Quincy M.E. (TV Series) The Mourning After (1982) User Reviews

It would have been better if it had come out sooner, but it's still good.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 1 June 2013]

oddly, this stupid behavior STILL occurs--famous recent case in Florida why no charges?! Oh, that Monahan! and the DA?! much like "Ordinary People" and my own family what happened to Quincy's puppy?! In 1980, "Ordinary People" debuted and it eventually was awarded the Oscar for Best Picture. Two years later, "The Mourning After" covers a lot of the same material. Had this "Quincy" episode debuted before or much later, it would have been better--here it just seems like a copy.

The show beings one night. A group of stupid frat boys are tormenting some initiates. First, they get them drunk. Next, they tie their hands together and make them swim in the lake. Not surprisingly, one of the young men is killed during this hazing--and it's actually surprising more aren't killed. However, instead of seeking help, the jerks toss the body in a pool and pretend that he died there. Then, they make it look as if the guy might have killed himself. Some friends, huh? Now this story about the death is only part of the show and has little to do with "Ordinary People". However, the rest is about a mother, father and surviving son who struggle to deal with the death. And, EXACTLY like the film, the boy is the healthiest one and sees that there is a problem. The father behaves exactly like the dad in "Ordinary People" and the same could be said for the mom. The only big difference is the ending is far different and far less daring.

So is this any good? Well, it's certainly not original. But, if you have dealt with issues like the premature death of a sibling or child, then you will likely get quite a bit out of this. Considering my family had many of these same issues after my sister died, it was a bit cathartic to see. However, for everyone else, it's probably a bit of a disappointment, as it comes off as a bit preachy.

It reminded me of a condensed version of...

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 29 December 2023]

... Best Picture Oscar winner "Ordinary People" from two years before, except with a crime aspect since otherwise Quincy would not be involved.

A young man is accidentally killed in a hazing incident by a fraternity he wants to join. The group of college kids panic when he drowns, and so they place his body in the pool at the college to hide what happened. This is how the police and Quincy get involved.

Most of the episode focuses on the family of the dead boy and it mirrors what happened in Ordinary People. The mother is in denial and resents her surviving son because the one who died is her favorite as much as she doesn't want to admit it. Meanwhile the surviving son tries to please her - he strikes out - and the father tries to get the woman to open up about her grief - he strikes out too.

The story and acting are good enough, but it just doesn't seem like a suitable topic for a series that is supposed to be about crime and forensic medicine. There is a tie-in to that here, but it is tenuous at best.

Quincy Moralizing & Hazing Laws Tightened

[amorehl · 9/10 · 18 October 2023]

I side with everyone else here who gets fed up with the incessant lecturing and moralizing by Quincy, to the detriment of the crime solving the show is supposed to depict. I blame this on Jack Klugman's seizing control of the show and ousting Creator & Producer Glen Larson, whose focus was on entertainment for the viewing public. Interestingly, hollywood has only gotten much worse over the years. Viewer entertainment is way down on the list of what they want to present: It falls well below casting overly diverse actors, showcasing alternate lifestyles, and presenting the writer's leftist views as the the only right answer to everything. However, I admit this show did interest me. Unlike others, I haven't seen Ordinary People in many years, so it did not affect my perception of the show. Everyone faces death in their family at one time or another, and the sudden disintegration of the family sadly reminded me of when my father suddenly died, my siblings were grieving, and we were quarreling over matters as we never had before.

One reviewer mentioned a hazing incident in Florida, and since people love to make out that everyone who lives in Florida is an idiot, I wanted to point this out: Florida has one of the toughest hazing laws in the nation. In 2005, Florida passed the Chad Meredith Act, for a U of of M student who drowned in a hazing death in 2001. Governor Jeb Bush signed the law. The law made hazing a 1st-degree misdemeanor and a 3rd-degree felony if a victim was seriously injured or died. Then, in 2019, the Florida Legislature unanimously passed Andrew's law which strengthened the 2005 law after an FSU student died from a 0.447 blood-alcohol level from drinking an entire fifth of Wild Turkey bourbon. Governor DeSantis signed the law. Among other things, the 2019 law closes some loopholes from the first law and provides for prosecution of hazing that causes permanent damage, including holding fraternity leaders criminally liable for any hazing that occurs under their watch, even if they weren't present. Other states have made changes as well. So, preachiness aside, Quincy was actually making a valid point.

Depressing episode with more therapy sessions featured

[rayoflite24 · 5/10 · 2 January 2016]

The Mourning After begins with a group of college students being subject to hazing rituals in the hopes of pledging a fraternity. One of the rituals involves making the pledges swim across a lake with their hands tied behind their backs, but when one of the young men drowns to death the rest go into cover up mode placing him in the pool back on campus to make it look like an accident. Quincy (Jack Klugman) conducts the autopsy and soon it is revealed that the the victim did not die in the pool but in a lake which calls into question their story. While Quincy and the police try and get to the truth, the family of the victim struggles to cope in the aftermath of the tragedy.

While this episode addresses an important topic that remains relevant to this day in that we still regularly see hazing death stories featured in the news, I can't say that there was one enjoyable aspect of it for me as the story is just flat out depressing and slow. There is absolutely no mystery featured as we see what happened and who was responsible right in the opening scenes, and to fill air time they compensate by delving deep into the psychological trauma and dysfunction experienced by the family afterwards. I've said this in several other reviews for this season of Quincy and I'll say it again here that I'm just over all of the therapy and psychiatry related story lines that we are inundated with in the latter part of this series. Maybe if this episode had aired earlier in the lineup this part of the story wouldn't have annoyed me as much, but I'm just so tired and fed up with the repetitive counseling sessions at this point that feel like I can't watch another.

Overall this is a pretty depressing Season 7 finale episode that does feature an investigation into a cover up but is overshadowed by the grief of the family to the victim and their therapy. As I suspect most Quincy fans are not tuning in for this type of story, I do not recommend this episode.

A dull moralistic Quincy to end season 7.

[poolandrews · 5/10 · 27 June 2007]

Quincy M.E.: The Mourning After starts late one night as three college students are about to undergo an initiation which when complete will allow them acceptance into a fraternity, the boys have to swim to a buoy on an open lake & back again the only catch is their drunk & have had their hands tied together with rope. Two of the lads make it but Carey Stadler (Timothy Wead) doesn't & ends up on L.A. coroner Quincy's (Jack Klugman) autopsy table, it looks like an open & shut case of drowning but the facts don't match the story given to the police. Quincy investigates & discovers that Carey died because of a stupid tradition & sets out to prove it, meanwhile Carey's brother Nick (Timothy Patrick Murphy) feels cheated by the police who can't do anything & wants revenge on those who let his brother die...

Episode 24 from season 7 this Quincy story was directed by Jeri Taylor & was the final episode from season 7, I didn't really like The Mourning After that much & in a nutshell it demonstrates everything that has been bad during season 7. Most of season 7 has drifted between heavy handed & frankly dull social & moral issues to the more familiar crime mystery based stories which I infinitely prefer while it occasionally mixes the two sometimes to good effect & sometimes like The Mourning After the show isn't so successful, The Mourning After is one of those episodes which contains both moral & crime based issues although a large amount of time is spent with the Stadler family & the affect Carey's death has on them, it also raises the issue of hazing while Quincy actually investigating Carey's death is frustratingly given very little screen time. I'm all for a TV show with a moral point to make & Quincy does have a wide variety of different story lines which it tackles but the TV actors aren't good enough to convince, the writing isn't strong enough & the crime element of Quincy is always so much more interesting & entertaining than a dull conscious pricking topic such as hazing & grief. Don't get me wrong because whenever someone dies someone is grieving for them but that just doesn't make good TV, does it?

I really have to mention the guest actor's here, they are trying to convey some pretty serious emotions but the ones on show here are just so bad I was cringing with embarrassment at times. This episode is just to heavy handed & has no sense of humour at all, even the feel good comedy moment at Danny's is absent & is replaced with a sombre speech from Quincy.

The Mourning After (isn't that a great play on words?) wasn't a good way to end season 7 & it encompasses everything that I dislike about the show, far too much ineffectual moralising & too little of Quincy solving a crime. Simple as that really, now bring on season 8...

"Ordinary People"

[pztupwz · 5/10 · 28 September 2021]

I just watched a rerun of this on TV. Thought I was watching "Ordinary People." Nothing new here except acting was not as good as in "Ordinary People."