Sweet Land of Liberty begins with two LA patrol officers locating a stolen Mercedes parked on the street and approaching the closest house to see if the occupants witnessed anything. Lee Yomashira (Nobu McCarthy) answers the door, but when her husband Steve (Bill Saito) sees the officers he has a flashback to his days in the Korean War and thinks they are military leading him to shoot and kill one of the policemen. Sam (Robert Ito) is a friend of the Yomashiras and is shocked over the tragic events which he cannot understand since Steve was always such a kind, gentle person. He is further devastated when Steve commits suicide in his cell and becomes determined to find out what brought about such a drastic change in his friend. Through further investigation, Sam learns that Steve was exposed to the harmful effects of LSD during his military service and this puts him on a mission to see that this is documented in his record with full military honors and benefits restored to him and his widow.
While this episode does address important issues which many returning U.S. servicemen have struggled with for generations, it just didn't make for a great Quincy story as there was very little mystery as to what happened and Quincy (Jack Klugman) takes a backseat to Sam throughout this one. I have no problem with Sam taking the lead once in awhile and particularly liked his scene where he stood up to Dr. Asten (John S. Ragin), but something just seems off balance when Sam is doing the yelling and arguing with Quincy standing quietly in the background.
This was the sixth episode of Season 5 and I haven't seen an episode yet this season that I would characterize as good which is in stark contrast to prior Quincy seasons. Hopefully there will be improvement in the episodes to follow.