House of No Return begins with Quincy (Jack Klugman) conducting an autopsy of a man that had been incarcerated at a psychiatric detention center. The victim's mother contends that he was killed due to the brutal practices of those in charge at the asylum which include arranging fights among the patients. Quincy finds a number of old injuries to corroborate this allegation which leads him to investigate further where he finds corruption at the highest levels of the facility and evidence of fraud, theft and murder.
While we have all seen news stories about fraud and abuse committed at prisons and mental health facilities and know that it happens, this story was just so over the top and outlandish that I had trouble taking any of it seriously. The human cockfighting scenes were the most unbelievable, how would you ever expect to get away with that or keep it quiet at a state run facility? Are we to believe that every official in charge there was corrupt and complicit in murder and not one prisoner of the dozens abused blew the whistle on them?? These scenes made for some dramatic effects, but between that and the blatant murders of prisoners being committed one after another I couldn't fathom how the place wasn't closed or put on lockdown pending investigation by the state and federal government.
Overall, a fair Season 4 episode which does feature a murder mystery but loses points for being so far-fetched and out there.