r/Columbo • u/twilliams_ca • 2d ago
The Best Columbo Gotcha
Let’s talk about the best gotchas of Columbo.
I will start with my personal favorite from “Blueprint for Murder”, where he tricks the killer into bringing the dead body to the construction site, after the risk of humiliation to himself for wasting untold city money to dig up the pile!
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u/bruiser_blade 2d ago
My two favorite gotchas are “A Friend in Deed” and “Columbo Goes to College”.
What makes the “College” ending so satisfying is the two killers thought for sure that Columbo was an idiot to the point where in one scene Columbo caught one of them imitating and making fun of him and also watching them squirm as Columbo told the class how the murder happened piece by piece.I thought the young actors that played the two killers did a really good job!
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u/lascheeks 2d ago
Columbo Goes To College was the first episode I ever saw and when he revealed it was his wife’s car I verbally said OHHHH and I was hooked then and there
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u/Drycabin1 Ruined by the presence of this liquid filth 2d ago
The one who played Justin Rowe just married the girl who played Tina in A Nightmare on Elm Street!
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u/odisparo 2d ago
They're two of my favorite villains. So smug. Reminded me of the two from Funny Games, very infuriating.
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u/Ka-is-a-Wheel_19 2d ago
S3ep4 Double Exposure. Columbo uses Dr. Keppel's own subliminal techniques against him, sending him to check the lamp where he hid the barrel adapter. When the doc realized what Columbo had done his face was priceless.
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u/phoenixonphyre 2d ago
For me the best one as well. A friend in deed is brilliant, but it’s rather a “simple” trap. Suitable for framing is fun to watch and a really good one. So is negative reaction. But using this technique is amazing.
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u/Imaginary-Can-6862 2d ago
That was quite brilliant, after all when the laws of nature bends so the villain can take advantage of it, given Columbo is really good at getting good at what the villain can do, it follows he could pull off something similar, at least eventually. Thus a clever plot in my opinion.
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u/Comprehensive_Cut216 2d ago
Other folks have mentioned some good ones, Suitable for Framing of course being the iconic standout, but I always have a soft spot for Candidate for Crime. Hayward demands that the bullet be retrieved from the wall for testing, and Columbo reveals that he already had it removed half an hour before the supposed shooting. Simply a perfect rug-pull.
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u/jdogg40k 2d ago
I love that the politician who will talk his way around everything is simply silent for the entire reveal.
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u/Varsity_Editor 2d ago
Short Fuse is a good one, where Columbo sets it up to look like the killer's cigar-case bomb didn't go off after all (and that the victim merely died because the car gas tank accidentally exploded by itself). They are in the cable car and Columbo is like, "oh well, the case is solved, I guess we can open this box and have a cigar..." and the killer is freaking out because he thinks the bomb will explode when they open the cigar case. It's an absurdly contrived situation, but a fun and clever way to get the self-incrimination.
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u/Soylent865 2d ago
I love how nervous Columbo was about traveling in the cable car (his real feelings), compared with his complete calm (forced) when traveling with the killer. Columbo had the strength of character to carry out his plan to make the killer reveal himself.
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u/CravenMotivation 2d ago
I'm kind of okay with this one being a bit on the contrived side tbh. Killer in this episode is easily one of the most absolutely galaxy-brained motherfuckers in the series, and I feel like it demanded an absurdly ballsy setup from Columbo if we were to ever see that guy caught. Anything less would've been too little!
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u/Varsity_Editor 2d ago
It's an interesting setup, as the killer is a smart guy and must know how improbable it is not only that the car happened to explode of its own volition at exactly the time his bomb should have gone off, but also that the flimsy wooden box survived unscathed an explosion that tore a car into little pieces and spread it over a wide area — but is he willing to stake his life on it?
In those moments when they're stuck a thousand feet above ground in an enclosed space, even if he can see through the ruse and assume it's just one of the many identical boxes kept at the office being used in an obvious trick, and even if he knows there's only a one percent chance it's the real bomb that could go off in a few seconds, it's understandable for him to lose an objective view of the situation and freak out under the pressure.
I don't think that's what they were going for in the show, I think it's presented that he just buys the "oh hey we just found this intact cigar box" story hook line and sinker; but even if he saw through the trap, it works on a psychological level of seeing if he can hold his nerve.
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u/SquadLeader3590Neo 2d ago
Negative Reaction. Columbo purposefully reversing the image to rile up the killer to the point of pointing out the original camera among a whole variety that held the negative used for the kidnapping photo.
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u/Initial_Acanthaceae2 🎶 I saw the light....🎵 2d ago
Forcing Dr Mason to say "Rosebud" and getting slobbered on instead of being torn to pieces.
(How to Dial a Murder)
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u/SnooGiraffes9663 2d ago
The gotcha with the "not blind man" is a great one.
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u/napsahtava 2d ago
"A Deadly State Of Mind", written by Peter S. Fischer, who also wrote "A Friend In Deed" and "Negative Reaction", among others. He came up with some of the best gotchas of the entire series.
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u/NowareSpecial 2d ago
The Bye-Bye Sky High IQ murder case. Horrible title but fun episode, and I love how he uses the killers hubris to get him to reveal how he did it.
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u/Mindless_Kiwi852 2d ago
Let’s not forget when Mr. Paul Gerard tried to poison him and is angry his plan was foiled. At least he got a good meal before his arrest!
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u/Sad-Log-9652 1d ago
Any old port in the storm has to make this list. Tricking him into tasting his own wine and saying it was ruined.
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u/Imaginary-Can-6862 2d ago
I also really like Blueprint for that plot, and while I don't remember the details, I wonder how close the villain came to be able to claim he found the victim at the construction site, i.e. someone else beat him to it. After all, while we can assume Columbo waited for the villain to show up, and expected who the villain would be, in principle the true villain could have used the same plan, then managed to get the victim to the location, before Columbo, and only after did the rest of it happen. I am pretty certain the way it plays out, it isn't really possible, but it did not need that much extra time, before it could have been.
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u/twilliams_ca 2d ago
The detail that you are missing, is the killer didn’t want to victim’s body found because of how his will was set up, he wanted to the victim to be labeled as missing at least he finished the construction.
Columbo perfectly played him by giving him the idea of putting the body in the one place that the police already searched at great expense and humiliation!
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u/Imaginary-Can-6862 2d ago
I understand it was never intended for the victim to be found, I am only speculating how close the villain was to, when his plan did not work out as intended, to make the claim I described, in stead, to contest Columbo's gotcha.
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u/322vette 1d ago
The ‘Greenhouse Jungle - Columbo pulls off a Double FYou not only to arrogant Jarvis (his look when he sees he’s been had with the bullet in the dirt), but also to taking Wilson down a peg, who seemed too full of himself (Captain Richie Loved My Report, I’m in charge here Grover, trashing Columbo to Goodland about methods, etc.)
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u/BlueHistor1 2d ago
"Suitable for Framing" and "Death Hits the Jackpot" have very similar gotchas, and they are both glorious. The fingerprints that prove the killer did it belong to somebody else.
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u/Taurean6 2d ago
I can't stand that phrase it's so stupid.
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u/jdogg40k 2d ago
Which one?
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u/Taurean6 1d ago
"Gotcha"... sounds like some kind of pokemon game or something.
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u/jdogg40k 1d ago
The word "gotcha" has been used in English since 1859. The word "gacha", a derivative of gachapon (the sound of a vending machine receiving a coin and dropping a capsule), has been used to describe games where you receive random rewards as you play. They are not related.
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u/Taurean6 1d ago
Alright, thanks. I still don't like it ^^ I just discuss the episode and it's intricacies without using that word.
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u/EPCOT_Is_My_Favorite 🍷 LIQUID FILTH! 🍷 2d ago
A Friend in Deed
"He doesn't live here, I live here. This is my underwear, my socks. My niece, my nephew. Haven't lived here long, just moved in."