"Quiz Show", Robert Redford's expose of the "Twenty-One" scandal was released in 1994 and it is hard not to think of "Furuhata Ninzaburô vs. The Quiz King" as Kôki Mitani's homage to this fascinating case. It is a great idea, by the way, to place Furuhata himself in the hot seat by making him one of the quiz show contestants. It is a shame then that his stint on the quiz is so brief and contained only to one hilarious scene. That's my one complaint about this otherwise excellent episode.
Another intriguing aspect of "Furuhata Ninzaburô vs. The Quiz King" is that it is a genuine mystery. We do know who the killer is but we don't know how he pulled it off. To his credit, Mitani constructs a clever fair-play mystery and once Furuhata puts all the pieces together, the devious answer is completely logical. Without spoiling the big reveal, I admire the extent to which Mitani plays fair with the audience and upon rewatching the episode you'll probably kick yourself for not figuring out the answer sooner.
Toshiaki Karasawa plays the quiz show champion/killer and he makes a great "Furuhata Ninzaburo" villain. Conceited, egoistical, and yet charming. Karasawa has a kind of controlled cool to his performance - he seems to always be in control so when Furuhata eventually catches him, the climax has a real air of victory. This is not an easy case for the wily detective to crack and that makes it all the more fun for the audience.
"Furuhata Ninzaburô vs. The Quiz King" in some ways treads the same ground as "Broadcast Murder", one of the show's finest episodes. While "Broadcast Murder" had the benefit of Mamoru Hoshi's frenzied, intense direction, "Furuhata Ninzaburô vs. The Quiz King" features a tighter, smarter script - one of Kôki Mitani's best in fact. The director is Hidetomo Matsuda who does a stylish job but lacks Hoshi's distinctive inventiveness.