Character
creation
Miami Vice
Season One Disk 2.
I know most
of the actors on Miami Vice are still with us.
God, fate, or fortune. But one isn’t
and he was one of the most brilliant characters created the Nug man, AKA Noggie.
The Nug man
died a long time ago, but thanks to the greatness of Miami Vice, the character
actors and character driven tele-plays.
In this
episode called Cool Running, we find out
that sometime the cops cannot do anything better then ride it out with a C.I. as Crockett says in Miami you cannot live without them.
The Nug man
was selling anything he just arrived out of prison. But he discovers that a cell mate Desmond is
on the hit list of Miami Vice. So he
plays them to be released, then the cops find out he really does know Desmond
and decides to use him.
By Act 2,
everything is in place, but we find out nothing is, as it seems
in Miami.
Cops compete
against each other to determine who has the biggest cojones in South Beach.
This leads to
a shooting and the quest to find Desmond.
What can you
as a writer learn from watching this episode on demand or DVD?
Well, we find
the supporting characters playing a bigger role then the stars.
Saundra
Santiago and crew help Crockett and Tubbs to achieve their goals. But unfortunately, the write has created a
smarter antagonist.
How do you
that? Well there are two theories the
great Robert McKee’s and mine. While my
theory is not unique for character has always been a factor in any great story.
You cannot
try two writer’s tricks, hide something from the audience, which Miami Vice does
well as many cop show s do or reveal something via a character, which everyone
does.
In Act, one
the Nug man is introduced as a slick character, smooth talking like the book
Swag by Elmore Leonard. He will sale anything,
which should have given the audience a clue.
When is
arrested because of the bumbling of Switek and Zito he has a paper bag over his
face. Clearly, they want to use him as
an informant but have not figured out how to do so.
Then the
antagonist uses an opportunity to look at a police report having heard
Desmond’s name called out.
Now Desmond;
like most good antagonists is not shown, we don’t know who he is.
We know he
shot two cops and drives a van and that is about it. We know he shot some dope dealers and almost
got Crockett and Tubbs killed by a bulldozer.
When the antagonist
does show up in Act three the Nug man has gone from coolness to scared.
The
antagonist Desmond has been shown to be a bad man.
The writer
has done his job; he has created a direct conflict between the protagonist
Crockett who must save the Nug man from the antagonist.
Good luck
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