When Columbo came back in 1989 after more than a decade away, the show could have eased itself gently back onto television. Instead it returned with fake psychics, government-funded parapsychology, stage magic, a gruesome murder, and a finale in which the lieutenant literally puts his neck on the line. That makes Columbo Goes to the Guillotine one of the strangest comeback episodes imaginable — and one of the easiest to talk about.
It’s not a perfect episode. In fact, some of its choices are
downright bonkers. But it’s lively, memorable, and full of details that make it
worth revisiting. I currently see it as one of the more watchable entries from
the early ABC revival years: not top-tier classic Columbo, but definitely not a dud either.
I currently have it ranked at #47. (You can read the whole list here)
A bold comeback
This episode had a lot riding on
it. It was the first new Columbo since the original run ended in 1978, and it
premiered on ABC on February 6, 1989. That alone gives it a different kind of
pressure from an ordinary mid-run installment. It isn’t just trying to tell a
murder story; it’s trying to reintroduce Columbo to an audience that had
changed, aged, and probably developed different expectations about what
television crime drama should look like. And to an excited cohort of long-time Columbo fans who had missed their hero.
And you can feel the production
straining to modernize things. The murder is harsher. The tone is darker. The
subject matter is more “late 80s,” with psychics, ESP tests, institutional
grant money, and slick television-magician vibes. It’s still recognizably
Columbo, but it’s Columbo trying on contemporary clothes.
And they make an admirable attempt to try to balance the darkness with some humor - which doesn't always land.
As a piece of Columbo craftsmanship, it’s uneven. It runs long, indulges itself, and asks for a few generous leaps from the viewer. Falk’s performance is hot and cold too, in some scenes he’s a bit over the top and seems like he's playing it as a caricature. In others he seems very comfortable again, like the old friend he is.
But as a
viewing experience, Columbo Goes to the Guillotine is consistently interesting. The central idea is strong,
the guest cast is solid, the murder is memorable, and the episode has genuine
curiosity about deception as both a performance skill and a survival strategy.
Meet Elliott Blake: all velvet, ego, and fraud
The killer here is Elliott
Blake, played by Anthony Andrews, who turns in exactly the sort of performance
this material needs. Blake is suave, smug, and theatrical. He understands that being believed is his real power.
That makes him a nice fit for Columbo because he isn’t merely committing
murder; he’s constructing an entire identity and selling it to everyone in the
room.
One of the episode’s strongest
ideas is that Blake is part psychic hustler, part showman, part manipulator of
anxious wealthy people and government men. He wants legitimacy more than
mystery. He doesn’t just want applause — he wants official approval. That
ambition gives the story a useful shape. He’s not killing for passion or panic.
He’s killing to preserve a career built on illusion.
Anthony Andrews also does
something I appreciate in Columbo villains: he keeps Blake controlled for long
stretches. There’s anger under the surface, but it doesn’t spill out all at
once. That restraint makes the guillotine murder sequence land harder when it
finally comes.
Meet Paula
Dr. Paula Hall (Karen Austin) runs the Anneman Institute. She seems to
have good intentions, which is why it’s curious that she’s going along with the
sham. She seems convinced that Blake is really a psychic, and buys into his "god has gifted me with powers" nonsense, but then she goes along with his con job. Later we realize she’s sleeping with him, which could explain her
lapse in judgement.
Poor Max Dyson
Max Dyson, played by Anthony
Zerbe, is a good victim because he doesn’t feel incidental. He’s prickly,
skeptical, and fully capable of wrecking Blake’s act. More importantly, he
belongs to the same world as Blake while standing in opposition to everything
Blake represents. Dyson is stagecraft, skill, and mechanics; Blake is
suggestion, ego, and fraud. That opposition gives the opening act real juice.
The murder itself is unusually
nasty for Columbo. Dyson being trapped in the guillotine mechanism is still an
effective set-piece because it combines something theatrical with something
horribly physical. It’s a murder method that fits the episode’s fascination
with performance. Even death has to happen with a flourish.
Anthony Zerbe, who could bring
authority and weirdness to almost anything, gives Dyson just enough personality
that you wish the character had survived longer.
The best thing here might be the subject matter
Columbo has always done well
when it wanders into specialized little worlds: gourmet food, publishing,
chess, wine, photography, football, the military, and so on. Here the world is
stage magic and parapsychology, which is a great match for the show because
both depend on observation, misdirection, and people seeing exactly what they
expect to see.
That is, of course, Columbo’s
home turf.
The lieutenant is never more
comfortable than when someone thinks they’re controlling the meaning of what
everyone else sees. A fake psychic is therefore an almost ideal opponent. Blake
depends on manufactured wonder; Columbo depends on patient demystification.
That dynamic is what keeps the
episode enjoyable even when it wanders. The magic angle isn’t just decorative.
It gives the investigation its logic.
Alan Fudge
That entrance matters
One of my favorite things in the
episode is the way Columbo enters. He
doesn’t just shuffle into frame as if no time has passed. The reveal is staged.
We wait. We get the silhouette, the lighter, the face, and that instant
recognition that yes, this is still him.
That moment matters because the
episode knows it is carrying a reunion on its shoulders. Director Leo Penn had
handled Columbo before, and the comeback reveal shows real confidence. The
series understands that the audience isn’t only watching a mystery begin;
they’re greeting an old friend.
What's the significance of Harry?
Sgt. Russo meet Sgt. Lorenzo
Meet Bert
Columbo (in the guillotine): "Are you sure you're doing this right?"Bert: "Yeah...pretty sure."
The magic drawer
Tommy the boy magician
I should also mention Tommy
(Michael Bacall), the young magician side character who helps unlock the key part of
the mystery. He serves a practical purpose in the plot, and making the character a kid, rather than just giving that job to Bert, was an interesting touch.
It’s a trick. You remember it's a trick and you don't forget it's a trick. Then you start to figure it out.
The Karate Kid
He’s a very serious judge
The scene where Columbo grabs Blake to take him back to the institute to debunk his stunt is nicely played, though you have to wonder why an intelligence agent like Mr. Harrow wouldn't notice those police cars with the flashing lights sitting there in the hangar not 100 feet away.
It did seem odd that he said the pilot picked him up at the runway. Why would he have been at the runway?
The demo
The exhausted thing is a bit much, but otherwise the demo is
effective. Tommy throws a little fist pump as he leaves.
For being a magician instead of a real psychic? I don’t think that’s a crime.
The ending is crazy
There’s no getting around it:
Columbo setting up the final trap by using the guillotine and effectively
betting his life on Blake behaving exactly as predicted is a massive swing. As
spectacle, it works. As pure Columbo logic, it is a lot harder to swallow.
It seems like a completely unnecessary
risk for the story. Columbo already had his man. Blake trying to kill him with the
guillotine proved nothing useful about the Dyson killing.
It does add Blake to the
exclusive club of killers who tried to kill Columbo, though.
A couple of problems
It’s not clear how Blake expected to keep up the charade. Once he signed on with the CIA he’d be expected to produce results and he wouldn’t really be able to cheat. You have to think that eventually they’d figure out that he was just a scam artist. And at that point would they just hand him his last paycheck and set him free…or would they retire him more... permanently?
We see in the final scene that it's possible for a person laying in the guillotine to reach up and remove the collar themselves. Curious that Max didn't do that. I guess he was in shock and panic. Plus if he had we might not have had an episode.
Blake didn’t have to take the bullet he found during the
sensing scene. A stray bullet in a workshop full off odd (and often dangerous)
curiosities might just be part of one of the tricks. Blake was wearing gloves when he killed Dyson so not likely to be any useful fingerprints. Under the circumstances a reach to think it meant anything.
Just a few more things…
- There’s something about the sensing scene in the workshop that I always liked. The deliberateness of it. The pacing. Blake’s hard sell on suicide is pretty awkward though.
- The yacht club scene is a little awkward. What is a “Curricular Vitae” stunt to act like an idiot. Then busting his “shapes mind reading” bit. Then revealing the Uganda connection. Blake pretending to be impressed.
- Columbo won't tell Harrow how the vision-at-a-distance trick is done, but it'll probably come out at trial, so seems a little cheeky not to just tell him.
What do you think of Columbo Goes to the Guillotine? Does the finale work for you, or is it a bridge too far? Let me know in the comments below.
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