It’s strange continuing to watch something in decline. I know there are still good episodes of Columbo left (I’ve seen a few of them before), but I also know that the golden days are already behind and I will be looking at to diminishing returns as a tired man puts on his old costume and runs through the motions, recalling a brighter past, like seeing one’s own parents growing old and frail. With Columbo at least we know how much time there is left and how many more hours we can expect with him before the end. I’m not really writing a review at this point, just musing on death. I do that quite a bit at the moment.

Only three episodes and none were major stand-outs. Not much to say.

I think there is a loose trend here where they are trying to write Columbo as overly clever, with Columbo not just catching people out in a gap in logic but threatening to dole out ironic fates that returns a small aspect of meanness to the character not present since Prescription: Murder. The escalation of cases to involving international relations and spies also smells of insecurity in the basic structure of the show, though it still remains very enjoyable. The repeatedly leaning on Columbo shouting as comedy bit is not exactly the height of humour, but Peter Falk looks like he’s enjoying himself doing it.

I am fascinated by this shot in Columbo where I think they might have edited these panels sliding shut in in order to cover up a continuity error.

I don’t have much to say other than that it was a really solid run of episodes and that I didn’t expect an episode of Columbo to be that horny about hypnosis.

murderers in Columbo are always conspicuously announcing what time it is to people in order to establish an alibi with witnesses but this wouldn’t work on me because my memory is shite

Mostly solid but some episodes dragged down by silly gimmicks like the tonally jarring use of Robby the Robot and his boy genius programmer or bringing in Johnny Cash to give a fairly mediocre performance.

Very strong series. Does feel a bit less experimental than the first was at times but they have also settled into a rhythm that works. The only real stinker was Dagger of the Mind. They do lean into giving Columbo some more identifiable quirks with the car and the dog and they are going to bring them up enough times to make sure you know that these are his quirks and you will find them endearing but it isn’t overbearing and the dog and the car are both cute.

It is simply incredibly satisfying to watch Columbo slowly and methodically pass a rich socialite enough rope to finally hang themself with.

I mean I just can't have you accused of murder on the wrong evidence.

Here’s my boy!

It is not a particularly original observation to point out that this is not quite Columbo yet. He’s too clean, he’s too mean, he’s too much of a cop. It’s a little jarring and it makes me think of Columbo like a slasher movie villain. His relentless, friendly pursuit is of course always justified and always correct. The audience knows for a fact that the insufferable, rich socialite of the week did it, how they did it, and that they deserve to get caught. But seeing him screaming at Joan, reducing her to tears and seeing her still holding herself together and tell him “No” I cannot help but think: What if he was wrong? What if he was just a cop with a prejudice he calls a hunch and he was hounding you day after day, trying to dig up anything he can, playing nice and then promising to break you. Which is of course has not really been a hypothetical for many people in the world. I am really just asking what if Columbo was actually a cop.