I have to admit I’ve watched all episodes of Columbo, the Peter Falk TV series about a seemingly inept detective who inevitably outwits the ostensibly shrewd murderer.* In fact, I can hear one of the episodes running on the TV in the kitchen right now, a rerun of a rerun of a rerun of a … The alternative is to put on the morning news, where real murderers too frequently go uncaught, and justice isn’t poetic, regular, or indisputable.
Probably, no phrase is more aligned with an actor than “Oh! Sir, one more thing,” the words Columbo uses to disrupt the feeling of untouchability in a proud confident murderer. Falk utters those words at the end of an interview scene and after he leaves the setting, starting those words sometimes off set and appearing at the door through which he had just exited. The words usually elicit in the murderer the oh-oh expression that precedes fast thinking to cover a possible mistake in an alibi or in falsifying evidence meant to frame someone else. Columbo uses the expression as a method to unravel a criminal’s tightly knotted alibi.
“One more thing” is a rather simple reintroduction of a topic, a postscript that becomes more significant than the discussion that preceded it. Falk mastered its delivery, and it became a hallmark of his character, a lieutenant intent on tracking down and wearing down the guilty by persistent sleuthing. The three words might also be part of your own repertoire of performances, especially when you just can’t let go of something someone else said or did. It’s the “one more thing” that drives grudges, adamant stands on issues, and closed minds.
Columbo’s script writers used the expression to further a plot by revealing hints of evidence yet to come and sparking some small revelation in the mind of Columbo. As watchers, we already know who committed the crime in the TV series—the story always begins with the criminal and the crime, postponing Falk’s entry for as much as a third of the episode—and our pleasure derives from watching Columbo slowly uncover the evidence even though at the outset he appears to suspect the suspect.
No human condition is new. The 100 billion or so of us who have inhabited the planet have off and on experienced everything that the current seven billion now experience. Like Columbo, we arrive upon a scene whose action is already in progress. And like Columbo, we have our suspicions about the actors and the actions, but it takes us time to unravel the Gordian knots of life. We’re always asking about “one more thing” because we meet life’s episodes already in progress, the progression of more than 200,000 years of human experience and interactions.
Oh! And one more thing. You don’t have to fault yourself for not seeing the truth of any circumstance immediately. To play on other expressions, such as “If God wanted us to have napkins, He wouldn’t have given us sleeves,” I’ll say, “If God wanted us to know everything immediately instead of discovering as we go, He wouldn’t have given us the words ‘one more thing.’” Keep saying, “Oh! Sir (or Madam), one more thing.” It demonstrates that you know the world still has its mysteries, if not for everyone, such as the people who watch from an omniscient viewpoint like fans of Columbo mysteries, at least for you. Even though it introduces an afterthought, the expression is a key to having a curious and persistent mind that continuously seeks truth beyond a reasonable doubt. Maybe the reason I like Columbo is that the show reminds me that I can always pursue more information and possibly get to a truth, if not to The Truth.
*I know. I might have spent my time more wisely trying to fill the considerable gaps in my knowledge, feeding the hungry, promoting world peace, or inventing some device that makes life easy.
Probably, no phrase is more aligned with an actor than “Oh! Sir, one more thing,” the words Columbo uses to disrupt the feeling of untouchability in a proud confident murderer. Falk utters those words at the end of an interview scene and after he leaves the setting, starting those words sometimes off set and appearing at the door through which he had just exited. The words usually elicit in the murderer the oh-oh expression that precedes fast thinking to cover a possible mistake in an alibi or in falsifying evidence meant to frame someone else. Columbo uses the expression as a method to unravel a criminal’s tightly knotted alibi.
“One more thing” is a rather simple reintroduction of a topic, a postscript that becomes more significant than the discussion that preceded it. Falk mastered its delivery, and it became a hallmark of his character, a lieutenant intent on tracking down and wearing down the guilty by persistent sleuthing. The three words might also be part of your own repertoire of performances, especially when you just can’t let go of something someone else said or did. It’s the “one more thing” that drives grudges, adamant stands on issues, and closed minds.
Columbo’s script writers used the expression to further a plot by revealing hints of evidence yet to come and sparking some small revelation in the mind of Columbo. As watchers, we already know who committed the crime in the TV series—the story always begins with the criminal and the crime, postponing Falk’s entry for as much as a third of the episode—and our pleasure derives from watching Columbo slowly uncover the evidence even though at the outset he appears to suspect the suspect.
No human condition is new. The 100 billion or so of us who have inhabited the planet have off and on experienced everything that the current seven billion now experience. Like Columbo, we arrive upon a scene whose action is already in progress. And like Columbo, we have our suspicions about the actors and the actions, but it takes us time to unravel the Gordian knots of life. We’re always asking about “one more thing” because we meet life’s episodes already in progress, the progression of more than 200,000 years of human experience and interactions.
Oh! And one more thing. You don’t have to fault yourself for not seeing the truth of any circumstance immediately. To play on other expressions, such as “If God wanted us to have napkins, He wouldn’t have given us sleeves,” I’ll say, “If God wanted us to know everything immediately instead of discovering as we go, He wouldn’t have given us the words ‘one more thing.’” Keep saying, “Oh! Sir (or Madam), one more thing.” It demonstrates that you know the world still has its mysteries, if not for everyone, such as the people who watch from an omniscient viewpoint like fans of Columbo mysteries, at least for you. Even though it introduces an afterthought, the expression is a key to having a curious and persistent mind that continuously seeks truth beyond a reasonable doubt. Maybe the reason I like Columbo is that the show reminds me that I can always pursue more information and possibly get to a truth, if not to The Truth.
*I know. I might have spent my time more wisely trying to fill the considerable gaps in my knowledge, feeding the hungry, promoting world peace, or inventing some device that makes life easy.
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