Quincy M.E. (TV Series) No Deadly Secret (1977) User Reviews

Great Quincy episode.

[poolandrews · 8/10 · 23 November 2007]

Quincy M.E.: No Deadly Secret starts late one Californian night around 3AM as Los Angeles coroner Quincy (Jack Klugman) is entertaining a stewardess named Louise (Elaine Joyce) on his boat, suddenly he hears a knocking sound on deck so he goes to investigate. Up top he finds his close friend Carl Hopwood near death, Quincy rushes him to the nearest hospital but Carl dies before he gets there. Quincy then takes the body to the morgue to perform an autopsy, afterwards he falls asleep on a couch in the office. The following morning & Sam (Robert Ito) wakes Quincy who then enquires about the test results for Carl, Sam says the toxicology lab doesn't have any samples to test & that Carl Hopwood's body is nowhere to be found & there is no paperwork to support the fact he was ever brought in. Quincy realises someone has gone to a lot of trouble to cover up Carl's death & he is determined to find out why but nobody believes him & without a body where does he even start?

Episode 1 from season 3 this Quincy story was directed by Jackie Cooper & was a terrific way to kick off the third season, No Deadly Secret has to be one of the best Quincy episodes ever. For a start there's plenty of twists & turns that will keep you guessing & for a cheap quickly produced detective show it's surprisingly clever & I doubt anyone will figure the twist ending out. I love the murder mystery story here, the fact that Quincy performs an autopsy while nobody is at the lab & the body & all the records go missing so no-one even believes him that there was a body in the first place. It's a fantastic hook to draw you into the story & keep you interested, there's also plenty of time for Quincy to have lots of arguments with everyone & this one even has time to cram in a moral message at the end about letting the people know the truth & that cover ups are a bad thing! I just think No Deadly Secret has everything I love about Quincy as a series in it's 50 odd minute duration, it has an intriguing murder mystery, Quincy shouting at people, humour, a fast pace, an unexpected twist ending which works extremely well, Quincy having to believe in himself while those around him doubt him & use his medical skills, expertise & knowledge to solve a mystery & although it does have a moral message it doesn't get bogged down with it. It's all here, one the show's finest 50 minutes.

For some odd reason the opening narration of Quincy saying 'Gentlemen you are about to enter the mos...' is not present although the footage of the cops witnessing the autopsy & fainting still is, it's strange because some episodes during season 3 feature the narration while other's don't. All the regulars are on top form here, Dr. Asten, Lt. Monahan & Sam although Danny doesn't feature at all & of course Klugman is just magnificent as the cranky but lovable coroner who continues to date women who are young enough to be his daughter...

No Deadly Secret is a top, top Quincy story, it's a fantastic murder mystery which will keep you guessing until the twist end & then surprise you. One of the very best episodes from this quality show, a must for fans & anyone else who likes these detective drama mysteries.

A little too paranoid and hard to believe, but wildly entertaining.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 24 March 2013]

Sometimes when you watch a TV show or movie, it's best to turn off that nagging voice in your head that says 'that's impossible'...otherwise, it's hard to enjoy them. This is definitely true of "No Deadly Secret"--a thoroughly enjoyable but difficult to believe episode of "Quincy".

It all begins with Quincy on his boat with very beautiful woman (in this case, Elaine Joyce). This makes most viewers think 'how can a coroner who looks like Jack Klugman get all those pretty girlfriends?!'! Regardless, the lady falls asleep and during that time, an old friend of Quincy's shows up--and he's dying. Quince rushes him back to the lab where he does an autopsy on his just-dead friend. It looks like someone beat the guy to death--and, of course, Quincy calls the police to inform them. Here is where it gets weird--the body, the reports and all other evidence that the dead man had been there are all gone. And, the further the episode progresses, the more Quincy looks like he's lost his mind.

Like all the other previous episodes of the show, Detective Monahan and Astin behave like idiots--and immediately doubt Quincy's story. Now considering he is ALWAYS right, you wonder why they don't just assume Quincy is correct!! Regardless, the whole conspiracy angle sure is entertaining and it keeps you guessing.

Great start to Season 3!

[rayoflite24 · 8/10 · 17 August 2015]

No Deadly Secret begins late in the evening on Quincy's (Jack Klugman) boat where he is entertaining a girlfriend (Elaine Joyce) who falls asleep on him and he is then startled by his friend, Carl Hopwood (Troy Melton), who shows up needing medical treatment and collapses beside the boat. Quincy attempts to rush Carl to the hospital but he dies en route and Quincy decides to take him right to the coroner lab to perform the autopsy. The preliminary results reveal that Carl died of hemorrhaging as the result of injuries sustained from a beating, leading Quincy to contact the police before he ends up falling asleep on the office couch.

The next morning, Quincy is awakened by Sam (Robert Ito) and is shocked to learn that the body of Carl is nowhere to be found. All of the tests and records associated with Carl have also disappeared with the exception of an audio recording of Quincy performing the autopsy, leaving Lt. Monahan (Garry Walberg) and Dr. Asten (John S. Ragin) in disbelief of his story. Additionally, a lab assistant who was the only witness to the body being brought in is later found dead of a contaminated drug overdose. Quincy begins to pursue his own investigation despite the protests of Asten and Monahan and this leads him to look further into Carl's employment as a scientist.

This was the first episode of the third season of Quincy and a very good one in my opinion. There is an interesting mystery featured with some twists, and Quincy has to do practically all of the work here since others do not believe his story. This aspect of the episode is pretty ridiculous because you would think that Monahan and Asten would give Quincy the benefit of the doubt when the body disappears since he is such an esteemed coroner who has proved himself to them over and over again. Instead, you have Monahan undermining Quincy by making snide, sarcastic and unfunny comments in front of others involved which is totally unprofessional and Asten acting like the world is going to end because a lobbyist called him on the phone. You should know better gentlemen!

Those annoyances aside, this is a quite enjoyable episode which will entertain and keep your interest right up until the very end.

Truly engrossing, unusual episode

[[e-mail] · 9/10 · 4 August 2015]

Of all the old "Me TV" detective shows, Quincy has been my least favorite, (I guess Jack Klugman will always be Oscar Madison to me) but his high energy acting style works well as Quincy is at least half convinced that he is losing his mind. I had this episode on while cooking in the kitchen but still got hooked into an easy to follow mystery involving a murder (or is it?) and cover-up (or is it?).

I see Mary Frann (from "Newhart") is a guest but I wasn't watching when she was on, so I'll have to Hulu this episode. Acting in general is capable, with the sinister looking Keene Curtis dressed like a top level bad guy with two menacing henchmen (or IS he and ARE they?)doing a nice turn in this twisting plot episode.

I couldn't figure it out until its all closed up satisfyingly at the end, and it didn't always take the expected turns. I enjoy being manipulated by plots like this. We all want to be entertained, after all. Loved this episode.

SPOILER ALERT: I agree that plausibility is an issue with this episode, but the wonderful thing about it, (and maybe with other Quincy's, as I'm not a big watcher) is that it doesn't end in a big ridiculously predictable (although fun)"Hart to Hart" type capture and escape finale. It sure as heck looks like it's headed that way as Quincy is convinced he's being followed (could it be Keene Curtis and the henchmen?)on to his boat late at night. But to our surprise there's no pistol to Quincy's head or even tying up and threat to toss him overboard. There is instead a plausible and rational meeting with Keene Curtis which explains everything. Great surprise ending in my opinion.

Starts out strong, ends weak

[AlsExGal · 8/10 · 11 February 2024]

Quincy is entertaining a stewardess when a knock comes to the door of his boat. It's a friend of his, Carl Hopwood, who appears to have been beaten badly, but he's unconscious and cannot say what happened to him. Quincy puts him in his official station wagon and takes him to a hospital, but he realizes the man is dead when he arrives and continues on to the morgue and performs an autopsy. The only person who sees him is the night attendant at the morgue.

Quincy then falls asleep on the couch at the morgue. When he awakens the next morning, he discovers the slides and samples he sent to the lab are missing and the body is missing as well! The only person who saw the body besides Quincy, the morgue attendant, is taking a few days off and nobody he lives with - in a set up that looks like it is left over from the hippy commune days - knows where the guy is.

Carl's current live-in girlfriend claims he was alive that morning - he went to work! At work, a "fake" Carl Hopwood is presented and everyone there acts like Quincy is crazy when he calls the man an imposter. Did I mention that the morgue attendant who saw the body turns up dead of a drug overdose? What goes on here? Unfortunately, nothing very interesting it turns out.

If not for the ending I would have given this a nine. It may be the best episode of Quincy ever. I'd recommend it even if the denouement is less than satisfying.