A Severance Star Made Their Television Debut In A Classic Crime Thriller Series

This post contains spoilers for season 1, episode 16 of "Miami Vice."

In 1991's "Barton Fink," the titular playwright (John Turturro) undergoes hellish horrors while experiencing the worst writer's block known to man. Stuck in a hotel room that is anything but a comforting nook for an artist, Barton finds little solace in those around him, and things get progressively worse when someone ends up getting murdered. The film defies genre categorization, playing out like a riveting, unconventional symphony with Barton's escalating anxieties at dead center. Turturro's character is the very picture of complexity, evoking both sympathy and disdain; it's no surprise that this multifaceted performance led to Turturro winning Best Actor at the 44th Cannes Film Festival.

That's just a sliver of Turturro's long and illustrious career, which had bloomed long, long before the actor played the measured, compassionate Irving B. in Apple TV+'s hit show "Severance." His breakthrough film, Spike Lee's 1989 classic "Do the Right Thing," would be the first among many collaborations with the "Inside Man" director, which eventually led to bigger projects where Turturro assumed central roles. But before Turturro crossed paths with Lee, he had begun his career as an extra in Martin Scorsese's "Raging Bull" (!), which he followed up with a notable supporting role in the William Friedkin action neo-noir, "To Live and Die in L.A." Having amassed a handful of acting credits, this was the perfect opportunity to make a television debut in a series that was stylish, topical, and followed a trusty one-case-per-episode format.

Yes, Turturro made his TV debut in "Miami Vice," where he played the unsavory conman David Traynor in the season 1 episode, "Rites of Passage." This is in keeping with the trend of now-popular actors making a mark as villains in a "Miami Vice" episode, which includes the likes of Liam Neeson and a pre-"Moonlighting" Bruce Willis. It's worth noting that "Rites of Passage" is one of the more solid season 1 episodes, as it subverts the telltale cliches employed in a show primarily known for its pastel-coded music video aesthetic.

For starters, "Rites of Passage" is an absolutely pitch-perfect "Miami Vice" episode. It opens with Diane (Tery Ferman) being approached by some dude on Miami Beach, who introduces her to David Traynor (Turturro), who, in turn, claims to run a high-profile modeling agency. The two hit it off at a party, where David seems sweet and genuine, offering her an opportunity to earn a hefty salary if she chooses to sign with his agency. Of course, nothing is as it seems: Just as we watch this encounter unfold, a dead body washes up on Miami Beach. It's revealed to be a girl we previously saw at David's party, who used to be one of his top-performing models. As it turns out, the modeling agency is just a ruse, as David essentially hoodwinks and coerces upcoming models into sex work. These bleak events immediately set the tone of the episode, making us aware of David's duplicity from the get-go.

Just when we expect detectives Crockett (Don Johnson) and Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) to lead the investigation, NYPD homicide cop Valerie Gordon (blaxploitation legend Pam Grier) shows up for a surprising reason. Valerie's sister, Diane, has been missing for six months, and Valerie (who also happens to be Tubbs' ex-girlfriend!) has traced her last whereabouts to Miami. The rest of the episode keeps up this thrilling pace, where Valerie and co. succeed in extracting Diane from David's dangerous clutches, and the sisters end up reconnecting on a deeper level. However, tragedy strikes soon after when David sends someone to kill Diane, granting Valerie more than enough reasons to take matters into her own hands and discard her usual by-the-book approach to crime.

Turturro is memorable as the conniving David, who constantly oscillates between faux gentleness and a disturbing brand of possessiveness. After all, David views the girls he manipulates as objects, whom he readily discards once they prove to be a threat to his dastardly schemes. This calculated apathy clashes with Valerie's righteous fury, which Grier fleshes out in the most intense, heartbreaking ways. Although Tubbs and Crockett take on a more secondary role in this episode, this switch-up is a welcome one, as we have two (three, if we count Ferman) electric performances that drive a heavy, bitter episode to its depressing finish.

For once, we have a "Miami Vice" episode that underlines the limitations of the central detectives, as their helpless failure to protect Diane fuels and feeds into Valerie's gut-wrenching arc as a grieving sister and law-abiding cop. Moreover, the fact that the episode ends with a Turturro-Grier character confrontation is reason alone for "Rites of Passage" to be required viewing for "Miami Vice" enthusiasts.