It always amazes me when a "regular" on this site says that it is the first time they have seen an episode. YM you mentioned that it is the first time you have seen this one and also Short Fuse. I just find it incredible that someone with such obvious knowledge of the show has not seen all original 45. But I must say...I truly envy you! It must be great to see a "new" (to you) episode. Terrific! Are there any other's of the 45 that you haven't seen yet?

Death Lends a Hand is yet another one of those for me that I really wasn't thrilled about the first time I saw it, but I have grown to love it. (Geesh! I think I have said that about every episode!! Well, with the possible exception of Etude in Black! )
I love that scene too where you see 2 sets of action taking place in Brimmer's glasses. Until I got the dvds I had never seen that before....Bravo always cut that out.
I loved Ray Milland in this...the big *****cat! And I thought his performance was so beautifully subtle and soft. When he is handing Columbo the envelope containing his wife's personal effects, you can actually see the pain and sadness on his face. And every time he says her name, Lenore, there is such a gentleness in his voice.
And not to be a pain (even though I know I am ) I can't let this post of mine go by without saying....."You take a potata...."

I have to disagree with the critical remarks about this episode, as I regard it as my favorite Season 1 episode. I think it ranks even better than "Murder By The Book" which suffers from an unbelievably weak ending. Yes, the question of entrapment is enough to give pause, but it's a far more effective ending IMO.

I also give this episode higher marks for the fact that it's the only episode of the regular series that Levinson and Link wrote themselves, and as a result it's the only episode of the series where I feel like I'm seeing the Columbo from "Prescription Murder", which showed a Columbo that was less weighed by gimmicks, and never prone to moments of low comedy. The first scene with the golf pro, Archer, I think shows Columbo in the kind of way we never saw in subsequent seasons. He's putting on an act that whole time about wanting a lesson and his tee shot ends up being pretty straight and demonstrating that Columbo is already familiar with the game. It helps sends the message, "Don't BS with me. I know you had an affair with her." If that scene had taken place several years later during the run of Columbo there would have probably been a moment of low comedy of Columbo hitting a shot into the water and apologizing for losing the ball or he might have taken a bad divot or something that would have made the scene less effective. But in this episode, the right balance exists in the character and it's one of those touches that makes me enjoy this episode more than I do ones from the later years when there was too much self-consciousness about Columbo and his quirks.

Any episode with a Gil Melle score also gets higher marks with me, and this is also IMO Culp's best guest-killer performance. Strong performances from Milland as the sympathetic Arthur Kennicutt, and Patricia Crowley is effective in her brief role as the victim.

OK...now wait one darn pickin' minute MR. CENSOR THINGY!! All I said was that Ray Milland was a p*u*s*s*y*c*a*t!! Geesh!!!

I pretty much agree with what Eric said.

Unlike some, I find the first season episodes a notch higher in overall quality than those of subsequent seasons. I'm currently in the process of watching them again, and I've enjoyed every single one immensely. (Yes, even "Dead Weight" and "Lady in Waiting". Maybe I should also confess that I always liked "Short Fuse", and only paid attention to its shortcomings after reading "The Columbo Phile".)

Just my opinion - quality is sometimes very hard to define. However, what I've called the "freshness" of the first season episodes probably has a lot to do with the fact that the Columbo character isn't yet too much caught in mannerisms and broad comedy - "weighed by gimmicks" as Eric said. Also, the music scores in the first season by both Mellé and Goldenberg are, in my opinion, outstanding. If I had to choose, however, I too would prefer Mellé's jazzy scores.

As to "Death Lends a Hand", I think another nice scene is the second one with the golf pro. (Columbo waiting in the pro's car and suggesting they take a walk etc.) Here, talking to someone whom he doesn't consider a suspect and who is already defeated, Columbo isn't putting up his usual act. It's a nice contrast to the first scene at the golf club.

As has already been mentioned, "Death Lends a Hand" really benefits from strong performances from the leads: Culp is an incisively self-assured murderer; Milland oozes sympathy and compassion as the widowed man etc. etc.;

The plot twists the woman-cheats-on-husband theme very effectively, but the best aspect of this episode is how Columbo subtlety questions and contradicts Culp's characters's theories and suspicions.

The way Columbo "gets his man" is terrific; the hitherto confident yet volatile murderer is slowly undermined by Columbo's well-aimed, provocative assessments of the clues. The irony is that Columbo lies about the missing contact lense to unmask the killer; it is vintage stuff.

The ending reflects the quality of the overall episode; unlike two other otherwise excellent offerings from Season 1, namely "Murder by the Book" & "Lady in Waiting" which effectively cheat the viewer with unconvincing endings.