May 26, 2025: The Columbo rewatch continues with “Troubled Waters”!

This episode aired February 9, 1975

The episode was shot on an actual cruise ship, the Sun Princess, and cast and crew mingled with actual cruise ship passengers. In 2016, the ship was abandoned off the coast of Thailand where it sank. Direct Ben Gazzara recalled: “We sailed from San Francisco to Puerto Vallarta, and about the only thing that wasn’t fun was the vomiting. We had a storm. The sound man would say “Action,” and you got it.”

My thoughts on this episode in chronological viewing order…

It’s actor Bernard Fox, last seen serving Scotland Yard in “Dagger of the Mind”.

Love our harried Columbo desperately seeking his ever-elusive wife.

Your Captain John Steed!

Napoleon Solo looking dashing in that leisure suit.

At first, I thought Danziger was vacationing with his mother. It’s his wife!

Young Al from Quantum Leap is a bit of a creepy stalker here. He could also use a hair and eyebrow trim. Now I’m curious whether Dean Stockwell ever played Albert Einstein.

Blackmailers inevitably end up dead on this show and I fully expect this trend to continue here.

Why is it called Montezuma’s Revenge? According to Grok: “The term humorously implies that the illness is a form of “revenge” by the Aztec ruler against foreign visitors, particularly those from Western countries, for the historical conquest and colonization of Mexico.”

Man, this is an unbearably long rendition of Volare. Or maybe I just hate the song.

Cool shot of the smoking gun.

I love the fact that Columbo initially thinks the Captain wants to talk to him about his wife who he presumes got carried away after a few drinks. She’s out partying without him!

Columbo just happens to be on the scene of a murder. How very Jessica Fletcher of him.

“My wife and I checked into a motel with a water bed. I thought I was gonna die.” Great line.

“No, sir, I think I’ll walk. The elevator is another one of my problems.” Heights, waves, and elevators. I wonder how he feels about spiders and public speaking.

Fortuitously finds a key on the infirmary floor.

The nurse serves him something she pours out of a test tube. Her science experiment?

Doctor Pierce admonishes Columbo for disturbing the patient. The poor man just suffered a heart attack!

The doctor already removed the bullet? Uh, shouldn’t you all be waiting for a proper autopsy?

“Oh I don’t know what that stuff is but it’s terrific.”

It WOULD have been easier to just toss the gun overboard regardless of whatever reasoning Danziger comes up with. Small wonder Columbo automatically assumes it was a frame job.

“Why does a man keep a receipt for a gun that he used to kill somebody with?” Great question. Danziger is just sloppy here.

“When people buy a gun they usually have a reason.” Another great line.

Liking Columbo’s impromptu police work here. Dusts for fingerprints. Matches the bullet to the gun. Shows his smarts.

Aha! Only a previous passenger would know the timing of the band break.

Aha! Danziger just happens to have a key cutter…that he brings along with him on cruises.

If he hid the gun, why not the gloves? Again, this was a very sloppy set-up.

The Mystery of the Missing Surgical Gloves!

I do like this sequence of Columbo chit-chatting with the cruise ship passengers (most of whom were no doubt actual cruise ship passengers) on his way to discovering those massive non-dissolving capsules.

The fluctuating heart rate is another fortuitous piece of evidence.

I like how Columbo talks to Danziger as if he’s just bouncing ideas off him when he is actually setting him up.

“I have to get back to my wife.” Oh yeah. His wife!

I bet he can’t he wait until he’s back on land and has a proper lab to dust for prints inside the glove rather than making a show and potentially contaminating the evidence.

I like how he can eyeball the prints and conclude they aren’t a match.

This episode could have also been called The Case of the Fortuitous Feather.

This one is apparently a fan favorite and I absolutely do love all of the humorous bits, especially those related to Mrs. Columbo who we almost see…but don’t. The clues that make up the case feel a little convenient, bolstered by a pretty inept attempt at framing someone. I think Columbo is at his best when he’s facing off against a worthy opponent and, as much as I love Robert Vaughn, Hayden Danziger is done in by his own incompetence. Still, I really did love seeing Columbo work his magic on those prints – and use some subtle psychology to get his man. A good episode but, for me, not a great one.

My revised episode rankings: 1. Negative Reaction, 2. Any Old Port in a Storm, 3. Double Exposure, 4. A Friend In Deed, 5. Double Shock, 6. A Stitch in Crime, 7. Death Lends a Hand, 8. Suitable for Framing, 9. Publish or Perish, 10. Dagger of the Mind, 11. Requiem for a Falling Star, 12. Prescription: Murder, 13. Murder by the Book/Ransom for a Dead Man (tie), 14. By Dawn’s Early Light, 15. Swan Song, 16. Troubled Waters, 17. Lady in Waiting, 18. An Exercise in Fatality, 19. Etude in Black, 20. The Most Crucial Game, 21. Blueprint for Murder, 22. Lovely But Lethal, 23. The Most Dangerous Match, 24. The Greenhouse Jungle 25. Dead Weight, 26. Short Fuse, 27. Candidate for Crime, 28. Mind Over Mayhem.

Finally, it’s time to look at the evidence Columbo has gathered and ask ourselves whether we think it’s enough to secure a GUILTY verdict – or will Hayden Danziger sail with an ACQUITTAL. Once again, a fair amount of circumstantial evidence, but the fingerprints inside the glove are pretty damning. GUILTY!

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Our Columbo rewatch is scheduled to conclude next week, Monday June 2nd, with the season 4 finale, “A Deadly State of Mind”.  Seasons 5 and 6 have a combined 9 episodes.  What do you think?  Shall we keep going?

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