The Mirror

Description: Season 3, Episode 6

Air Date: October 20, 1961

Plot Summary: A dictator believes he can see the true identity of his assassins in a mirror.

Review: This is another one of the worst episodes which is unfortunate since it starred Columbo himself, Peter Falk. Besides the story blatantly mirroring (see what I did there) Castro's rise to power, there isn't much going on. All that happens is a rebel leader and his flunkies overtake the current dictator in order to establish their own regime. The former dictator knows these rebels will end up as corrupt as him, but he also mentions a dumb story about a magic mirror. The new dictator doesn't take long to start going apeshit as he is paranoid and hot tempered. For some reason, the new dictator sees his flunky friends trying to kill him in the mirror so he executes them in advance as a precaution. Once he has gone mad with power, and all his flunkies are dead, the dictator ends up killing himself. Uh...okay. And that's all that really happens. I get what they were going for, but it's not a readily applicable lesson. Plus, come on, we're at the point where all dictators are essentially puppets one way or another. Nice try, TZ, but on to the next one.