Quincy M.E. (TV Series) Ashes to Ashes (1978) User Reviews

Excellent--one of the better episodes of season 3.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 19 April 2013]

If you like to watch TV shows streamed from Netflix, then you might end up watching "Quincy". However, oddly, this particular episode, "Ashes to Ashes", is NOT among the shows that you can stream--it's somehow missing. I have no idea why, but to see it I had to request the discs for the show instead of watching them online or through my BluRay player.

A woman in a bar collapses dead of an apparent heart attack. The autopsy seems to establish that was the cause of death, though, as usual, Quincy has his doubts. But he REALLY begins to question this death when a lady approaches him and says that her sister was married to the same man and she, too, died of a heart attack! The coincidence is too unusual and both go searching for evidence. And, they'd better work fast, as the 'grieving' widower has already lined up a new wife--and his wife's body is barely cold! This was a very good episode--and one that is probably based on a few similar stories from real life. The only thing I was a little dubious about was Quincy and the grieving sister falling for each other. She was a mega-hot lady and Quincy was a large-nosed, angry coroner! This, more than the murder, was much more difficult to believe!

Decent and straight-forward episode

[rayoflite24 · 7/10 · 31 August 2015]

Ashes to Ashes begins with an intoxicated woman at a piano bar collapsing and dying of a heart attack. Quincy (Jack Klugman) conducts the autopsy, and while it does affirm cardiac arrest as being the cause of death, he is suspicious as she was a young and otherwise healthy woman. Quincy tries to hold the body for further analysis, but her husband, Richard Yager (John Fink), adamantly opposes any further autopsy and Dr. Asten (John S. Ragin) sides with Yager releasing the body. Quincy's suspicions are further heightened when the sister of Yager's first wife approaches him and tells him that her sister died under the same mysterious circumstances. They begin investigating on their own and must do so quickly as Yager is already planning to elope with another wealthy young woman.

This is a good Season 3 murder mystery episode which pretty is straight-forward and interesting. My only criticism is that the culprit is pretty obvious right from the beginning and the focus becomes more about the evidence gathering to bring down the guilty party rather than an investigation into multiple suspects.

Other than that and Quincy's hooking up with the deceased woman's sister which was a bit creepy, this is quite an enjoyable and worthwhile Season 3 episode that I recommend viewing.

Quincy in an old-fashioned murder mystery

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 26 February 2024]

A young woman dies of an apparent heart attack while visiting a bar. Quincy's autopsy reveals that it was a coronary, but there is no sign of heart disease. He wants to keep the body and keep looking for the root cause, but her husband wants the body back with no delay. Quincy suspects the husband of murder. (Of course he does!). As usual, Astin thinks that Quincy is overreacting and sends the body to the mortuary as the husband wished. But Quincy keeps digging, even without a body.

His suspicion is raised further when a young woman approaches Quincy and says that her sister, the first wife of the man he suspects, also died of a heart attack at age 25. She says that she always suspected foul play. Together they work to try and find what really happened, which is made more difficult when the husband has his second wife cremated and has her ashes spread at sea.

There is no weird angle or underlying social issue in this one. It's just Quincy taking what little he has to go on and solving a mystery. I always liked him in these straight-forward crime solving cases. The ironically named John Fink excels as the slimy husband/widower.

I wish I lived near Danny's!

[sps6714 · 10/10 · 5 October 2023]

Danny's bartender Johnny is so entertaining in this episode... Quincy storms into Danny's after Astin frustrates him for the umpteenth time... the bartender starts pouring Quincy a shot before he sits at the bar... Johnny knows all about the background info of the scumbum Quincy is doubting... like an 80s TMZ genius, Johnny spits out all sort of dirt on this scumbum, because Johnny reads the Wall Street Journal... then Monahan storms into Danny's... a barfly leaves because a cop entered... before Monahan sits down the bartender is pouring him a shot... not long afterward Quincy hooks up with the 1st victim's sister... typical 80s liberal Quincy schtick...

"I'm not making any promises... but I'll see what I can do." Decent murder mystery.

[poolandrews · 6/10 · 25 December 2007]

Quincy M.E.: Ashes to Ashes starts as Marie Yagher (Judith Baldwin) suddenly drops down dead in a bar, she ends up on Los Angeles coroner Quincy's (Jack Klugman) autopsy table & he quickly discovers she died from cardiac arrest or to put it more simply a heart attack. Quincy is unsure why she died form a heart attack though, she was seemingly young, healthy & had no heart problems to that point. Then a woman named Tracy Boulder (Janice Lynde) confesses to Quincy her suspicions of Marie's husband Richard (John Fink) who was married to her sister Donna who also mysterious died from a sudden unexplained heart attack three years ago leaving him free to marry the rich Marie, Tracy is sure it was murder & as the evidence stacks up Quincy becomes convinced of it as well but can he prove it?

Episode 17 from season 3 this Quincy murder mystery was directed by Herb Wallerstein & is an enjoyable enough entry into the series. Once again Quincy has go out on a limb as he puts his reputation on the line to catch a murderer & prove that there was even a murder in the first place, that brief outline sounds familiar because it is familiar as it's been used many time in the series but I must admit I never tire of it. The makers usually throw something different into the mix & try to vary the story lines, in this case Quincy manages to autopsy a pile of ashes to get to the truth! At the standard 50 minutes (without commercials) in length it moves along at a brisk pace & certainly entertained me but then I'm a fan of the show in general so maybe I'm biased. As usual there are one or two things which don't quite add up, for a start that dodgy Doctor Jones who lives in Mexico sure tells Quincy what he wants to know without much resistance doesn't he? You would have thought spilling the guts & dishing the dirt on your customers wouldn't be particularly good for business but this guy doesn't seem to care, what makes it worse as soon as Quincy leaves he phones Richard to tell him! Talk about a good way to lose customers, just grass them up to the authorities & implicate them in a murder! Does Doctor Jones actually want to go out of business? Then there's the scene when Lt. Monahan is waiting in Asten's office to tell Quincy just by chance that Richard is about to fly to Brazil, why would Monahan be monitoring Richard when he didn't even believe Quincy's story? Why waste valuable police time waiting for Quincy to come back to the lab to tell him information which might not mean anything?

Competently made but unremarkable to look at this is standard Quincy stuff, there's a very racist & stereotypical studio bound set of a bar that is meant to be in Mexico. The acting is alright, as usual it's the regulars which carry it & as usual the guest cast aren't so hot with John Fink as Richard turning in a poor performance.

Ashes to Ashes is a good solid Quincy murder mystery, sure there are a few silly moments in it but most of what makes the series so likable is here.