This was Falk's last but one outing as Columbo in the original series, which sees him pitted against a vengeful psychologist (played by Nicol Williamson) who murders his wife's lover by means of training his two dobermans to kill.
The motive for the murder is not particularly inventive as detective shows go, but this is positively enhanced by the means: two dobermans who respond to a word uttered by the victim in a telephone conversation with the murderer. A stylishly conceived element of the story.
The ingenuity of this premise, however, is not borne out in the rest of the episode: Columbo latches onto the murderer's scheme extremely quickly (even by Columbo standards) and it is not is not helped by the fact that he leaves a whole host of incriminating clues along the way. As Columbo remarks at the end "I must say sir, I found you disappointing....you left enough clues to sink a ship..."
Additionally, Kim Cattrall's characterisation is not particularly important to the overall scheme of things and her scenes drag the episode down a little.
Nicol Williamson's characterisation had the potential of being one of the best and most difficult-to-catch murderers in the entire series, but Williamson's initially energetic portrayal seems to recede as the script gives Columbo the balance of power.
If only the script-writer could have omitted one of two of the clues; nevertheless, for Columbo fans like myself it is still enjoyable viewing.
The motive for the murder is not particularly inventive as detective shows go, but this is positively enhanced by the means: two dobermans who respond to a word uttered by the victim in a telephone conversation with the murderer. A stylishly conceived element of the story.
The ingenuity of this premise, however, is not borne out in the rest of the episode: Columbo latches onto the murderer's scheme extremely quickly (even by Columbo standards) and it is not is not helped by the fact that he leaves a whole host of incriminating clues along the way. As Columbo remarks at the end "I must say sir, I found you disappointing....you left enough clues to sink a ship..."
Additionally, Kim Cattrall's characterisation is not particularly important to the overall scheme of things and her scenes drag the episode down a little.
Nicol Williamson's characterisation had the potential of being one of the best and most difficult-to-catch murderers in the entire series, but Williamson's initially energetic portrayal seems to recede as the script gives Columbo the balance of power.
If only the script-writer could have omitted one of two of the clues; nevertheless, for Columbo fans like myself it is still enjoyable viewing.