Hello everyone,
I know this kind of subject were here thousands of times, but it is realy nice to keep this forum alive. Some time ago I finished watching all Columbo episodes, one by one, took me I guess 10 months :)
I decided to do it once again but after every episode maybe I will start a subject here with some of my conclusions, questions, observations, my favourite funny moments etc. We will see if people will take a discussion and if I will continue further with another episodes, so let's get started.
Prescription: Murder, some observations (I don't know if all were mentioned here, I am afraid nothing escaped your attention here).
- on the airport they are asking Joan if she has hand luggage, but obviously she is carrying one! Nice interior of the plane by t he way.
- is that Columbo's lates entrance? He appears at 30:50. I can not think about other episodes with such a late entrance of him
- it is suspicious for Columbo that dr. Flemming didn't say "hello honey, I'm home". Personaly it is kinda funny for me, is it still like this? In my country we don't do that, so I guess I'd be suspicious for Columbo too :P
- when Joan and Dr. Flemming are leaving to airport they leave a telephone on the bar. When he comes back, telephone is on small table. Who's moved it?
- I love Columbo's face expression when he sees reaction of Flemming when he finds out his wife is conscious
- I like the way Columbo is saying "tell me, those trade journals and those medical books, did you take them with you when you went fishing?" :)
- I don't find Joan Hudson attractive, and I'm not so big fan of Dr. Flemming as a person, I see nothing positive in this character :P
Question:
- what was it about with Tommy guy? Why did he confess? was it arranged by somebody? what was the point of that?
So, that are basic comments after watching it again :)

All good questions/observations, Matti! Here are my 2 cents on a few of them:


"it is suspicious for Columbo that dr. Flemming didn't say "hello honey, I'm home"."

I think Columbo's suspicions are aroused because Flemming enters the apartment, sees the broken glass, police tape, etc, and doesn't call out for his wife at all - he just stands there looking at it. Columbo's reasoning is: if a man came home and saw all that, wouldn't his first instinct be to call for his wife? Flemming not reacting at all indicates he may know something.

"what was it about with Tommy guy? Why did he confess? was it arranged by somebody? what was the point of that?"

I have two theories: 1.) Tommy is a genuinely disturbed guy who confesses to the crime out of some compulsion (some people will confess to things for attention, etc), and Columbo wants to see how Flemming will react. 2.) Tommy is a set-up arranged by Columbo, also to see how Flemming will react. Either way, Columbo wants to see how the psychologist will treat this "confession," knowing that he is the real murderer.

Prescription: Murder is a good episode and Dr. Flemming is a great villain, but the show and character still needed some perfecting. Still, it's amazing how many things from this episode would form the backbone of the show for its entire run!

Great idea!!! About eight years ago give or take I did a rundown on this forum of every episode one by one and it's going to be fun to go through these with you again.

As far as Prescription Murder is concerned, I also agree that the Tommy thing was a setup. In fact Dr Fleming afterwards tells Columbo that he thinks the boy is lying.

I'm going to keep my replies short to give other people a chance to weigh in on the subjects. This is a great idea. Going through all of these episodes one at a time.

Thank you for your comments. I appreciate
DirQ, yes I think you are right about Dr. Flemming coming back home, he saw all the suspicious circumstances and he didn't even say a word.
About Tommy I was thinking that it was a set up made by Columbo but I wanted to hear another opinions.
Fred, thank you for your nice words, and yes, I remember you doing the same thing here, episode by episode, I always had a great pleasure to read it and enjoy :)

NOW YOU SEE HIM had a delayed entrance of 30 or so minutes.
All those lame magic tricks really padded the otherwise good episode.

I also really liked the "extra luggage weight" clue, and I thought it was one of the better clues in the entire series.

The "medical journals" answer was very quick and clever, and definitely proved that Dr. Fleming was going to be a very intelligent and difficult opponent.

And yes as you stated, the"Tell me, those trade journals and those medical books, did you take them with you when you went fishing?" line is absolutely hilarious!