Columbo is pitted against a murderous accountant with an exceptionally high I.Q., but despite, possibly, the best premise in the whole series, the results are average rather than spectacular.
There are three problems here:
Firstly, the script-writer's insistence that the murderer's supreme intelligence must be mirrored in the way the murder is conceived and executed.
Secondly, the increasing lack of strength, smugness and assuredness shown by the murderer after he commits his crime.
Thirdly, the ease with which Columbo solves the case, particularly, the way he details the objects and materials used to create the illusion that the victim was shot whilst the murderer was downstairs with several other people.
Essentially, more subtlety and simplicity was needed to make the whole thing believable, whilst the murderer's characterisation should have been more sinister and hard-edged.
A slight improvement on the other season's episodes "Fade Into Murder" and "Try and Catch Me", but generally, not Columbo at his best.
There are three problems here:
Firstly, the script-writer's insistence that the murderer's supreme intelligence must be mirrored in the way the murder is conceived and executed.
Secondly, the increasing lack of strength, smugness and assuredness shown by the murderer after he commits his crime.
Thirdly, the ease with which Columbo solves the case, particularly, the way he details the objects and materials used to create the illusion that the victim was shot whilst the murderer was downstairs with several other people.
Essentially, more subtlety and simplicity was needed to make the whole thing believable, whilst the murderer's characterisation should have been more sinister and hard-edged.
A slight improvement on the other season's episodes "Fade Into Murder" and "Try and Catch Me", but generally, not Columbo at his best.