Sunday, November 19, 2017

Day 245: Columbo, The Conspirators




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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