Do you think Santini knew what Columbo had done to the handcuffs he bet the conjurer he could not open? Was Santini such an egomaniac he could not let him self be humiliated in front of an audience even if he knew it would give the Lieutenant footing against him?

Joe

um...yes..........

I always thought he realised it at the point he turns to Columbo and looks him in the eye as he's trying to release them. That's when it 'clicks', and since he's already committed he opens them. That's the way i've always seen it anyway.

Who can really know but the character underestimated Columbo all through the show - he probably assumed that the handcuffs were ordinary stock.

For me, the point is that Columbo, always the keen observer of psychology, knows that Santini's ego is his weakness. Columbo knows that Santini would never allow himself to be (seemingly) defeated in front of an audience -- even at the expense of incriminating himself in a murder case.

I do love that echange of "looks" (all of the comments here are good interpretations) in this "I knew you could do it" scene.

....yeah....'i knew you could do it.'..and then that cute little wink.

Just to further expand on my previous theory: He (Santini) could only know what kind of lock it was once he started picking it. As he did, he realized it was the same type of mechanism used in Jerome's door. That's when he realizes what Columbo is pulling on him, thus 'the look'.