User Reviews

Quincy M.E.: Riot starts as Los Angeles medical examiner Quincy (Jack Klugman) & his laboratory assistant Sam (Robert Ito) are called away from their card game at Danny's by their boss Dr. Asten (John S. Ragin). There's a delicate situation at the county prison, an inmate named Ray Stone has been found dead, seemingly beaten to death by a sadistic guard named Bull Stewart (Taylor Lacher) while in isolation. Quincy & Sam get down there & examine the crime scene, however news of Stone's death at the hands of a prison guard gets spread around the prison & major league psycho Ed Burley (Marc Alaimo) orchestrates a riot in which the inmates take control of the prison & hold the prison guards & Quincy & Sam as hostages. With tensions rising both inside the prison & outside with Warden Tompkins (John Milford) refusing to negotiate a way must be found to diffuse the situation before someone gets killed...

Episode 14 from season 5 this Quincy story was directed by Rod Holcomb & is one of my personal favourite classic Quincy episodes, I think Riot is one of the episodes that people remember even if they aren't a particularly huge fan of the series. I liked Riot on various levels, for a start in keeping with a lot of season five the main action takes place out of the standard laboratory setting & the majority of the episode is spent in the prison which gives this one a bit of variety. Then there's the funny dialogue, even those these prisoners are hardened criminals like killers, robbers, rapists & the like since Quincy is a TV show they can't swear! Some of the 'tough guy' dialogue is truly hilarious to listen to when viewed in 2008, the harshest thing any of the cons can say is to call the prison guards pigs! The way someone can coolly say something like 'this could be a real bad scene' & played absolutely straight is really funny & entertaining in equal measure. You really have to listen to this one to really get what I am saying. Then there's even a decent plot twist as well, just when it seems that Bull Stewart was responsible for Stone's death it turns out he wasn't & there's actually a neat little murder mystery for Quincy & Sam to solve. The resolution of the riot is a little sheepish for my liking, I mean all the prisoners just decide to give up like nice little boy's? Do you think that would really have happened? I must admit I am sceptical...

At only fifty odd minutes this one moves along like a rocket, there's another cheesy comedy moment ending at Danny's, there's another fine performance from Klugman although some of the supporting cast aren't quite as impressive & hike up the unintentional comedy aspect while the production team are still using the same static photo of Quincy's car parked outside Danny's that they have since the fist season! Either that or Quincy parks in the same spot to the absolute millimetre every time he visit's Danny's! Riot is quite well made & there are shots from the roof of the prison looking down on the various police cars & such which are very jerky for some reason. The initial riot is never shown, the inmates are seen discussing it & then when Quincy & Sam are about to leave they find out the prison has been completely taken over.

Riot is classic Quincy at it's best, it's highly entertaining in a slightly dated but very fun sort of way & there's even a solid murder mystery behind the main action. A great episode from a generally very strong season.