There are quite a few episodes where Castillo 'unleashes the Rottweiler' - giving Crockett just enough instruction to let him 'do that thing he does so well' ... track, flush, and retrieve. With force when necessary.

They are willing participants in that relationship. Guard Dog and Handler - Castillo's word of control is crisply pronounced two syllables: "CROC-KETT!" causing Sonny to back off, but never down. Sonny continues to glare at the problem like a Border Collie told to hold a pen of cattle or a Belgian Malinois' glaring hold of ... well... anything or anyone else.

Oh - don't get me wrong. We see Tubbs call Crockett back too, but it's very much like a brother might. But Castillo? And Crockett? There's a willing participation to engage 'the enemy' as a hierarchical team - where Sonny 'gets the job done' and Martin sets the boundaries of engagement and protects Sonny from the body politic — allowing Crockett to work outside of the fence - so to speak. Beyond the chain of command and away from most of the political bull shit.

And this relationship works... usually. Every so often there's a glitch because - high powered systems with intense components can occasionally break down. LRRP dogs need their rest... and when they don't get it, all that overload is going to go somewhere.

This is one of the ... maybe 2-3-4 times in the entire series where you see Martin really concerned for Sonny - concerned enough that he tries to actually 'handle' his Sr. Detective. The diner in Shadow in the Dark - where MC is coming into to work and Crockett is already drinking bourbon - is classic Crockett/Castillo. They speak in code to one another most of the time, and that scene highlights it.

"Two coffees" - - - This case has you by the balls, lets talk. "One." - - - Naw, Marty, I gotta do this my way. "Cancel the one." - - - Alright, I'll let it go for now but lunge again and i'll pull that goddamned leash so hard your head will pop off.

This conversation is on going until, at the end of the episode, they sit behind the observation room mirror watching lightbulb guy lick things.

"I want you on the desk for a couple of days." Martin putting on his watch (time... take some time to rest) "I'm just tired. I'll be alright." Crockett scrubs his face like he's waking up from the bad dream. "I know." Martin assures Sonny before walking out (who's a good boy? let's get you off that leash so you can chill)

Beyond the creepy-ass light bulb dude and the crazy cop - this episode demonstrates how far Castillo is willing to let his charge go and how much leeway is allowed before checking in. He knows the Guardian needs space to guard and crazy times = crazy measures.

This Handler/Guard Dog repeat time and again - up to and including Crockett being allowed (one might argue encouraged) time to pop over to the Bahamas to clean up the horror of Frank Hackman.

And it works... until someone else grabs the leash.

I have succumb to the bleedover trend of adding title page art to a couple of stories. Mostly because an online friend - who doesn't have access to AO3 - requested I publish on FFN and cover art is a thing there. (Also because the original photo in this particular piece is one of my favorites from my time in Asia.)

Historically - fanzine cover art was a highly prized placement for a Fan Artist that all but disappeared with the likes of Live Journal and site specific fanfiction publications. It shouldn't feel so odd for some digital form of cover art to re-emerge... accept that we live in a time of generative AI and there is an expectation of art not being art.

Alas... there have always been challenges of being an artist and yet the Artists persist.

I've been handling a lot of older fanfiction lately as a family member prepares their fanzine library for a University of Iowa Special Collections donation. In scanning the works into PDFs I skim to find chapter breaks, art, format changes... sometimes... reading when my interest gets the better of me. And I've noticed a few things about character interpretation in Miami Vice - none of which will be shocking.

I had been away from Miami Vice fandom for a number of years when a series of odd events brought my focus back - so I have a kind of fractured view... a punctuated view. There is then fandom and there is now fandom... with the subcategories of Casual Fans, Tech Fans, Nostalgic Fans, and Deep Fandom Fans — and there are some identifiable differences twixt them all. With the exception of 1 character.

Today the primary Ship tends to be Crockett/Tubbs [or C/T because the ship-names are bizarre - Crubbs? Trockett? Soncardo? Rinny? If ID'd by cars they could be Testaddy or Cadirari] which ... totally fair. The C/T ship was never allowed equal access in early Deep Fandom. Also, relatedly, while all the angsty, self-searching H/C is still found, there is a lot less woobification of Crockett. He's still the first chair of that crumbling epicenter mental health charm but the Uke-Crockett is all but dead. (Thank the Fandom Gods.) And Rico is getting some equal air-play - although still not enough in my opinion.

Speaking of numbered fiddles - there are more writers working with characters other than our tortured blond boy ... exploring relationships and motivations of the rest of the OCB crew. The Gina, Trudy, Stan, and Larry stories have steadily trickled into publication on AO3 and the like. It's as if the creative fandom corps has looked at the characters long enough to allow complexity to flow into the works published after 2012.

And all of this is wonderful... but... that's only the foundation of this villainous monologuing ramble. I'm here to talk about (surprise) Castillo.

Specifically how fandom hasn't turned the page on Martin's ability to express himself. And, not just in fanfiction - but MV Fandom in gen.

There are untold numbers of Miami Vice fan groups dotting the web and all of them have one resounding bass note that gets played when talk turns to Martin Castillo. "He's a laconic, glaring paragon of control."

Or ... as Dickens might describe him: "Hard and sharp as flint... secret and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster." The word that sums up this generally agreed upon character description of Martin Castillo is COLD. "Icy stare" - "Silent glower" - "Chilling disapproval" - "FREEZE!" He is a counter point to the gregarious, dripping with southern-charm, always slightly out of control golden-boy: Sonny Crockett.

And, yeah, those perspectives have the canon citations to make the case... por ejemplo, el video de abajo ↓ ... but its not the only evidence.

Because that "cold" thing doesn't fly in the rarely seen, trace evidence of Team Spirit Feels. Cold, icy, silent, growling are not qualities that attract loyalty. Distant, controlled, grumbling, glaring, ninja bosses don't get their nicknames used in their presence, nor the impersonating chides of "We know... no heroes", they don't get the protective "I worry about the Lieutenant", the personal space invading "I thought you'd want to know", or even the "you're the glue man" [fucking glue man... wtf Crockett.] Those are affection clues. Those are warm fuzzy markers of warriors-in-arms relationships and COLD don't get nobody that.

Controlled? Yes. Laconic? Can be. Killer? Absolutely. Is he a policeman that enforces the law, equally applied, no special cases? He tries. Is that all he is? No. He's an adult adulting in a shitty middle manager job at Level: Master. He has friends, likes baseball, and runs on caffeine. Vulcan-Jedi-Ninja of Miami? No fucking way. I'm not even convinced he's an introvert at this point. He hugs way too much, too easily, and too well. That is full body contact ↓ there ↓ and why is up for debate.

And those clues to a warm personality are scattered throughout the series, suggested by off screen events and reflected in the loyalty of The Team. There are occasional glimpses that give us a hint of who Castillo is when he's not... ya know... containing Crockett & Co. Most of these clues are overlooked or minimized by the fandom wonks who prefer their Lieutenant Castillo stirred, not shaken, and - please - on the rocks to keep him chilly. Move on... nothing to feel here. Keep going.

This ↓ is the Martin Castillo most of MV Fandom sees, thinks about, talks about, and wants. Remaking the character over and over and over. Sharp as a blade and solitary as an oyster.

Miami Vice and Blade Runner - same story, different day.

Miami Vice and Blade Runner have many commonalities. [And I mean more that Edward James Olmos.] Both fictional worlds are about protagonists trying to enforce the Law and continually coming up against corruption. Ultimately, Miami Vice is not about drugs, money, weapons, gambling, prostitution, cars, nor fashion - those are merely the Voight-Kampff that test the humanity of anyone the story lands upon. How characters relate to those corrupting factors tell us if they're human, like us, or some type of life form that threatens our existence.

As with Blade Runner, Miami Vice is a treatise on defining morality and identifying the immoral characters hiding in our midst. Both works present [Big C] Corruption as a spectrum in which the "moral" protagonist is shuffled along the spectral line asking one question: How far is too far before good becomes evil?

Our heroes are forced to push the limits of ethical behavior to ferret out the duplicity that they're fighting against over and over again . . . to the detriment of the main characters. Rick Deckard and Sonny Crockett are both being destroyed by their quest to conquer the corruption they encounter. Both of them resort to self-medication through alcohol to make it through their day. Both men live on the margins, making decisions that 'uphold the law' despite what that decision and action does to them.

It's the same story. Hero slowly being killed by the corruption eating away at society because it's their calling, their mission - it's what they are good at.

This is my new inspiration photo. There's a story here. Yes. Before you ask... it will be a Castillo/Crockett story.