Columbo episode review — 7.1 — Try and Catch Me

Original air date: November 21, 1977
Director: James Frawley
Writers: Paul Tuckahoe and Gene Thompson (story by Gene Thompson)

Rating: 10/10

I don’t know what it is about Ruth Gordon’s style of acting, but I normally find her very annoying. I’m sure part of it is her obnoxious Massachusetts accent, but just everything she says sounds so insincere. For those not familiar with her, she’s best known as the old woman in Harold and Maude, and as the old woman neighbor in Rosemary’s Baby, which I personally consider to be one of the weaker Oscar-winning performances I’ve ever seen.

However, her here as the Agatha Christie-type villain, really works. She’s compelling, and truly one of the better Columbo villains.

She murders her nephew-in-law, because she is convinced that he murdered her beloved niece (which we never learn to be true or false).

Mariette Hartley is also there, playing Gordon’s trusted assistant, who eventually learns that her employer committed the murder, and uses it to blackmail her into going on vacation. This doesn’t really go anywhere, story-wise.

There are numerous great moments with Columbo, of course. There’s the glorious return of Dog, when the lieutenant runs into…