Day 201: Columbo, Prescription: Murder

It wasn't as obvious a hint as when I transitioned from Deep Space Nine to Poirot, but I'm guessing some of you were able to figure out that the new show is Columbo. As such, the colors on the blog have been changed to try to match his trademark raincoat and cigar. And with that housecleaning out of the way, let's get right to it!

Show: Columbo

Episode Particulars: Pilot Episode 1, “Prescription: Murder”, original airdate February 20^th, 1968.

Like Poirot, there were some instances where there were gaps between Columbo episodes, though not as many as there were when it came to Poirot. It’s still worth noting, though. As for why there were two pilots, I have no idea. I’ll do a little research and get back to you on that.

 Summary: Dr. Ray Flemming (Gene Barry) is a psychiatrist who has been married to his wife (Nina Foch) for ten years. The thing is, he’s tired of her, but a divorce will mean public scandal and losing all of his money. Naturally, that means he turns to murder. After arranging a second honeymoon to Acapulco, he strangles his wife, takes all the valuables, and then uses his lover, actress Joan Hudson (Katherine Justice), to make it look like he and his wife got on the plane, had an argument, and then Mrs. Flemming left in a huff. That way, it will look like she was killed by a robber while he was in Mexico. It’s only at the thirty-two minute mark of an hour-and-a-half long episode that the show’s title character, Lieutenant Columbo (Peter Falk) shows up to investigate the case. Because that’s Columbo’s hook; it’s not about figuring out who did it, it’s about figuring out how they’re going to get caught.

Standalone Thoughts: Even though there are some similarities between the handling of this pilot and the pilot of Poirot, the difference in feel is staggering. While both of them drop us in media res, as it were, focusing on the mystery instead of providing the backstory, it somehow doesn’t feel as off here as it did in Poirot. Perhaps that’s me bringing the knowledge that Poirot did have an origin story where Columbo doesn’t to the table, but the fact remains that it feels more right that Columbo is just kind of casually introduced with little fanfare. Though maybe that’s also his more relaxed personality coming into play as well.

Anyway, because the episode doesn’t make a big deal about this being Columbo’s debut, it works both as a pilot and as a standalone. You can watch it without knowing anything about Columbo (the character or the show) and enjoy it just as much as you would if you were familiar with the series. If you are familiar with it, though, you might get an extra kick out of the fact that three-quarters of the way through the episode, Flemming basically lays out Columbo’s entire modus operandi; that he’s smart but plays dumb in order to trick people. It’s a declaration of intent, and the brilliant thing is, it works in context since Flemming is a psychiatrist, so it stands to reason that he could figure out what makes Columbo tick. It’s just that deliberately writing a scene like that for the pilot episode (so viewers can get a sense of what to expect from this new show) is a bit of clever thinking that speaks well for the series.

The rest of the material is generally good too. Falk seems comfortable in the role already, playing Columbo with a likeable charm but including just enough body language and facial expressions to suggest there’s more to him than meets the eye. Barry and the other supporting actors play their parts well, which makes it even easier for Falk to work his magic. The murder and subsequent cover-up is well executed, leaving plenty of opportunities for the audience to guess what Columbo’s going to use to catch Flemming (their version of “Playing Fair”) while still making it possible to surprise you. And there’s a nice little subversion where it looks like Flemming’s left a key piece of evidence behind, only for him to turn around and quickly deal with it. I’m not sure if anyone had seen anything like this back in 1968, but given the execution, I think they probably embraced it pretty quickly.

Even the atmosphere works in the show’s favor. The whole thing has a very 60’s vibe to it, from the costumes to the music, and while it dates the show, it doesn’t do it in a bad way. It may take a few minutes to adjust to, but there’s a charm about it that will hopefully outweigh the “my, how times have changed!” feeling. It helps that Columbo himself feels somewhat timeless; sure, he probably couldn’t smoke nowadays, but otherwise, you could easily see him doing his shtick here in the 2010’s. When you’ve got a solid core like that, the trappings surrounding it stop mattering quite so much.

I do have a few quibbles, though they’re not very big. There’s a long scene where it looks like Mrs. Flemming survived the attack, and Columbo and Flemming go to the hospital and have to wait to see her, only for her to wind up dying offscreen anyway. This adds nothing to the episode except a little tension which wasn’t needed, and an opportunity for Columbo to start poking holes in Flemming’s story, which could have been shifted to another point in the plot. Columbo also actively drops his façade late in the episode and starts playing bad cop, which is very unlike him as far as I remember and thus feels off. However, I’m willing to chalk this up to either faulty memory or the fact that they’re still ironing the kinks out. Which shows you how well the series is doing right out of the gate if it mostly feels like they’ve figured everything out.

All in all, this is a promising start. Perhaps this will be another case where my memory betrays me (or it will fall into a formula that becomes very noticeable if you’re watching on a regular basis), but so far, I’m encouraged. Here’s hoping everything keeps working out.

Number of “Columbo-isms”: As with Poirot, “How it Relates to the Whole” is being replaced by something else, as this show isn’t very continuity-heavy. Also like Poirot, I’ll be focusing on tropes, albeit tropes of a different sort. Columbo has a lot of mannerisms or quirks he’s famous for, so I’ll be monitoring how many of them appear in each episode. Said tropes are as follows; any mention or appearance of his dog; any mention of his wife; the appearance of his run-down car; any time he whistles or hums the nursery rhyme “This Old Man”  (or if the theme appears in the soundtrack); Columbo asking for a pencil or pen because he doesn’t have one on him; and of course, any variation of the utterance “Just one more thing”. I’ll also mention if he doesn’t appear with his trademark trench coat or cigar, since those are such a part of his character that them not showing up is an event in and of itself.

Anyway, the pilot already established quite a few of the tropes, with 3/6 (asking for a pencil, several mentions of his wife, and at least two versions of “Just one more thing”) showing up and a mention of his car, although there’s no indication of how shabby it is as of yet. In this respect, as with pretty much everything else, the show’s off to a flying start.

Other: *As far as I remember, Columbo doesn’t have a specific musical theme or set of opening credits, so I won’t go into detail the way I did for DS9 or Poirot. That being said, the opening of this episode is the sort of thing I was talking about when I mentioned the 60’s vibe. The names of the cast and crew are shown over a series of changing colors and shapes which I assume are meant to represent Rorschach tests (given who the murderer is), and a very brass heavy, James Bond-esque score plays. Unless you absolutely hate the 60’s, I don’t think it will put you off from watching it, but that’s where the adjustment period starts.

*There are a few wince-inducing things scattered throughout the episode, though at least one is, I think, meant to be deliberate. That one is the fact that Flemming is in a secret relationship with one of his patients, which I’m guessing was a no-no pretty much from the day psychiatry became a thing. The other really notable one, which is more a product of the times, is the fact that if you look very carefully during the opening party scene, all of the waitstaff are black. It’s not blatantly racist, but it can feel a little weird to our modern eyes nevertheless.

*One of the things that Columbo regards as suspicious is the fact that Flemming’s bag was thirteen pounds overweight when he left California, but was only four pounds overweight when he returned. Flemming tries to explain it away as him having brought a bunch of medical magazines with him to read on the trip, and he left them behind when he was done with them. It’s not essential to the episode, but I would have loved to see Columbo gathering up a bunch of magazines and weighing them until he gets to nine pounds, because I’m guessing that would equal a lot of magazines and blow a hole right through Flemming’s explanation. Also, it just feels like something Columbo would do, so it’s not even like it would be that out of place.

*Columbo has an absolutely brilliant moment at one point where he very mildly says “Now why would I do that?” after Flemming suggests that Columbo orchestrated a false confession to try to trick Flemming into giving the game away. I love it, because Columbo’s playing mind games of his own. By saying it, he puts doubt into Flemming’s mind, but if called on it, he can play innocent. I don’t know, just the fact that he’s meeting a psychiatrist on his own playing field is very satisfying, and speaks well of the writing to boot.

Would This Hold Up in Court?: My special entry for this series revolves around the methods Columbo uses to catch the murderers, because as clever as his reasoning is, sometimes his evidence is a bit flimsy. Now, I have no law experience whatsoever, so while I’ll be going off my gut feeling, it’s entirely possible that the evidence or the way it was obtained would be considered enough to convict. If any of my readers know better than I do, feel free to correct me.

So, would Columbo’s case in today’s episode hold up in court? There’s a good chance that it would, but my gut says it’s a close thing. Columbo obfusticates the truth, badgers/upsets a suspect, and pulls a stunt that could be interpreted as entrapment by a particularly canny lawyer. Some of these might have been ok on their own (again, speaking as someone with no legal experience), but all together, I feel like it might be difficult to explain to a jury. But there is a confession involved, so it depends on how sympathetic the jury is, I suppose.