Quincy M.E. (TV Series) Dear Mummy (1981) User Reviews

Very entertaining episode.

[poolandrews · 7/10 · 17 July 2008]

Quincy M.E.: Dear Mummy starts in Aswan in Egypt where Nazi war criminal Carl Fresser (Robert Emhardt) & his associate Stikler (Albert Paulsen) agree to smuggle thirty million dollars worth of ancient gems into America & sell them to German thief Major Rudolph Eichelmann (Than Wyenn) using an ancient Egyptian Mummy which is intended to go on exhibition at the 'Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History' which Dr. Asten (John S. Ragin) happens to be a member of the board of directors & as such has convinced the others to let him, Quincy (Jack Klugman) & the pathology department examine the ancient Mummy & study it. However US customs agents Brice (John Karlen) & Niven (Edward Grover) are onto Stikler's plans & convince Quincy to help them get the gems & their man but things get complicated when the gems go missing & seem to leave a trail of dead bodies in their wake...

Episode 9 from season 6 this Quincy story was directed by Georg Fenady & just after I was starting to lose faith in the sixth season there's two terrific episodes in a row, Stain of Guilt & this Dear Mummy which is a lot of fun. There's no moral or social issues in this one at all & thank God is all I can say. Dear Mummy has just about everything except the kitchen sink, there's international gem smuggling plots, ancient Egyptian Mummies, plot twists, double crosses, murder, mayhem, several dead bodies, the Israeli secret service pops up, there's a Nazi war criminal, poisonings, agents Brice & Niven return from Hot Ice (1979) & Diplomatic Immunity (1980) from season five & there's even time for Danny to get kidnapped & held to ransom. This is a great episode, full of humour, some good character's including some returning ones & if anything one might actually say there's too much going on although that keeps the pace fast which is no bad thing. If you ignore one or two plot holes (how did Stikler switch the real Mummy with Cameron's dead body?) & just go with it then Dear Mummy is great fun. At fifty odd minutes this crime mystery drama with a touch of light hearted humour about it is well worth a watch & fans of the show, like myself, should enjoy it.

There are a couple of points in Dear Mummy where stock footage of an Egyptian market place is used, obviously the production team couldn't afford to fly & shoot what amounts to a few minutes of screen time in Egypt itself so sets were built & the difference between the stock footage & then the sets as the programme cuts between the two is really jarring but sort of amusing as well. Dear Mummy was the third & as it turned out the final time US customs agents Brice & Niven featured in the series. The acting is alright but some of the accents are a little suspect but that all adds to the fun of the episode. Strangely the music in Dear Mummy is also very slapstick & comical in nature even when nothing particularly humorous is happening on screen which sounds a bit odd at times. Former Miss Jamaica & one time Bond girl in Thunderball (1965) Martine Beswick provides the glamour as an Israeli secret service agent!

Dear Mummy is definitely one of the few highlights of a generally disappointing sixth season of Quincy, fans of the show should love it & more casual viewers should also find something here to enjoy.

Interesting and original episode with a lot going on

[rayoflite24 · 7/10 · 15 November 2015]

Dear Mummy begins in Cairo with two Nazi war criminals making a deal to smuggle precious jewels worth $30 million into the U.S. concealed in an ancient mummy that is being transported to LA for a museum exhibit. Two U.S. Customs Agents, Brice (John Karlen) and Niven (Edward Grover) who have worked with Quincy (Jack Klugman) before are tracking the smugglers, though, and once again request his and Dr. Asten's (John S. Ragin) assistance in helping them trap the criminals. When the mummy is brought to the coroner lab for analysis, it is determined to be a fake which prompts further investigation into where the jewels have been hidden as well as the real mummy not to mention who murdered the person wrapped up as the fake mummy.

This is a pretty interesting episode which has a lot going on but manages to entertain and be original. One thing I particularly liked was that there was a good balance of scenes inside and outside the coroner lab here because it seems Quincy hasn't logged very much lab time this season which has been an issue. There is also a nice blend of action, murder, smuggling, international war crimes, and comedy as Quincy again goes toe to toe with the Customs Agents. My only criticism is that we pretty much knew from the opening scene who was responsible for these crimes which took away some of the mystery element, but there are still enough twists and turns to keep it from being overly predictable or boring.

Overall, this is a worthwhile Season 6 episode which features a wide array of plot elements which makes it pretty unique and well worth watching.

A continuity problem

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 14 May 2013]

why is Quincy excited when mummy brought to airport--in previous episode he was bored and couldn't have cared less two agents--same ones from the diamonds in corpse case/Las Vegas

This is an episode which you might enjoy--provided you haven't watched one of the earlier episodes in the series. Let me explain. In "Dear Mummy", Quincy, Asten and Sam are all excited to have a chance to examine a famous mummy. However, in a much earlier episode, Asten and Quincy are invited to examine another mummy--and Quincy couldn't have cared less. In fact, instead of participating, the Doctor spent the entire episode running about and doing ANYTHING but watch the work being done on the mummy!! Couldn't someone have said something?! Why didn't Jack Klugman say something? All I know is that I hate continuity errors like this.

If you've never seen the other episode, then this one should be a good bit better. It involves a lot of crazy international intrigue--murder, Nazis, stolen diamonds, etc.--a lot to keep the viewer interested. And, if you liked the two Customs agents from the 1979 episode "Hot Ice", then you'll be in for a treat. As for me, the continuity knocks off a point or two.

Now back to THIS mummy. When a famous mummy arrives, it coincides with the arrival of a man that is suspected of smuggling diamonds. However, they find no diamonds on him--and somehow he and the mummy are related. But how? And what BIG secret does this dead princess hide?

Convoluted and poorly (over) acted

[Green-Irish-Eyes · 2/10 · 30 July 2022]

I was a big fan of this show during its original run, and have enjoyed catching up on episodes 40 years later. Unfortunately, this one really disappoints. The plot is overly convoluted, even for this series, and the acting is terrible -- scenery-chewing at its worst.