(TV Series)

(1979)

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6/10
Racetrack murder mystery with some ridiculous scenes towards the end
rayoflite249 October 2015
Dead Last begins with Quincy (Jack Klugman) and Danny (Val Bisoglio) enjoying an afternoon at the racetrack when they witness two of the jockeys in a heated argument. Shortly thereafter, one of the jockeys is found dead in a stall and appears to have been stomped to death by a horse. Quincy conducts the autopsy but his findings contradict that this was an accidental death which leads to further investigation as to who would want the jockey murdered and what was the motive?

This is a fair episode that does involve a murder mystery and some disturbing behavior on the part of the culprit, but even with that I just couldn't get that excited or interested in it. There are many scenes that take place at the racetrack which some may find interesting if you are a fan of the horse racing sport, but the storyline about what was being done to the animals was a bit much for me.

Whatever positives this episode had going for it in the first 40 minutes or so also were completely wiped out for me when the surveillance scenes started towards the end. First of all, you have Lt. Monahan (Garry Walberg) and Quincy in one car sitting in a completely obvious, highly visible spot that the target surely would have seen, and then Sgt. Brill (Joseph Roman) doing the same in another car and jumping into immediate pursuit right behind the target as they pulled out of the driveway. Who wouldn't have noticed that?? It gets even more ridiculous as Brill stops pursuit and Monahan/Quincy take over. Although having the right of way and being a cop, somehow Monahan is made to stop right in the middle of the road and starts letting all of these cars pulling out of a parking lot cross in front of him to the point where he loses the truck he was tailing. What an incompetent moron!!

Between this and the last below average episode, Quincy Season 5 is not off to a strong start.
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7/10
What a jerk!!
planktonrules22 April 2013
This episode is set at the horse track. After Quincy and Danny witness two jockeys fighting and threatening each other, not surprisingly one of them is dead only moments later. This death is no surprise, though it appears as if the jockey was kicked to death by a horse---not foul play. But, when Quincy gets a hold of the case, he realizes that the story didn't quite fit--and the jockey WAS murdered. But why? And, there also appears to be some sort of conspiracy involving this and other horses owned by the same man. What is it? See the episode.

I liked this show, as it was a nice change of pace. Sure, having Quincy doing horse autopsies was pretty silly but the story was quit involving and the guy who owned the horses turned out to be quite a jerk! It turns out he's not just killing jockeys, but the horses as well!! But why?!
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6/10
"You want to autopsy a what?" Decent Quincy episode.
poolandrews27 March 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Quincy M.E.: Dead Last starts at a local Los Angeles race track where coroner Quincy (Jack Klugman) is trying to convince his friend Danny (Val Bisoglio) to invest in a horse called Trphy Knight with him, however it's not long before Quincy is called into action when jockey Julio Ruis (Daniel Faraldo) is found trampled to death in the stables. The prime suspect is a race horse called Blinding Light owned by Ron Henner (Joseph Sirola) who orders the animal destroyed. Back at the lab & Quincy discovers that Julio was dead before the horse trampled him & therefore it was murder, shortly after another jockey named Billy McGinn (Lou Wagner) also dies in an 'accident' involving one of Henner's horses. Quincy is convinced that Henner is responsible but has no motive or proof...

Episode 2 from season 5 this Quincy story was directed by Ray Danton & is a really good solid murder mystery that I would have given seven stars out of ten rather than six if it didn't have so much US horse race betting terminology in it that went completely over my head. This isn't the programmes fault but as someone who lives in the UK I really didn't get or understand a lot of the fine detail about the horse racing scam run by Henner, don't get me wrong though because that isn't the production teams fault since Dead Last was made for an American audience & if a few details are lost when viewed over here it's not the end of the world. It moves along at a good pace, there's an intriguing murder mystery although as I said some of Henner's plans was lost on me as a Brit. After performing an autopsy on a fish to catch a killer in An Unfriendly Radiance (1977) during season two Quincy gets to autopsy a horse here in Dead Last which Asten is predictably unhappy about. There's the usual light hearted humour mixed in with the mystery & the regular character's really shine through during this period in the show's run.

A large part of Dead Last was shot at some real race track somewhere in Los Angeles although I don't where exactly. Joseph Sirola makes the first of five guest appearances on Quincy in which he played murderers, a police Lieutenant & a DA. This episode sees a horse fall, the inside of a slaughter house & an autopsy on a horse & while none of it is graphic the animal lovers out there will still probably find something objectionable to upset them. The cheesy comedy happy ending suggests that Quincy is a jinx when it comes to betting on horses.

Dead Last is a good Quincy murder mystery episode that I gave a six rather than a seven because some of the betting & race track terminology made absolutely no sense to me but that in itself wasn't the production teams fault as it was made for a US audience who probably will understand it.
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