Quincy M.E. (TV Series) Even Odds (1978) User Reviews

"If Doctor Quincy has any next of kin I'd notify them now." The one where Quincy gets shot.

[poolandrews · 7/10 · 8 February 2008]

Quincy M.E.: Even Odds starts late one night in a bar where the owner Don Peters has been shot & killed, Lt. Monahan (Garry Walberg) & Sgt. Brill (Joseph Roman) from the LAPD are there as is Los Angeles coroner Quincy (Jack Klugman) & his laboratory assistant Sam (Robert Ito). According to the bartender John Holmes (Richard McKenzie) his boss was shot twice by a customer named Billings (Dennis Madalone) but Quincy starts asking some awkward questions, then Billings is brought in having been caught just up the road. Monahan questions Billings & ask's if the gun found at the scene is his at which point Billings manages to grab the gun & start shooting, the police start shooting back & all hell breaks loose. After Billings is shot Monhan notices Quincy lying behind the bar having been shot, it's touch & go whether he will survive & it's up to Sam & his boss Dr. Asten (John S. Ragin) to uncover the truth & just who did shoot Quincy & why...

Episode 6 from season 4 this Quincy story was directed by Ray Danton & apart from the awful A Test for the Living (1978) so far season four has been great & Even Odds continues that very strong start. For the majority of this episode Quincy is confined to a hospital bed (in the series regular Doctors Hospital) & he said enough to Sam for him to realise that not everything about Peters death & his shooting is as straight forward as it seems, there's even a nice little line of dialogue when Monahan says 'even from his bed Quincy manages to turn a simple case into a Chinese puzzle'! It was only five episodes ago that Sam was the one who was dying in The Last Six Hours & while this is similar that was a race against time to find an antidote whereas Even Odds is about whether Quincy will pull through or not so the tension & intrigue isn't quite there but it's still a great episode without a moral message or social issue in sight. The other notable thing about Even Odds is that there are four flashbacks all of which contain a little mini Quincy story which various character's recall (Dr. Asten has one, Sam has one, Lt. Monahan has one & at the end they all have the same flashback together!) which enable them to solve the Peters murder & reveal the identity of the person who shot Quincy. So I suppose you could say that with Even Odds you get five Quincy stories in one! At only fifty minutes long it's short, it moves along at a good pace & it passes the time harmlessly enough.

According to the IMDb 'Trivia' section for Even Odds the bullet matching technique using particles of a shattered bullet featured here & regularly used by the FBI in reality has now been discredited & no longer used. It doesn't really affect the program that much other than date it pretty badly (& that maybe Sgt. Brill should stand trial for the murder of that hostage since the matching of his bullet was proved by a incorrect test), the actual technique sounds good & is plausible even though it's wrong! Whenever a TV show like this had to show an operation they always had a point-of-view from the patient looking up as the surgeons worked & those huge operating theatre lights in the way so they didn't have to show any blood. The acting is good from all involved.

Even Odds is a great Quincy episode, OK it proves why the show is called Quincy M.E. rather than Sam Fujiama M.E. (his 'maybe I'm not Quincy but I know what I'm doing' line said in all seriousness is hilarious when viewed in context) but he makes for an able deputy while Quincy is fighting for his life! An entertaining episode & a must for fans of the show.

Good episode with a different approach

[rayoflite24 · 7/10 · 13 September 2015]

Even Odds begins at a bar where the owner has been shot dead in a robbery. Quincy (Jack Klugman) is called to the scene to examine the body and begins asking questions when the police bring in a suspect that an eyewitness identifies as the shooter. As Lt. Monahan (Garry Walberg) turns away from the suspect for a moment, he grabs his gun and begins shooting. The suspect is wounded in return fire by one of the police officers and everything seems to be back under control until they realize that Quincy is lying on the floor with a serious gunshot wound. As Quincy fights for his life in the hospital, Monahan, Dr. Asten (John S. Ragin) and Sam (Robert Ito) work together to investigate if Quincy was hit by a stray bullet or if this was a deliberate act. Through a series of flashbacks, they reflect on past investigations which Quincy was involved in to help them in the current case.

This is a fairly decent Season 4 episode where Quincy is sidelined early on and the rest of the team has to rally to solve the crime while also supporting their friend. I like the fact that the flashback scenes were actually new material and not recycled scenes from previous episodes, the latter being a ploy some TV shows would use from time to time to produce an episode without having to come up with new content. With these flashback scenes, Quincy is still prominently featured and plays a role in the investigation even while lying in a hospital bed which is a different approach from what we are used to seeing.

My only criticism is that it is pretty obvious and predictable that Quincy will pull through the surgery and make a full recovery given that the show is named after him, but other than that I would characterize as an entertaining and enjoyable Season 4 episode with a different approach.

Lt. Monahan proves, once again, he's dumber than a chimp!

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 18 April 2013]

The show begins with Quincy investigating the death of a guy in a bar. While he and Sam are examining the place, the alleged perpetrator is caught and brought there. Now here it gets stupid and you can only assume that the LA Police Department is run by chimps! Monahan stands there holding a gun right in front of the perp--and the guy just reaches out and grabs it and makes his escape--shooting behind him. The cops plug the guy and then they notice that Quincy's been shot! Through all the show, Quincy is in the hospital and they say he isn't expected to live. However, considering the show was called "Quincy" and it was only the 6th episode of the season, it's pretty obvious he WILL pull through by the end!! During the show, Astin, Monahan and Sam try to put the pieces together to determine exactly what happened. And, as they investigate, they have many flashback moments. Now here is the unusual part--the flashbacks are NOT from previous episodes of the show but were made for this particular episode! All in all, a fair episode--even though it relied too much on these flashbacks.