Quincy M.E. (TV Series) Promises to Keep (1979) User Reviews

What makes Quincy tick

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 23 March 2024]

If you just want to watch an episode about Quincy solving a murder mystery, this is definitely not for you. But if you watch this show enough, and you ever wonder why Quincy is such a serial monogamist who treats every girlfriend tenderly with the disingenuous "Honey" until he leaves skid marks on his way out of their life, then watch this episode. It also explains how he went from being an ambitious surgeon to being a medical examiner.

The background is that Quincy's current girlfriend is demanding marriage - that's what you get for being late to dinner once too often! - and Quincy doesn't want to lose her, so he relents. The rest of the episode is a flashback of his marriage to his first wife - he's only had one so far - and how he felt that he let her down, with the main culprit being that he was so ambitious in his career. She didn't divorce him, she died, and that leaves her on a pedestal on top of all of the other issues he has with her memory. The odd coincidence here is that the actress playing his first wife in this episode ends up playing Quincy's actual second wife in season eight.

There is a medical murder mystery going on in the episode, but it is definitely in the background with Quincy's past being the central issue. And it is an intriguing mystery as Quincy tries to figure out how a woman who died of an overdose of barbiturates managed to have those barbiturates distributed in her body in a way that seems impossible.

They really should have given Quincy a first name at some point, just like they did with Kramer in Seinfeld. Because even his first wife is calling him Quincy in the flashbacks!

More mystery, less flashbacks please

[rayoflite24 · 6/10 · 28 September 2015]

Promises to Keep begins with Quincy (Jack Klugman) and Sam (Robert Ito) reexamining old cases after finding out that a pathologist in the coroner lab did not have the proper credentials to conduct autopsies. This uncovers some new evidence in a suicide case of a young woman which may have actually been a murder and Quincy orders additional testing. Meanwhile, the backlog of old cases to be reviewed puts a strain on Quincy's relationship with girlfriend Lynne (Sharon Acker) who has also proposed marriage. As he considers her proposal, Quincy reflects back on the memories of his first wife, Helen (Anita Gillette), who tragically died of a malignant brain tumor.

I've said this before in other Quincy episode reviews and I'll say it again, Jack Klugman and Anita Gillette have zero chemistry and are a very dull couple which made the flashback scenes a total bore for me. On the other hand, we have what I thought was actually a pretty compelling murder mystery that developed in the lab and I would like to have seen given more airtime, but unfortunately it is completely relegated to the background to focus on Quincy's relationship of the week and flashbacks. This was pretty backwards in my opinion.

If you enjoy the show delving further into Quincy's back story and personal life, then you will likely find this episode entertaining and enjoyable. I don't mind a little of that thrown in here and there for good measure, but to place greater emphasis on that over the actual murder mystery just seemed out of whack here and unnecessary. Overall not a great Season 4 episode, but still worth watching as it does feature a decent mystery and provides further understanding of the Quincy character.

Quincy turns into a soap opera.

[poolandrews · 5/10 · 23 February 2008]

Quincy M.E.: Promises to Keep starts as it turns out that one of the medical examiners wasn't properly qualified, as a fraudulent coroner all of the cases he worked on need to be redone & Quincy (Jack Klugman) & Sam (Robert Ito) get the job on-top of their already large workload. All this work is affecting Quincy's love-life & relationship with his long term girlfriend Lynne Montgomery (Sharon Acker), realising that she loves Quincy Lynne proposes but Quincy turns her down at first. The situation reminds Quincy of his wife Helen (Anita Gillette) who died from a brain tumour...

Episode 19 from season 4 this Quincy story was directed by Harvey Laidman & is more of a soap opera rather than a traditional murder mystery or social message themed story. This episode is split between the present & flashbacks to the past which give the viewer a rare insight into Quincy's life & in particular his first wife. I didn't like this one that much at all to be honest, seen in isolation out of the rest of the series Promises to Keep will make little sense to anyone, you need to know about the character's to understand it but even then it's fairly forgettable stuff. Promises to Keep also messes around with the show's continuity & history, it is said that Lynne & Quincy have been in a relationship for four years which is odd because during lots of episodes in season four Quincy has different girlfriends. There's a really minor murder case that Quincy investigates but it's piratically an afterthought & Promises to Keep has maybe the most abrupt ending of any Quincy episode I've seen.

The one thing of note in Promises to Keep is that Anita Gillette plays Helen Quincy's first wife who dies which in itself is fine, but as any fan of the series would tell you Gillette comes back to the series during season seven & Quincy actually marries her during season eight. A strange casting decision. The flashbacks are filmed soft focus & they looked a little smeary to me, these flashbacks take place literally years prior to the events in Promises to Keep although Quincy looks just as old & the only difference is that he has a silly looking quiff hairdo! The acting is alright in this one with Klugman again excellent as Quincy.

Promises to Keep is an odd episode, it's more like an episode from a dull soap opera than a murder mystery series & it didn't do much for me. If your a fan of the series & character's then it's watchable & fleshes them out a bit but if you don't then there's little here to interest you or enjoy.

Quincy gets all soapy.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 21 April 2013]

I generally don't like episodes where they extensively use flashbacks, so "Promises to Keep" has a big strike against it from the outset. It begins with yet another good looking girlfriend for ugly 'ol Dr. Quincy. The big difference is that this one wants a commitment and this spurs Quince to begin thinking about his first marriage. So, throughout the show you have scenes of younger Quincy with Mrs. Quincy. This makes his think about and re-think the idea of bringing a new wife into his life. Additionally, he struggles with a work overload--it seems that one of the pathologists was a fake and they need to review all his old cases to make sure mistakes weren't made.

The biggest thing I noticed about this show is that the producers oddly chose to cast Anita Gillette as the first Mrs. Quincy. This is because in Season Eight, Gillette went on to play the second Mrs. Quincy as well! No, they were not supposed to be twin sisters--just two women who looked 100% like each other!! And, no, the second wife is NOT a zombie version of the first (though this would have been so cool for a show about coroners). Bizarre to say the least.

The other thing I noticed, and I agree with the other reviewer, is that this particular show seemed much more like a soap opera than an episode of "Quincy". This isn't 100% bad--but made for odd viewing to say the least.

So did I like this odd episode? Well, I didn't hate it and it was nice to humanize the good Doctor just a bit. I just wish they'd picked another actress to play wife #1 (such as Susan Anton or Esther Rolle).