June 21, 2023- number 71

Spoilers

“The Mirror”

Columbo is Fidel Castro?

Okay, so not Castro, but a man named General Ramos Clemente. But it is Peter Falk, famously who would become Lt. Columbo- one of the most iconic detectives of all-time, playing this role. I have to say it was distracting. That is not the fault of the episode, but I could not help that.

You see this trend in the time having white actors play the ethnic roles. Someone like Falk playing this character today would be controversial. I do think Peter Falk does a decent job in the role in this episode, but he had several mannerisms that were distracting and did end up pulling me out of the episode.

The episode dealt with the idea of paranoia and of the suspicion of powerful people that those around them have their own motivations. We see the slightest suggestions, in this case a mirror giving the reflections of betrayal, lead to Clemente taking his friends and supporters and executing them all.

“Ramos Clemente, a would-be god in dungarees, strangled by an illusion, that will-o’-the-wisp mirage that dangles from the sky in front of the eyes of all ambitious men, all tyrants—and any resemblance to tyrants living or dead is hardly coincidental, whether it be here or in the Twilight Zone.”