"Quincy M.E." Sword of Honor, Blade of Death (1982)

Director:

Ray Danton

Writers:

Michael Braverman (writer)
Glen A. Larson (creator)

TV Series:

"Quincy M.E." (1976)

Original Air Date:

15 December 1982 (Season 8, Episode 10)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Crime

Plot:

Michael Morishima, a good friend of Sam's, is murdered in the Little Tokyo section of Los Angeles. It...

Plot Keywords:

Coroner | Murder | Cult Favorite | Courtroom | Amateur Detective

Cast

Jack Klugman	...	Dr. R. Quincy, M.E.
Garry Walberg	...	Lt. Frank Monahan
Robert Ito	...	Sam Fujiyama
John S. Ragin	...	Dr. Robert Asten
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Donna Kei Benz	...	Sadako
George Cheung	...	Osada
Carla Formica	...	Lab assistant
Edward Grover	...	Jack (as Ed Grover)
Dale Ishimoto	...	Pool Hall Owner
Lloyd Kino	...	Restaurant Owner
Mieko Kobayashi	...	Young Woman
Richard Lee-Sung	...	Funaki
George Loros	...	Pete
Mako	...	John Moroshima
Nelson Mashita	...	Young Man
Soon-Tek Oh	...	Nakatoma

Runtime:

USA:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Universal TV

"This isn't a Bruce Lee film you know." Decent Quincy episode.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Quincy M.E.: Sword of Honor, Blade of Death starts as Sam (Robert Ito) discovers that his close friend & L.A. cop Michael Moroshima has been murdered, however he still insists on assisting Quincy (Jack Klugman) with the autopsy because he's just a god damned professional. The cause of death was the piercing of the heart with a scalpel sharp blade, Sam tells Quincy about the Yakuza the Japanese equivalent of the American mafia & that Moroshima's death was probably due to a Yakuza hit-man. The mystery deepens as they find out Moroshima was on a special assignment, Sam's heritage & Asian background comes into play when he feels morally obliged to become involved in Moroshima's death & track down those responsible...

Episode 10 from season 8 this Quincy story was directed by Ray Danton & is a neat enough episode but not one I consider amongst the show's best. For a start Quincy himself in this episode is very subdued, I don't think he gets angry, shouts or makes an impassioned speech once! Now what good is an episode of Quincy without Klugman completely losing it on at least one occasion? None, that's what. In fact the more I think about it the more I realise Quincy doesn't really do anything in this episode & it's his trusty lab assistant Sam who does the detective work & gets into trouble. While Sam makes for a perfectly likable sidekick with all due respect that's all he is, a sidekick for Quincy to bounce ideas off & shout at. Then there's the whole Japanese Yakuza angle, the old guy who is supposedly one of the biggest crime bosses in Japan & he only brings two bodyguards? I don't know, it just felt cheap & poorly staged & without Klugman to help you ignore the low budget short comings it looks a bit tatty & unimpressive. I could have done without the sentimental 'code of honour' type message during this episode, it's been done to death & it's rather cheesy here.

This one looks alright, the so-called Japanese guy's are obviously American actors & would one police officer be allowed to listen in on a conversation between two mafia bosses without at least some backup? Didn't anyone know where he was? Considering they couldn't work out where he was killed to start with I guess not. Japanese character actor Mako was making his second of two guest appearances on Quincy after Touch of Death during season 3, apparently he died one day after being officially announced as the voice of Master Splinter in TMNT (2007).

Sword of Honor, Blade of Death is an OK time waster, it's not classic Quincy because he's barely in it & he doesn't get angry, shout or make a speech so that lowers the entertainment value straight away & Sam just isn't a Quincy is he? Which is why he's the assistant & Quincy is the star, harsh but true. Good but not great.