Quincy M.E. (TV Series) Never a Child (1979) User Reviews

Daring episode featuring some pretty heavy material

[rayoflite24 · 7/10 · 10 October 2015]

Never a Child begins with a young runaway girl arriving at an LA bus station with a bunch of creepy types leering at her. A older well-dressed man named "Uncle Harry" (Alan Manson) approaches and befriends her with a phony sob story, but before he can pick her up a former acquaintance, Sophie (Jane Ralston) sees him and makes a phone call to a friend advising that he was spotted. Harry confronts her and Sophie makes a run for it, but he catches up to her on the roof of a building and pushes her off killing her. Harry then takes the young girl home with plans for her to appear in a pornographic film. The next day, Quincy (Jack Klugman) conducts the autopsy and determines that Sophie was murdered and meets with Carol Trager (Cassie Yates), a friend of Sophie's who runs a shelter and helped rehabilitate her from being a prostitute under Harry. Carol is certain that Harry killed Sophie based on the phone call she received from her and works with Quincy and the police to track him down and save another young girl from the same fate.

Considering the time period when this episode was produced and first aired, it was pretty daring material as the subject of child pornography was something that many other shows wouldn't even mention. The Quincy writers, production team and cast all deserve kudos on this one for addressing such a tabu topic.

That said, there are some weaknesses here in that we see who the killer is in the opening scenes so there is very little mystery featured. I also found it pretty unbelievable that rather than stopping someone on a busy street or calling out for help as she's chased, Sophie runs to the rooftop of a building and steps right to the edge making it very easy for Harry to eliminate her. Not exactly what you would expect from a street smart girl.

Overall, a very dramatic episode which is rather disturbing in parts due to the subject material but deals with a heartbreaking issue that demands awareness and prevention.

Not as good as it could have been, but for 1979, it was amazing.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 22 April 2013]

Considering how times have changed, "Never a Child" seems amazingly tame. But, back in 1979, it was very daring, as the subject of child pornography was hardly ever talked about at that time. So, keeping that in mind, this episode of "Quincy" is very good. Keep it in context when you see this show.

The show begins with a young lady spotting a pedophile trying to pick up a young runaway. However, he spots the lady and follows her up to the roof--and pushes her off! The dead lady, it turns out, had been talking with a coworker at the runaway shelter--and this angry coworker (sort of like a female version of Quincy) informs the Doctor that she was killed by 'Uncle Harry'. So, she and Quincy spend most of the episode trying to find him before he initiates this young runaway into the work of child pornography.

As I mentioned above, this one is relatively tame but it does deal with the subject matter well. The only negative is the angry social worker---as she and Quincy have enough anger for an army!! Still, well worth seeing and quite sad.

"When I met you you were a two bit hooker working lice ridden motels." Decent Quincy episode.

[poolandrews · 6/10 · 16 May 2008]

Quincy M.E. Never a Child starts as a young twelve year old girl named Amanda (Melora Hardin) steps off a bus & into Los Angeles main coach terminal, having run away from home Amanda has nowhere to go or sleep. A man who calls himself 'Uncle Harry' (Alan Manson) spots Amanda, befriends her & convinces her to trust him & go with him. A woman named Sophie Thomas (Jane Ralston) in the coach station sees Uncle Harry & recognises him as a maker of kiddie porn films & realises that he intends Amanda to be his next victim, however Harry spots her & chases Sophie to the top of a nearby building & pushes her off. Sophie ends up on Los Angeles coroner Quincy's (Jack Klugman) autopsy table & he finds enough evidence to conclude Sophie was murdered, after finding out about Uncle Harry Quincy is determined to find him, save Amanda & put him away for murder...

Episode 4 from season 5 this Quincy story was directed by Ray Danton & is a pretty good moralistic episode so far as the moralistic ones go. Here in Never a Child the Quincy production team decided to tackle the somewhat seedy & unpalatable issue of kiddie porn which doesn't really make for a pleasant fifty minutes. It's not so much that Never a Child is well written, harrowing or well acted it's just the mere thought of kiddie porn & the extremely nasty aftertaste it leaves. There's a murder to kick the episode off with but that is quickly brushed to one side & Never a Child is split between two distinct angles, there's the angle that follows Quincy around trying to find Uncle Harry & single handedly solve Los Angeles runaway problem & the angle where Uncle Harry arranges for the kiddie porn film to made & his slimy advances on Amanda which make for uncomfortable viewing, again not because they are particularly well written or acted but simply because of what these sequences insinuate & imply. There's also a subplot about young runaways not getting any help from the Los Angeles official's & as usual Quincy has many heated arguments with bureaucrat's as he fights red tape & prejudice on a moral crusade. A watchable enough episode but there aren't really any mystery elements in it & for me it did leave a unpleasant aftertaste.

As usual for Quincy this episode is well made but rather unremarkable. There isn't too much humour in this one except for an amusing scene when Quincy questions a man in a health shop & the guy says he likes a challenge & that Quincy is out of shape, looks old & needs all sorts of potions & creams to make himself look younger. The acting is alright but Klugman & the regulars are far better than the guest stars.

Never a Child is an alright episode of Quincy, to be honest it's rather more heavy than I would like & while the intention was right it can't really do such a weighty issue justice. Fans should like it & I still think it's perfectly watchable if nothing else though.