According to Colombo connoisseurs, this is the show's worst episode of all time. Akin to the Happy Days' shark jump episode.
Well, I'm a big fan of Columbo and I've seen all of the 1970s episodes, and many of the 1989+ episodes too. While Any Old Port in a Storm and The Bye-Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case have nothing to fear, this is nowhere near as bad as Last Salute to the Commodore and Mind Over Mayhem either.
It actually stands on its own because, as many have pointed out, this one does not follow the Colombo plotline. In most episodes, we witness a murder and know who the killer is, and usually the motive, from the get-go. We then get to enjoy the interplay between the deceptively absent-minded Colombo and the arrogant killer as the disheveled detective sets little traps and then skewers the criminal with his own mistakes in the dramatic reveal ending.
Here, we do not have a murder at all but, rather, a kidnapping. We do not learn who the kidnapper is and what his motivation and sinister goal is until later in the story. And there is no interaction at all between Columbo and the killer during the entire episode.
In other words, we are in the dark with Colombo through the episode, and that is kind of cool for a change. I'm not saying I would like all episodes to be this way but it was neat to break the mold for one episode.
The story and pacing were pretty strong and it didn't have any ridiculously implausible clues or lucky breaks like some Columbo episodes, particularly the later ones, are prone to. My only gripe was with Melissa (Joanna Going). Early on, she appears to be a strong confident woman who isn't going to take any crap from her captor, and coolly and cleverly devises a way out of her cell. But in the last part of the show she disappointingly turns to complete mush and would have been toast if the guys had gotten to her even a second later. I kept waiting for her to do something, anything, to defend herelf against the creepy weird dude (the late Daniel McDonald). But nope.
In addition to a pretty decent show, you get to see a pre-Nanny Niles (Daniel Davis) as a persnickety fashion photographer and a pre- Melrose Place Dr. Mancini (Thomas Calabro) as Columbo's jilted nephew. It also stars the late great Daniel Moffat, and Patrick Swayze's brother Don.
Probably not in the top tier of Columbo episodes but certainly good TV. Definitely worth a watch if you run across it.
Well, I'm a big fan of Columbo and I've seen all of the 1970s episodes, and many of the 1989+ episodes too. While Any Old Port in a Storm and The Bye-Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case have nothing to fear, this is nowhere near as bad as Last Salute to the Commodore and Mind Over Mayhem either.
It actually stands on its own because, as many have pointed out, this one does not follow the Colombo plotline. In most episodes, we witness a murder and know who the killer is, and usually the motive, from the get-go. We then get to enjoy the interplay between the deceptively absent-minded Colombo and the arrogant killer as the disheveled detective sets little traps and then skewers the criminal with his own mistakes in the dramatic reveal ending.
Here, we do not have a murder at all but, rather, a kidnapping. We do not learn who the kidnapper is and what his motivation and sinister goal is until later in the story. And there is no interaction at all between Columbo and the killer during the entire episode.
In other words, we are in the dark with Colombo through the episode, and that is kind of cool for a change. I'm not saying I would like all episodes to be this way but it was neat to break the mold for one episode.
The story and pacing were pretty strong and it didn't have any ridiculously implausible clues or lucky breaks like some Columbo episodes, particularly the later ones, are prone to. My only gripe was with Melissa (Joanna Going). Early on, she appears to be a strong confident woman who isn't going to take any crap from her captor, and coolly and cleverly devises a way out of her cell. But in the last part of the show she disappointingly turns to complete mush and would have been toast if the guys had gotten to her even a second later. I kept waiting for her to do something, anything, to defend herelf against the creepy weird dude (the late Daniel McDonald). But nope.
In addition to a pretty decent show, you get to see a pre-Nanny Niles (Daniel Davis) as a persnickety fashion photographer and a pre- Melrose Place Dr. Mancini (Thomas Calabro) as Columbo's jilted nephew. It also stars the late great Daniel Moffat, and Patrick Swayze's brother Don.
Probably not in the top tier of Columbo episodes but certainly good TV. Definitely worth a watch if you run across it.