User Reviews

This episode of "Quincy" seems to be extremely alarmist and I wonder how much it might have actually hurt medical research. While it brings up a potential hazard of bio-research, it makes the point with little subtlety and with LOTS of scare tactics.

The show begins with a dying woman sneaking out of the oncology ward at the hospital. Soon, she is attacked by a nasty hobo (the stabbing and stealing kind--not the windshield washing kind) and she falls down dead! It seems she was too sick from her illness and the exertion hastened her death. However, what folks don't know is that her body also has a deadly form of pneumonia--one that is the result of some odd genetically altered drug being tested on her. But, since folks DON'T know about the illness, the doctor doing the trial goes on to some brief fame, as the treatment appears to reduce the size of cancerous tumors. BUT, it also makes the folks vectors for this deadly pneumonia--and soon folks start dying. And, it's up to Quincy to save the day.

It is entertaining. But, the drug company is a one-dimensional house of evil and the genetically altered drug a horrible killer--which all seems too alarmist and poorly written to me. Maybe you'll think otherwise--I just thought it seemed a bit irresponsible.

Quincy M.E.: Science for Sale starts as terminal cancer patient Cynthia Oliver (Kate Lardner) gets out of bed & walks out of the hospital where she has been receiving a cutting edge genetically created treatment for her cancer. Cynthia's cancer was too far advanced & she dies near the hospital though, she ends up on L.A. coroner Quincy's (Jack Klugman) autopsy table & he sees nothing suspicious but learns about her revolutionary treatment developed by scientist Dr. Paul Lynn (Lane Smith). Then the body of a derelict is brought in who died from a virus Quincy cannot identify, shortly after another body that ends up on Quincy's autopsy table shows the same virus. The factor that links the two bodies together is Cynthia Oliver & by messing around with genetics Dr. Lynn has created a new type of killer virus...

Episode 7 from season 8 this Quincy story was directed by Ray Danton & is an OK episode although once again it's moral & social message gets in the way of any sort of crime solving. In Science for Sale the makers of Quincy decided to tackle the issue of genetic engineering & it's pitfalls, yeah it was a great idea to make a Quincy episode about genetic engineering while it was a relatively new process & end up with the scientists involved making a killer virus & the notion they were only in it to make money. I mean that was really going to reassure the public wasn't it? Having said that to be fair to it this episode does say that the cancer treatment had promise & had worked to some extent, to be honest I don't know why Quincy has gone down this path where every episode so far during season 8 except Sleeping Dogs is nothing more than a 60 odd minute prick to the audiences moral sub conscious & nothing much else. Again Quincy barely features in this & apart from figuring out that the virus was made by Dr. Lynn doesn't do anything, dull, dull, dull.

This one has dated pretty badly, genetic science has come a long way since this so this which originally aired in 1982 really isn't relative or necessary in 2007. I don't know about anyone else but I think Lane Smith as Dr. Lynn puts in one of the worst guest performances I've ever seen in a Quincy episode. Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) star Julie Adams makes her third guest appearance on Quincy in which she has played different character's in each.

Science for sale is yet more dated moralistic nonsense that doesn't even try to put a balanced argument across, this is an OK episode but nothing special & I think I'm being generous by saying that.