I just watched the episode, and I am also struck by the ridiculous idea that he could take out the partially dissolved sutchers, keep them, and no one notice. Also, the old cut up removed sutchers being absent would be the real smoking gun for the scene. Finding non-disolving sutchers freshly removed, would be the exonerating thing for the evil doc. So as cool as it is to imagine, the scene makes no sense.

hello there.

thank u for that info.
the reason i was confused is the fact when he grabbed him, u never see him slip the thread in his pocket
when columbo pulled the thread and said "they never searched me"
also look close and u will see dr. mayfield's house was the same house ken franklyn lived in the show"murder by the book"
happy holidays
chris williams

Another funny thing is, if Columbo had had one of those "tough TV cop" personalities, maybe Mayfield wouldn't have had the nerve to fake an angry scene and put his hands on him that way! But the fact that Columbo had that calm temper (apart from the big moment with the paperweight) probably gave Mayfield the confidence to do that.

yes!!
that paper weight scene was very scary
maybe the only time columbo ever lost his cool
besides the scene with milo janis in the waiting room.

i love it when columbo catches the arrogant ones
i love it when he also has sympathy for people like the show with ruth gordon as the writer.

do u think he should have given her a break ?
"being a old woman and all,harmless"

(psst..not to be picky, but it wasn't a paper weight. it was a coffee carafe.)

I think that was a different episode

the coffee carafe was definitely featured in 'a stitch in crime'...maybe he slammed a paper weight down in another episode, possibly a an abc (newer episode), but i have yet to see all of them yet.
but again, what columbo slammed on mayfield's desk was most certainly a coffee carafe.

All I know is, I used to think that maybe it was that clock (the one that Mayfield is winding in that first scene with Columbo), and I was glad to find out afterwards that I was wrong. Without being TERRIBLY attached to them, I've always liked clocks, so I hated to think about the damage that might've been done to it.

ahh..that's sweet, grant. in an odd way, i've always loved clocks myself. there is just something about them that i find so sweet.
although, there was a period in my life when my uncle johnny brought home a cuckoo clock from germany and at one point it sorta died out, and my father repeatedly tried to fix it, and then...at the end of his rope, he threw it across the kitchen at the wall! but the best part is, it worked just perfectly after that!

and dang it, there are so many inferences to 'time pieces' in columbo episodes. the list is endless.

I don't understand how one could watch this episode repeatedly but still not realise. Grant has explained it. Mayfield of course has such "wonderful hands" that no one saw him remove the suture.