User Reviews

Quincy M.E.: A Night to Raise the Dead starts late one stormy Los Angeles night (or very early one morning whichever way you look at it), as a ferocious thunderstorm rages outside Alan Turner (Frank Aletter) has to go to his car when he remembers he left some important paperwork in it. Alan puts his coat & wellies on & venture into the pouring rain & over to his car, then he is horrified to see a dead body on the ground. Lt. Monahan (Garry Walberg) notifies Los Angeles coroner & chief medical examiner Quincy (Jack Klugman) who attends the scene, after the autopsy back at the laboratory Quincy becomes worried after he confirms the man died from a severe form of typhoid. Then more bodies are found in the area, it turns out that the Park Knowles cemetery collapsed in the torrential rain & lots of coffins & bodies were washed downhill. Quincy faces a race against time to find the bodies infected with typhoid before an epidemic occurs but finds his progress hindered by red tape, bureaucracy & a cover up...

Episode 9 from season 4 this Quincy story was directed by Gene Nelson & is yet another great episode from a very strong season four. I think by the time season three & four went into production the production team were very comfortable with the ideas & themes behind the show & were prepared to experiment & try different things. It's an urban myth that every Quincy episode revolves around a murder & the title character Quincy solving it, that's absolute nonsense as the show did indeed start that way but there really are a lot of diverse & imaginative stories & the basic concept of the show allows for this as well. Here A Night to Raise the Dead is a prime example, there's no murder here & it's a race against time to prevent an epidemic of a dangerous disease & it's a great episode. The set-up is very good & I really liked the idea of a cemetery collapsing scattering bodies & coffins all over the place which leads to Quincy uncovering corruption & fighting red tape & bureaucracy in order to prevent an epidemic. The one aspect of A Night to Raise the Dead that doesn't quite work is the slightly anti climactic ending, I mean after all this build up & constant hammering home about the threat of a dead body with typhoid the program just finishes with the body being found & that's it. It's like the makers realised they were running out of time & just decided to have someone find the body & close the case. Still, a very entertaining & different episode, I liked it.

I have to say I always like to see a good thunderstorm in a film or TV show, they are just so atmospheric & evocative. Here Lt. Monahan goes for a different look, he wears a trilby 1940's detective type hat & long overcoat which is different from his usual tight fitting suits. By contrast Quincy spends a large majority of this episode in a bright yellow plastic anorak & wellies! The acting is fine but as usual the regulars are better than the guests, the scene when Quincy passionately argues with Morales is a prime example as Klugman is just excellent while the guy playing Morales is flat & very poor by comparison.

A Night to Raise the Dead is another excellent example of Quincy & it's variety of very flexible & diverse story lines which don't always revolve around a murder. A must for fans & I could see more casual viewers liking it as well.