This episode is one of my favorites from the revival of the Columbo series that started in the late 80s, mainly because it features the eternally underrated and always reliable Dabney Coleman as the murderer. Coleman has always had an easygoing comic wit and sarcasm that made him a uniquely watchable actor. This is an episode where I care more about the antagonist's performance than the actual crime, which was one of the easier one's for our iconic detective (essayed by the great Peter Falk) to solve. In this episode, Coleman plays a nationally famous defense lawyer being blackmailed by his live in lover, a former rock star who is cheating on him and demands half his fortune or she will spill all his dirty dealings. The episode also features the Falk's real life wife (the gorgeous Shera Danese) as Coleman's partner at his law firm who isn't exactly moral herself.
Danese appeared in several Columbo episodes during it's run and I actually think this is one of her best performances, playing well off of Coleman and obviously Falk, although I've seen plenty of real life acting couples who have zero onscreen chemistry. But the writers (and I'm guessing Mr. Falk) smartly never had her play nothing other than peripheral characters to the pesky Lieutenant. In addition to Danese, the episode features another beauty in redheaded 70s icon Sondra Currie playing the uniformed officer doing legwork for Columbo on the case.
This is a rare time where the writers didn't actually show the murderer kill the victim. As stated, the crime itself is pretty cut and dried and this one of the few times where I feel like Columbo figured out EVERY clue, which felt like a trail of breadcrumbs that sunk Coleman's ironically sloppy lawyer character. There are actually episodes when I recall some clues were just MacGuffins and Columbo nailed the perpetrator on some minor detail that he or she neglected. Regardless, the main draw of this episode is the entertaining interplay between Falk and Coleman, and the bonus of watching 2 gorgeous females along the way to the expected and satisfying conclusion.
Danese appeared in several Columbo episodes during it's run and I actually think this is one of her best performances, playing well off of Coleman and obviously Falk, although I've seen plenty of real life acting couples who have zero onscreen chemistry. But the writers (and I'm guessing Mr. Falk) smartly never had her play nothing other than peripheral characters to the pesky Lieutenant. In addition to Danese, the episode features another beauty in redheaded 70s icon Sondra Currie playing the uniformed officer doing legwork for Columbo on the case.
This is a rare time where the writers didn't actually show the murderer kill the victim. As stated, the crime itself is pretty cut and dried and this one of the few times where I feel like Columbo figured out EVERY clue, which felt like a trail of breadcrumbs that sunk Coleman's ironically sloppy lawyer character. There are actually episodes when I recall some clues were just MacGuffins and Columbo nailed the perpetrator on some minor detail that he or she neglected. Regardless, the main draw of this episode is the entertaining interplay between Falk and Coleman, and the bonus of watching 2 gorgeous females along the way to the expected and satisfying conclusion.