#Columbo episodes in order series#

In the first, she dreams of her elderly French uncle coming to her door at night and raving about something he’s lost. The heart of the episode really begins when Columbo begins his portrait setting for Barsini and the two listen back to Louise’s recollections of her nightmares. He has a snoop about the cramped apartment where Barsini and Louise used to live and takes in the easily accessible fire escape. He also heads downtown to visit Vito’s bar where he gets an eyeful of Barsini’s finished alibi painting – and a sleeveful of red paint when carelessly touching the still-wet canvas. These tapes will have a material impact on the unravelling of the case. A visit to see Hammer at his clinic pays dividends when he learns that Louise was going through a phase of recording her nightmare memories on cassette for future analysis. He even masterfully puts the detective off his stride by suggesting he paint his portrait.Ĭolumbo’s mind is only off the case momentarily, though. Barsini, however, is on a charm offensive towards Columbo. Hammer was keen to smash that relationship apart (pun intended) and claims he feels nothing but disgust for the artist. He dispels any suggestion that she might have had reason to commit suicide but does reference the ‘demented’ situation whereby Barsini still claimed Louise as his own.

This is the very place where the devil meets the deep blue seaĬolumbo next meets Dr Hammer at Louise’s home. Why would someone go for a swim wearing one contact lens? She was also said to be a very strong swimmer. There’s one thing puzzling the Lieutenant straight away: Louise was wearing only one contact lens – the other being in a case in her bag. It’ll be a tough alibi to crack.īarsini is duly called in to identify the corpse of Louise and assist Columbo with his enquiries.

It looks for all the world like Barsini has spent his day at the easel but he actually painted the picture the night before and hid it below a blank canvas. He then hotfoots it back to Vito’s before his absence can be noticed and unveils his finished work to the delighted bar owner. Here, he uses a cleaning rag doused in paint cleaner to put her lights out before lugging her unconscious frame into the ocean and leaving her to drown as if it were a tragic swimming accident. Pretending to be painting a scene of Vito’s bar in old Los Angeles (from the attic apartment in which he scratched a living with Louise years before), the artist slips out of the fire escape and heads to the secluded beach he knows Louise will be at.

#Columbo episodes in order series#

These manifest as a series of nightmares, which she is working to decipher with Dr Hammer.įearful of what secrets Louise will spill once she’s out from under his yoke of oppression, Barsini strikes. Although we don’t initially know what happened, we find out that Louise has been repressing memories from her early life with Barsini that suggest a terrifying, traumatic event. It is Louise, however, who shatters his perfect existence when she reveals her intentions to MOVE OUT of her home (and Barsini’s life) and MOVE IN with her psychologist/lover, Dr Sydney Hammer.īarsini can’t let this happen – because Louise is the only person who knows about his shadowy past.

He lives to control them and takes pleasure in watching them fight for the scraps of his affections. The tension this situation creates seems to help Barsini thrive. What reasonable wife could possibly object to this type of living arrangement? Mature Louise (who lives next door) is outwardly happy enough with her lot in life, while Vanessa is fiendishly (and understandably) jealous and young Julie just wants to be loved by them all. While Barsini revels in the four-way relationship, things are a lot more fraught for the women in his life. So, is Murder, A Self Portrait a dark, Goya-esque masterpiece of an episode? Or is it more like one of those paint-by-numbers kits favoured by Mrs Columbo? Let’s see… Dramatis personaeĬelebrated artist Max Barsini appears to live a charmed life, residing in a stunning beach-front home where he is waited on hand and foot by three women: current wife Vanessa, first wife Louise, and live-in lover/model/muse Julie. It seems a lot to hope that this outing could match the majesty of that particular outing but hope springs eternal. Our last artistic Columbo outing came in Suitable for Framing way back in 1971. Whether that’s a good thing remains to be seen.

Starring Belgian Bond villain Patrick Bauchau as artist extraordinaire Max Barsini, as well as a bevvy of beauties that includes Shera Danese in her biggest Columbo role to date, Murder, A Self Portrait has a look and feel entirely of its own. After a six-month vacation, Lieutenant Columbo swaggered confidently back onto screens on Novemin the overtly arty Murder, A Self Portrait.