Commodore seemed 'out of focus' and I wouldnt be surprised if that were due to Mr. McGoohan have too wide a hand. He both directed and added script. While I like some of his acting I don't like his "behind the camera work".
Oh and one more thing.:
I notice in this posting that ANY PORT IN A STORM was found by some to be inferior. Ironically it's one of my top 5.
I think I might have liked Mind over Mayhem if the plot did not involve a robot. It was sci fi Columbo, and to me it just did not work. It might have worked if some reason the head of the institute involved the kid, duping him into helping, but that did not happen.
Good observation about Matter of Honor and Last Salute. It does seem that Columbo does not focus as much on the killers.
The Conspirators is my least favourite of the pre-1980's episodes.. I've only seen it once and found it deeply unsatisfying. I didn't like the actor playing the murderer or his portrayal. I also felt the actual character of the murderer bereft of sympathy and quite simply a nasty piece of work. Even Columbo seems tired and lonely in this glum episode...
As much as I like Clive Reville, to me it has a lot of hills and valleys. This might be a ridiculous complaint, but one of mine is the title, since it's nearly the only title of the whole original series that doesn't try to be colorful at all, so it sticks out for that reason.
I do like things like the comical pub scene with the limericks (I'm pretty sure it's the first place I ever heard that "What a wonderful bird is the pelican" one).
Some people have said they really prefer Jeanette Nolan in THE CONSPIRATORS to Jeanette Nolan as uptight Mrs. Peck in DOUBLE SHOCK, and that's understandable, but to me it's the other way around.