I would have to say Friend In Deed...because it really did surprise me....Jessup:"hey....I don't even live here" Halperin "What???"
...."these are my shirts, my underwear" etc...
very cool ending....but there are many
As for troubled waters...I love the episode but do not like spotting the feather thing at the beginning....too coincidental for me...but the prints on the inside of glove was a good one
Great point about the feather. I feel the same way about Columbo hearing the 'bird' sound of a clock at the travel office in the episode about the murder of the football team owner. It was very coincidental also.
Another very good one is the end of DEAD WEIGHT, with the conversation between him and Suzanne Pleshette that winds down slowly. Is it the only episode that ends that particular way?
Although I don't remember for certain, it seems like "Double Shock" ends in a similar way as "Dead Weight", with Columbo walking away with Mrs. Peck, though perhaps not trailing off in conversation as in the "Dead Weight" ending. Of course, "Dead Weight" has a memorable beginning, as well, if only for the fact that (I believe) it's the sole '70s episode where the credits appear in the opening.
Also, your mention of "Dead Weight" somehow reminded me of how playful the ending of "The Greenhouse Jungle" is, and while it may not be one of the most remarkable conclusions overall, I feel it has one of the best closing lines with Columbo saying, "My wife would kill me", referring to if he had forgotten the African violet. I like how it alludes to the whole business of Kathy Goodland having been made out to be a vindictive, even murderous wife throughout the course of the episode.
Upon reviewing "Double Shock's" ending again, I realized that it's really not very similar to "Dead Weight's" ending at all; somehow I had thought there was a conversation between Columbo and Mrs. Peck in a similar vein as his talk with Helen Stewart.
In regards to "Dead Weight", one aspect of the ending that really stands out to me is Hollister very sincerely telling Helen that he's sorry. One expects the murderer to be apologetic towards someone directly hurt by the crime that was committed ("Etude", "Death Lends A Hand"), but not toward a dispassionate witness to the crime, although, obviously, Helen became more than that.
Indeed, Hollister shows greater remorse toward having hurt Helen than Harold Van Wyck does toward his devoted wife of (presumably) several or more years in "Playback" (an episode with, I feel, an outstanding ending, as well).