Columbo doesn’t have to wait long for that elusive proof, however. Sergeant Kramer is in touch to inform him that there’s a witness who can attest that a car left the Donner place in a hurry at 5.30pm. The witness can’t ID the car and driver, though, because he’s BLIND, but the wily Lieutenant finds a way to make it count nonetheless. The concept of the second killing itself is massively far-fetched, though, and one that requires a heavy suspension of disbelief to accept. Those that simply accept it for what it is – an audacious act of mental manipulation by a master in his field – are likely to gain the most pleasure from this episode. I liken it to the subliminal cuts killing in Double Exposure– a preposterous crime that made for brilliant viewing! Director Harvey Hart has a strong Columbo pedigree, with By Dawn’s Early Light, Forgotten Lady and Now You See Him also under his belt, so if you’re one of those who haven’t previously held Deadly State of Mind in the highest regard, perhaps now’s the time to give it a second chance. During the diving sequence, in which poor Nadia Donner is done in, the audience only sees things through her POV — plus the fact that on TV all the old episodes of old shows have been re-edited/trimmed to within the literal inch of their proverbial lives — I wonder how Dr. Collier knew the dive would be fatal. Nadia’s luxury apartment was only five floors up and apparently directly above the pool. Was the pool full (as the audience sees through Nadia’s seriously distorted and drugged POV) or was it empty.

I know L.A. is warm year-round but this takes place in the dead of winter (established in the beginning of the episode as the reason for Collier and Nadia for selecting the beach property which is largely abandoned that time of the year for their ill-fated tryst) and maybe it had been emptied. The pool is never seen before her fatal dive nor much after, and I know for a fact that these episodes have been re-edited and a lot of filler removed, at least on COZI TV. If the pool had been full she might have landed in it and survived as it seemed to be directly below her balcony (as I pointed out) and the splash would likely have immediately brought her out of her trance.Not a fan of this one at all. The initial death is a more-or-less justified act of defence, making the subsequent lazy and uninspired coverup unnecessary. It makes the entire set-up both boring and unbelievable. An astoundingly difficult combo to achieve! This also means so much time is spent (the entire first half) having Columbo find and investigate dull clues.

Whatever the case may be, here’s an accounting of why Pascal has been all over the internet lately — and how the fixation on his identity as “internet daddy” has gotten out of hand. Why has Pedro Pascal become so suddenly popular? At a signal from Columbo, Mr Morris, the eyewitness, is summoned from the hallway beyond. Morris, wearing sunglasses indoors, treads carefully down some steps, sits on the coach and offers Columbo some matches to light a cigar. Columbo asks him if he’s ever seen anyone in the room before, and Morris answers in the affirmative. He saw a driver screech out of the Donner driveway at 5.30pm on the day of the killing – and the man behind the wheel was Dr Collier.I also love Collier’s peanut-butter brown leather coat! (See Columbophile’s “Phwooooar!” screen capture above.) 🙂 In my opinion, this episode gives us a barnstorming finale to what has been a staggeringly good season of television. There’s not one weak episode in the Season 4 line-up and Deadly State holds its own against any of the others that have come before it. I enjoy it a great deal and suspect I always shall, although I feel its conclusion marks something of a high water mark for the series. I have to imagine that Pascal’s daddy mode is in large part the work of a savvy PR team that understands the interminable horniness of the internet. The internet is a deeply randy place, and harnessing its power means being able to speak fluently to its raunchy denizens.