portrayed as particularly religious, but he probably had a Catholic upbringing, given his background, and it feels like a very real reaction.

The episode ends with Tubbs waxing philosophical about why anyone would do any of this shit and deciding that "the bottom line is money," and Castillo agreeing, "usually is." That's it folks! That's the show!

So uh. Is Jimmy dead

I know in a later episode some other smuggler will be like "yeah Jimmy told me all about you guys" to Sonny and Rico but like. Someone forgot to wrap up Glenn Frey's storyline here

He gets shot and then we just never see him again

R(?)IP Jimmy

[llittledreameer]

[myimaginaryradio]

You Belong To The City - Glenn Frey

[kyunisixx]

Eagles photographed by Henry Diltz for their debut album "Eagles" at Joshua Tree National Park, 1972

[petiteclover]

GLENN FRAY at his Los Angeles home, photographed by Barry Schultz, 1975.

[daddysmusicblog]

Glenn's guitar solo on this is one of the tastiest solos of the 20th century. His skills were so underrated it's criminal.

[zimtrim]

The Eagles - Glenn Frey

[metalcultbrigade]

Glenn Frey - Soul Searchin'. 15/08/1988