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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 276093" data-attributes="member: 23">Étude In Black continuedAs the mistress-turned-victim Jenifer Welles (yes - there’s only one “n”), Anjanette Comer is spot on. She’s sultry and confident and there’s a sense of entitlement and manipulation to her as she blackmails her lover into telling his wife before she does. But it’s not a one-note performance. Far from it. It’s understood that she has her own perspective and in her mind - even though she has no qualms about pursuing a married man and destroying his marriage - what she is doing is justified because it keeps things out in the open. She’s one victim who’s really the victim of her own selfishness. But when Columbo talks sadly about such a young and talented person murdering themselves (when it’s believed to be a suicide), it brings home the sad truth of the situation.John Cassavetes is great as Alex. Formidable and slick, and with a sense of power to him. My favourite moment of his comes at the garage when Columbo - leaning into Alex’s car - tells him about a theory. Alex rebuts it and Columbo agrees, looking particularly puzzled. With Columbo not looking directly at him, Alex takes a moment to look closely at Columbo with a look that’s a combination of pity, amusement and triumph. With a smile, he tells Columbo he feels sorry for him for working on this investigation and then he drives away. That moment of him studying Columbo, weighing him up and seeming to deduce he has nothing to fear is just terrific. Special mention must go to one of the scenes filmed at the Hollywood Bowl in which Alex arrives to find Columbo at Alex’s piano on the stage, playing chopsticks to an empty ampitheatre. I don’t know how the business side of things works, but I’m certainly impressed that such a venue could be secured for this show. Perhaps it’s a sign of the esteem in which this series was already held, or perhaps it’s simply Universal knowing the right people. Either way, it looks great. The recorded performance compared with the news reports after Jenifer’s death informing the gotcha were a nice touch. As with many of these denouements, I have my doubts as to how concrete this piece of evidence would be, and I’m not convinced Alex would have confessed at this point having gone to such great lengths to cover up his crime. All the same, a line has to be drawn somewhere, and it played out really well. </blockquote>

Verification: What month follows July?