Title:"A Case of Immunity"
Directed by: Ted Post
Written by: Lou Shaw (teleplay), James Menzies (story)
Air Date: October 12, 1975
Previous: Forgotten Lady
Next: Identity Crisis
Guest Starring: Héctor Elizondo, Sal Mineo
"A Case of Immunity" is the second episode of the fifth season of Columbo.
Hassan Salah (Héctor Elizondo) is a diplomat at the Los Angeles consulate of the Arab nation of "Suari". He wants...actually, it's not clear at all what he's up to or why he's committing murder; apparently it's some sort of murky plot to increase his own power. In any case, he murders security chief Youseff Alafa inside the main office of the consulate. In this he is assisted by a gullible low-level employee at the consulate, Rachman Habib (Sal Mineo, once a huge movie star), who thinks that the whole plot is some kind of False Flag Operation to discredit left-wing Suarian protesters.
Habib helps Salah establish an alibi when he sets off a bomb in the office a good half-hour later, blowing open the safe, after Salah has left for a meeting with the LAPD to discuss the upcoming visit of the King of Suari. The scene is staged to suggest that terrorists or thieves, presumably of a liberal reformist stripe, robbed the safe and killed Alafa. But as always, there's Columbo, who notices odd details, like why Alafa didn't have his gun out if he was responding to a bomb, or why there's plaster dust from the ceiling on the pile of burned papers if the papers were burned after the bomb blew the safe.
A young Jeff Goldblum can be seen as an extra, one of the sign-wielding protesters outside the consulate.
Tropes:
- Bludgeoned to Death: Hassan gets rid of Youseff with a good whack over the head with a tire iron. From behind, no less.
- Brownface: A Puerto Rican and an Italian-American (Elizondo and Mineo, respectively) playing Arabs.
- Diplomatic Impunity: Salah cites this, saying that even if Columbo could prove his allegations (and he can't), Salah has diplomatic immunity anyway so he can't be tried.
- Engineered Public Confession: After King Hamid Kamal flies back to Suari, Salah and Columbo have a little coffee chat in which Columbo salutes Salah for having beaten him, since Columbo can't prove him guilty. Salah cheerfully agrees. Then King Hamid Kamal, who was not on the plane but instead in the consulate listening to the whole conversation, steps out and confronts Salah. Salah, who is terrified of the justice he'd face in his homeland, waives immunity and signs a confession for Columbo.
- False Flag Operation: Although the motive is vague, it seems as if Salah murdered the security chief in order to discredit liberals/leftists in Suari and elevate the right wing, and himself.
- Fictional Country: Suari.
- The Good King: The new king of Suari is young and trying to push his country in a more progressive direction. Even the student protesters admit they support him, just not his government. Though as Salah learns near the end, just because the king is more liberal doesn't mean he's above executing traitors.
- I Ate WHAT?!: Columbo eats something exotic at the embassy and is displeased to find out that it's snails (escargot).
- Iconic Outfit: The raincoat that Columbo wears in every episode is pushed to a new height of absurdity when he wears it over a tuxedo.
- Never One Murder: Salah betrays Habib, murdering him and trying to make it look like Habib was killed by his leftist co-conspirators. He might have done this anyway but he's essentially forced to after Columbo figures out there had to be an inside man and Habib is him.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: The State Department a-hole who tries to shut down Columbo's investigation, going so far as to say "We don't care if Salah is guilty or innocent."
- Oh, Crap!: Salah gives this reaction when he realizes King Hamid Kamal hasn't left the States and just heard him confess to murdering Youseff and Habib.
- Orbital Shot: One scene has Columbo walking in a circle, interviewing a protester, while a camera fixed in the center of the circle turns to follow them.
- Phoney Call: A trope often used by murderers on Columbo. After Salah arrives at LAPD headquarters, he has Habib call him, pretending to be Youseff. After hanging up, Habib sets off the bomb.
- Qurac: "Suari", the fictional and vaguely Arab kingdom with a consulate in Los Angeles.
- Sadistic Choice: In the end, Salah finds himself between a rock and a hard place, thanks to Columbo ratting out his little act of insurrection to his king. Either he keeps his diplomatic immunity and be executed in his own country for treason, or he loses that diplomatic immunity and is arrested for murdering the security chief. Either way, there's no outcome where he walks free. Seeing that he chose the latter, we can only assume the former option was simply too horrible for anyone to imagine.
- Worthy Opponent: Hassan seems to consider Columbo this by the end of the episode. As he confesses in private to have committed the murders, he takes a moment to congratulate Columbo for correctly solving the mystery even if his seeming diplomatic immunity means Columbo cant make the arrest.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Salah eliminates a loose end by killing Habib.
