old man (Paul Fix) murdered "Quincy" was a show I liked but I've gotta admit that sometimes the show is a bit heavy-handed. This inspirational episode is one such heavy-handed show. Instead of trying to entertain us, like so many of their social issues episodes, it seems much more oriented towards making us better people and drawing our attention to various causes. Unfortunately, they also tended to be rather low on entertainment value.
The show begins with a young scum-bag murdering his uncle (Paul Fix). To hide it, he pours a substance all over the guy so that the coyotes will eat much of the body (yuck!). However, during the autopsy, there is evidence of the murder. And, when this jerk-faced nephew then wants to throw a bunch of disabled kids off a ranch owned by the old man, it becomes clear to Quincy who is behind the murder.
Although this is a murder investigation show, most of the show actually is about the disabled kids who go to the ranch for horse therapy. In particular, there are two featured kids--one who is mute (who also witnessed the murder) and a foster child being raised by the Astens. How all this works together, see it for yourself. And, it's sad that there really is little mystery about the killing--it's solved amazingly quickly--probably because so much time was spent on the inspirational angle.
I guess I am just an old grouch when it comes to this one. Now often I love inspirational shows and films (such as the recent film "My Afternoons With Margueritte") but "Quincy" in this episode comes off as rather phony and contrived. I also don't have it out for disabled kids or horses--really. It just seemed trite and silly.