There is no shortage of crime series on TV today. But even half a century since it debuted, no shows come close to measuring up to the cleverness of the long-running series, Columbo.
In most crime series, the primary motivation for the main characters and for the viewers is identifying the criminal. Columbo turned that trend on its head by letting the audience know who did the deed at the beginning of the episode.
This meant that the tension driving every episode was whether or not Columbo would succeed in identifying the criminals. And the writers of the show pulled that off to fantastic effect.
This was especially true in season two, episode four, called “Dagger of the Mind.” In this iconic episode, Columbo takes a long overdue vacation to London to observe Scotland Yard.
Unfortunately, relaxing was not what fate had in store for the intrepid detective. Instead, shortly after he arrived, Columbo became embroiled in a mystery when two Shakespearean actors committed murders.
While Columbo was incredibly smart, he certainly did not appear that way. He spent much of the episode bumbling about London. What the audience did not realize was that he was looking for clues the whole time.
By the end of the episode, Columbo had the perpetrators and the audience convinced that the two villains had gotten away with their crimes. Watch Columbo flip the script on these two dastardly criminals.
