On October 15th, 1972 the 2nd episode of season 2 premiered. "The Greenhouse Jungle" starred Ray Milland as an annoying orchid enthusiast and Bradford Dillman as the cuckolded trust fund nephew he murders.
Frankly the episode is more notable for other things such as the debut of Bob Dishy as Sergeant Wilson, and the remarkable Arlene Martel as ditsy gal-pal Gloria West.
You can watch it for yourself, here: 📺 The Greenhouse Jungle on IMDB.TV (May not be available in all regions)
What to watch for
A few things I found interesting while watching...
The debut of director Boris
Ukrainian-born Boris Sagal directed this episode. He also directs Season 3's Candidate for Crime which features a small role for his daughter Katey Sagal. He also directed the first episode of Mrs. Columbo.
Boris was tragically killed in 1981 in a bizarre and grusome helicopter accident while filming the TV mini-series World War III.
Is Jarvis just a professional jerk?
It's never really clear what Jarvis does or how he made all his money - though the implication is that the family is rich (nephew Tony has a trust fund, for example). He's pompus and rude throughout the episode, but I'm not sure if that's a career path.
Milland had a much more pleasant (and in my opinion, better) turn as Arthur Kennicut, the powerful widower, in Season 1's Death Lends a Hand.
It was a dark and stormy night
The episode opens with Jarvis making a fake kidnapping call to Cathy. But you'd have to be a bit daft not to recognize his voice.
Cathy, apparently worried, calls Gloria. Interestingly the two women have the same photo of Tony on their nightstands. Tony gets around.
It was a dark and stormy night in the early 1970s...
And on American TV that meant separate beds; even for married couples. Tony and Cathy took it a step further and had separate bedrooms. I suppose that's explained by their apparently distant marriage where each was getting more action on the side than at home it seems.
The quickest way down
At the crash scene with the Jaguar we get one of the more famous scenes of the series...Columbo tumbling down the hill. Frequently people ask if A) it was planned, and B) if it was really Peter Falk falling down the hill.
As nearly as I can tell the answers are A) Not exactly, and B) Yes.
As I understand it the script called for Columbo to descend the hill pretty quickly, stumbling past Wilson a bit out of control, as he did, but that the fall at the end was accidental. He was supposed to end up on his feet, just a bit breathless, and give the line he does: "It's a little...uh...steep. But I tell ya, it was the quickest way down."
Due to the unexpected fall it took him an extra beat to give the line and they decided to leave the fall in. Credit to Bob Dishy for staying in character.
Not the only big tumble
Peter Falk wasn't the only one who took a big tumble. The Jag looks a lot worse for wear than you'd expect from the relatively mild slide down the hill it took the night before. It also seems to have moved a bit - when it came to a rest the night before it seems to be in a fairly tight ravine.
Lots of seventies hair too
Everybody from Bradford Dillman to Sandra Smith ("Cathy") to William Smith ("Ken") has some pretty impressive 1970s hair styles happening. Even Ray Milland's hairpiece seems right at home in 1972.
Speaking of Ken
William Smith plays "Ken", the muscular, tanned, lunkhead boyfriend. Contrary to the dim-witted character he plays in the show, Smith himself served in military intelligence during the Korean War and speaks 5 languages fluently.
Welcome home
I'm pretty sure that Cathy and Tony's living room is the same room used in Ransom for a Dead Man and Short Fuse.
Just can't help himself
Jarvis is so disagreeable that he can't wait to tell Columbo that he despises Tony. Maybe it's a ploy to make it seem like they aren't in cahoots, but it makes him seem even more cranky and unlikeable.
Not very discreet
The police have the Goodland house staked out waiting for the ransom call, but they're not exactly discreet. I mean, if a real kidnapper were watching the house it would be pretty obvious these guys are cops.
Speaking of indiscreet...
Jarvis MIGHT suspect he's being followed...
Almost like they want to be seen
Surprising amount of light on that deserted road where they do the ransom drop. Maybe that's why there's an electrical cable running across the road?
Grover becomes Vernon
Robert Karnes joins the episode a bit late as Sergeant Grover. He has a bigger role in the other episode Boris Sagal directed, Candidate for Crime, where he plays Sergeant Vernon.
I like Karnes and wish he'd made more Columbo appearances.
Plot holes
There are a few small problems with this episode.
Even bald tires leave tracks
In the second scene Jarvis and Tony go to the hideout...but Tony is driving the Jag and the hideout is in the woods on a dirt road. So the Jag's tire prints should have been at the hideout, which would be hard to explain.
Fast fashion
The second problem is that when Jarvis shoots Tony at the hideout, Tony is wearing the same clothes he was wearing at the ransom drop. Columbo and Wilson have photos of him with the stocking mask on, wearing those clothes. Seems like that might have raised some suspicion.
Jarvis undoes himself
One of the giveaways for Columbo that Jarvis was in on it is that he can't contain his disdain for Tony and Cathy. He keeps answering questions with info about Cathy that a stranger probably wouldn't know.
Jarvis: "She's a very hard woman to convince of anything, Lieutenant."Columbo: "I wonder how they knew that."
That makes it seem like an inside job. And Ken probably didn't seem bright enough to have pulled this kind of job off.
Just a few more things
- When the police "BOLO" (Be On the Look Out) goes out on the radio at the beginning they descibe Tony's car only as a "Yellow sports car" and didn't mention the car's make or model; which seemed odd. I wondered if it was because saying "Jaguar" might have been vetoed by the production lawyers since Jaguar wasn't a sponsor of the show...but that can't be correct because they do say "Jaguar" or "Jag" several other times in the episode.
- Sandra Smith plays Cathy Goodland, Tony's wife. Though as far as I can tell she does seem to still be alive (as of this writing) and she did have a bit of an acting career, that career seems to have come to an end not long after this. Her last credit is in 1975.
- Arlene Martel (Gloria) and Bradford Dillman (Tony) share the same birthday, April 14th, though he's 6 years older than she is.
- Jarvis' house isn't a real house. It was located on a street of fake houses on the Universal Studios lot, and has appeared in several other things.
Another take
Here's what View from the Junkyard thought of this episode.
What did you think of The Greenhouse Jungle? Let us know in the comments below!
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