"Brother's Keeper" is the pilot episode of the American crime drama television series Miami Vice. Written by series creator Anthony Yerkovich and directed by Thomas Carter, the episode premiered on NBC on September 16, 1984, with a two-hour (including commercials) season premiere. The episode was received well critically, winning two out of three Emmy Awards for which it was nominated. NBC would rebroadcast the episode in 2006 during the opening weekend for executive producer/director Michael Mann's theatrical remake starring Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx.

Plot

James "Sonny" Crockett (Don Johnson) is a Metro-Dade vice detective who loses his partner Eddie Rivera (Jimmy Smits) in a car bombing during an undercover operation with a small-time drug dealer. He also is in the middle of an ugly divorce, since his wife can't stand the stress of having a husband working undercover with criminals. Crockett is investigating a Colombian drug dealer, named Calderone (Miguel Piñero), when he meets a New York police detective named Rafael Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas). Since they are having problems approaching Calderone due to an unknown mole (leading Tubbs to say "You've got a leak in your department the size of the East River"), Crockett and Tubbs team up after a suggestion by the former's lieutenant Lou Rodriguez (Gregory Sierra), even though they don't like each other. Crockett begins dating a colleague, Gina Calabrese (Saundra Santiago). However, on their first date, he whispers his ex-wife's name to Gina while they are in bed. Gina and her colleague Trudy Joplin (Olivia Brown) still help Crockett for all job matters, and they discover that Rafael Tubbs is actually a dead New York officer. Crockett confronts "Rafael" and discovers that he is Rafael's brother Ricardo ("Rico" for short) who wants to catch Calderone, his brother's murderer. Crockett and Tubbs agree to still work together and it pays off, discovering that the traitor is Scott Wheeler (Bill Smitrovich), a DEA agent who works closely with the vice squad. After being confronted and assaulted by Crockett (his former partner), Wheeler is then arrested. Soon afterwards, Calderone himself is arrested, but within a matter of hours gets a judge to sign his release on $2 million bail. Sonny and Rico arrive just in time to see Calderone get into a seaplane and fly off. Crockett and Tubbs decide that they like working with each other after all, and Tubbs decides to transfer to Miami.

Style

This episode started developing the trademark Vice style. Aspects of Miami Vice considered revolutionary lay in its music, cinematography, and imagery, which made large segments of each episode resemble a protracted music video. A good example of combining these three aspects is found in this episode when Crockett and Tubbs are in the Ferrari Daytona Spyder, driving through a damp, nighttime Miami downtown heading to a somber showdown with a sinister, murderous drug lord as "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins surrealistically plays along. As Lee H. Katzin, one of the series' directors, once stated, "The show is written for an MTV audience, which is more interested in images, emotions and energy than plot and character and words." The pilot included some of the series trademarks, such as Crocketts' Ferrari Daytona Spyder 365 GTS/4, his boat, the St. Vitus Dance and Elvis, his pet alligator. Other stylistic accents, such as Crockett's famous tortoise shell Ray-Ban Wayfarers or Tubbs's 1964 Cadillac Coupe de Ville were still missing (Crockett wears Carrera 5512 Large sunglasses, and Tubbs drives a dark 1983 Pontiac Trans Am in one scene).

Awards and nominations

This episode was nominated for three Emmy awards and won two Emmys, for best sound editing and cinematography.

Music