Criminologie appliquée

Stephen Caffrey and Gary Hershberger play two smart but spoiled college students named Justin Rowe and Cooper Redman who are confronted by one of their teachers named Professor Rusk who accuses them of stealing a copy of an upcoming test, and threatening to have them flunked or expelled. Fearing for their futures, they devise an elaborate plan to kill him in a parking garage while attending a lecture, which by coincidence is given by Lt. Columbo(Peter Falk) who takes charge of the crime scene, and comes to realize that the two "helpful" students are responsible, but just how and why will be the problem... Robert Culp makes his fourth appearance, but in a supporting role(though not as the killer). Fine episode with intelligent and clever writing elevating this one, with a memorable ending of the astonished students getting their deserved comeuppance from the underestimated Lt. Columbo.

This episode contains my favorite type of ending where the killer (or killers) try to out-smart Columbo till the end. Instead of an easy surrendering as in other cases.

The development, nonetheless, is hard to believe. Why didn't anybody hear the shot? Especially if it was made by a .45 caliber. How come the security officer kept his job? In normal circumstances, the security guard would've been fired for not watching the monitors. And why did Colombo not realize that it would've been much faster to go upstairs to get an emergency phone call instead of Justin using his truck? Well, the story could've been more realistic, but I still recommend it for entertainment.

I love Columbo, and although it is not one of the best episodes for me, it was a well done and interesting episode. Apart from dragging a little too much in the middle, Columbo Goes to College was a well-paced episode, and the story is once again an interesting one with the final solution where the murderers under-estimate Columbo. Hearing Columbo explaining how it all happened, you do realise how clever the murder really was. As with the case always with Columbo, it is a strikingly shot episode with a convincing setting, and the soundtrack enhances the mood seamlessly, with a fun toe-tapping song right at the start. The script is sharp and incisive. It was fun seeing Robert Culp playing Cooper's father, rather than a murderer for a change. James Sutorious gives a good turn as the Professor. Peter Falk is exceptional as he consistently is, Stephen Caffrey is great as Justin, the more interesting and "juicier" character of the murderous duo and Gary Hershberger while more low-key is also effective as Cooper. All in all, an interesting episode with an ending that is both clever and riveting. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Sorry to repeat myself over and over, but here's another great Columbo episode. I guess that's why I'm such a fan - most episodes really are great! The best episodes always have a standout feature of some sort, and in this case the murderer and his accomplice are possibly the youngest ever Columbo villains.

After watching a lot of episodes where Columbo and his adversary act like close friends, it's good to see an episode where tempers fray and bad feelings rise to the surface. It just gives an episode a bit more drama and bite. Columbo is rapidly onto the fact that the two students who claim to be helping him are not very secretly laughing at him and feeding him false clues. He happily plays along, deliberately turning up the bumbling in front of them to make them underestimate him! But of course he knows instantly when they are talking baloney.

The murder itself is another complicated one, along the lines of The Bye Bye Sky High IQ episode, with a sophisticated chain reaction of events that manages to kill the intended target while providing the assassins with a seemingly watertight alibi. In the intervening years between 1978 and 1990, the technology has moved on from record players and firecrackers to remote control car locking systems and hidden cameras.

Stephen Caffrey puts in a great performance as Justin Rowe, the obnoxious, spoilt student. Gary Hershberger is low-key but good as his "yes-man" friend Cooper Redman. And it's nice to see Robert Culp as Mr Rowe, Justin's dad.

A very satisfying episode in all ways.

This episode of "Columbo" features a pretty clever twist. The two murderers are college kids that aspire to be lawyers, so they get to 'help' Columbo throughout his investigation and throw in as many fake leads as possible. These are really well-written villains, because they clearly show no respect for a character the viewer has been respecting for twenty years. They're just seeing how far they can go, barely able to contain their laughter while talking to Columbo. It makes the inevitable big climax when they're caught so worthwhile.

This is one of my favorite episodes because Peter Falk is just amazing in it. Columbo never appears as smart as he actually is, but here the character has to take playing dumb to a whole new level. He needs the killers to see him as no threat whatsoever, he needs to jump on every obvious red herring that they feed him. These college kids clearly have no idea who they're dealing with, and he has to pretend that he's not gloating. It's a fantastically nuanced performance by Falk, and it makes this an infinitely rewatchable episode.