07:00 Columbo
09:00 Hunter
Columbo. Episode 10. "Étude in Black" While the previous episode was clever but lacked tension, this one isn't very clever but the tension between hunter and prey make it one of the very best Columbo episodes. And it has several scenes that are truly classic.
John Cassavetes murders his mistress, but drops something at the crime scene. He returns to get it and brazenly picks it up and takes it back in full view of Columbo and everyone else. Whereupon the rumpled detective bounds across the room, grabs his hand and declares: "I'm a big fan of yours, a really big fan!" with a huge grin on his face. Meaning: You are an arrogant murderer and I'm going to take you down.
I love that moment.
And the movie is full of them. Columbo spends one scene talking about the guy's house and another one talking about his car. He also puts forward the theory - to to the guy's face - that he is the murderer and explains openly how he has arrived at this conclusion. The murderer is openly amazed by his pursuer and John Cassavetes is simply superb in the role.
There is a lot of variety to the Columbo stories. Sometimes we meet the murderer long before they think to commit a crime, sometimes we meet them hours/minutes before they do it. Sometimes they are justified in what they do, and sometimes they are arrogant and hateful. Sometimes they are undone in a clever/complex manner and sometimes it's a very obvious ending but it takes a great detective/hero to make it happen. This is a story which introduces the bad guy as he prepares to kill his victim (a mistress who is blackmailing him into leaving his wealthy wife). His motives are selfish and he is ultimately weak and hard to like (but easy to watch thanks to a great performance).
Peter Falk is at his best here. There's another classic scene early on, where Columbo talks about the victim. Usually they are just a dead body. Not this time. Columbo humanises her in a way he rarely and Falk is nothing sort of superb in his performance: repeating the same line of dialogue four times in a superb soliloquy, and never with the same nuances of sadness. Truly a master detective played by a master actor. A+
Hunter. Season 3, Episode 7. "True Confessions" One of my all-time favourite episodes of Hunter and one of my all-time favourite hours of television. Ever.
Hunter changed a lot from the first season to the third season. It started life as a big, loud action show and became a subtle, cerebral detective show. But, even at the start, it could do something that no other cop show could do. It told stories with great characters who did unpredictable things and changed the story around so much that you never knew what was going to happen.
This is one of those.
It's structured unlike anything else on TV. The two main character of the show don't appear much in the first third of the episode. Nether does the main character of the story! I'm sure there's a rule against that somewhere, but rules are made to be broken and Roy Huggins has the skill to break rules.
A young woman dies after partying with three men. They convince her to take cocaine and are in the process of raping her when she goes into a seizure and dies. A patrolman at the scene of the incident is surprised when one of the three men blurts out a confession. At the trial that follows: the confession is thrown out and - as a consequence - so is the case. Even the judge says they are guilty, but his hands are tied. There's a media storm and - a third of the way through - our focus switches to the sister of the dead girl who is dragged from the courtroom swearing that the three men "will pay".
In rapid succession two of the men are shot down. Hunter and McCall (who up to this had appeared in cameos) go to the sister of the dead woman. She's their main suspect and we only see the case from her perspective. She claims to be innocent, claims that she is being framed/used and claims that the media attention directed at her (which makes her out to be an avenging heroine) makes her sad and uncomfortable. She says she wants no more death and want to move on with her life.
Lauren Tewes gives a superb performance. There is no way to know what is going on. Is she a sincere women caught in a web of deceit and murder, or is she a clever murderer who knows how to lie convincingly? Scene after wonderful scene will leave you no wiser. You might not know what is happening, but you know you are getting a great story.
I've seen this episode many, many times. I love it with a passion. Every scene is perfect. The character work on the regulars (especially Rick Hunter) is great. The three main guest characters are well sketched out, too. Tewes' character is fascinating to watch. So is the third and final member of the original trio. The episode gives him one short scene of remorse at one point. It serves no purpose within the story, but it's an example of truly great storytelling. Giving the audience a reason to invest in even the most minor of characters, by taking the time to flesh them out in ways that matter.
Hunter is at his most laconic in this episode, and he has never been cooler (kudos to Fred Dryer) and the episodes ends abruptly with a great final line of dialogue and a haunting freeze frame that lingers in the mind for a long time after viewing. A+
Highlight? Tough call. Two great episodes. Two of my favourite episodes that I have seen many times. But, if forced to choose I will pick Hunter because of Lauren Tewes.
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Sat, Sep 13, 08 - Columbo, Hunter
