User Reviews

Back in 1975, a young lady, Karen Ann Quinlan, had an accident and went into an irreversible coma. She stayed in this state for nearly a decade and was a very well publicized case about the right to die and euthanasia. Well, this story must have influenced the writer of "Sister of Death" because it begins with a very similar situation...with a young woman in an irreversible coma...essentially brain dead and likely to remain that way for years. Her sister, who incidentally is also a 'sister' with the Catholic church is NOT happy about the hospital keeping her alive...and she insists that nature be allowed to take its course and her sister be allowed to die. Only moments later, the Sister leaves the room...and some unknown person pulls the plug on the injured lady. Now, folks assume that the Sister killed her sister...and Barnaby takes the case to determine what really happened...and the case ends up being about prostitution, blackmail and more murder!

This is a clever and interesting episode. However, near the end, it does take a false step when the Sister walks into an obvious trap...which was pretty goofy. Still, it was very original and I could look past this minor problem.

By the way, near the end the Sister is bashed over the dead with a Chinese statue. This same statue would be used in the very next episode! I can't believe this was just a coincidence.

I agree with the last reviewer, and how could all of us kids back in the 70s ever forget Karen Ann Quinlan, who remained in an irreversible coma for nearly a decade. It also makes sense her tragic life story inspired this episode, written by Gerry Day, head writer for the classic soap opera, THE SECRET STORM.

Day obviously changes it for tv, having the young lady in a coma, but the sister of a nun, extremely well played by Sheila Larkin. Sister Terry is subsequently accused of "pulling the plug" and killing her -- all because she may have been a prostitute. Definitely a soap opera connection, and you have to love it.

Larkin is very good here, whose acting style was similar to Collin Wilcox. She should have been nominated for an Emmy. Jonathan Goldsmith, the famous tv beer commerical gentleman, plays Mister T, also Katherine Justice guest stars. A dynamic cast you cannot miss.

This is quite good, the only debit is producer Quinn Martin did not expand it to a two-part episode. There's a lot of material here, not to mention the right to die angle, which was a tremendous, emerging story in the 70s. It's not known exactly when this episode was written by Gerry Day, but it would have made more of an impact had it been the season opener. Pretty potent stuff.

Well worth staying up late for.

SEASON 5 EPISODE 11 remastered color CBS/Paramount dvd box set.