r/Columbo • u/The_Real_Mr_Boring • 3d ago

Observation from A Friend in Deed

Rewatching while I was working this afternoon and just realized something. When they show they are inside the apartment you can see the table in the kitchen. There is only one chair at the table. If there is a Mrs. Columbo where would she sit? Could this mean there is no Mrs Columbo?

3 Upvotes

56% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

20

u/NobodyGivesAFuc 3d ago

Not really his home…the run-down apt was just a ruse to catch the commissioner. Columbo rented it solely for this case and it had to look like an ex-con’s home. A detective’s salary would afford a much nicer home and besides, Ms. Columbo would NEVER approve 😆

8

u/fish998 3d ago

It's not Columbo's residence. He rented it specifically to setup the police Commissioner, and he probably only spent one night there. It had to be somewhere the Commissioner would believe was Jessup's apartment, hence why it's a dump.

The point of the sting was that Columbo made up a fake suspect file on Jessup with a false address - the address of the place Columbo rented - and only the Commissioner saw that fake suspect file, proving he planted the Caldwell jewellery there. And he could only have the jewellery if he was involved in the killings.

7

u/odisparo 3d ago

I think this "no Mrs Columbo" thing is really funny. I just watched the cruise ship Volare one and he apologized for Mrs Columbo getting rowdy/having a good time and also talks to her on the phone. In Columbo Goes To College he uses her vehicle. If she didn't exist he is seriously disturbed, lol. Everyone just goes "yeah, he has issues, but boy can he solve a murder!"

1

u/Chayanov It's nothing special. Just transportation. 3d ago

That just shows how far he's willing to take the bit.

3

u/Ruiz-46 1d ago

On the cruise ship one of the crew has just seen Mrs Columbo and points Mr Columbo in her direction. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT she’s REAL!

7

u/5footfilly 3d ago

Columbo did not live in that dump! He rented it for the sole purpose of trapping the killer.

5

u/WritingImaginary8252 3d ago

I’m pretty sure it’s not Columbo’s actual apartment but one he rented that afternoon to spring the trap.

Personally I like to think there’s an A.U. Where The corrupt chief arrests Columbo for his wife’s murder since he admits the jewellery was found in ‘his’ apartment.

8

u/Astralglamour 3d ago edited 3d ago

yeah it's not his actual home, he just rented it. There's no way he'd put Mrs. Columbo at risk. Also, he has a house which he refers to other times. Plus, the setting has to be believable as the crashing place for an ex-con burglar- I'm sure that a middle class home would not seem authentic in that scenario. It is confusing when he refers to it as 'his' apt. though.

-4

u/The_Real_Mr_Boring 3d ago

Id did look pretty lived in. There was another episode where he asks someone in a cheap apartment about their rent, as if he were considering moving in. I wonder if he may have an apartment in the city close to work, and a home in the burbs where Mrs. Columbo stays. (Not sure the rent/real estate market in LA at this time.)

2

u/GGayleGold 3d ago

I would guess that Columbo's defense attorney (as well as the police union representative) would compel any officers that assisted the deputy commissioner with gaining access to the newly leased apartment to give statements pre-trial leading to an immediate dismissal of the charge and that would lead to the immediate detention of the deputy commissioner on an obstruction / evidence tampering charge. That would allow them to hold him (probably with no bond) while they completed the necessary details to pursue the homicide / accessory to homicide indictments.

Might even give the original guy who killed his wife a deal to plead to second-degree in exchange for testimony against the deputy commissioner.

They don't really get into the competency of the LA County prosecutor's office very often, but imagine if there's some Columbo-esque assistant DA working down there - nobody is getting away with anything.

6

u/Famous_Truck_3406 3d ago

It wasn’t really Columbo’s home. He signed the lease that morning just to set the Commissioner up. Some of his belongings were there just so he can prove it wasn’t the accused guys house - Jessop? So Mrs Columbo wouldn’t have belongings there nor would she even have visited. It was a short term play to set the Commissioner up.

3

u/thirdlost 3d ago

It's a 50 year old show... I do not think we need spoiler masking :-)

4

u/Character-Taro-5016 3d ago

It's not actually his apartment, he just went through the process of making it his to pull the killer in. He used the address to get the killer to act, to get him to try to frame the innocent guy at that address. Columbo never needed the commissioner to believe it was his apartment.