Miami Twice

Great acting from both David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst. One of the best episodes of Only Fools and Horses

Miami Twice is a strong episode if you are lucky enough to see the original edit without the laughter track and music changes. For me the recut spoils it, particularly the laughter as it drowns out certain dialogue and ruins some of the comic timing.

It is very entertaining to see David Jason playing two parts. He is clearly having a ball as the Marlon Brando inspired character Don Ochetti. The Mafia premise is funny to me and a nice break from the usual family driven storylines and shenanigans of east end market trading.

I think the dialogue is solid, although not as consistently strong as peak OFAH. Though there are some great one-liners that standout, such as Raquel's response to the news story on TV at the Nag's Head, and most of Del and Rodney's banter with each other, and Boycie. The sight gags are very strong, with concepts like Del's driving, the various assassination attempts, the getaway, and Everglades scenes all very memorable.

As ever Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst lead it fantastically well. The location shots in Miami set the scene well and the US cast members contribute nicely, especially Antoni Corone and Tom Kouchalakos.

My rating of 8/10 is for the original cut (minus laughter track), whereas the changed version for me loses a point for unnecessary tinkering.

On paper this sounds like a brilliant idea and a very funny one at that. However, there's just something missing from this particular installment.

It's fine for the first half of the part one as it's still set in Peckham and has all the familiar characters and settings, but things take a bit of a nosedive when they get to Miami. It's not that there's much wrong with the production, but it just doesn't feel like an Only Fools and Horses episode. It borrows gags from previous episodes such Del on the Jet ski, which is very similar to Del on the hang-glider, and the American cast seem uncomfortable with the blatantly British writing.

As an actor, this must have been a Golden opportunity for David Jason to play Duel roles, and as stated, on paper it's a great idea. However, in execution it's hokey, and Jason's accent slips more than a few times when portraying the Don which kid of breaks the suspension of disbelief.

I mean, it's certainly not a "bad" installment, but it's one which I find myself skipping when on a binge, and I much prefer the infinitely Better "Mother Nature's Son" episode which came after this one.

By all means watch it, but there's better episodes out there.

As a Christmas special, this episode is a fairly good movie in its own right. Regarded by David Jason as one of his favourites, we get a wonderful combination of British humour and authentic American dialogue which sometimes serves to comedically confuse the characters who couldn't be further apart in terms of lifestyle and - at times - the English language. The mafia heavies are brilliantly cast, believable and not overplayed or terribly exaggerated as you might expect from an English writer writing for Americans. John Sullivan was able to get it right here. David Jason's excellent portrayal of the sinister but likeable character, Don Ochetti, is just enough to take the episode from being an idea on paper as perhaps being rather silly, to an enjoyable and not to mention funny movie that is quite believable but more importantly a lot of fun. If you haven't seen this episode, or you haven't revisited it for a while, do so. It's worth the hour and a bit.

It has to be said that there are many episodes of 'Only Fools and Horses' that are excellent. But sadly, this isn't one of them. I now find it hard to decide whether it is this, or the episode 'A Royal Flush' which deserve the accolade as the worst of the entire series. By this time in the early 90s, John Sullivan was only turning out new stories once every Christmas. Watching this, I came to the conclusion that he had long lost interest in the life of the Trotters, and was only turning these out due to the popularity of the earlier TV series. Having said that, he would revive the series for season 8, which should have been the fitting end to the saga. But no!