"A Case of Immunity" gets better with repeated viewings. The surprise and triumphant ending compensates well for the lack of a "Playback"-like or "Suitable For Framing"-like final clue.

Another clever piece of writing is Columbo's "One more thing" as the two security guys are carrying him away. I wonder if that was Peter Falk's idea. I would not be surprised.

I found this episode "entertaining" but I didn't think I had seen it before for sure.

As I said above, I had a sense of deja-vu with it. Being newly released on DVD I was anxious to see it. It certainly was "formulatic",a-la-Columbo.

The plaster from the ceiling over the previously burned papers; the snap on the security guard's holster...were the usual little things that first bothered Columbo about the scene. The undrunk cold coffee came later but was a good touch.

The bank teller paper mark and the NY hotel reservation business and the timing of the call fit the formulatic pattern of his debunking alibis, etc.

But I thought a lot of things were forced.
Hector did a good job of playing the reserved cultural foreign diplomat, but the interplay between Columbo and him didn't have the feel or fun of other episodes.

When they threw in the customarily required dumbness and bumbling, I thought his stepping on the guy's robe twice fell a little flat. Also the erroneous appearance by Columbo at the security/police meeting, while introductory, bordered on slapstick stage direction.

I kept saying to myself, how's he gonna trap him. I started to have this feeling that the King would be involved, but I really thouhgt he got on that plane. Maybe it was a double, like the "drowned" double in Presciption for Murder.

The story intrigued me. But I like occasions where we see more up front details and have to wonder what we missed that Columbo might spot or debunk.

I liked it but as said by someone above, it had a funny feel to it. My rating 7.3 to 7.8 out of ten. Except for No Time to Die which is a minus-ten, all of the episodes for me are at least a 6.5

Read everyone's comments with interest, but they've not changed my mind. I've never liked this episode.

To me it's in the second rank of episodes along others like A Matter of Honour.

I believe that his erroneous presence at the police meeting was a necessary device to explain his involvement. After all, as a homicide detective, he would ordinarily have no call to be involved.

I agree about the explanation for early involvement. My point above is that the staging/direction of that scene bordered on slapstick.
Columbo showed no restraint or decorum stumbling over the others to have an aside comment. It looked too forced that they were trying to get in a stumbling/bumbling incident/occurence to fit the formula.
Even Columbo's normal quirkiness is in a polite/civil/and more decorous mode.

This indeed is part of the problem in why as Columbo became a phenomenon the gimmicks and quirks of the character were stressed more and more at the expense of the character's credibility IMO.

it's funny you should say that jilted because i was just saying to someone just last night that i often confuse the titles of a case of immunity and a matter of honor..it must be because i classify them in the same way...a bit lacking as far as a columbo episode is concerned.