Day 260: Columbo, No Time to Die

Show: Columbo

Episode Particulars: S10EP5, “No Time to Die”, original airdate February 15^th, 1992.

 Summary: After years of Columbo talking about his extended family, we finally meet one of them. His nephew, Andy Parma (Thomas Calabro) is also a police officer, and is getting married to Melissa Hayes (Joanna Going), a new but successful fashion model. The wedding is lovely, but as the newlyweds prepare for their wedding night, Melissa is kidnapped right out of the wedding suite. Andy immediately turns to Columbo for help, who discreetly assembles several other cops to help him in the search. What follows is a lot of phone calls, cross-checking, and following up leads, all of which manage to be riveting. Who knew Columbo could actually be a police procedural if the crew put their mind to it?

Standalone Thoughts: This is probably the most unusual Columbo episode. It doesn’t just slightly deviate from the formula, it shakes up everything. There’s no murder, we’re not entirely sure who the perpetrator is, we see a lot of perspectives other than Columbo’s and the murderer’s, and more police techniques are used than the usual vague mentions of lab reports or dusting for prints. Most importantly, Columbo’s not going it alone; several other cops get involved, bringing their own particular skills to the table. It’s actually really interesting in its own right, and if this was a movie that didn’t involve Columbo at all, I’d probably still enjoy watching it.

There really is a lot of good material here. The investigative techniques on display feel realistic and never feel contrived. The pacing, music, and use of flashing the time across the screen occasionally help to increase the tension, especially as we near the end. Melissa isn’t just a damsel in distress, but tries her best to save herself, which would have earned her a spot on my “Best Female Characters” list if this was being reviewed over on my movie blog. About the only things I think are weaknesses is the lack of backstory on the villain (we get enough to get the gist, but I’d have liked some sort of psychological profile to explain how he got to where he was) and the very end of the episode, which feels like the crew was going for light comedy to soften the mood but played it too broad and thus made it feel a little inappropriate. As flaws go, though, that’s extremely minor.

It’s not exactly fair to lump this episode with the other Columbos, given how different it is. But factoring that in, I’d say this is a fairly strong episode and worth watching, though you might want to watch a bunch of earlier episodes first so you can get a sense of what an anomaly this is. Even then, don’t necessarily judge it by the general merits of Columbo; just take it for what it is, and I think you’ll probably enjoy it.

Number of “Columbo-isms”: I’d say 3/6, with a small bit that might pass for fumbling but is small enough to be uncertain. Two of the tropes—Mrs. Columbo and the car—are fairly easy to include. The fact that Columbo managed to slip in a variation of “Just one more thing” is more of a surprise. It’s not quite in the usual context, but I guess they felt Columbo wasn’t Columbo without the phrase. Also, Columbo spends almost all of the episode in a tux instead of his usual brown suit, but he does wear his raincoat over it most of the time, so his appearance isn’t too jarring.

Other: *Since this episode is so different in general, it’s hard to find anything that falls under “miscellaneous”. So this section’s going to remain mostly blank.

Would This Hold Up in Court?: While this is a very different case than Columbo’s usual fare, I’ll say yes, given what Melissa will likely say in her testimony. But that’s just my best guess given the nature of this story.