History Recap / ColumboS05E02

* WorthyOpponent: Hassan seems to consider Columbo this by the end of the episode. As he confesses in private to have committed the murders, he takes a moment to congratulate Columbo for correctly solving the mystery even if his seeming DiplomaticImmunity means Columbo cant make the arrest.

* EngineeredPublicConfession: King Hamid Kamal flies back to Suari. Salah and Columbo have a little coffee chat in which Columbo salutes Salah for having beaten him, since Columbo can't prove him guilty. Salah cheerfully agrees. Then King Hamid Kamal, who was not on the plane but instead was in the consulate listening to the whole conversation, steps out and confronts Salah. Salah, who is terrified of the justice he'd face in his homeland, waives immunity and signs a confession for Columbo.

* TheGoodKing: The new king of Suari is young and trying to push his country in a more progressive direction. Even the student protesters admit they support him, just not his government. Though as Salah learns near the end, just because he is more liberal doesn't mean [[GoodIsNotNice he's above executing traitors.]]

* OhCrap: Salah gives this reaction when he realizes the King of Suari hasn't left the country and just heard him confess to murdering Youseff and Habib.

* SadisticChoice: In the end, Salah finds himself between a rock and a hard place, thanks to Columbo ratting out his little act of insurrection to his King. Either he keeps his diplomatic immunity and be executed in his own country for treason, or he loses that diplomatic immunity and is arrested for murdering the security chief. Either way, there's no outcome where he walks free. Seeing that he chose the latter, we can only assume the former option was simply too horrible for anyone to imagine.
* WorthyOpponent: Hassan seems to consider Columbo this by the end of the episode. As he confesses in private to have commited the crimes, he takes a moment to congratulate Columbo for correctly solving the mystery even if his seeming DiplomaticImmunity means Columbo cant make the arrest.

Hassan Salah (Creator/HectorElizondo) is a diplomat at the Los Angeles consulate of the Arab nation of "Suari". He wants...actually, it's not clear at all what he's up to or why he's committing murder; apparently it's some sort of murky plot to increase his own power. In any case, he murders security chief Youseff Alafa inside the main office of the consulate. In this he is assisted by a gullible low-level employee at the consulate, Rachman Habib (Creator/SalMineo, once a huge movie star), who thinks that the whole plot is some kind of FalseFlagOperation to discredit left-wing Suarian protesters.

* SadisticChoice: In the end, Salah finds himself between a rock and a hard place, thanks to Columbo ratting out his little act of insurrection to his King. Either he keeps his diplomatic immunity and be executed in his own country for treason, or he loses that diplomatic immunity and is arrested for murdering the security chief. Either way, there's no outcome where he walks free.

Habib helps Salah establish an alibi when he sets off a bomb in the office a good half-hour later, blowing open the safe, after Salah has left for a meeting with the LAPD to discuss the upcoming visit of the King of Suari. The scene is staged to suggest that terrorist or thieves, presumably of a liberal reformist stripe, robbed the safe and killed Alafa. But as always, there's Columbo, who notices odd details, like why Alafa didn't have his gun out if he was responding to a bomb, or why there's plaster dust from the ceiling on the pile of burned papers if the papers were burned after the bomb blew the safe.

Hassan Salah (Creator/HectorElizondo) is Hassan Salah, a diplomat at the Los Angeles consulate of the Arab nation of "Suari". He wants...actually, it's not clear at all what he's up to or why he's committing murder; apparently it's some sort of murky plot to increase his own power. In any case, he murders security chief Youseff Alafa inside the main office of the consulate. In this he is assisted by a gullible low-level employee at the consulate, Rachman Habib (Creator/SalMineo, once a huge movie star), who thinks that the whole plot is some kind of FalseFlagOperation to discredit left-wing Suarian protesters.

Guest Starring: Hector Elizondo, Sal Mineo]

Hassan Salah (Hector Elizondo) is Hassan Salah, a diplomat at the Los Angeles consulate of the Arab nation of "Suari". He wants...actually, it's not clear at all what he's up to or why he's committing murder; apparently it's some sort of murky plot to increase his own power. In any case, he murders security chief Youseff Alafa inside the main office of the consulate. In this he is assisted by a gullible low-level employee at the consulate, Rachman Habib (Creator/SalMineo, once a huge movie star), who thinks that the whole plot is some kind of FalseFlagOperation to discredit left-wing Suarian protesters.

Hassan Salah (Hector Elizondo) is Hassan Salah, a diplomat at the Los Angeles consulate of the Arab nation of "Suaria". He wants...actually, it's not clear at all what he's up to or why he's committing murder; apparently it's some sort of murky plot to increase his own power. In any case, he murders security chief Youseff Alafa inside the main office of the consulate. In this he is assisted by a gullible low-level employee at the consulate, Rachman Habib (Creator/SalMineo, once a huge movie star), who thinks that the whole plot is some kind of FalseFlagOperation to discredit left-wing Suarian protesters.

Habib helps Salah establish an alibi when he sets off a bomb in the office a good half-hour later, blowing open the safe, after Salah has left for a meeting with the LAPD to discuss the upcoming visit of the King of Suaria. The scene is staged to suggest that terrorist or thieves, presumably of a liberal reformist stripe, robbed the safe and killed Alafa. But as always, there's Columbo, who notices odd details, like why Alafa didn't have his gun out if he was responding to a bomb, or why there's plaster dust from the ceiling on the pile of burned papers if the papers were burned after the bomb blew the safe.

* EngineeredPublicConfession: King Hamid Kamal flies back to Suaria. Salah and Columbo have a little coffee chat in which Columbo salutes Salah for having beaten him, since Columbo can't prove him guilty. Salah cheerfully agrees. Then King Hamid Kamal, who was not on the plane but instead was in the consulate listening to the whole conversation, steps out and confronts Salah. Salah, who is terrified of the justice he'd face in his homeland, waives immunity and signs a confession for Columbo.

* {{Qurac}}: "Suaria", the fictional and vaguely Arab kingdom with a consulate in Los Angeles.

* {{Qurac}}: "Suaria", the fictional and vaguely Arab kingdom with a consulate in Los Angeles.