Day 204: Columbo, Death Lends a Hand

Show: Columbo

Episode Particulars: S1EP2, “Death Lends a Hand”, original airdate October 6^th, 1971.

 For those curious about the long gap between episodes, Wikipedia says it’s because they rotated Columbo with four other shows, thus showing an episode of each show about once a month instead of once a week. This not only allowed Peter Falk to audition for movies, it allowed the show to maintain a high quality. Which probably explains why it’s still held in such high regard.

 Summary: Brimmer (Robert Culp) is a private investigator who has just completed a case; looking into whether or not the wife of newspaper mogul Arthur Kennicut (Ray Milland) was cheating on him. Brimmer says she wasn’t, but then privately tells Mrs. Kennicut (Patricia Crowley) that he knows she did, but won’t say anything if she’ll act as a spy and give private information to Brimmer that could help him with subsequent cases. When Mrs. Kennicut comes to his house that night to refuse, Brimmer strikes her and accidentally kills her. He quickly dumps her body near a construction site, then offers his services to the grieving Mr. Kennicut in order to track down her killer. Of course, he’ll need to work with the police, but he doesn’t have a problem with that. Given who he’s working with, though, he probably should.

Standalone Thoughts: I really like the core conceit of this episode. The idea of someone investigating a murder they committed isn’t new, but it’s clever enough that it’s always neat to see. I think the episode could have done a bit more with Brimmer throwing up roadblocks to Columbo’s investigation, but as it stands, it’s a pretty decent execution.

What really stands out to me, though, is the way various characters interact with each other, because I feel like they’re particularly well handled this time around. I like that fact that Mrs. Kennicut doesn’t just meekly accept the blackmail and then back out; she thinks about it for less than a day and then says no, willing to accept the consequences of her actions. Similarly, Mr. Kennicut’s first scene with Columbo is great, because we get a sense of his “get me results as quickly as possible” personality without it feeling like he’s a cold, uncaring person. In other stories, his haste to establish his alibi could be read as suspicious, but here, it sounds like he’s genuinely trying to help. And Columbo himself has some sweet moments, like the way he reassures a certain character that he’s not a suspect or a scene where he interacts with a kid (although that scene does offer up an unintentional PSA about not leaving your children alone for too long when you’re out in public). This sort of thing is the heart of this show, and it’s good to see that the crew has figured it out this early.

The other thing that I appreciate is two particular scenes that go against expectations. A little bit of business at the beginning of the episode feels like the usual “establish Columbo as a bumbler” comedy bit, but it actually pays off near the end of the episode and sets Columbo on the right track. It’s a fine example of playing with our expectations, but in a non-showy way. The other scene does something similar, but in this case, it initially feels like episode padding, only to not only turn out to be relevant, but allows Columbo a great opportunity to prove he’s more talented than he looks. Of course, we the audience should be aware of that, but sometimes, he still manages to surprise me. May he and the show continue to do so.

Number of “Columbo-isms”: 3/6. As usual, there’s several mentions of his wife and a few variations of “Just one more thing”. But we also get an unquestionable view of Columbo’s junker of a car. And while I’ve been arguing with family members about whether or not the car made its debut in “Murder by the Book”, I’m considering this its first official appearance. Hey, my project, my prerogative.

Other: *While this episode doesn’t do too much of the flashy tricks that irked me in “Ransom for a Dead Man”, it doesn’t make a great first impression when the murder/coverup contains two such tricks. One is the dramatic use of slo-mo during the death scene, complete with completely inappropriate “sparkly” noises on the soundtrack as Mrs. Kennicut crashes through a glass countertop. The other is a very long freeze frame on Brimmer’s face, as we watch him clean up the evidence of the death in the lenses of his glasses. On the one hand, it’s a neat idea and a clever effect. On the other, it starts feeling gimmicky after awhile. I’m not sure how you could make that idea work—speed up the footage so it looks like we’re getting a glimpse into his mind, maybe—but I do know it’s one you shouldn’t linger on.

*There is also a very bizarre scene where the camera zooms in on a lamp for no apparent reason. If the lamp faded into a similar looking object in a different area, or we focused on the lightbulb which transitioned into the sun or a different light, that would make sense, but that’s not what happens. Oh, well, I bet people in the 70’s wouldn’t understand some of our editing decisions, either.

*The music in this episode is relatively understated, but during the climax, the piano section gets absurdly loud and bombastic. Yes, it’s dramatic, but it doesn’t need to be that dramatic. Though I am slightly impressed at just how loud pianos can get. Normally we tend to think of them as very soothing instruments.

Would This Hold Up in Court?: I was all set to say yes on this one, but then it came out that Columbo had orchestrated the final confrontation in two different ways that would almost certainly get him in trouble with his superiors, to say nothing of the case being thrown out of court. Well, at least he kind of acknowledges it was a dirty trick.