I suspect that if Peter Falk as Columbo were given an IQ test he would pass it with flying colors, scoring high enough maybe to rate admission to the Sigma (Mensa) society. The premise of this show is always how the bumbling homicide cop always trips up some very smart people. In this story Falk is up against some certified geniuses.
In fact a pair of business partners in an investment brokerage firm are members of the club and one of them Sorrell Booke is accusing the other Theodore Bikel with some creative accounting. So before Booke goes public, Bikel has to murder him, but do it creatively. And he's got a nice plan worked out with the rest of the club members as alibi witnesses. It involves two squibs, a silencer, an umbrella and a record player.
One of the nice things about this show was it gives Falk a chance for a moment of reflection where he says that he realizes he's not as smart as many who came on the force at the same time he did. But that by hard work and study he got to the top of his profession and how much he loves his job. Especially when he takes down smart guys like Bikel.
Although quite frankly the part of the episode where he does trip Bikel up didn't quite ring true for me. I don't think it would have been that easy.
In fact a pair of business partners in an investment brokerage firm are members of the club and one of them Sorrell Booke is accusing the other Theodore Bikel with some creative accounting. So before Booke goes public, Bikel has to murder him, but do it creatively. And he's got a nice plan worked out with the rest of the club members as alibi witnesses. It involves two squibs, a silencer, an umbrella and a record player.
One of the nice things about this show was it gives Falk a chance for a moment of reflection where he says that he realizes he's not as smart as many who came on the force at the same time he did. But that by hard work and study he got to the top of his profession and how much he loves his job. Especially when he takes down smart guys like Bikel.
Although quite frankly the part of the episode where he does trip Bikel up didn't quite ring true for me. I don't think it would have been that easy.