Quincy M.E. (TV Series) Last Rights (1980) User Reviews

Another episode with a bit less Quincy.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 12 May 2013]

The final episode of season five of "Quincy" had very, very little of Dr. Quincy in the show. The same is true for this first show of season six. I don't know why--perhaps Jack Klugman was tired from the long hours and just needed a break. However, because there is less Quincy, there is a lot more of a guest star--William Daniels who plays a friend of Quincy's who is a small-town coroner with lots of problems. His problems all boil down to politics. His position is new and commissioners would love to get rid of the program and go back to the old ways--with no professional coroner to run the department. The first case which upsets the established powers is a drug death. The second is a textile mill which may be killing its workers. And, folks involved in both these cases really hate the Doc.

While this is not one of the more interesting episodes, it does bring up an interesting point. In the US, many local medical examiners are NOT doctors but political appointees and the show is about this sort of situation. Because of this, it is worth seeing. Plus, Daniels is a fine actor and gets to play a nice guy this time! A season or two earlier, he played a nasty anti-police guy who was on a one-man crusade against the department.

A great episode. A rarity indeed. Savour it.

[kindofblue-78221 · 10/10 · 14 July 2022]

Quincy is usually a joke show for me. Most of its premises, proceedures and dialogue are a complete joke.

That's why I like it. Quincy is so bad it's good.

However, from time to time it comes up with a gem of a story. This is one of them.

The usual drivel and stereotypes are thankfully avoided and replaced by a cogent, coherent and rational story that really does rock and hit home.

A great episode. A rarity yes but a welcome addition to the series.

Quincy takes a backseat in this one

[rayoflite24 · 6/10 · 6 November 2015]

Last Rights begins with a man finding his teenage son dead of a drug overdose and deciding to keep the cause of death secret by telling a cover story about him drowning in the pool. He has friends in local government that go along with the charade, but the local coroner, Dr. Charlie Volmer (William Daniels), begins asking questions as to why proper procedure was not followed with an autopsy. This case highlights larger problems in the community including drug abuse, unsafe working conditions, protocols not being followed by local officials and proper resources not being allocated to the office of the medical examiner. Quincy (Jack Klugman) is a friend of Dr. Volmer and intercedes to help him in trying to bring about necessary changes to the system.

The main thing I did not like about this episode is that Quincy plays a supporting role and the story focuses mainly on the Dr. Charlie Volmer character. Although William Daniels is a more than competent guest star, this episode just felt off balance with him in the lead and Quincy playing second fiddle. There also really isn't a crime or a mystery of any kind featured, just a lot of debating and battling against local government bureaucracy which just isn't my cup of tea. On a positive note, Quincy does give a powerful speech at the end describing the importance of medical examiner work and the need for making this a priority in terms of the budget, but this just wasn't enough to make up for his lack of presence in the rest of the episode.

Overall, this is a pretty tepid Season 6 premiere episode which any William Daniels fan would appreciate, but other than that it really doesn't have much else going for it.

Average Quincy episode to kick off the sixth season.

[poolandrews · 4/10 · 4 July 2008]

Quincy M.E.: Last Rights starts in the small Californian county of Stoker which has a population of 28,361 but that is quickly reduced to 28,360 when local businessman Wayne Fields (Warren Stevens) finds the dead body of his teenage son Cory with an empty drug container near by, considering Cory had a drug addiction problem his father assumes that he died from an overdose which will look bad all round so he puts pressure on county commissioner Bill Sullivan (Philip Abbott) to keep it quiet. New forensic pathologist Dr. Charlie Volmer (William Daniels) comes under huge pressure to ignore Cory's death & put it down as an accident but he refuses which upsets a lot of powerful people. Volmer turns to Los Angeles medical examiner Quincy (Jack Klugman) for help in resolving the situation...

Episode 1 from season 6 this Quincy story was directed by Georg Fenady & one has to say that I thought Last Rights was a throughly lacklustre opening to the sixth season. Traditionally Quincy season openers are very good but Last Rights is a really dull fifty odd minutes, there's no murder, no mystery, there's lots of badly dated heavy handed moralistic preaching that I don't think is even relevant these days & the main man himself Quincy takes a back seat in the episode as his mate Volmer becomes the focus. I was unimpressed. The whole message about people only wanting to know the truth when it's convenient for them might have made a decent platform for a good episode but most of the events here are very predictable & there are an awful lot of coincidences that happen in a short space of time which first gets Volmer into a sticky situation & then just as quickly gets him out of it. The character's are one dimensional walking clichés (a corrupt businessman who uses his power to try & get what he wants, uncaring politicians, drugged up teenagers, an owner of a local company who turns out to be a big bully only interested in money & a local small time reporter who no-one will listen to until Quincy show's up) & there isn't even any humour in this episode either.

Mostly set inside Stoker county Last Rights looks OK & is competently made if unspectacular, it certainly isn't much to look at. Larger than life character actor Cliffton James plays a bad guy while William Daniels plays Volmer, he has a voice you will probably recognise but not a face which can be quite frustrating but a quick check of his IMDb profile reveals he actually provided the voice of K.I.T.T. in Knight Rider (1982 - 1986) which explains it & he also appeared in all 137 episodes of St. Elsewhere (1982 - 1988). Klugman again is on top form, the only time Last Rights comes to life is at the very end when he stands before a committee & has to make an impassioned speech about the integrity & need for forensic pathology.

Last Rights is a disappointing start to to the sixth season of Quincy, this just has none of the elements that I usually find so entertaining about the show apart from the always watchable Klugman & his fine performance. Luckily things improve.