MONDO EXTRAS

Back at Vice HQ, the hooker is explaining to a skeptical Switek that her relationship with Bill Paxton goes beyond a money-is-exchanged-for-goods-and-services sort of thing; they're boyfriend and girlfriend. "I only had a deuce in my purse," the hooker says to prove that her relationship with Paxton is consensual and not bartered. "For your information, I can get a lot more than that on the street." Now I'm not up on my street lingo, but unless a "deuce" is code for "$2 bill," I find that suggestion highly dubious. Then again, these are 1986 dollars, so we'd probably have to adjust for inflation. Switek finds this talk as laughable as I do: "The only information I'm interested in, is where'd you get the coke." The hooker -- who we discover is named Carla -- is vague on the details. Carla explains the reason for her lack of cooperation: "I know how cops help girls -- they use 'em, and they rip them off. At least tricks pay you." Switek observes that this is an ironic position to take considering her illicit love affair with Officer Bill Paxton, and then starts the plot machine for tonight's episode a-churning: "[The cocaine] was in your purse, and it wasn't street mix. Which means, unless we find out where it came from, you're the one who's in a lot of trouble."

In the not-so-lavishly appointed Vice HQ locker room -- really, the rest of headquarters looks like a Duran Duran video, and they can't do better than some old rusty lockers for where Crockett and Tubbs suit up? -- Tubbs is giving the rundown on the case to the inexpressive plank of wood that is Lt. Martin Castillo. Edward James Olmos won an Emmy Award for his performance back in the day, and, near as I can figure, it was for never speaking above a whisper, never changing expression, and muttering things like "Keep me informed." Either that, or when you share screen time with Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas, you can't help but look like some sort of master thespian. Anyhow, the cocaine Carla was hauling around was "100 percent pharmaceutical coke" and Paxton got it from an undercover police informant named Roxanne, according to Tubbs. That's your takeaway information from this scene. That, and someone owes John Hillerman an explanation for why he doesn't have another Emmy on the mantle piece.