Elamin: Oh my gosh, Richard, Katherine, Matt, thank you so much again for being here. I so appreciate it. Elamin: This past week, we saw a long-awaited revival of Party Down. That's a comedy series that centers around a catering company hired to just cater to a bunch of events around Hollywood. Kathryn, it's been 13 years off the air and Party Down has returned. Is Party Down 2.0 worth the wait? Nadia stumbles her way through some gentle questioning – again highlighting the flaw in Collier’s plan to entrust her with keeping them out of jail. If the men had guns, why didn’t the killer just shoot Karl, the detective asks. Umming and ahhing, Nadia says he’d put the gun in his belt to rifle through some drawers. How come there were no fingerprints on the drawers then, Columbo enquires. There’s more uncertainty from Nadia before she ‘recalls’ the man used a handkerchief to wipe the prints off. I must say that normally, at this point in the life-cycle of a meme, it’s easy to get tired of it. Like “Har, har, har *eye roll* yas, king, you’re my daddy.” But I think fashion blog Tom + Lorenzo put it best in their coverage of Pascal’s ensemble at the London photo call for The Mandalorian Season 3.

The setup of the homicide itself is weak, imho, just like in ‘Dagger of the Mind’. In both episodes, neither killing is premeditated murder, or really any kind of murder. Both killings came as a result of the perp wanting to stop a fight or beating. Columbo has read up on Collier’s books about hypnosis. He has found drugs in Nadia’s bloodstream known to be able to break a subject’s will, and the way she removed and folded her clothes, and hid valuables in the toe of her shoe all point to someone who believed they were going swimming. It’s a natural step, then, to deduce that Collier had been able to plant just such a suggestion in her mind. Columbo doesn’t have to wait long for that elusive proof, however. Sergeant Kramer is in touch to inform him that there’s a witness who can attest that a car left the Donner place in a hurry at 5.30pm. The witness can’t ID the car and driver, though, because he’s BLIND, but the wily Lieutenant finds a way to make it count nonetheless. Whatever the case may be, here’s an accounting of why Pascal has been all over the internet lately — and how the fixation on his identity as “internet daddy” has gotten out of hand. Why has Pedro Pascal become so suddenly popular?Collier starts to realise what a fool he’s been to leave his life and freedom in Nadia’s shaking hands.” Matt: So you know when you get your cat, and you put some catnip on the ground? It starts rolling around and getting all crazy? That's our story now with Pedro Pascal. He's the catnip. And it's because he's, like, sensitive, but he's tough, so he's kind of like this good guy that's about to snap at any moment…You see him in The Last of Us and he's conflicted. He's very tough, he can pull the gun and take care of business, but he's also taking care of a kid. And all this talk about "daddy," this is no coincidence. He's literally a daddy by proxy in most of these roles.

The take-down of Dr Collier is easily one of the greatest hits of the entire Columbo opus. Like some of the other very best gotcha moments, notably Suitable for Framing, A Friend in Deed and Candidate for Crime, it’s so good because the reveal is such a stunning revelation to Collier, who until that moment has believed himself to be in total control. I can't imagine having red carpet access only to make an actor uncomfortable by putting him into a sexual situation he didn't accept like that. Elamin: Before I let you guys go, I love a recommendation moment. I'd like each of you to recommend one thing that would make my life better this weekend.The concept of the second killing itself is massively far-fetched, though, and one that requires a heavy suspension of disbelief to accept. Those that simply accept it for what it is – an audacious act of mental manipulation by a master in his field – are likely to gain the most pleasure from this episode. I liken it to the subliminal cuts killing in Double Exposure– a preposterous crime that made for brilliant viewing! It was TikTok that would catapult thirst for Pascal into even greater heights. Why has Pedro Pascal blown up on TikTok? Ok, suppose now the guy could really see – this would be again a reason to shut up and talk to your lawyer. In this case Collier should assume Columbo has real evidence, and anything that he says, can only discriminate him. Collier is a doctor, so supposedly – not a total idiot. An obvious pleasure of the show is having these elaborate and ingenious murders delicately unravelled by equally ingenious observations. The first death denies that pleasure and while the second murder is far more fulfilling (despite its implausibility) it leaves no time to savour Columbo’s efforts. Instead he immediately spots the (clever) inconsistencies and divines the wild truth in time to confront people with it in the next scene.