I saw this one when in originally aired back in 1978, and I remember thinking it was a little different from the usual entries in the series, and this opinion was confirmed when I saw it again last Sunday on the Hallmark Channel. It spends more time on developing the guest murderer's character and there's less of Columbo's usual shtick -- he doesn't do as much of the hemming and hawing, and doesn't play up to the murderer as much, lulling them into a false sense of security with flattery and a display of faux incompetence.
Read other comments for a plot synopsis; I just want to focus on a couple of things: I think Kay's (the murderer) reaction is very telling, at the beginning of the episode, when her lover reveals he's been promoted and will be relocating to the east coast. At first she says "When are we leaving?" and then when he tells her he'd like her to stay behind, without missing a beat she assumes it's to take over his job, which would be a promotion for her. The loss of the relationship doesn't give her much pause, it's losing the relationship AND not getting the promotion which is the unacceptable kick in the stomach. It's difficult not to sympathize with her, but you also feel disdain for her ruthless pragmatism. Someone in a previous comment hit it right on the head, I think, when they called the character a sexual opportunist, not above using seduction to move ahead in her job, and frankly not above using everybody she comes in contact with if it'll help her. She even kind of puts the moves on Columbo at one point.
I'll speak in defense of what so many seem to dislike about this episode -- the "extraneous" subplot about the fading song-and-dance star who can't deal with live television. I think this bit, for one, helps to show how good Kay is at her job, and at the same time her shortcomings in that respect. And I think it helps to build a case for the previous point about her being an opportunist. I, too, wondered about the relationship between the Van Devere and Kazan characters; you could read into it that they were lovers, which would have been very shocking for 1978 broadcast TV. What DID strike me as superfluous was the scene in the abandoned house, where Kay gives Columbo a massage. That struck a wrong note somehow; it seemed out of character for him to let a woman other than his wife get that physically close to him.
Overall, the episode is probably a better than average example of TV writing when it comes to delineating a character's personality; it's just not a typical "Columbo" episode, which is what I think puts a lot of people off of it.
Interesting note: this episode got quite a bit of attention and critical praise from the television reviewers of the day, and I even remember Falk appearing on Johnny Carson discussing the episode, and going into detail about the special clue that unravels the mystery: the circles that show up in the corner of a film to signal the need for a change of reel.
Read other comments for a plot synopsis; I just want to focus on a couple of things: I think Kay's (the murderer) reaction is very telling, at the beginning of the episode, when her lover reveals he's been promoted and will be relocating to the east coast. At first she says "When are we leaving?" and then when he tells her he'd like her to stay behind, without missing a beat she assumes it's to take over his job, which would be a promotion for her. The loss of the relationship doesn't give her much pause, it's losing the relationship AND not getting the promotion which is the unacceptable kick in the stomach. It's difficult not to sympathize with her, but you also feel disdain for her ruthless pragmatism. Someone in a previous comment hit it right on the head, I think, when they called the character a sexual opportunist, not above using seduction to move ahead in her job, and frankly not above using everybody she comes in contact with if it'll help her. She even kind of puts the moves on Columbo at one point.
I'll speak in defense of what so many seem to dislike about this episode -- the "extraneous" subplot about the fading song-and-dance star who can't deal with live television. I think this bit, for one, helps to show how good Kay is at her job, and at the same time her shortcomings in that respect. And I think it helps to build a case for the previous point about her being an opportunist. I, too, wondered about the relationship between the Van Devere and Kazan characters; you could read into it that they were lovers, which would have been very shocking for 1978 broadcast TV. What DID strike me as superfluous was the scene in the abandoned house, where Kay gives Columbo a massage. That struck a wrong note somehow; it seemed out of character for him to let a woman other than his wife get that physically close to him.
Overall, the episode is probably a better than average example of TV writing when it comes to delineating a character's personality; it's just not a typical "Columbo" episode, which is what I think puts a lot of people off of it.
Interesting note: this episode got quite a bit of attention and critical praise from the television reviewers of the day, and I even remember Falk appearing on Johnny Carson discussing the episode, and going into detail about the special clue that unravels the mystery: the circles that show up in the corner of a film to signal the need for a change of reel.