Columbo: Sex and the Married Detective

Columbo's episodes are really quite a combination of serious, lightheartedness, good acting, an excellent cast, and drama mixed with comedy. Sex and the Married Detective casts Lindsay Crouse who is an excellent actress and does a superb job in this episode. She plays a sex therapist who discovers and learns of her lover's infidelity. She decides revenge. I found this episode to be much more entertaining than some others and still worth watching again and again. I found the interaction between Columbo and the Crouse to be the most interesting as well. Like most of Columbo episodes, one of the trademarks is to treat the audience and the suspect with intelligence rather than dumbing them down.

Undergoing a personality/dress transformation that would rise the male libido, a sex therapist seeks revenge on her unfaithful lover. As she matches wits with the Peter Falk's wily "Columbo," guest star Lindsay Crouse is brilliant as the murderous doctor. The evocative musical score adds much to the story line and is appropriate seductive.

Crouse's quick change from the straight-laced doctor to the no-holds-barred temptress is worth the viewing alone. Further evidence that we all have a bit of a villainy in us, just lying beneath the surface.

This is one of the best of the television specials featuring Falk in his Emmy-winning role.

SEX AND THE MARRIED DETECTIVE was one of the first outings for TV detective Columbo after an eleven-year hiatus for the show. It's certainly a return to the classy days of old, with strong production values, an effective soundtrack, and an above-average script which has a ball with the unusual premise.

Guest star Lindsay Crouse plays a sex therapist who discovers that her boyfriend is cheating on her. She decides to commit the perfect murder by disguising herself as another woman and bumping him off - only to have the crumpled sleuth turn up in an attempt to solve the crime. We're in cosy territory here with a very familiar format, but the sex angle of the screenplay allows for plenty of funny moments where we see Columbo actively embarrassed for once.

In fact, there's a noticeable comedic angle to the whole film, and Peter Falk seems to be having a ball with it. The scene where he has a go at playing the tuba is a particular delight. Crouse is an effective star and the two have some great interplay. And it's not all comedy - the set-piece scene with the briefcase is a masterclass in building suspense to great effect.

I as I have said many times have always been a great fan of Columbo. While few of the later episodes are as amazing as the pre-1989 episodes, there are about five or six worthy ones and Sex and the Married Detective is one of them. Stylishly filmed and atmospherically scored, the episode can't be faulted production-values-wise. The story is always interesting, with many a delightful scene like Columbo playing the tuba and one of the cleverer murder scenarios of the later episodes, and the dialogue is clever with wit, ingenious humour and tension to savour. The support cast are among the better ones of the later entries of Columbo in my opinion, Stephen Macht impresses with his sliminess, while Peter Falk is brilliant as ever(then again Falk rarely disappointed as Columbo, even when Columbo was not as well written or if the episode wasn't up to standard he always did his best), and Lindsay Crouse is superb in a well-written role, one of the more memorable guest villain performance of the pro-1989 episodes for me. Overall, a great, sexy entry. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Successful sex therapist Dr. Joan Allenby (Lindsay Crouse) spies her boyfriend David Kincaid (Stephen Macht) cheating on her. She murders him with what she assumes to be the perfect plan dressed as the woman in black. Police detective Columbo (Peter Falk) takes it apart piece by piece.

This is the standard howcatchem from Columbo. It is fun to see Lindsay Crouse deteriorating from smug to harried. A lot of Columbo is about seeing the next guest star doing a villain turn and Crouse is always great at making the turn. Stephen Macht is the second star although he only has a limited role. This is good.