Grief -
Oliver Brandt might be one of the saddest one.

And there's at least one Leslie Williams moment. Columbo says "You can finish your sherry first."
Leslie says quietly "I don't think I want it now."


Relief -
Nora Chandler. She gives that big sigh and says, "Well - I'll get my coat."
And it doesn't seem like a brave front, she does seem glad it's over. Either way, Anne Baxter really makes you believe the second thing.

PISSED

Paul Gerard in "Murder Under Glass". "You're a very able man, Lieutenant. I respect that, but I don't really care for you very much."

And, of course, Columbo's response was classic, "You know, sir, I was thinking the same thing about you. I respect your talent, but I don't like anything else about you."

This is a great topic, by the way!

I forgot one of disbelief I meant to include in my initial post. Mister Prince. At the end of Ashes to Ashes. When Columbo tells him basically how he solved the crime, Prince looks at him and says "very very good." ( of course spoken with the accident that only Patrick mcgoohan could).

Then he excused himself and Columbo asked him where he was going.

"To the police car".

"A Friend in Deed"

RELIEF: MARK HALPERN over his wife's death MARGARET HALPERN.

GRIEF: HUGH CALDWELL over his wife's death JANICE CALDWELL.

great Cindy!!! Thats a perfect one and in the same episode.

Following up on Cindy’s point about “A Friend in Deed”, maybe the opposite is true when they are caught. Halperin’s relief over the death of his wife turns into grief that he is caught; Caldwell’s grief over the death of his wife turns into relief that he is caught. Although we don’t see Caldwell at the end of the episode, we can imagine he might feel a sense of relief that it’s all over. He even said to Halperin that he should have just gone to the police in the first place.

Ned Diamond at the end of Forgotten Lady definitely is relieved that Grace isnt going to jail. And realistically neither is he for very long if at all. I wonder if he ever sees the inside of a jail.

Knowing Columbo, he might find some way or other to not arrest him in the first place. It wouldn't exactly hurt his pride, since he knows Diamond is innocent, and since he knows the whole thing will fall apart anyway.

You wouldn't call it RELIEF in his case, but Mark Halperin gives a resigned look and just nods slightly, which kind of surprises me.