Dr. Quincy (Jack Klugman), star pathologist of the L.A. Coroner's Office, continues to use his vast knowledge of forensic medicine to solve baffling crimes and right a wide variety of social wrongs as Quincy, M.E. launches its fourth season on NBC. The season's first episode, "The Last Six Hours," proves anew that poor Quincy can never take a vacation without stumbling upon a mysterious death (in this case, apparently caused by an unidentified poison). In the later "A Test for the Living," Quincy battles bureaucracy to re-evaluate a supposedly retarded child as autistic (this episode guest stars Lloyd Nolan, in real life the father of an autistic son). Other top-rank episodes find Quincy investigating the murder of a prominent newswoman (played by Jessica Walter) who suddenly turns up alive and well; he inaugurates a police probe when his latest girlfriend uncovers a pair of mummified corpses in her new apartment; he tries to prove that a hospital has not prematurely terminated a man's life simply to harvest the dead man's organs; he probes the possibility that a magician has deliberately murdered his assistant in an on-stage "accident"; and he attempts to stem a gonorrhea epidemic by meticulously tracing it to its source. The season's highlight is the two-part "Walk Softly Through the Night," in which Quincy comes to the aid of his old friend, a big time children's TV star whose son has been killed as the result of recklessly administered drug prescriptions. In one prescient note, the episode "Promises to Keep" includes a lengthy flashback sequence featuring Anita Gillette in the role of Quincy's late wife, Helen. Gillette would return to the series four seasons later, this time in the recurring role of Quincy's fiancée, Dr. Emily Hanover. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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