Hello everyone!

Someone please explain the ending to me. It makes no sense. I've read the descriptions in other threads and, I am sorry, it still makes no sense.

How does Milo know is WEARING his gym clothes? Didn't Gene tell him as much! I'm working out...well...if he's working out, chances are he is in his workout clothes. No??? Can't we all assume he's in his workout clothes.

How does Milo saying he was in his workout clothes incriminate him? I don't get it. Someone explain.

Also, major plot fault here...but couldn't Columbo have just checked the telephone records and seen that NO phone call was made from Gene's office to Milo's house. Over and done! No call log...no call.

Columbo has used that trick in previous episodes...why not in this one? Doesn't make sense.

This had to be one of my least favorite episodes.

Gene was ALONE in the building. It was after hours and the building was LOCKED, so the only one who could possibly have known he had "changed into in his gym clothes" was the one who dressed the body.

The mistake Milo made was being the only one in the case to reveal the fact to police in his own sworn statement.

milo says to columbo in the final scene..that he concedes to the fact that someone other than gene himself dressed him...the proof of the sneaker tying proves that. so if he says that someone else dressed him..."the murderer"...how else would he know he was in his gym clothes unless he was indeed the murderer himself.
this has always been a toughie for me too.

oh ****...my head hurts!!

and the **** was only those things that beavers make in the streams.

Gene NEVER told Milo that he was working out, Milo made tghat part up in front of witnesses to make it APPEAR that he was working out, but in reality, Milo wasn't talking to anyone on the phone. He implanted that idea into Buddy Castle and the others that were at his house that night to provide himself with some sort of proof that Gene was alive at just after 9 PM. So that explains that part.

I'm sorry you didn't like this episode, I happened to enjoy it.....

I also loved this episode. Just watched it again last night.

I always wonder if it's mainly me not understanding it when i'm watching it, someone who owns a gym, it would be totally unsurprising if they were wearing gym clothes.

The first time I saw this episode, I was also confused. But I think it may be the way Columbo words it that is confusing, not necessarily the clue itself.

Instead of "How did you know he was in his gym clothes..." it could have been "How could you have said he was in his gym clothes..." along with a little re-emphasis that there is no way that Gene could have called Milo and told him that he had just changed and was going to be working out in the gym if he didn't even put on his own gym clothes because he was already dead.

Another possible weakness of the final clue is that Columbo picked up on several other indications that Gene's death was murder which would have also nullified Gene's "phone call" to Milo. So the shoelace clue doesn't really prove anything new.

The final clue lacks some strength because it seemed as though Columbo had already proven Gene's death was not an accident through other observations, and therefore Milo had to have staged that phone conversation. So if the earlier observations didn't prove Milo's guilt, why does the shoelace clue suddenly prove it?

this is definitely a hard one to figure out and also to describe.
but i will just say again..if you consider the fact that milo agreed with the fact that someone else dressed gene...."the murderer"...then only the murderer would know how gene was dressed...so how the heck did milo know that gene was dressed in his gym clothes if milo himself (the actual murderer) wasn't the one to do it?
think about that one...

and E there is also the point about the sneakers and how Columbo points out specifically that this would be how a right-handed person would tie their shoes...when in an earlier scene we see gene holding his pen in his left hand!! hullo?!?!?

Gretchen Corbett is in this episode. Definately makes it worth watching!

I think this is one of the better episodes. The final clue is pretty clear to me, Columbo proved Gene Stafford didn't put him gym clothes himself, there was nobody else there since the door was locked, yet Janus told everyone that Stafford was in his gym clothes, thus he had to be the one who put them on him. There are some fine scenes in this one, including the scene in the hospital waiting room where Columbo has it out with Janus in front of other
people (although why, if Mrs Stafford was going to sleep for who knows how long, would Columbo would say he was going to sit in the waiting room). I also love the scene in the restaurant where Mrs Stafford tells Janus that she is on to his scheme and she throws her drink in his face. Robert Conrad played it very well, showing embarrassment but not going bananas and asking the waitress "what was bothering her". Also the scene where Janus offers Columbo some pills for breakfast. A very good episode.

Cass, good point about Gene using his left hand earlier. I never noticed that before. Maybe he was a left-handed writer, but a right-handed shoe-tyer. Or ambidextrous like Brimmer?

I think the key point isn't so much that Milo knew Gene was in his gym clothes, but that he stated so. The shoelace clue proves that Gene did not dress himself (and was not going to be working out), so there is no way that Milo could have stated that that is what Gene told him, unless Milo was the one who murdered Gene, dressed him in his gym clothes, and now was trying to set up an alibi for himself.

I have to disagree about the scene when Columbo gets mad at Milo. It was too melodramatic and seemed to come out of nowhere. Columbo getting personally involved takes away from the cat-and-mouse aspect of the show, in my opinion.

E, just like I stated twice already, i believe the biggest thing is that Milo agrees to the fact that Gene was dressed by someone else...'the murderer'.....and your second paragraph describes that succinctly! yay!

And as far as me pointing out about Gene possibly being left-handed, um..........er...........somebody on here pointed that out a few months back...I had never noticed it before myself.

This episode features Gretchen Corbett. Certainly makes it interesting enough to watch! mini crossword