Overview of 'Quincy, M.E.' Season 8

Episode 1 - Baby Rattlesnakes

Release Date: 1982-09-29

When a young girl is killed in a drive by shooting a young 14 year-old boy is quickly arrested. The boy, Ethan, was part of a special program trying to get kids out of gangs and trouble. Ethan denies having had anything to do with the shooting, but if he doesn't tell who did do it or if Quincy and the probation people cannot find them then not only will he end up in prison but the special program will be closed down.

Episode 2 - A Ghost of a Chance

Release Date: 1982-10-06

After a life saving heart bypass operation Ted Markham's brother dies from complications. He is incensed that his brother died from what should have been a simple operation. He wants, and pays for, an autopsy from the Coroner's office and Quincy is given the job. When he has completed the autopsy Quincy believes that the eminent surgeon, Dr. Royce, who was supposed to have done the operation didn't really do it. He thinks that a practice known as â€˜ghosting' took place and that a young resident did the operation in his place.

Episode 3 - Give Me Your Weak

Release Date: 1982-10-27

When a young mother suffers from a nerve disease, Quincy fights the drug companies and the government to get her the medication she needs.

Episode 4 - Dying for a Drink

Release Date: 1982-11-03

A medical examiner starts making basic mistakes, mistakes that are putting her job on the line and are caused by her alcohol binges. She is heading deeper and deeper into alcoholism and it may be that only Quincy can help her before she falls too far.

Episode 5 - Unreasonable Doubt

Release Date: 1982-11-10

A new pathologist (Walter Ross) is working in the lab who is disabled. When he looks into a case of electrocution of a handicapped baby (Sturge â€“ weber disease) he is convinced that the baby was murdered by its father, Quincy's friend, Gerald Preston. Quincy is alarmed at Walter's blinkered view and decides to investigate Walters findings for himself.

Episode 6 - Sleeping Dogs

Release Date: 1982-11-17

Quincy has to testify in the court of a small town. The witnesses in the case are pressurized into lying and Harry Muller, a bullying murderer, goes free. Within half an hour of the court case having been dismissed Harry Muller is found dead. The six men in the shop where he died all say they killed him, firing one shot each from his gun. The police chief is happy to call the death self defense but Quincy knows that it was murder and insists he will find out which one of them really killed him.

Episode 7 - Science for Sale

Release Date: 1982-11-24

A sick woman with cancer leaves the hospital and dies. Those that have had physical contact with her die. Quincy soon discovers a new virus is the culprit of the deaths and hurries to find the cause.

Episode 8 - Next Stop, Nowhere

Release Date: 1982-12-01

Emily comes to see Quincy about a young 18 year-old boy he has just completed an autopsy on. He died while slamdancing at a punk rock club, killed while dancing to lyrics about death, lack of hope and violence. She had been counseling his girlfriend Abby and is worried about her. Quincy's report declares that the punk music Zack listened to was a part of the cause of his death but the main reason was an ice pick in his back. Punk music and its lyrics come under the spotlight as Quincy tries to find evidence to prove who killed Zack.

Episode 9 - Across the Line

Release Date: 1982-12-08

During an attempted armed robbery a hostage is shot by a police officer by accident. The police immediately suspend him and threaten to kick him off the force. He wants Quincy to use his forensic skills to defend him and prove that the shooting was righteous.

Episode 10 - Sword of Honor, Blade of Death

Release Date: 1982-12-15

Michael Moroshima, a cop working undercover with the Asian task force and Sam's best friend, is killed while listening in on a deal between the Yakuza and the Mafia. Sam explains to Quincy all about the Yakuza and the Japanese code of honor that means his friend's father will try to find his son's killer and exact revenge. Sam tries to prevent this from happening but finds himself getting into deeper trouble himself.

Episode 11 - The Law Is a Fool

Release Date: 1983-01-05

At the end of a school day a young girl gets into a cab for her daily ride home. She doesn't arrive there and a search is soon started. The real cab driver is soon found and he gives a description of the man who attacked him and the cab is soon found abandoned and examined for forensic evidence. Then all of a sudden a man who fits the description walks into a police station. He is alone and refuses to confirm or deny anything. All he will let the authorities know is that Quincy and Professor Hillman (the kidnapped girl's grandfather) are covering up a murder.

Episode 12 - Guilty Till Proven Innocent

Release Date: 1983-01-12

After his furniture warehouse is burnt down Ted Locke, a friend of Quincy's finds he is suspected of arson and murder. A lack of evidence makes the DA reluctant to press charges though. Enter Federal Prosecutor Philip St.John, he suggests avoiding a normal court trial and charges Locke with mail fraud, based on his claims for payment from his insurance company, which allows him to bring him before a Federal Grand Jury. When the â€˜trial' starts Quincy discovers that there a literally no rules in a grand jury and the defendant can have no representation to help in defending himself. Quincy decides that he is not going to stand for this and tries to help his friend out.

Episode 13 - A Cry for Help

Release Date: 1983-01-19

The body of a young girl is found at the side of a highway. Quincy determines that the body was moved after she died. Monahan thinks that her boyfriend, Toby Kenyon, killed her but he tells the police that she killed herself. Quincy believes the boy and asks Emily to do a psychological autopsy on the dead girl. This involves talking to her friends, family and teachers about she acted and talked over the last few weeks of her life.

Episode 14 - A Loss for Words

Release Date: 1983-01-26

A young boy, Tim, goes to do some welding at his workplace and ends up dying in an explosion. One of Asten's top field investigators, Arnold Chatham, thinks that it should not have happened. He discovers that Tim couldn't read and continues his investigation while Quincy tries to find out how someone who couldn't read managed to get through school.

Episode 15 - Beyond the Open Door

Release Date: 1983-02-02

A woman with psychic powers helps the police track down a serial killer.

Episode 16 - On Dying High

Release Date: 1983-02-09

An accident at a club leaves JJ Chandler, a top country singer, badly burned and in intensive care. Sgt, Wendell, a narcotics cop, believes Chandler freebasing cocaine caused the accident; the only problem is getting any proof, or a witness. While Wendell is trying to find someone who will testify Quincy begins to realize how many drug overdose victims he has dealt with during his time with the coroners office. He decides that there must be something he can do about it and means to do everything he can to stop the proliferation of drugs in Los Angeles.

Episode 17 - Quincy's Wedding (1)

Release Date: 1983-02-16

Quincy and Emily's wedding is fast approaching and there are many things that still need arranging. Emily has brought in Winslow, a wedding arranger to help. While the wedding arrangements are proceeding a body comes into the coroner's office, an old man who died of natural causes in a rest home, just after his 65th wedding anniversary. After the autopsy the wife of the deceased man, Edna, comes in to see Quincy and tells him that she killed her husband.

Episode 18 - Quincy's Wedding (2)

Release Date: 1983-02-23

Emily calls off the wedding when Quincy fails to make it to the rehearsal, the last straw as far as she is concerned. Quincy seems to be more interested in the tales Edna has to tell about her husbands' death. Was it murder as she claims or are her statements just the ravings of a mad woman?

Episode 19 - Murder on Ice

Release Date: 1983-03-09

Quincy and Emily receive the use of a Judge friends' mountain cabin for their honeymoon. They picture a long romantic week alone, skiing and sitting in front of an open log fire. When they arrive they are disappointed to find that there are other guests as well. All the guests are involved in law enforcement of some form or other and all know each other. They soon realize that the last time they saw each other al together was on when they all worked on the same case, a year ago. The man they all helped convict escaped jail and has never been heard of or seen since. When the judge doesn't arrive they all decide to go out looking for him in case there has been an accident. When they find his car, caught up in a snowdrift blocking the only way down the mountain, and his body inside it they all begin to worry whether the missing criminal is planning his revenge.

Episode 20 - Women of Valor

Release Date: 1983-03-16

A midwife, Olivia, is approached in the street and asked to help deliver a baby. She knows that she should not get involved but can see that the mother's friend is desperate for help. She goes to their aid but the baby dies in childbirth. The hospital they rushed the baby to when it became apparent that she couldn't help decides that her negligence caused the baby's death. The next thing Olivia knows she is being arrested for murder! Dr. Reed, a friend of Olivia's, visits Quincy and asks him to do his own autopsy on the baby. She hopes that he will find something that will help clear her friend.

Episode 21 - Suffer the Little Children

Release Date: 1983-03-23

Dr. Asten asks Quincy to stop of on his way to his fishing holiday to do an autopsy on a young boy. The coroner in the area wants back up evidence to help him close down the foster child home that was looking after the boy and other children. To help out one boy Emily and Quincy get the local authorities to try out a new scheme. The idea of this scheme is that a qualified therapist lives with the troubled family to try and stop any flashpoints from occurring, hoping that this will then enable the family to be able to live happily together.

Episode 22 - An Act of Violence

Release Date: 1983-04-27

An old lady is attacked and killed in her own apartment. Quincy is horrified that someone could so callously attack an old woman and is determined to find evidence that will convict the killer. Later, after an evening visit to her apartment looking for more evidence Quincy himself is attacked and mugged, leaving him scared to go out in the dark and making him jump at every sound.

Episode 23 - Whatever Happened to Morris Perlmutter?

Release Date: 1983-05-04

An old lady is shot and killed by a burglar in her own home. When he arrives Quincy recognizes her as being one half of a couple of entertainers he saw in his youth. He remembers reading about their brilliance and wonders what happened to her old partner, Morris Perlmutter. He tries to find as much evidence as he can and then decides that he is going to find Morris. Meanwhile Morris is trying to get his big break in TV with the part of an old man in a play that is going to be broadcast live.

Episode 24 - The Cutting Edge

Release Date: 1983-05-11

Kenny Kelso, a young father, is seriously injured in a work accident and loses his arm. His arm is found and the paramedics take both him and his limb to a new place, Experiment Hope, where it may be possible to reattach them. The Doctor in charge, Gabriel McCracken, is the man behind the revolutionary new techniques and does everything he can to make sure that Kenny will be able to use his arm again.