Columbo episode review — 4.1 — An Exercise in Fatality

Original air date: September 15, 1974
Director: Bernard Kowalski
Writer: Peter S. Fischer (story by Larry Cohen)

Rating: 9/10

The best Columbo episodes are ones that pit Columbo against his polar opposites. Usually that’s rich people, but this time it’s someone in shape.

Fitness guru Milo Janus (Robert Conrad) murders his business partner, and Columbo is on to him. This episode takes Columbo to a lot of places, and it actually seems as if he might not know what’s going on, but of course he does.

A lot of the best parts of this episode have nothing to do with the plot. There’s a scene where he goes to a place of business to try and find someone, and the receptionist has the computer handle it, and it goes on forever, with Columbo fighting to not lose his temper. There’s also a funny scene with Columbo on the phone with his wife (you don’t hear her).

And yet Columbo’s encounters with the villain are still quite satisfying. It’s a very good episode.