Crockett and Tubbs are in Columbia chasing after a new cartel, The Revillas, with a DEA agent named Drummond assisting them. After obtaining information from a local military group who has been torturing an informant, much of the Vice team, alongside the DEA, manage to thwart a large drug shipment during a nighttime bust. The DEA throw a celebration to mark the major thwarting of the Revillas' operation, only to be attacked by said Cartel, who gun down three DEA agents (including Drummond) and seriously wound Gina.
Angered over what's happened, Crockett and Tubbs' hands are tied until DEA Commander Burr (Bill Smitrovich) offers them a chance to go undercover to destabilize the Revillas, via posing as big-time drug dealers looking to move into the New York market. With the help of Newton Blade (Gene Simmons), they get an introduction to Jimmy Borges (Penn Jillette). Borges is out of the drug business, but the prospect of a vast payoff is enough to get him to come out of retirement despite the Revillas having eliminated most of their competition to the New York pipeline.
Arriving in New York, Tubbs is back on home turf, but finds himself and Crockett running afoul of Lieutenant Pearson (Charles S. Dutton), a NYC cop who has little patience for the antics of the two "out-of-towners". Tubbs also reunites with Valerie Gordon (Pam Grier), but soon learns that she's entered into a relationship with a drug dealer that has ties to the Cartel. Conversely, Crockett begins a fling with a woman named Margaret who acts suspiciously around him.
It soon becomes clear that the police are extremely obstructive and unhelpful, due to being under the influence of an influential banker named JB Johnston (Julian Beck). Crockett and Tubbs soon realize that they're on their own to stop the cartel's leadership from escaping New York.
This episode contains the following tropes:
- All for Nothing: Valerie's months long sting against Frank Sacco becomes this when Tubbs shoots him to death.
- Big Heroic Run: Subverted; the episode makes it seem like Tubbs is racing against time to catch Crockett at the airport before he departs, after it seemed like he would leave Vice and stay in New York with Valerie. It's revealed a few moments later that Crockett was waiting for him the whole time, leading to some bemusement when he walks up to the exhausted Tubbs, who's frantically asking at the ticket counter if Crockett is on his flight to Miami.
- The Cartel: The Revilla Cartel is the second most powerful cartel in the series, rivaling the Calderones.
- The Cavalry: Just when it seems as though Crockett and Tubbs will be killed by the Revillas during the final confrontation at the World Trade Center, Valerie appears, gun in hand, to give them backup, after she'd previously indicated that she was not happy with Tubbs' interference in her investigation. Her involvement gives the trio the chance to take down the entirety of the Revilla leadership.
- Continuity Nod: During the scene where Valerie is weighing what to do at her desk in Vice, a cracked photoframe with a picture of her, Tubbs and the deceased Diane Gordon (from "Rites of Passage") is shown.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Despite all the challenges the duo go through, they ultimately manage to destroy the Revillas' leadership, along with several of their lieutenants. Crockett and Tubbs head back to Miami no worse for wear, while Valerie and Tubbs part on good terms. Gina is recovering too and will soon be back to work. The only downside is Johnston is untouchable and Pearson never faces any reprisal for his attempts to stonewall the investigation.
- Electric Torture: The Columbian military (or paramilitary forces) subject an informant to this, much to Crockett and Tubbs' discomfort.
- Expy: The Revilla Cartel is one for the Cali Cartel, that is far more business-like and rooted in New York.
- Fish out of Water: Compared to the pilot episode a season earlier, where Tubbs has to ingratiate himself in an unfamiliar setting (Miami, after leaving New York), this episode does the same for Crockett, who is slightly overwhelmed with the pace and culture of the Big Apple.Tubbs: Miami might be paradise, but we are now looking into the core of civilization.Crockett: Are you crazy? We're looking into gridlock, Rico! About as much fun as watching paint dry!
- "Get Back Here!" Boss: Esteban Revilla turns tail almost as soon as the final gunfight begins and runs towards a helicopter stationed at a nearby port, forcing Crockett to give chase, all while the former is firing intermittently. Crockett is forced to pursue (and ultimately shoot down) his fleeing helicopter due to realizing their plan won't be a success until they've eliminated the entire of the Revilla leadership.
- Honey Pot:
- Valerie has been supposedly serving as this for the NYPD (via her investigation of Sacco), but they have no intention of moving against her boyfriend.
- Margaret is this for Crockett, seducing him and passing along information to JB Johnston.
- In Love with the Mark:
- Despite the first season outright stating that Tubbs and Valerie were dating, she ultimately gets wrapped up in a Honey Trap investigation where she becomes Sacco's girlfriend, even ignoring or outright refusing Tubbs' attempts to get her to stop what she's doing.
- Margaret all-but-implies her feelings for Crockett were genuine, which motivates her decision to spill the beans on Johnston and give him the latter's contact information.
- It's Personal: Gina being wounded in the attack on the DEA party is enough to make Crockett and Tubbs take up Burr's offer to go all the way to New York in order to get revenge.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Pearson, despite delivering no results, continually insults as well as undermines Crockett and Tubbs.
- Karma Houdini: Pearson is an Obstructive Bureaucrat who is forced to conduct Teeth-Clenched Teamwork with Crockett and Tubbs at the behest of the DEA, but ultimately tells them at the start of the third act that the NYPD isn't going to back them up during the meeting with the Cartel at the World Trade Center, even grinning at the fact that they're about to walk into a deathtrap on their own. The episode ends without stating whether Pearson learned of the Revillas' deaths, if he was punished by his superiors for stonewalling the duo, or if there was any political fallout from the meeting with JJ Johnston.
- Killed Off for Real: Drummond, Sacco, Jimmy Borges, and the Revilla Brothers are all dead by the end of the episode.
- Killed Offscreen:
- The tortured Revilla informant is murdered by Columbian soldiers moments after Drummond pulls Crockett and Tubbs out of the interrogation building.
- Borges is killed off by Revilla hitmen after he's last seen setting up a meet with Crockett and Tubbs. The duo only discover this when they find his bullet-ridden body propped up in an elevator, moments before the hitmen ambush them.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Despite their Obstructive Bureaucrat behavior, the NYPD are worried that Crockett and Tubbs' actions will result in increased violence in the city. Which it does.
- Jurisdiction Friction: The New York City Police and DEA do not appreciate Crockett and Tubbs' presence.
- Modesty Bedsheet: During Tubbs' and Valerie's love scene at the end of the episode.
- Money Is Not Power: JB Johnston set up Crockett and Tubbs to be killed, but they simply kill all of the hitmen and the leaders of the Revilla Cartel.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Crockett and Tubbs run into these repeatedly in New York.
- Police Are Useless: The New York City police are unable to do anything about the Revilla Cartel due to pressure from JB Johnston. They're also jerks about it.
- Retirony: Jimmy Borges has already gotten out of the drug game, but Crockett and Tubbs pull him back in. He's ultimately killed for it.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: JB Johnston is a representative of a bank that has hundreds of millions of dollars. They made a massive loan to the Revilla Cartel and their payments from them are all that is keeping the bank afloat.
- Snap Back: Gina is no worse for wear by the end of the episode, having recovered in the scant interim Crockett and Tubbs were in New York after last being seen seriously wounded during the attack on the party. Conversely, the mood at Vice headquarters is "business as normal", with none of the other cops aware of the trials the duo had to go through.
- Spotting the Thread: Subverted; Crockett ultimately figures out that Margaret is running a game on him the first time they meet (to the extent that he calls her out for "throwing a couple of kinky looks my way, then acting colder than the Polar icecap!"), but doesn't realize it's because she's running a Honey Trap on him.
- Tempting Fate: Once the Revilla's hitman ambush the cops in Club Delirious, Borges realizes the situation is far more serious than he thought and has a chance to get away clean, but opts to persist with completing the deal because of the financial windfall it would bring him. He's ultimately caught and Killed Offscreen by the next day, when the cops go to meet him at the art gallery.
- The Unfought: JJ Johnston is a high-powered banker who is functionally untouchable, as Crockett and Tubbs know they have no real dirt on him beyond the unrecorded confession he gives them about "their friends in Latin America" being a critical financial lifeline to the bank. Crockett promises to find a way to arrest him before they leave his office, but he's ultimately never encountered in the series again.note
- Violence Really Is the Answer: Due to having their chance to arrest and dismantle the Cartel thwarted at every turn, Crockett and Tubbs end up going "rogue" and gunning down the ringleaders instead.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Compared to the last episode where she was mentioned, Valerie (in the interim between the four episodes) started up a Honey Trap investigation against Sacco, but ultimately fell In Love with the Mark instead, prompting this reaction from Tubbs when he realizes what Valerie's done (especially since they were explicitly said to be dating in the first season after "Rites of Passage").
