Never liked this episode at all. I also doubt Nadia could be tricked into doing what she did. Amazing no one called or came by the Donner apartment. Maid service, for example. And found a zoned out Nadia sitting like the sphinx. I have less trouble believing in the power of subliminal cuts in Double Exposure. As for the final trick, suddenly Collier is the world's stupidest villain. All he has to do is keep his mouth shut. Or say that Columbo's witness is lying because he has never, ever been to the beach house before. Could he possibly implicate himself anymore? Even if that was the real blind man, so what? No way could Collier or any one else assume he was blind by the way he acted. And why would any cop try such a stupid trick as bringing in a really blind person as an eyewitness?

Joe

that is the great thing about columbo..its like hes a psychologist and can outsmart the killers..of course, this case wouldve never even went for sentencing because theres too many loopholes. not one of my favorites either because i cant buy that nadia would jump off the balcony, naked no less. and she realizes what shes doing while shes jumping, give me a break. but i still watch because its columbo!

interesting article on subliminals in snopes. it references the Columbo episode at the end.

http://www.snopes.com/business/hidden/popcorn.asp

This is the one episode I haven't seen in years, but I'm sure that it is coming on TV soon in the UK. On Sky Digital and various TV magazines they keep advertising the wrong episode on Sunday. e.g. this episode was supposed to be on two weeks ago and instead, "Playback" was on; today "Playback" is advertised is being on again...we shall see..

It's a repeated pattern in "Columbo" that, when the first killing is not sufficiently blameworthy -- as you say, more like manslaughter, or sometimes even accidental death -- then a second, more cold-blooded killing is done, to make the killer more fully deserving of the viewer's (and Columbo's) wrath.

I'd like to see a sequel to this episode. George Hamilton was good in the 80's Columbo and last I heard was still going strong.
I kind of like this ep. I like the idea of Hamilton calling from the party, right in front of Columbo, to give Nadia the command.

Funny, I alaways love this final trick in "Deady State of Mind", it really contain a fabulous twist, in fact it's one of my favouire end. As for "Double Exposure", I enjoy the whole episode and the interaction between Falk and Culp, but the ending is just far from satisfysing. Actually if the writer could come up with a better ending, I would give it full score.

I've always thought it strange that Columbo doesn't investigate the state of the gatepost into which Donner crashes his car (possibly after the blind man tells him there has been an accident).

Then the final clue could be something like a paint trace from Donner's car left on the gatepost. And the corny final line could instead be, "I don't have an eyewitness, but I do have an earwitness".

In episodes such as this, Columbo fails somewhat in his duty in allowing a second murder to occur at all.

In 'Double Exposure', why Kepple doesn't dispose of the incriminating piece of evidence earlier on is beyond me.

I always liked this episode and the ending despite the certain weaknesses people have mentioned. However, the ending is not really plot-specific...they could have thrown a blind man in any episode. Maybe it would have been better if the ending had been related to the plot to murder Nadia, rather than focusing on the manslaughter-ish killing of Karl.