During the last couple months, I have been watching "Quincy" from the beginning. I am now partway through season six and would have to say that "The Hope of Elkwood" is, perhaps, the worst episode I have seen so far. It's a shame, as the idea of the episode is good--but the execution is just embarrassingly awful!
The show begins with a nasty coach screaming at his track team. The guy is very reminiscent of a Bobby Knight or Woody Hayes--angry, nasty and physically violent. It's odd, as Quincy and some others are watching the guy knock one of the athletes to the ground and none of them say a word to the coach or report his behaviors. In light of the rest of the episode, this passivity makes no sense at all.
A bit later, this same coach is pushing his star runner in training--pushing him too hard. Suddenly, the athlete keels over dead. Immediately, all the coach's old fans hate him and push for his removal. The coach is also up on murder charges as well as a lawsuit stemming from the death. So, Dr. Quincy is brought in to testify about the young man's real cause of death.
This show is yet another where you really see very, very little of Dr. Quincy. It's odd, but in the final episode of season five and the first of season six barely had him in them at all--and this one is pretty much the same. However, this is not a huge problem. The ENORMOUS problem which completely ruins the show is the final courtroom scene--one that would probably have gotten this lawyer disbarred! After the coach's verdict is read, the coach's own lawyer stands up and makes a long speech about winning--one that simply makes you cringe. It takes preachiness (often a serious problem in "Quincy") to new heights and is a great case of crappy writing and promoting a social agenda at the expense of making the show even vaguely entertaining. The same message COULD have been put across through the story--why have the ridiculous monologue?! And, what sane judge would allow this anyway? Horrible...simply horrible. It's a shame, as I have long despised many of these jerk college coaches with their win at all cost mentalities--but this speech completely ruined the message and made me cringe. It also didn't help that the coach was a completely one-dimensional and ridiculously written character. Just plain bad---they should have been embarrassed to release one like this!