Columbo: Death Lends a Hand Rewatch
July 28, 2014 2:24 PM - Season 1, Episode 2 - Subscribe
When the CEO of a private detective agency threatens the wife of a publisher with blackmail and she threatens to expose him, he accidentally kills her.
Imagine an alternate reality where Columbo took the job offer and became a corrupt private dick.
posted by codacorolla at 6:44 AM on July 29, 2014
posted by codacorolla at 6:44 AM on July 29, 2014
I suppose eventually he would get sick of working for this doofus and set up his own shop, a one-room office with one of those frosted-glass doors.
posted by bleep at 12:05 PM on July 29, 2014
posted by bleep at 12:05 PM on July 29, 2014
The fun part about watching Columbo is identifying the moment when he figures out who the killer is. It's usually right when he meets the killer for the first time in the investigation. In this episode, Colombo's suspicions were raised when Kennecut indicated that Brimmer suggested that he be brought into the investigation. His suspicions were immediately confirmed when he examined Brimmer's hand for the ring.
After Columbo finds the killer, he'll play dumb for the rest of the episode until he comes into an opportunity to get the killer to implicate themselves.
posted by zixyer at 11:17 PM on August 2, 2014 [1 favorite]
After Columbo finds the killer, he'll play dumb for the rest of the episode until he comes into an opportunity to get the killer to implicate themselves.
posted by zixyer at 11:17 PM on August 2, 2014 [1 favorite]
So I watched this back-to-back yesterday with the first episode and hadn't really meant to do so. But then the credits started: Robert Culp! Patricia Crowley! So stuck I was.
Comparing the two episodes back-to-back was so interesting. It's the same "style" of show and has a similar enough look, but the overall look for each episode is also definitely shaped more by the individual director than TV got a lot of credit for back then (or now really).
The whole bit with his glasses at the moment of the killing reflecting parts of his clean-up process was maybe kind of cheesey. But I liked it and again at least it was an attempt to show the maybe-boring parts in an interesting way.
I found the moment of the murder really pretty compelling actually. It wasn't bloody or lurid but it felt very violent, from the hand slap to the breaking glass. It had impact.
And though the plotting of the mystery itself wasn't as interesting as last time, the interplay between Falk and Culp really was. It's so great how early on it was obvious that Columbo has one and only one suspect, how the golf pro wasn't really ever a realistic suspect to him, and how you could tell the whole job offer to get him off the case just pissed him off even more.
But we never heard about that; it just happened on screen.
It's almost like slow deliberate character dramas dressed up as traditional genre shows wasn't something invented for American television by cable networks in the late 1990s or something. [/hamburger]
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:20 AM on August 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
Comparing the two episodes back-to-back was so interesting. It's the same "style" of show and has a similar enough look, but the overall look for each episode is also definitely shaped more by the individual director than TV got a lot of credit for back then (or now really).
The whole bit with his glasses at the moment of the killing reflecting parts of his clean-up process was maybe kind of cheesey. But I liked it and again at least it was an attempt to show the maybe-boring parts in an interesting way.
I found the moment of the murder really pretty compelling actually. It wasn't bloody or lurid but it felt very violent, from the hand slap to the breaking glass. It had impact.
And though the plotting of the mystery itself wasn't as interesting as last time, the interplay between Falk and Culp really was. It's so great how early on it was obvious that Columbo has one and only one suspect, how the golf pro wasn't really ever a realistic suspect to him, and how you could tell the whole job offer to get him off the case just pissed him off even more.
But we never heard about that; it just happened on screen.
It's almost like slow deliberate character dramas dressed up as traditional genre shows wasn't something invented for American television by cable networks in the late 1990s or something. [/hamburger]
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:20 AM on August 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
Oh and one more thing...
The green shag carpeting at the murder scene pleased me on its first appearance, and I couldn't have been more pleased when it turned out to be a commented-upon, important-to-the-plot point.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:35 AM on August 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
The green shag carpeting at the murder scene pleased me on its first appearance, and I couldn't have been more pleased when it turned out to be a commented-upon, important-to-the-plot point.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:35 AM on August 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
The potato bit at the very end of the episode had me laughing out loud. I think that Falk's comedic skills as Columbo aren't remarked upon enough--his humor on this show elevate it significantly.
posted by sleeping bear at 3:47 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by sleeping bear at 3:47 PM on January 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
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posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:12 PM on July 28, 2014