Day 210: Columbo, Étude in Black

Show: Columbo

Episode Particulars: S2EP1, “Étude in Black,” original airdate September 17^th, 1972.

 Summary: Orchestra conductor Alex Benedict (John Cassavetes) has been cheating on his wife (Blythe Danner) with pianist Jennifer Welles (Anjanette Comer). When Welles tells him he either needs to tell his wife, or she will—and either way, that will lead to a divorce, loss of money, and probably a scandal—he knocks her out and sets things up to look like she killed herself by turning on the gas in the oven. Then he performs his concert at the Hollywood Bowl, no doubt to give himself an airtight alibi. Unfortunately for him, Columbo is very good at figuring out the flaws in so-called perfect alibies.

Standalone Thoughts: This is another episode that has changed slightly with the passage of time. Not only does part of the plot hinge around a typewriter again (and it kind of confused me to boot; why does Columbo think the suicide note on the typewriter was removed and then added? Is it just because the paper doesn’t line up with the typewriter keys?), but the thing that finally catches Benedict out is only considered at the very end of the episode. In order to really explain this, though, I’m going to have to resort to brief SPOILERS.

The concert, you see, is being taped and broadcast for television. We also saw after the murder that Benedict’s carnation boutonniere fell off near Welles’ piano. Benedict realizes the flower is missing partway through the concert, and manages to retrieve it when he visits Welles’ house under the guise of learning what happened to her. It didn’t take too long for me to conclude “They’re going to use the video of the concert to show that he wasn’t wearing a flower, which contradicts his claim that it fell off when he took his coat off in the house.” But the thought of checking the video doesn’t even occur to Columbo until he happens to catch a rerun of the concert. Nowadays, that would probably be done almost immediately, even if it was just considered a formality to prove that Benedict was where he said he was. To be fair, most people probably would have considered that a waste of time, but Columbo’s suspicious of Benedict, so one would think that he would have pursued that line sooner. My conclusion is that this is either a case of Admiral Plot Device, or that it was less common to look at things like that back in the 70’s. Or possibly that I just got ahead of the plot for once.

SPOILERS OVER. Technology aspect aside, the episode is fine. Columbo’s in pretty good form, playing the fool but angling the discussion in a way that the audience (and sometimes the characters) know what he’s really up to. There’s an interesting setup and subversion involving a little girl (Dawn Frame) that may be somewhat predictable if you’re media savvy but is still pretty clever when you look back on it. Overall, the episode is perfectly decent, but it lacks that spark that makes me label it as “good”. But since not every episode can be a winner, I’m not overly concerned about that.

Number of “Columbo-isms”: A very definitive 5/6. Not only are there large bits involving both Columbo’s car and discussions of his wife, but he literally says “Just one more thing”. This episode also introduces another part of the Columbo mythos; his dog. In fact, we learn he’s only just picked the dog, a basset hound, up from the pound because it was about to be euthanized, which says good things about Columbo. As for the last one, he also does a little bit of fiddling in his coat and asks if one of the suspects has a match, but what really makes this interesting is that in an earlier scene, he actually had both a book of matches and a pen ready to go in his coat. Which is probably the most surprising thing I’ve seen him do yet.

Other: *In the opening scene, Benedict starts playing a piece of classical music (I can’t tell if it’s via radio or record) as he prepares the items he needs to carry out the murder. Then he leaves the house to start to put his plan in motion…and the music continues. I know it’s not a big deal, but it does kind of leave the impression that he left the music running even after he left, which was probably not the intent.

*Benedict throws out a few facts about composers early on in the episode, including the suggestion that Beethoven was a sex maniac. Except there’s now a lot of debate over whether or not Beethoven died a virgin. Maybe that’s a newer theory (and another case of the passage of time changing things), but it does help to make Benedict feel more untrustworthy, so I guess it actually worked out in the episode’s favor.

*I do have to wonder why Benedict wore his tuxedo to go murder Welles. He knew how to sneak out without being seen, so why go to all the trouble of getting dressed in your formal clothes when you could ruin them at any point during the execution of your plan? I suppose the intent was that he didn’t have much time, so he needed to get dressed, but I don’t entirely buy it, especially because it still seemed pretty light out after he returned to the Hollywood Bowl, and it was dark when his wife showed up to wish him luck. Sometimes the sun sets far quicker than you’d expect, but even so…

*I can absolutely see how some people could see Columbo’s monologue about suicide and his reaction to the death of Welles’ pet bird to be kind of preachy, but for once, I didn’t really feel that way myself. Maybe it’s because it sounds genuine coming out of Peter Falk’s mouth. Whatever the reason though, the lines didn’t get my back up, so kudos there.

*The episode reuses the “something reflected in glasses” trick from “Death Lends a Hand”, but it’s used much better here. I think it’s because it’s only for a few seconds and conveys information in a clever way.

*At one point, we see Benedict and his orchestra scoring the soundtrack for a documentary. The footage we see them scoring involves Hitler and his popularity with the crowds. But the music they’re recording for that footage seems too…jazzy for what we’re seeing onscreen. I’m not sure what sort of music would be appropriate for scenes like that (marching music? Something kind of sinister sounding?), but what we heard probably wasn’t it.

Would This Hold Up in Court?: While Benedict does say at one point that the case Columbo’s building won’t hold up in court, the answer is ultimately yes. They’ve got some pretty hard evidence, and there’s other evidence (the stuff Benedict dismissed) that can support the claim. It’s nice to have a clear-cut case every so often.