The Deadly Connection begins in Arizona where a teenager and his grandfather are working on their ranch when suddenly the older man becomes very ill and collapses. Later in the LA coroner lab, Dr. Asten (John S. Ragin) meets with Quincy (Jack Klugman) and Sam (Robert Ito) to tell them he is sending them out to that Arizona community to help identify an unknown outbreak which has now infected 18 people. Quincy and Sam travel to the ranch community and work diligently to try and find a common thread among the cases to help determine the origin and this eventually leads them to a company that manufactures cattle feed. The owner denies all responsibility and until they can confirm the cause, Quincy as well as the local doctors cannot prescribe a treatment regimen for the ill patients.
I found this to be a pretty dull and unremarkable Season 3 episode with some holes. Why would a Los Angeles Coroner and his assistant be called out to a rural Arizona community to assist on this case? Does Arizona not have any experienced and credentialed pathologists in the state? You would think they would have brought someone in from Phoenix, Tucson, etc, wherever the closest highly regarded coroner lab was located. This and the fact that Dr. Asten cheerfully sends Quincy and Sam out there with no concern over losing two of his best people in the lab for days or the expense it is costing their department is completely out of character. The Asten we know would be begging them to wrap up and get back to their work quickly, he'd also be making Arizona pick up the tab for their travel expenses since it was their problem rather than paying out of his own budget.
The episode moves at a very slow pace and there is no murder featured, heck no one even dies which is quite unusual for Quincy. I also found the conclusion to be very predictable and anti-climactic, so don't expect a big payoff as a reward for watching all the way through.