Show: Columbo
Episode
Particulars: S7EP5, “The Conspirators”, original airdate May 13th,
1978.
Summary: Joe
Devlin (Clive Revill) is an Irishman with a connection to the fighting going on
between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. He and some fellow Irishmen
run a charity that’s supposedly meant to raise money for the victims of the
conflict, but in actuality is used to purchase guns and smuggle them into
Ireland. When Devlin suspects their newest middleman Vincent Pauley (Albert
Paulsen) is just going to take their money and run, he shoots Pauley (with a
gun that Pauley stupidly gave him for free), and then leaves the scene of the
crime with every scrap of paper he can find in the hotel room to try to find
Pauley’s supplier. That is, in-between entertaining Columbo at various Irish
pubs…
Standalone
Thoughts: What really stands out to me about this episode is how much the
crew doubled down on the Irish stereotypes. You’ve got the thick brogue,
redheads all over the place, plenty of whiskey drinking, at least one Irish
folk song, and limericks. There’s even shamrock shaped ashtrays on the bar in
one pub. All they were missing is blatant references to leprechauns and
potatoes. It just started feeling like they were laying on too thick, and that
got to be a little distracting to me. It also doesn’t help that I only have a
vague understanding of what exactly Devlin is fighting for. I’m guessing the
1978 audience was much more aware of the fighting in Ireland/between Ireland
and England than most of us are today, and while you can definitely get the
gist, I personally couldn’t help but feel like there were things that were
going over my head. Apparently when you combine familiar stereotypes with
unfamiliar history, the end result is me feeling a bit off-kilter.
As you can probably guess, that mix meant that I was
mostly indifferent to this episode. It seemed a little overlong, and the payoff
wasn’t entirely satisfying. There were fun bits here and there, especially
since Revill does manage to make Devlin fairly personable and Columbo is more
than happy to get into the spirit of things at times (I’m particularly thinking
of two separate scenes, one involving darts and the other limericks), but it
all kind of fell flat for me…with one exception.
As I mentioned previously, Columbo took a break for over
a decade; our next episode was made in February of 1989. I’ve tried poking
around the internet to find out if it was a deliberate break or if this really
was intended to be the last ever Columbo,
but I haven’t come up with anything. But based on what we see at the very end
of this episode, I think it was meant to be permanent, because Columbo’s last
line has too much of an air of finality. The brilliant thing, though, is that
the line can be seen in two different ways. If you watch the episode now,
without paying attention to the airdates, it just comes across as another one
of Columbo’s witty little parting shots, and it seems perfectly normal to you.
On the other hand, if you go into it knowing (or rather, highly suspecting)
that this was meant as a goodbye, it gets this bittersweet quality. Had this
actually been the last Columbo episode,
I probably still would have had problems with it, but I might have been more
charitable by virtue of the last moments there. On the whole, though, I’m glad
the show wound up coming back, albeit in a scattered way. It increases the
chance that the show can end with an all-around strong episode, instead of one
strong moment. We’ll just have to see how I feel about it when I finally get
around to rewatching the official last episode.
Number of
“Columbo-isms”: 5/6. There’s several mentions of his wife, one big scene
and several smaller scenes of the car (which is getting more beat up by the
episode), fumbling, two different occasions when he whistles “This Old Man”,
and at least two examples of “Just One More Thing”, including a literal one.
Not bad for a sendoff.
Other: *There’s
a little bit of business where Columbo seems intrigued by a coffee table book
about the history of erotic art, and it got me thinking about Columbo’s
relationship to attractive women. There have been times when he seemed kind of
awkward about nudity, like in “Suitable for Framing” or “Lovely but Lethal”,
but he also seems to appreciate a pretty face and body, like the belly dancer
in “Identity Crisis”, or his comment to Chambers in “Double Shock”. Unlike his
dislike of seeing medical procedures, which has been consistent, this
particular quirk of his seems to vary depending on the situation. Given the
title of one of the upcoming episodes, I’ll be interesting to see if it ever
settles down.
*While it’s hard to tell with Columbo, given that he’s
always putting on an act to keep the suspects off-guard, it’s entirely possible
that we may have caught a glimpse of what he’s like when he’s drunk at one
point in this episode, given that he’s swaying a bit and seems more bleary-eyed
than usual. It’s kind of odd, really; despite his appearance, it’s just really
hard to imagine Columbo being drunk.
*Season Wrapup: This season was a bit hit and miss, but
mostly decent. To follow up with what I said in “How to Dial a Murder”, I’d say
my favorite episodes, in order, are “Try and Catch Me” (good dynamic between
Columbo and Mitchell); “How to Dial a Murder” (movie references and a great
final scene); “Murder Under Glass” (a few issues but generally well-handled);
“The Conspirators” (the quirks outweigh the story); and “Make me a Perfect
Murder” (too much padding). I’m not sure where I’d rank it in seasons as a
whole, but it’s definitely stronger than Season Six. Still, maybe it was in
everybody’s best interest for them to take a break; as I mentioned in an
earlier review, it gave everyone time to rest, recharge, and maybe come up with
some new ideas. We’ll see if that turned out well in the upcoming weeks…
Would This Hold Up
in Court?: Yes, assuming the science Columbo quotes from the lab boys is
accurate. I guess since this was supposed to be the last Columbo, they wanted to make sure he went out on a high note.
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