Agenda for Murder story
Oscar Finch is a lawyer who uses underhanded methods to get his clients off, like coercing Paul Mackey, who worked for the D.A.'s office, into destroying evidence against racketeer Frank Staplin in 1969. Twenty-one years later, Mackey is chosen by a presidential candidate, Governor Montgomery, to be his Vice Presidential running mate. Finch himself hopes that he might be appointed as the next Attorney General. Staplin, facing another indictment, threatens to expose the long-ago favor and ruin Finch's and Mackey's political futures if he doesn't arrange the destruction of another document. Finch decides to murder him. He scatters cigar ashes to make it seem he was in a late-night meeting with a contributor when the murder occurred. Finch walks to Staplin's house, shoots him and makes his death look like a suicide. Final clue/twist: After Columbo learns that Staplin hadn't eaten any of the cheese on the dish at the crime scene, but that the block of cheese had had a piece bitten off from it, he assumes that the murderer must have taken a bite. CSI can fabricate a toothprint from the cheese and Columbo finds more than enough samples of Finch's toothprint on his discarded pieces of chewing gum - proving that he was at the crime scene. Directed by: Patrick McGoohan. Story by: Jeffrey Bloom.
18 total · 3 choice · 5 major · 10 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| blackmail | choice | Oscar Finch was being blackmailed by Frank Staplin. |
| how to murder someone and get away with it | choice | Oscar Finch came up with an elaborate plot to murder the blackmailing racketeer Frank Staplin: Oscar went to meet Frank in secret and shot him dead, then planted the gun in such a way that it would look like suicide. He would undoubtedly have gotten away with it too, were it not for an irresistible urge to nibble on a morsel of Reggiano cheese at the murder site. |
| the desire for professional success | choice | Oscar Finch wanted a high-profile position in Governor Montgomery's future administration, and murdered Frank Staplin whose blackmailing threatened those designs. The Congressman Paul Mackey had designs on the White House. |
| breaking the law to cover up another crime | major | Oscar Finch killed Frank because Frank threatened to reveal that Ocsar played a role in destroying evidence in the past. |
| law enforcement | major | The bumbling but sharp-witted homicide detective Lt. Columbo was tasked with solving the following murder mystery: Had a well-known racketeer committed suicide in his study, or had he been shot dead by someone who cleverly concealed their action? |
| legal occupation | major | Oscar Finch was a practicing attorney. It came to light that he had formerly arranged for evidence against the racketeer Frank Staplin to be destroyed. In a scene outside of the courthouse, Oscar celebrated a legal victory. |
| professional politics | major | Governor Montgomery was running for the presidential nomination from his party with Paul MacKey as his pick for Vice President. |
| suicide | major | Oscar Finch shot dead his blackmailer, Frank Staplin, and made the death look like a suicide. |
| amazement at a new technology | minor | Columbo was amazed that it was now possible to transmit a message from Los Angeles to Hawaii in 14 seconds from the comfort of one's own home by means of this invention: a home fax machine. |
| boss and employee | minor | Oscar Finch's personal assistant was upset with the odor of cigar smoke that permeated his office. |