"Quincy M.E." Dead Last (1979)

User Rating:

(awaiting 5 votes)

Director:

Ray Danton

Writers:

W.T. Zacha (writer) &
E. Nick Alexander (writer) ...

TV Series:

"Quincy M.E." (1976)

Original Air Date:

27 September 1979 (Season 5, Episode 2)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Crime

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Coroner | Murder | Cult Favorite | Courtroom | Amateur Detective

Cast

Jack Klugman	...	Dr. R. Quincy, M.E.
Garry Walberg	...	Lt. Frank Monahan
John S. Ragin	...	Dr. Robert Asten
Robert Ito	...	Sam Fujiyama
Val Bisoglio	...	Danny Tovo
Joseph Roman	...	Sgt. Brill
Joseph Sirola	...	Ron Henner
Austin Willis	...	Racing V.P. DeGrew
Red West	...	John Culligan
Frank McRae	...	Mr. Butterworth
Lou Wagner	...	Billy McGinn
Don 'Red' Barry	...	Charlie Turner
Howard Dayton	...	Benny
Daniel Faraldo	...	Julio Ruis
John Furlong	...	Dr. Harrison

"You want to autopsy a what?" Decent Quincy episode.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Quincy M.E.: Dead Last starts at a local Los Angeles race track where coroner Quincy (Jack Klugman) is trying to convince his friend Danny (Val Bisoglio) to invest in a horse called Trphy Knight with him, however it's not long before Quincy is called into action when jockey Julio Ruis (Daniel Faraldo) is found trampled to death in the stables. The prime suspect is a race horse called Blinding Light owned by Ron Henner (Joseph Sirola) who orders the animal destroyed. Back at the lab & Quincy discovers that Julio was dead before the horse trampled him & therefore it was murder, shortly after another jockey named Billy McGinn (Lou Wagner) also dies in an 'accident' involving one of Henner's horses. Quincy is convinced that Henner is responsible but has no motive or proof...

Episode 2 from season 5 this Quincy story was directed by Ray Danton & is a really good solid murder mystery that I would have given seven stars out of ten rather than six if it didn't have so much US horse race betting terminology in it that went completely over my head. This isn't the programmes fault but as someone who lives in the UK I really didn't get or understand a lot of the fine detail about the horse racing scam run by Henner, don't get me wrong though because that isn't the production teams fault since Dead Last was made for an American audience & if a few details are lost when viewed over here it's not the end of the world. It moves along at a good pace, there's an intriguing murder mystery although as I said some of Henner's plans was lost on me as a Brit. After performing an autopsy on a fish to catch a killer in An Unfriendly Radiance (1977) during season two Quincy gets to autopsy a horse here in Dead Last which Asten is predictably unhappy about. There's the usual light hearted humour mixed in with the mystery & the regular character's really shine through during this period in the show's run.

A large part of Dead Last was shot at some real race track somewhere in Los Angeles although I don't where exactly. Joseph Sirola makes the first of five guest appearances on Quincy in which he played murderers, a police Lieutenant & a DA. This episode sees a horse fall, the inside of a slaughter house & an autopsy on a horse & while none of it is graphic the animal lovers out there will still probably find something objectionable to upset them. The cheesy comedy happy ending suggests that Quincy is a jinx when it comes to betting on horses.

Dead Last is a good Quincy murder mystery episode that I gave a six rather than a seven because some of the betting & race track terminology made absolutely no sense to me but that in itself wasn't the production teams fault as it was made for a US audience who probably will understand it.