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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 276916" data-attributes="member: 23">A Stitch In Crime / The Most Dangerous Match <img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2Ff5%2F73%2F0a%2Ff5730a741c427bc2c942a9e41d2220d7.jpg&f=1&nofb=1" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 538px" /><img src="https://i0.wp.com/columbophile.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/nimoycolumbo.jpg?fit=768%2C576&ssl=1" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 538px" /><img src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMDg2M2Q5YzgtZjg5ZS00N2Q1LWEwMzMtMGEzODZmODYxYzZkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNDM1MzYzMzc@._V1_.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 539px" /><img src="https://miro.medium.com/max/640/0*pLpuuRejrMItGDgy.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 539px" />For the first time during this rewatch, I’ve had a Columbo matinee. The weather not being as good as forecast, I thought I’d pop an episode in the player yesterday afternoon. I didn’t think of it until the episode was underway but this was most nostalgic since I fondly remember Sunday afternoon repeats of Columbo which I would occasionally catch in the late Eighties. Perhaps as late as the early Nineties. Whether or not this influenced the way I viewed the episode is difficult to say but, whatever the case, A Stitch In Crime proved to be one of the most enjoyable for me so far. If I were ranking the episodes as I watched, I feel this one would be somewhere at the very top. This is all the more impressive since this is perhaps one of the least scenic episodes. The hospital setting means there are an awful lot of austere interiors. On that level it feels a little like watching a more typical set-based series of the era. There are a few nice exteriors to balance it out, such as the pier location, the pony ride place (is this where Suzanne Pleshette’s character worked in Dead Weight, I wonder? It looks very similar). Most notably, there’s Dr Mayfield’s home, which IMDb tells me is a resplendent and expansive home on Airole Way, Bel-Air. Visually, there’s also a most striking sequence where Dusty Farlow is drugged and it looks as though a lava lamp had been placed on the lens. Mostly, though, the story is the star with this one. As well as the enjoyably fraught back and forth between Columbo and Dr Mayfield. The ghost of Mr Spock can’t have been an easy one to shake for poor Leonard Nimoy, but this episode shows how it’s done. He’s positively sinister at times. Mayfield also seems to really get under Columbo’s skin. There’s a scene that feels almost out of character where Columbo seems to lose his temper and smash a jug down on Mayfield’s table while raising his voice. Two other things make this episode a bit different from the norm. Firstly and most importantly [spoiler alert] the killer’s intended victim doesn’t die. Secondly, if Dr Hiedemann had died, Mayfield would have become the series’ first killer to notch up three victims. Would this mean Columbo had bagged a serial killer? This episode's Gotcha was satisfying, particularly due to the fake out where it seemed Mayfield would unthinkably get away with his crime. I’d initially thought the lack of suture was evidence in itself since it showed it had dissolved. But it turned out to be even more concrete than this. And it felt like a hard earned win for Columbo. continued...</blockquote>

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