This is the final episode of "Quincy" and a wonderful reviewer, Paul Andrews, thinks it's the very worst episode of all. That's pretty hard to imagine, as another season eight show "Beyond the Open Door" is both horrible AND very irresponsible. Regardless, it's a sad testament to how badly the quality of the show had fallen that MANY episodes of the final season were in contention for the Worst Episode prize. Why were the final shows so bad? Much of was that they seem to have run out of ideas. Instead of stories about crimes and crime detection (which SHOULD be the theme in a show about a coroner), shows seem to go everywhere EXCEPT to crime detection. Now this is not to say season eight alone had episodes without crimes--there were various social issues shows starting around season two. BUT, these sort of episodes were rare--but by season eight they were the norm. And, in the process, Jack Klugman spent less and less time in front of the camera. In fact, by the later episodes, he barely even showed up in each program--just a few token appearances here and there.
Here in "The Cutting Edge", you get very, very little Quincy once again--in fact, he's barely in the episode at all. Much of this is because the show was actually intended as a pilot for a new series--so much of the show features these new characters and is about hospitals--not crimes or the usual "Quincy" fare. In the process, Quincy is left with little to do other than introduce the characters at the beginning. And, because of this, it's probably best that this once-excellent series was finally put to rest. A very, very weak ending to a weak season 8. In my opinion, probably the second worst episode.
Here in "The Cutting Edge", you get very, very little Quincy once again--in fact, he's barely in the episode at all. Much of this is because the show was actually intended as a pilot for a new series--so much of the show features these new characters and is about hospitals--not crimes or the usual "Quincy" fare. In the process, Quincy is left with little to do other than introduce the characters at the beginning. And, because of this, it's probably best that this once-excellent series was finally put to rest. A very, very weak ending to a weak season 8. In my opinion, probably the second worst episode.