Double Shock

Martin Landau? Playing twins? This thrilled me when I first saw the plot synopsis, but something told me the novelty was not going to work, and unfortunately that proved to be right.

As in all "Columbo" episodes, we watch the killer carry out an elaborate scheme to murder someone. This time Landau is the killer. He plays smarmy TV chef Dexter Paris, whose rich uncle (Paul Stewart) is about to marry a woman (Julie Newmar) young enough to be his granddaughter. The uncle's nephew visits him while he takes a bath, plugs in an egg beater and throws it into the tub, electrocuting the old man. But when the young fiancée and a trusted housekeeper (Jeanette Nolan) discover the body, it's clothed in a sweatsuit and slumped over an exercise bike. It looks as if he had a heart attack while riding it. But our rumpled Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk) is on the case and notices a few things that just don't add up.

That's when we meet Landau again, this time playing the rigidly proper banker, Norman Paris, identical twin brother to the looser-mannered TV chef. This immediately alerts us to the possibility that not everything we see is what we think we see. When we think we're watching TV-chef-Landau, are we really seeing uptight-banker-Landau, and vice versa?

Stephen Bochco – now well known for creating popular TV series like "Hill Street Blues" and "L.A. Law" – wrote some of the best episodes of the series, including "Murder by the Book" and "Étude in Black." This time he's listed only as co-writer, which may explain how the script could have turned out flabby and shallow.

The script really fails Martin Landau. Both his characters have some atrociously arch dialogue, including a wisecrack right before the electrocution-murder: "I think you're going to get a charge out of this." Ugh.

Other elements almost – but don't quite – work. For instance, the housekeeper takes an extraordinary dislike to Columbo. She screams at him when she sees him dropping cigar ashes on the carpet and continues screaming throughout the show. This is supposed to be funny, I guess, but it comes off as shrill. However, their interplay does produce a nice moment where Columbo tries to win her back to his side, apologizing for his habitual untidiness and expressing genuine hurt feelings over her dislike of him. This is a side of Columbo we don't see too often.

Then there's the scene where Columbo goes to visit Dexter as he tapes his TV show. Columbo winds up on camera assisting him in preparing a dish. It comes close to being charming because Falk and Landau are clearly improvising. But ultimately it's just long and pointless; and it was an indulgence to include it in the episode.

Two supporting performances are notable. Newmar gives an overly quirky performance as the flighty fiancée. Her behavior is so odd I kept expecting her to turn out to be a drug addict. (Also, her face looks a little too tight, as if she'd had some work done on it. She was around forty but her character was probably supposed to be in her mid-20s.) Dabney Coleman plays another policeman and gives some personality to a minor, functional character without being too distracting. He demonstrates in this early role what a gifted character actor he would later prove to be.

This is an interesting, but ultimately disappointing episode. Die-hards may want to check it out, but casual "Columbo" fans can skip it.

"Double Shock" from Columbo's second season veers from the pattern of the other shows, but it is every bit is good.

Paul Stewart plays Clifford Paris, a wealthy older man (65 years old, in fact), about to marry a sexy younger woman (Julie Newmar). He has two nephews, one bad and one good, and both played by Martin Landau. Dexter is a gregarious wheeler-dealer who has his own TV show as a chef; Norman is arrogant and conservative and works in a bank. The two don't speak.

Dexter visits his uncle before he leaves to get married. Later, while Clifford is taking a bath, either he or Norman throw a mixer into the bath water and electrocute him. Clifford is found dead on an exercise bicycle by his fiancée.

The question is, which twin is responsible? They both stand to inherit Clifford's fortune.

This is a really good Columbo, and one where we don't know the murderer until the end of the show.

Jeanette Nolan plays Clifford's housekeeper of 30 years, Mrs. Peck, who has a touch of OCD. When she meets Columbo, it's total fireworks as he walks around with his cigar, dropping ashes, breaking things, using a solid silver tray as an ashtray, and breaking her television - it's absolutely hilarious. "You must have been born in a pigsty," she spits at him. He's terrified of her.

Martin Landau is terrific, giving each twin a different personality. Julie Newmar demonstrates some remarkable yoga.

Very enjoyable. Just wish Columbo had brought his dog into the house. Would have loved to have seen Mrs. Peck's reaction.

Lieutenant Columbo sets out to prove that two estranged brothers united in order to kill their wealthy uncle, because they wanted to stop him from disinheriting them from his will.

An enjoyable Columbo episode with the usual formula competently assembled, but the real delight here is the excellent Martin Landau who scores in his double role as the twin brothers.

This episode has been released on video in the UK paired with the second pilot episode, Ransom For A Dead Man (1971).

Fun Easter egg... the "soap opera" stars appearing on the poor battered TV in this episode were all co stars of Martin Landau on the science fiction show Space:1999 which was being broadcast at the same time.

The show is solid and has a unique feel. For one thing, Columbo talks to four different characters as possible suspects. As a result, it feels a bit more like an traditional detective story.

Another fun fact... the mystery food being made is hollandaise sauce. This scene I found very engaging. Falk really plays the star struck detective, almost unable to speak when he is suddenly on live TV.

The explaination for how the murder occurred isn't apparent until the end. I think the show generally had a fun feeling and may have been a bit indulgent as they knew they had a hit by then.

Guest villain in this Columbo story is Martin Landau. The victim in this case is Paul Stewart who is Landau's uncle and tight controller of the family purse strings. Stewart is also going out with Julie Newmar who is an overage flower child and Landau is worried that the family fortune will go to her and with good reason.

Nothing left to do but kill Stewart and this is accomplished by dropping an electric mixer into Stewart's bath electrocuting him. Then we have Stewart's body dried up and semi-dressed and put him on an electric exercise machine to make it look like he died of a heart attack there.

The rub in this episode is that Landau is playing a dual role. The charismatic host of a cooking show who spends money like it was going out of style and an uptight banker who has a not so secret gambling problem. Stewart's money will bail both of them, especially banker Landau out of considerable debt.

There are a couple of other substantial roles in this story. One is Tim O'Connor the family attorney who's had a good income from handling the affairs of Stewart and wants to keep right on doing it. The other is Jeanette Nolan who Peter Falk irritates the hell out of. She's a most uptight housekeeper and Columbo spilling his cigar ashes on her immaculate floor drives to distraction. She also hates having any interruption of her television shows. But the disruption of that service is an important clue for our rumpled detective.

Scenes with Nolan and Falk are the high point of this good Columbo story.