It really does feel a bit like
Sophie's Choice whenever I have to pick a main character from such a small main cast of characters. At some point throughout the five season of
Miami Vice, I've loathed and loved every single one of them, so actually narrowing it down has been a tad bit difficult for me.
Well, mostly.
If there was one character that I felt was just sort of there - even when the writers were trying to make him relevant and/or connected to the rest of the team - it was Stan Switek. In the first couple of seasons, when he's paired Larry Zito, they are the comedic relief, more or less somewhat effective in their jobs but definitely
much less skilled than Crockett and Tubbs. But after (spoiler alert!) Zito is killed in Season 3, Switek just becomes superfluous. In the later seasons, he's given a gambling addiction, which is fine, I guess; it just wasn't enough for me to care about him. Granted, I am glad they didn't pair him up with a new, bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed partner to add some zest to the show, which is the equivalent to bringing in a younger child on a family sitcom, but I feel like the writers just kind of forgot Switek was there while trying to spice up Sonny's life and sort of tacked on something to keep him occupied. I mean, the rest of the cast was treated similarly - if they weren't Crockett - but it was especially noticeable with Stan.
I feel like it would have been more true to the character that, after Zito's death, he decided he couldn't be on the force any longer and then moved to Vegas to do Elvis impressions. Or that he changed departments. He would still make guest appearances or whatever, but literally, anything other than turning into Sir McGambles-A-Lot would have kept me interested in the guy.
So word to the wise: if you keep having to figure out what to do with a character, you should probably just get rid of him or her.
Day 4: Favorite Season >
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