Sunday 22 April 2012

Season 7, Episode 3- The Conspirators

Joe Devlin is an Irish poet. He’s very Irish. He’s signing copies of his book at a book shop when Vincent Pauly hands over a copy with ‘Ourselves Alone’ inscribed in it. This is a special code. They meet later and Devlin arranges to buy guns from Pauly but Pauly is a double crosser so Devlin shoots him.
Columbo shows up at 19 minutes and 35 seconds and plays some pinball. Excellent scene in which Columbo examines a book of erotic art, humorous.
The columboid is a scratch on a whiskey bottle.
Things we learn about Columbo: he has a nephew that likes bodybuilding and does needlepoint before any bodybuilding contest in order to relax.
I ate a very bland meal during this episode.

Season 7, Episode 2, Murder Under Glass

Paul Gerrard is a TV food critic. He’s a shady guy taking a 25% cut from local restaurants in exchange for positive reviews. If they don’t pay up he’ll ruin them. Ruin them. Italian restaurateur Vittorio Rossi isn’t happy with this arrangement and wants it to end. Paul injects wine with poison he extracted from a blowfish.
Columbo turns up at 9 minutes and 41 seconds. He speaks Italian, enjoys the hospitality of all the bribed restaurants and then catches Paul Gerrard with a tricksy columboid involving switched glasses.
This episode is directed by Silence of the Lambs director Jonathan Demme and is rich with information on Columbo. Columbo does a little cooking, nothing fancy though, he grew up near China town and has probably eaten more egg rolls than cannelloni, Mrs Columbo is at night school and about to sit her final exam in accounting, his pop used to cook for the kids when his mom was in hospital having a baby- which was about once a year for a while, he spent most of his time in the kitchen as a child because the living room was only used for funerals and visits from teachers.
I watched this episode in bed. Last days of Rome.

Season 7, Episode 1- How to Dial a Murder

Dr Eric Mason is some kind of motivational speaker quack. He has Citizen Kane’s sled and dogs named Laurel and Hardy that will maul a dummy when a phone rings and someone says ‘Rosebud’. His wife is dead, he killed her because she was having an affair with his best friend Charlie. Now it’s Charlie’s time to die.
Under false tennis pretences he gets Charlie round his house. He’s not there though. He’s at the doctors. When the doctor leaves for a couple of minutes Eric calls his own house, Charlie answers, is tricked into saying ‘Rosebud’ and is savaged to death by a massive pair of Dobermans.
Columbo shows at 10 minutes and 17 seconds. He’s very impressed with Mason’s collection of Hollywood memorabilia. Mason’s dogs are confiscated but Columbo won’t let them be ‘destroyed’ as he knows they’re the key to the mystery.
Columbo goads Mason into confessing by calling him incompetent.
Things we learn about Columbo: he thinks W.C. Fields was a genius, he likes hot chocolate, he enjoys playing pool but rarely gets to play it, his wife is alone a lot because he works nights so he’s training their dog to be a guide dog.
I was consumed with illness during this episode.

Season 6, Episode 4- Try and Catch Me

Ruth Gordon (Maude from Harold and Maude!) is Abigail Mitchell, a best selling murder mystery novelist. Her beloved niece Phyllis is dead and Abigail suspects Phyllis’s slick husband Edmund killed her. She tells him he’ll inherit her vast fortune when she dies and then tricks him into getting into her massive air tight safe. She locks the safe and then sets off on a trip. Columbo shows up at 18 minutes and 14 seconds. He gets on well with Abigail and is forced to observe that sometimes he likes and respects murderers. She is, indeed, the nicest murderer I’ve ever encountered. But Columbo is very professional in his work and therefore, he has to arrest her. I felt kind of sad about it.
Things we learn about Columbo: he’s read every Abigail Mitchell novel, he takes three lumps of sugar in his tea, his parents are dead, his dog loves the ocean and he can still remember the only new car his father ever owned.
During this episode I tumble dried some pyjamas.