There is a minor point in "Negative Reaction" that has caught my attention. Hopefully someone else out there is also interested...

Half-way through, during the scene in the camera shop, the guy who sold Alvin Deschler the camera to take pictures of houses says that Deschler spent a certain price and gave him an extra ten bucks to make the receipt out for a much larger amount. This clearly implies that Deschler was trying to get more money out of Paul Galesko.

Why was this point concerning Alvin Descher included in the script? It seems that there are several possibilities....

As innocent as Deschler was with respect to the murder of Frances Galesko, did this reinforce the history that he was still a lifetime criminal and could not help but steal money from his employer?

Was this meant to make Deschler seem more unethical than the changed, second chance at life, converted from crime appearance made him out to be?

Are we supposed to feel less sorry for Alvin Deschler and more sympathy for Paul Galesko because of this?

Didn't Deschler feel that he was being paid enough? (Remember, Columbo said that he had no problem paying his motel bill.)

Did it mean that Deschler felt so comfortable under the supposed good fortune provided by Galesko's generosity that he thought nothing of milking him for a few extra dollars?

Did Deschler feel that he was saving Galesko so much by pretending that he was the buyer of the ranch that extra money for a higher priced camera did not matter?

What do you think?

Nah ... it was just writers reinforcing the criminal nature of an ex-con willing to take advantage of his situation, to say nothing of the kind of dummy Galesko selected to exploit for similar reasons.

The thing that tickles me is Deschler believing a receipt was enough to pass the purchase of a $20 camera off on a professional photographer for $100.

It makes it obvious that Deschler is working at someone else's behest. Why would he want a $100 receipt for himself? He's obviously going to be compensated for the purchase via the reciept. It's an essential clue to Columbo that someone else is most likely behind the murder.

I hate to nitpick about such a great episode (one of the greatest), but one other thing has always bothered me a little. It seems very easy for Galesko to break into Deschler's motel room, not once but twice! (One of those times had already happened at the start of the story.) Even though he wasn't a former BURGLAR (as far as you know), for an ex-convict of ANY kind, that seems a little surprising. You hear sometimes about ex-convicts going on "crime prevention" lecture tours. I don't think Deschler would have made it on one of those!

Indeed ... and how could a huge vintage Bentley get past the snoopy manager of a small roadside dustbowl motel like that one -- especially after Deschler's adamant complaints of a camera stolen from his room?

You see, I don't consider the closer examinations of a great show nitpicking, when it's really only natural for inquisitive people to question the plot conveniences that try their common senses.