I’ve been watching a lot of Columbo lately, and I’ve noticed something about the way the stories are framed that make it interesting. Of course, I’m not the only person to notice, but I haven’t seen much discussion about it online. So I thought I’d try and make the case that Columbo is the antagonist in every episode.
For those who don’t know, Columbo was a crime drama created by Richard Levinson and William Link. It would release episodes starting with its first pilot in 1968, up until its last special in 2003. It stars Peter Falk as the titular character, Detective Columbo. It would guest star several famous actors playing the murderers, including Leonard Nimoy, Johnny Cash, and Dick Van Dyke.
Columbo is a scruffy, clumsy, and sometimes ill-mannered man. He often babbles when he talks to people, usually about his wife who we never meet in the show. But underneath this accidental façade is a smart, intelligent detective who catches out the murderers he investigates by appearing less than competent.
The show turns the usual detective formula on it’s head. It’s never a mystery who the murderer is – every single episode opens by showing us how the murderer commits the crime. The mystery comes from wondering how this bumbling detective will catch the murderes out, and prove without a doubt it was them. It turns the genre upside down, a howcatchem rather than a whodunnit. And in that spirit, it makes the murderer the protagonist and the antagonist is, in fact, Columbo himself.
It starts at the beginning of every episode. As I already mentioned, each episode opens with the murderer committing their crime. Columbo is nowhere to be seen at first. It can often take 15 minutes before we first get a glimpse of the Detective. When he does show up, he often clocks on to the killer right away, and begins to hound them for information.
Columbo is annoying, but smart. He’ll keep talking about something that seems like nonsense, or badgering the murderer with questions. He will share his theories with them and ask them what they think. It’s subtle but not subtle at the same time. He’s always telling them he knows what they did and how they did it.
So we follow the murderer as they cover their tracks based on things Columbo has told them. Sometimes they commit more murders. Or cover up evidence. We are shown their ingenuity in how they manage to elude capture. Often in watching these moments I start to feel like I’m supposed to be rooting for the murder.
The murderer is always our main POV character. Sure, other perspectives are shown as well, but it always returns to our protagonist, to the murderer. They get annoyed at Columbo, often with reasonable justification. Even if we know the source of their annoyance is a fear of getting caught, we are presented with a Detective who is always having to apologise for his actions.
It’s the music, you see. Whenever Columbo says something that lets the murderer know they’ve slipped up, it plays a cue from a horror movie. It wants us to be scared of what just happened. It wants us to feel like the murderer does. Because they are the protagonist. And if they are the protagonist, then who is the antagonist?
The music is the biggest clue. Every episode follows its formula. Columbo catches the murderer out in the end. They can do nothing but admit defeat and submit to arrest. And the music doesn’t play a heroic ballad, or inspire victory. It inspires fear, horror, failure, loss. The protagonist has lost and the music supports this.
Of course, Columbo is the good guy. He’s catching the murderers and bringing them to justice. But I think that the way the show seems to present Columbo as the antagonist is one of the reasons it’s a classic show. It makes it more interesting to watch than a typical show that would only tell you what the detective knows. Instead we only know what the murderer knows, and are forced to guess what Columbo knows, what he is doing in every conversation, how he’s manipulating the murderer, and how he will eventually catch them.
It is almost the exact opposite of a murder mystery. And that’s what makes it unique.
So that’s it. That’s my argument. That’s why I think Columbo is actually the antagonist of the series. But before I finish, there’s just one more thing….
