Quincy M.E. (TV Series) Dying for a Drink (1982) User Reviews

Aside from Quincy's strange reaction, a very good episode.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 2 June 2013]

In general, I much prefer the episodes of "Quincy" that involve crimes and crime investigations--pretty much the plots of most of the earlier episodes. Then, after a couple seasons, the show began exploring a variety of social issues and crime investigations became secondary--and the quality of the shows diminished. However, with "Dying for a Drink", the show manages to attack a social issue and still make a very good show.

Ina Balin (a frequent guest star on the show) plays a pathologist who works in the same office as Quincy. During recent time, a pattern indicative of alcoholism has become apparent--though, oddly, Quincy is in denial about this. Think about it--he is always the first to jump at any issue yet here he is the last. But, when he does, he pushes to get this lady treatment.

What I liked about this one were two things--it also addressed the notion of co-dependency and it also didn't have some pat happy ending. As far as the co-dependency goes, it's the best aspect of the show. Too often, shows talk about substance abuse as if it occurs in a vacuum. Here, however, you can clearly see that the lady's husband does a lot to keep her sick and dependent on booze--like many of the folks I worked with when I was a psychotherapist. I also loved that it didn't have some sweet and happy ending, as often the path to sobriety is bumpy or tragic. Overall, one of the better episodes of season eight--and one well worth seeing--particularly if you are looking for some intelligent insights into substance abuse.

A good episode but not great

[dtucker86 · 7/10 · 3 January 2024]

This was during the final season of Quincy when the show was winding down and it was just "very good" and not brilliant like it had been. Doctor Lorraine Linderman played by Ina Balin (who had been on other episodes) is a colleague of Quincys who has been making lots of mistakes lately and taking Friday off sooner and sooner and coming in on Monday later and later oh gee chug a lug what could the problem be. Quincy is unusually preachy in this episode especially when he upbraids Lorraine's coleagues for not being sympathetic enough. Actually, and I can't put my finger on it, Lorraine just rubs me the wrong way she comes across as very unlikeable. Quincy tries to get her help and gets her into a group and it LOOKS like its going to be a happy ending, but her husband decides to leave her. He is a total jerk who wouldn't get her help and admitted he was cheating on her. In the end at what is supposed to be a party in her honor.a tearful Astin breaks the news she has killed herself. This is one of the few episodes that did not have a happy ending and in a way it made it more hard hitting and realistic. If only they had made Lorraine more likeable!

Depressing alcoholism story filled with plot holes

[rayoflite24 · 5/10 · 11 January 2016]

Dying for a Drink begins with Dr. Asten (John S. Ragin) asking Quincy (Jack Klugman) to reevaluate an autopsy conducted by Dr. Lorraine Linderman (Ina Balin) after a mistake is identified and she has been exhibiting erratic behavior due to alcoholism. After correcting the autopsy report, Quincy and Dr. Asten lighten her duties and try to get her to talk to them about what is bothering her, but she refuses and abruptly takes a leave of absence. Desperate to help his colleague and friend, Quincy consults with someone in personnel who identifies the problem as alcoholism and gives him advice on how to help Lorraine.

This is a pretty bad episode filled with problems. First of all, how in the world did some non-clinical worker in the personnel department manage to diagnose Lorraine with alcoholism without even knowing or meeting her? Not even Quincy or Asten, both doctors working in close proximity to Lorraine on a daily basis, were able to figure this out but somehow a personnel department worker did? Lorraine's behavior could have been attributed to any number of things including drugs, depression, or any number of illnesses, but somehow this woman eliminates all of that without even an examination. Then later when this all-knowing personnel worker confronts Lorraine she makes a comment saying "I had to look at your medical file" to which Lorraine replies "That is none of the county's business" which is absolutely correct. Wouldn't this be a violation of her privacy as Lorraine had not authorized a third party to look at her medical records, and again, you're personnel and not a doctor! Stupid all around! I further found Quincy's scene chastising the other coroner lab workers for the way they reacted to Lorraine to be completely out of line. Considering that he couldn't even figure out what was wrong and didn't know what to do about it either made this come across as very hypocritical.

I would say that the only highlight of this one for me was another guest starring appearance by Ina Balin, who gives her all in these Quincy performances even when the script is poor. I live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and would be remiss if I didn't mention in one of these reviews that Ina Balin grew up in this area and attended the Montessori Children's Village boarding school for several years, so it is nice to see someone raised locally appearing so frequently in the series. Otherwise, this is a pretty depressing and sloppy episode with no crime or mystery featured, and while it does address an important problem, it does not do so in a competent manner. Don't look for a cheery final scene at Danny's either if you watch, as the abrupt conclusion is just as much of a bummer as the rest of the story.

This episode ISN'T (as one addlepated person said) 'cr-p'.., it's actually a MUST see

[UNOhwen · 14 October 2019]

As someone who's 'been there' (no, I wasn't an alcoholic. I had other issues), I have complex but overall positive feelings about this episode. On the one hand, I commend this episode for not spinning a typical 'all problems solved by the end'-type yarn, so to speak, and not (at least not verbally) being just a 'rah-rah' for support group type of treatment, and covering much territory in the limited (44 minutes - the actual amount of time an hour-long episode of a series had in the early 80s) amount of time it had to work with. I never believed in the 'A's', the 'anonymous', as I call them - the 'fill-in-the-blank anonymous 'brand of recovery. Without going too much in-depth about myself, when I was going downhill, it was MY life which counted, and all I was told by these 'A's' was I 'wasn't working the program'. For someone whose very life is in the balance, that's not a smart thing to say. I was fortunate because - at the time (it was the late 90s), and even though the 'A had such a stranglehold on recovery, and it was almost impossible for someone like me to find ANY alternative, I was SO intent on SURVIVING, I did my research, and found Rational Recovery, which just like its name, is pretty darn simple AND rational; a person who needs help should be surrounded by friends, family members who aren't users and should go into therapy. In the support group model, one isn't responsible for their actions or transgressions - it's the alcohol/drug/whatever. NO! I fully take responsibility for ME and MY actions and transgressions! I've been clean for OVER 2 decades. The ('anonymous') support group model - which has absolutely NO medical studies to support it it (and many reports of its failures...written in THEIR hand - in the ONLY report EVER made BY them!) trades being addicted to one substance, or act (alcohol or picking a substance) for another (an 'anonymous' support group). I met MANY people who went to meeting after meeting each day - often at the same spot (there are MANY meetings, especially in major cities, yet these people - rather than hearing others, would listen to the same droning voices). They've become addicted...to the support group. They don't see that as a problem, and they'll even tell the story (always happened to 'someone they knew) who had been sober for a long time. Just on the brink of their big anniversary day, they tie one on - and die. The person telling this table always points out how delicate sobriety is - ESPECIALLY without THEM nearby. That's pretty scary. Another big difference is a person in any 'anonymous group will NEVER say WHAT I - and MANY others, like me, believe; if you need help, find the type of treatment BEST for YOU - 'anonymous'-groups, Rational Recovery, or WHATEVER that is. As long as it works for YOU, great. But, you'll NEVER hear a supporter of the 'anonymous group system saying what I just did, and that can be VERY dangerous, even lethal. They NEVER offer ANY other options other than their own. As I said, this episode had to deal with a topic in under 44 minutes, so there must be shortcuts in the story's arc of Dr Linderman. One thing which irked me (and this is me, the person who works in the entertainment business talking) is that it was only a few episodes before this, in which Ms Balin guest starred as Quincy's psycho ex (a slight aside; there was a rule about actors on Law & Order; as it was filmed in NYC, with a smaller pool of actors to work with, one couldn't appear on an episode for a minimum of 2 years. This was to avoid viewers having the problem (I had) with this episode: watching Ms Balin and reflecting on her recent appearance. As for the person who gave this a '1' and referred to it as 'cr-p', I've seen other 'reviews' they've written, and it's pretty clear they're a very (VERY!) dim bulb on upstairs if you get my meaning 😉. Anything that isn't 'yippy ky-yay', sex, nudes and guns firing, is beyond their capability to understand and, much less, enjoy. As for me, I don't wish to ruin this episode by giving anything away, but I will say for those of us who've 'been through the mill', so to speak, when we first leave rehab, we might not realise just how 'raw' we are. It's at that time we most need others for support and love. This episode - despite being made by the 'cookie-cutter' method DOES manage to break that mould and is something I'd even go so far as to recommend it be shown at rehabs and for anyone who has issues to watch. One last thing: I (partially) said it earlier, but since this episode was initially aired, much has changed - for the better; today, there's many resources for help available if you or a loved one need it.

"Do you know what it's like to make love to a drunk?" Erm, yeah probably! Terrible Quincy episode.

[poolandrews · 3/10 · 6 July 2007]

Quincy M.E.: Dying for a Drink starts as Dr. Asten (John S. Ragin) assigns Quincy (Jack Klugman) to re-autopsy one of his fellow coroners cases after the findings were disputed, reluctantly he agrees. Quincy discovers that major mistakes were made, on top of that coroner Dr. Lorraine Linderman (Ina Balin) has made several major mistakes in the past month & Dr. Asten is under pressure to sack her. Quincy convinces Asten to let his friend in personnel see Linderman's file to try & possibly understand what's up with her, one look at the file & it is clear that Linderman is an alcoholic. Quincy sets out to do all he can to help her get her life back on track...

Episode 4 from season 8 this Quincy story was directed by Georg Fenady & in keeping with season 8 so far it's crap. Everything that I personally like about the show has been dumped in favour of heavy moral or social issues, there's no crimes, there's no detective work & there's just no interest or entertainment value anymore. I also disagree with the stance that the makers of this episode take, comparing alcoholism as a disease no different from heart disease or cancer is total nonsense & a notion which makes feeling any sympathy for Linderman nigh on impossible. We all have choices & it's down to the alcoholic themselves if they want to drink & get wasted & it's as simple & straight forward as that, I'm not saying that we can't help these people but at the end of the day they have the choice whereas no-one chooses to have heart disease. Then there's the leniency Dr. Asten shows Linderman, I'm sorry but in the real world in a high profile & important job like a coroner after the first major mistake you would be spoken to, after the second you would get a final warning & after the third you would be sacked & that's the way the world is, I'm damned sure not every employer will be as sympathetic as Asten is & maybe these alcoholics need to realise their actions have consequences. Just a thought.

This episode of Quincy is as boring, dull & misjudged as they come. In fact the presence of Quincy isn't even needed here as he gets about 5 minutes screen time & does virtually nothing, this one was easy money for Klugman. As sometimes happens there's a shot at the very start when they show brief clips from the episode which isn't in the final version, see if you can spot it. If anyone ever says to you Quincy always sorts things out & there's always a happy ending point them in the direction of Dying for a Drink as the ending is as unhappy as they come with Linderman's husband leaving her for another woman & then committing suicide! The acting is so-so here, Ina Balin returns to the series for a fifth & final time where she has played different character's in each of the episodes she's been in. She was last seen committing suicide (again) by letting a poisonous snake bite her in The Unquiet Grave (1982) near the end of season 7.

Dying for a Drink is one of the worst Quincy episodes I've seen, I love the show normally but season 8 is just plain bad, it's no wonder the show was canned at the end of it as the viewing figures were probably terrible & the audience feedback was probably awful. All I'll say is if it ain't broke don't fix it!

Total crap!

[edward9500 · 1/10 · 29 May 2015]

This is got to be one of the worst episodes of this series. Most of the last season were crap anyways but this one takes the cake. Quincy gets almost no screen time and there is no crime committed. This whole episode and everything that happens is taken right out of a college textbook on addiction. The twelve step group that is infamous is not mentioned by name but this episode plays out like a 50 minute long public service announcement for them. Terrible acting, terrible story, terrible episode. Anyone that has ever struggled with addiction will find this one offensive. Making addiction suffers out to be helpless little sick kittens with no spine is not going to get anyone well. I would suggest you skip over this one entirely.