Wow. I was surprised. I remember Columbo positively, but this episode had poor acting, oh-too-obvious clues, and it just didn't "entertain". It was boring, pretentious and quite frankly, a bit immature. It was like the episode was made for pre-teens. I kept up with it because I'm a Star Trek fan (features, of course, Bill Shatner and a short appearance by Walter Koenig), and still want to like Columbo, but with this, I'm not sure anymore.<br /><br />I could not empathize with the criminal (Shatner), I could not try to figure things out with Columbo, his genius was not obvious, as he just seems to come up with solution to the crime based on very flimsy evidence. When presented with Columbo's (correct) version of the crime, Shatner's character happily confesses. I mean, does he *want* to go to jail, if not get executed? It didn't seem like that to us. It seemed like he wanted to live his life without his victim, who was blackmailing him.<br /><br />The whole thing was just too bizarre.