History Recap / ColumboS04E02

Written by: Peter S. Fisher\\

It seems to be an open-and-shut case: Deschler's prints on the note, Deschler's prints in the house where Frances was found (Paul tricked Deschler into doing that by supposedly hiring Deschler as a stand-in to buy him the house), Deschler's prints on the gun that killed Frances, the newspaper that was used to make the ransom note in Deschler's hotel room. Unfortunately for Paul, Lt. Columbo is the investigator, and finds a couple of flies in the ointment. A hobo who happened to be sleeping in an abandoned car in the junkyard reports that there was a long pause between the first and second shots. There's a powder burn on Paul's pants, which there shouldn't be if he was in a shootout with Deschler. There's a lack of dust on the clock in the ranch house. And he wonders why a kidnapper like Deschler would be taking cabs everywhere he was going up through just a few days before the murder.

* MurderIsTheBestSolution: It's not really clear why Paul takes on all the trouble and risk associated with murdering both his wife and an innocent third party, rather than just divorcing her and running off with his smoking hot and obviously interested secretary Lorna. It ''might'' be because he wants to keep all of Frances' money, but nothing in the dialogue indicates that. Besides, Paul is a well-known photographer who's published several books, so he wouldn't be left starving. In light of those facts, it seems as if he killed his wife purely out of spite.

* CutAndPasteNote: Paul makes the standard ransom note with newspaper clippings in order to fake the kidnapping, then uses the cut-up newspapers as part of the frame job by leaving them in Deschler's hotel room.

Guest Starring: Creator/DickVanDyke, Creator/DonGordon, Creator/JoannaCameron]

Paul Galesko (Creator/DickVanDyke) is a professional photographer who is stuck in an unhappy marriage with his controlling, emasculating, shrewish wife Frances (Creator/AntoinetteBower). Paul doesn't want to be married anymore, preferring instead his good-looking and obviously very interested assistant Lorna [=McGrath=] (Creator/JoannaCameron), but he still wants Frances's money. So Paul decides to kill his wife and stage a fake kidnapping as his story. He creates a fake ransom note, then drives his wife to an isolated ranch house, where he ties her up, takes ransom photographs with an off-time clock (to create an alibi), and then shoots her.

* ShesGotLegs: Lorna is introduced wearing a short skirt and leaning over a desk so that her long legs are well-displayed. Another part of Paul's motive for murder drops into place.

* CorrectionBait: Columbo plays this game on Paul to toy with his pride as a professional photographer. By mirroring a photo and playing it off as "proof" that the murder took place at a different time (due to the analog clock being mirrored), Paul can't help but reach for the camera he used to show Columbo where the originals are. But how would he know this info unless he took the photos himself?

* IdiotBall: Besides frustration with Columbo's (feigned) ignorance about photography and professional pride, it's unclear why exactly Paul decided to blow his cover story and identify the camera he used to take photos at the scene of the crime. Even he is stunned at what he did and how he just demonstrated that he took the pictures of his wife.
** It's implied that Columbo's plan was, by claiming the original was destroyed, and that wasn't sure about flips, the original was NECESSARY to prove Paul's alibi...and Paul would be so angry he'd forget he'd never seen the camera.

* BatmanGambit: Columbo pulls off one by slipping something unexpected onto the killer's alibi (The fact the original picture was destroyed) to make him sweat, not unlike he's done the entire episode. This leads to Galesko to impulsively identify the camera.

* SelfDefenseRuse: Paul murdered his wife and made it look like a kidnapping gone bad. He then killed an ex-con and framed him for the kidnapping, claiming the ransom exchange had gone bad and he had to kill the "kidnapper" in self-defense. He even goes as far as shooting himself in the leg just to give his story more credibility, but Columbo immediately notices the powder burn on his pants which contradicts his claim.

* SelfDefenseRuse: Paul murdered his wife and made it look like a kidnapping gone bad. He then killed an ex-con and framed him for the kidnapping, claiming the ransom exchange had gone bad and he had to kill the "kidnapper" in self-defense. He even goes as far as shooting himself in the leg just to give his story more credibility.

* MurderIsTheBestSolution: It's not really clear why Paul takes on all the trouble and risk associated with murdering both his wife and an innocent third party, rather than just divorcing her and running off with his smoking hot and obviously interested secretary Lorna. It ''might'' be because he wants to keep all of Frances' money, but nothing in the dialogue indicates that. Besides, Paul is a well-known photographer who's published several books, so he wouldn't be left starving. In light of those facts, it feels as if killed his wife purely out of spite.

** [[spoiler: It's implied that Columbo's plan was, by claiming the original was destroyed, and that wasn't sure about flips, the original was NECESSARY to prove Paul's alibi...and Paul would be so angry he'd forget he'd never seen the camera.]]

* SelfDefenseRuse: Paul murdered his wife and made it look like a kidnapping gone bad. He then killed an ex-con and framed him for the kidnapping, claiming the ransom exchange had gone bad and he had to kill the "kidnapper" in self-defense.

Joyce van Patten, who plays a kind-hearted nun in this episode, played the murderer in Season 6 episode "[[Recap/ColumboS06E02 Old Fashioned Murder]]".

--> '''Galesko''': [[If I hadn’t taken that camera... You were counting on that! You didn’t accidentally reverse that film... You did that deliberately.]]

--> '''Galesko''': [[LampshadeHanging If I hadn't picked up that camera...You were counting on that! You didn't reverse that picture by accident, you did it deliberately.]]

--> '''Paul:'''I have this...dream, Frances. I'm working, and, uh, there's a phone call, and he says, "Terribly sorry, Mr. Galesko, but... your wife's dead. Unfortunate accident"... and then I always wake up, and I want to cry. Because you're still alive, Frances, and I have nothing to face that day, but another 24 hours with a domineering, nagging, suffocating woman who took all the joy out of my life.

Guest Starring: Creator/DickVanDyke, Creator/DonGordon]

--> '''Paul:'''I have this... dream, Frances. I'm working, and, uh, there's a phone call, and he says, "Terribly sorry, Mr. Galesko, but... your wife's dead. Unfortunate accident"... and then I always wake up, and I want to cry. Because you're still alive, Frances, and I have nothing to face that day, but another 24 hours with a domineering, nagging, suffocating woman who took all the joy out of my life.

---> '''Paul:'''I have this... dream, Frances. I'm working, and, uh, there's a phone call, and he says, "Terribly sorry, Mr. Galesko, but... your wife's dead. Unfortunate accident"... and then I always wake up, and I want to cry. Because you're still alive, Frances, and I have nothing to face that day, but another 24 hours with a domineering, nagging, suffocating woman who took all the joy out of my life.