I caught this episode again last night and acrtually wasn't the biggest fan. It could have been so much more I feel. I know the writers were trying to keep us in suspense as to which twin was the killer and that is why we see little of the crime set up but it just lacked sparkle for me.

Hope this doeasn't offend but it had in my views the worst supporting character in the form of Mrs Peck - over the top and boring - she deserved to be bumped off after her first scene with Columbo!

Any views?

Overall, I think "Double Shock" is a good and entertaining episode, but I agree that Mrs. Peck was completely annoying and Columbo's behavior is not funny or amusing at all.

By contrast, a situation where Columbo annoys a devoted employee of the victim that works much better occurs with Raymond, the butler in "Forgotten Lady." There is so much more subtle and believable humor.

Mrs. Peck's over-the-top hysterics were annoying beyond belief, because first off it makes the character look like she cares less about a murder that's just been committed and more about her picky standards of cleanliness. And second, this was a blatant early case of using Columbo's quirks as a prop for too blatant humor that I have never liked seeing.

I tend to agree that this is a rather weak episode,
which I think is a pity because Martin Landau is
an outstanding actor. Indeed he played the twins
different personalities well, but the script is
just not very good. I also agree that Mrs Peck
really gets on one's nerves for no reason (it doesn't
contribute anything to the plot), but Jeanette
Nolan "made it up" to us with her outstanding
performance as Mrs Kate O'Connell in "The Conspirators" where she plays an outwardly
"kind, grandmotherly" figure, but inside she
has the heart of an assassin.

One other chief weakness of the episode is that it wins the award for one of the weakest payoff clues. Phone records of conversations between the two? If that's all it took to prove the twins were guilty of murder, well sorry, but just like "Lady In Waiting's" weak payoff clue, that should have been something found out at the beginning, and it's also something the twins would not have been dumb enough to preserve a record of if they're faking a feud to deflect suspicion.

aww...poor mrs. peck is being raked over the coals...
but i can understand, her character was a bit over-the-top. but darnit! i just found her so funny. and there were the tender moments between her and columbo when he was explaining how he has always been a bit messy and such, and then she offers him the health cookies and milk..that was a very touching scene. and in the last scene where she is so upset about finding out that the 'boys' were indeed the murderers, just look at columbo's face and hers as well..he hated to disappoint her so..

It isn't the phone conversations alone that prove the guilt of the twins, it is also Columbo's demonstration that the crime could not have been committed by one person alone. So if there were two people involved in the crime, the only "pair" of suspects that Columbo has are the twins. Still only circumstantial I suppose, but a bit more solid than some of the other circumstantial endings.

I disagree with you who think it is a weak episode. Martin Landau is superb and I watch it quite often.

In that last scene, I always liked the way that, not only Columbo, but one of the two brothers, felt the need to let Mrs. Peck down gently.