May contain spoilers OK, first to summarize a few of the other comments: 1. Great chemistry between Falk and Shatner This is wonderful to see as a fan of both. But they really do have fun together.
2. Different sort of process where Columbo isn't leading the suspect around, instead it's the opposite The impact of this I'll highlight more later
3. Lucern does quite a good job of the murder, but fails in something seemingly obvious It may be obvious to us now, after watching 200 episodes of CSI, but not so much back then
4. Lucern is brazen in almost giving himself up to Columbo by helping the investigation Some suggest because he thinks he will get away with it 5. Lucern is not confident and constantly changing things, which doesn't coincide with his character/actions Which directly conflicts the prior note – clearly a split audience here
What's going on here is far better than previous shows. In addition to the chemistry between them, we finally see the vision of each of them as well. We don't watch Columbo putter around and reveal everything bit by bit and annoy Lucern – why? Because both are too good for that. Immediately Lucern realizes this and just moves things along. He does this because to wait around for petty details is beneath both of them. He realizes Columbo has done his homework, it's time to see how far he can go.
This is beautiful. Two players knowing the other is strong, and knowing what their moves will be. Aside from finally having a good opponent and switching the flow of the show, it triggers the Lucern – Fowler conflict. Notice that above I refer to Lucern though that's just the TV character Fowler plays. But here is where I think the show was trying to elude to Lucern was trying to convict Fowler. Maybe not that Fowler was completely schitzo, but that his conscious would not let him get away with it. And I think this was triggered once Fowler knew he was probably going to get caught by Columbo anyway.
So in each Lucern "reveal" he's actually doing a few things. He's showing how smart Fowler was in committing the crime, also trying to convict Fowler, and confirming Columbo's strength as an opponent (and thus his decision to incriminate himself more with dignity than getting caught). In the end, there are only two ways it can play out: Fowler gets away with it (here presuming he thinks he left no concrete incriminating evidence) and him showing off as Lucern boosts all egos; Fowler gets caught and Lucern is at least vindicated but also Fowler has dignity in defeat (only a true master could have caught him after all, and who else better than himself/Lucern).
The above may sound weird, but watch the last 15 minutes again. Shatner does a great job of just jumping back and forth between Lucern and Fowler in his thinking. He seems to embrace the thrill of the chase (of himself) and the high risk/reward this implies. And when caught, the last bit is funny for true Shatner fans "and up until now, I was glad I killed her." Maybe the whole thing was just a device to change the pacing/predictability of the show and there was no intended Lucern – Fowler conflict, but that's how I saw it, and I think it plays much better with that in mind.
2. Different sort of process where Columbo isn't leading the suspect around, instead it's the opposite The impact of this I'll highlight more later
3. Lucern does quite a good job of the murder, but fails in something seemingly obvious It may be obvious to us now, after watching 200 episodes of CSI, but not so much back then
4. Lucern is brazen in almost giving himself up to Columbo by helping the investigation Some suggest because he thinks he will get away with it 5. Lucern is not confident and constantly changing things, which doesn't coincide with his character/actions Which directly conflicts the prior note – clearly a split audience here
What's going on here is far better than previous shows. In addition to the chemistry between them, we finally see the vision of each of them as well. We don't watch Columbo putter around and reveal everything bit by bit and annoy Lucern – why? Because both are too good for that. Immediately Lucern realizes this and just moves things along. He does this because to wait around for petty details is beneath both of them. He realizes Columbo has done his homework, it's time to see how far he can go.
This is beautiful. Two players knowing the other is strong, and knowing what their moves will be. Aside from finally having a good opponent and switching the flow of the show, it triggers the Lucern – Fowler conflict. Notice that above I refer to Lucern though that's just the TV character Fowler plays. But here is where I think the show was trying to elude to Lucern was trying to convict Fowler. Maybe not that Fowler was completely schitzo, but that his conscious would not let him get away with it. And I think this was triggered once Fowler knew he was probably going to get caught by Columbo anyway.
So in each Lucern "reveal" he's actually doing a few things. He's showing how smart Fowler was in committing the crime, also trying to convict Fowler, and confirming Columbo's strength as an opponent (and thus his decision to incriminate himself more with dignity than getting caught). In the end, there are only two ways it can play out: Fowler gets away with it (here presuming he thinks he left no concrete incriminating evidence) and him showing off as Lucern boosts all egos; Fowler gets caught and Lucern is at least vindicated but also Fowler has dignity in defeat (only a true master could have caught him after all, and who else better than himself/Lucern).
The above may sound weird, but watch the last 15 minutes again. Shatner does a great job of just jumping back and forth between Lucern and Fowler in his thinking. He seems to embrace the thrill of the chase (of himself) and the high risk/reward this implies. And when caught, the last bit is funny for true Shatner fans "and up until now, I was glad I killed her." Maybe the whole thing was just a device to change the pacing/predictability of the show and there was no intended Lucern – Fowler conflict, but that's how I saw it, and I think it plays much better with that in mind.