Requiem for the Living begins with mobster Vincent DiNardi (John Vernon) receiving a grave diagnosis from his doctor that he has a deadly infection and less than 24 hours to live. Later in the evening at the coroner lab, Quincy (Jack Klugman) and Sam (Robert Ito) are leaving when they are confronted in the parking garage by DiNardi and his associates. DiNardi forces Quincy and Sam back into the lab so that they can test him and determine how he acquired the infection and who was responsible so that he can enact revenge before he dies. Meanwhile, Dr. Asten (John S. Ragin), Lt. Monahan (Garry Walberg) and the rest of the crew are having a poker night at Danny's and become suspicious as to why both Quincy and Sam canceled so abruptly to stay at the lab.
I would say that this is a fair Season 3 episode that takes place almost entirely in the lab. There is a mystery featured and it is rather unique in that the victim is still alive unlike most Quincy murder mysteries we see, but this really wasn't enough to make this a great episode in my opinion. John Vernon's guest star performance as the conflicted mobster who is slowly deteriorating while succumbing to his illness was definitely captivating and a highlight in my opinion, but too many slow and sedate scenes in the lab just make for a dull overall episode here.
This was the 20th and final episode of Quincy Season 3, and when I first realized that I wondered why there weren't more episodes since this was the first full season of the series and most primetime shows air between 22-26 episodes per season. Per the trivia section, NBC had ordered 2 more episodes for the season, but Jack Klugman was too burned out and went on vacation early instead. Interesting that he was able to get out of those last two episodes while under contract and I have to wonder if that ended up being another huge blow-up between him and the producers at the time?