"Undercover" is not an especially good episode of "Columbo". Much of it is because the usual formula isn't there...and the rest of it is because I could figure out who the baddie was the instant he came onto the screen!
When the story begins, two men apparently have killed each other in a crappy room on skid row. On them, they find a piece of a photo--cut up like a giant puzzle piece.
Soon after this, an insurance investigator (Ed Begley Jr.) arrives and tells Columbo he's investigating the theft of $4,000,000 several years ago. But to find the money, they need to find the other 7 puzzle pieces. And, to do this, Columbo needs to go undercover.
The show is not dull. But the mystery isn't very mysterious. Now it didn't bother me much that Columbo acted very differently in this episode, though it also wasn't logical for a homicide detective to be doing all these things...that I must admit. Overall, disappointing but not terrible.
By the way, there is one portion of the show that is terrible. After Columbo is attacked and put in the hospital, he awakens and tells the nurse he MUST get a phone to make a call, as his partner is in danger. She responds by insisting he cannot leave nor make any phone calls....which makes zero sense. He IS a cop and he says a man's life is in danger...and she responds that he cannot make a call nor leave??? This is just dumb...and the scene needed to be written better.
When the story begins, two men apparently have killed each other in a crappy room on skid row. On them, they find a piece of a photo--cut up like a giant puzzle piece.
Soon after this, an insurance investigator (Ed Begley Jr.) arrives and tells Columbo he's investigating the theft of $4,000,000 several years ago. But to find the money, they need to find the other 7 puzzle pieces. And, to do this, Columbo needs to go undercover.
The show is not dull. But the mystery isn't very mysterious. Now it didn't bother me much that Columbo acted very differently in this episode, though it also wasn't logical for a homicide detective to be doing all these things...that I must admit. Overall, disappointing but not terrible.
By the way, there is one portion of the show that is terrible. After Columbo is attacked and put in the hospital, he awakens and tells the nurse he MUST get a phone to make a call, as his partner is in danger. She responds by insisting he cannot leave nor make any phone calls....which makes zero sense. He IS a cop and he says a man's life is in danger...and she responds that he cannot make a call nor leave??? This is just dumb...and the scene needed to be written better.