User Reviews

Quincy M.E.: By Their Faith starts as Asten (John S. Ragin) sends medical examiner Quincy (Jack Klugman) & laboratory assistant Sam Fujiama (Robert Ito) to San Remos in Mexico by request of Archbishop Vallejo (René Enríquez) in order to help authenticate one way or the other ancient remains that have been found there. A local village girl named Jacinta Gonsales (Eugenia Wright) found some bones in a cave which she believes belonged to famous 16th century Spanish missionary Fei Deigo, Jacinta claims that she now has the power to miraculously cure disease, sickness & ailments. With religious people flocking to her from all corners of the globe seeking a 'miracle cure' Quincy fears that with no proper medical attention at the site many will die or even worse spread deadly disease throughout the region...

Episode 7 from season 6 this Quincy story was directed by Ron Satlof & this is maybe the only religious themed episode of Quincy that was made. For obvious reasons absolute hard scientific fact of the sort a scientist like Quincy would deal in & superstitious religion which comes down to belief which you can't see under a microscope or bottle in a test tube contradict each other & are at opposite ends of the story telling scale which is probably why the production team kept the two separate for the majority of the show & even here in By Their Faith the focus of the story is more on the disease those looking to be miraculously cured bring with them & the race against time to get them proper medical help. By Their Faith nails it's colours to it's mast, miracle cures do not work although those who offer them sincerely believe that they have the power to heal & that media hysteria is to blame. Like a good few episodes from season five By Their Faith takes place entirely outside the traditional Los Angeles laboratory setting apart from Asten's office at the very start, here it's a small Mexican village which is actually never seen & resembles a dusty field as much as anything else. There's no murder here, there's no mystery & while it's nice to get varied story lines By Their Faith isn't one of my favourite episodes as there's not much here to really get excited about & the traditional Quincy elements that make the show so enjoyable for me are largely absent here.

This episode also touches upon the effect of irresponsible journalism & not reporting the facts. The start of the episode sees Quincy get covered in mud in a comedy moment while there are a few continuity issues regarding Quincy's sweat patterns on his shirt, they disappear & change size all the time between shots. Even this is meant to be set in a Mexican village the budget didn't stretch to build one so we get a dusty clearing in a wood, I wouldn't even go as far as to call it a field! The acting is alright if unremarkable.

By Their Faith is an alright episode of Quincy, it's not one of the best from the series but it's not one of the worst either. I am always disappointed not to see a murder or a mystery so this was never going to be one of my favourites.