3 reviews
A nice change of pace.
"Mode of Death" begins with a famous TV evangelist being found dead in a hotel room--the apparent victim of an overdose of pills and liquor. However, when Quincy does the autopsy, why he took this combination is not clear--it MIGHT have been a deliberate suicide or it MIGHT have just been a mistake. The dead man's having mixed drugs and alcohol could have been the result of his intense congenital pain--in a misguided attempt to quell the pain. Or, the guy just wanted to die and took the lethal combination. So, Quincy suggests that they do a so-called 'psychological autopsy' on the man--have a consulting psychologist and his team determine which was the case. However, one word of caution, such 'autopsies' are NOT certainties--it is just a best guess.
This was an unusual show in that it is less a Quincy episode and more about Dr. Chase (Stephen Elliott). It makes you wonder if perhaps this particular show was meant as a possible spin off from "Quincy". I can't say. But I did appreciate two big things--first, that the psychological autopsy did NOT offer clear answers and second, that it introduced the concept of a psychological autopsy.
So is this show worth seeing? Yes. It's pretty good. I liked how it dealt with a tough subject without coming off as vindictive or insulting. Sure, one of the folks in the show ended up being a phony but the show was NOT some cheap attack against organized religion. Overall, a nice change of pace for the show BUT you wonder why Quincy wasn't very thorough when he did the autopsy for the first time--this was VERY atypical for this character.
This was an unusual show in that it is less a Quincy episode and more about Dr. Chase (Stephen Elliott). It makes you wonder if perhaps this particular show was meant as a possible spin off from "Quincy". I can't say. But I did appreciate two big things--first, that the psychological autopsy did NOT offer clear answers and second, that it introduced the concept of a psychological autopsy.
So is this show worth seeing? Yes. It's pretty good. I liked how it dealt with a tough subject without coming off as vindictive or insulting. Sure, one of the folks in the show ended up being a phony but the show was NOT some cheap attack against organized religion. Overall, a nice change of pace for the show BUT you wonder why Quincy wasn't very thorough when he did the autopsy for the first time--this was VERY atypical for this character.
- planktonrules
- Apr 21, 2013
- Permalink
Solid if unspectacular Quincy episode.
- poolandrews
- Apr 23, 2008
- Permalink
Finally a decent season 5 episode
Mode of Death begins with a popular televangelist under investigation for financial fraud being found dead in a motel room. His death is believed to be the result of a fatal combination of prescription painkillers and alcohol, but questions soon arise when Quincy (Jack Klugman) conducts the autopsy and the amount of each that the victim consumed does not appear to represent a lethal combination. To gain further insight into whether this was a suicide or an accidental death, Quincy consults with a university team and requests that they conduct a "psychological autopsy" to help shed light on the cause of death. When the results of the psychological autopsy prove to be inconclusive, Quincy is forced to go back and investigate on his own both in the coroner lab and at the scene of the crime.
So far, this is one of the better episodes of Season 5 which has gotten off to a very lackluster start in my opinion. Although the set-up for this episode is strikingly similar to the Season 2 "Sullied Be Thy Name" episode where a priest is also found dead in a room under controversial circumstances, we still have a pretty decent mystery featured here and I thought the regular players as well as the guest stars all gave solid performances.
That said, this episode is not without problems in that it comes off rather disjointed. When Quincy brings in the team to conduct the psychological autopsy about a third of the way through, it's as if they suddenly take over and the entire focus shifts to them where they are doing all of the investigating with Quincy and the rest of the regulars noticeably absent. There is also a lot of post-mortem psychoanalysis which seemed to go way overboard to me because in the end it didn't really amount to very much.
I think most will find this episode somewhat interesting and entertaining, just be forewarned that you may need to do some fast forwarding during the scenes where the psychological autopsy team does their profiling ad nauseam.
So far, this is one of the better episodes of Season 5 which has gotten off to a very lackluster start in my opinion. Although the set-up for this episode is strikingly similar to the Season 2 "Sullied Be Thy Name" episode where a priest is also found dead in a room under controversial circumstances, we still have a pretty decent mystery featured here and I thought the regular players as well as the guest stars all gave solid performances.
That said, this episode is not without problems in that it comes off rather disjointed. When Quincy brings in the team to conduct the psychological autopsy about a third of the way through, it's as if they suddenly take over and the entire focus shifts to them where they are doing all of the investigating with Quincy and the rest of the regulars noticeably absent. There is also a lot of post-mortem psychoanalysis which seemed to go way overboard to me because in the end it didn't really amount to very much.
I think most will find this episode somewhat interesting and entertaining, just be forewarned that you may need to do some fast forwarding during the scenes where the psychological autopsy team does their profiling ad nauseam.
- rayoflite24
- Oct 12, 2015
- Permalink