How about in an Exercise in Fatality when Columbo and Milo are in the hospital waiting room and Columbo asks for a light. That was certainly a turning point in the episode.
How about in a Friend in Deed when Columbo and the other cops are is in his apartment and he tells Mark Halperin that he believes he killed his wife….. The look he gave Halperin was classic…. To look your boss in the eye and state emphatically that you believe he’s guilty takes guts
There's Kay Freestone's conversation with him at her first house. You don't hear many "poverty stories" (to use Abigail Mitchell's phrase) in COLUMBO episodes, but that's a good scene with a few of them.
Yes, I enjoyed the Kay Freestone scene, as well. Columbo revealing that in his family "we were never alone" and Freestone sharing the painful memories of how difficult it was for her growing up. Also revealing about each character because Columbo "accepts things as they are" and Freestone apparently does not.
I agree with you Steve, that scene was very good. I read somewhere that it was the first time Columbo got angry with the murderer. I also liked the end of "By Dawn's Early Light" when Columbo was showing how Col. Rumford killed Mr. Hayne and Col. Rumford told him he would do it again -- he felt no remorse.
i love the scene in Make Me a Perfect Murder where Kay is trying to get back to the projection room with her own voice counting down. later on when she tries to get the gun from the elevator roof and also when Columbo torments her via the tv monitors.
Try and Catch Me was filled with great scenes. The great Ruth Gordon as Abigail Mitchell, who was 80 years old when she starred in this episode, is in top form. The writing for this episode was also excellent, and I find I sympathize with Abigail who believes her niece's husband allowed her niece to drown.
My favorite scene is early on, when Abigail lures the greedy Edmund into her walk-in safe and she tells him she *knows* and then slams the door shut on him. Followed by the scene played with Mariette Hartley as Veronica, when Veronica thinks she hears something...and Abigail tells her it's a 'nightingale':
Veronica: Wait a minute, I do hear something
Abigail: What?
Veronica: A nightingale
Abigail: What a clever girl you are
This was, I believe, the first clue that Veronica knows Edmund is in the safe and she is willing to go along as long as she is taken care of.
I agree with Cholly's choice, except that (importantly) this exchange takes place right at the start of the episode, when she was testing the soundproofing using the tape recorder, rather than during the murder scene. This establishes in the very first scene that Veronica is going to play along with whatever happens later on.
The finale of ETUDE IN BLACK between Lt., Benedict and his wife.
Especially, when the cornered killer asks" Can I have a word with you?....this is humiliating"