Maybe this episode isn't the best one ever, especially plot-wise (which is pretty much the usual combination of convenient details and Columbo's relentless sleuthing, with in the background a primary election that is coming up), but Patrick McGoohan always makes for a good baddie. This is his third appearance on the show (he would do one more later), and also his third directing job in the series (he would do two more later on). He never became a big name in Europe as an actor or director, but I thoroughly enjoyed his character Oscar Finch, a highly intelligent and down to earth lawyer who faces Columbo in a (mostly) stoic manner.
The long 'murder-prelude', in which Finch finds himself blackmailed by an old criminal acquaintance which he must deal with quickly, has a terrific build-up. The details that go wrong are maybe a little too convenient for the plot, but it that always the case, and they are still pretty clever - as are Oscar Finch' attempts to shoot holes in Frank's theories. Good fun.
7 out of 10.
P.s. It turns out that McGoohan did a few voices in The Simpsons as well.
The long 'murder-prelude', in which Finch finds himself blackmailed by an old criminal acquaintance which he must deal with quickly, has a terrific build-up. The details that go wrong are maybe a little too convenient for the plot, but it that always the case, and they are still pretty clever - as are Oscar Finch' attempts to shoot holes in Frank's theories. Good fun.
7 out of 10.
P.s. It turns out that McGoohan did a few voices in The Simpsons as well.