PILOT REVIEW: Motive

MOTIVE

Starring: Kristin Lehman, Louis Ferreira, Brendan Penny, Roger Cross, and Lauren Holly

Created by Daniel Cerone
Written by Daniel Cerone, Directed by Bronwen Hughes

Motive is a new Canadian drama airing on ABC this summer. The twist to this otherwise by the book procedural is that the killer and victim are revealed at the very beginning of the episode. Then the rest of the episode is centered on finding the killer and figuring out the, you guessed it, motive. The lead characters are homicide detectives Angela Flynn and Oscar Vega (Kristin Lehman and Louis Ferreira). Also in the cast is a rookie detective (Brendan Penny), staff sergeant (Roger Cross), and chief medical examiner (Lauren Holly).

THE GOOD: I guess it's an interesting twist on the procedural format - finding out the killer and victim within the first couple seconds could make for a real psychological drama, I stress could. It's not a bad way to keep the procedural fresh. The performances are serviceable enough with Kristin Lehman as the strongest performer and the most flushed out character. The case of the week was interesting at the end because it explored some psychological issues.

THE BAD: The problem was this show didn't use the interesting premise to anything out of the ordinary. It was a strictly average procedural and the story left a lot out there. For example, the murderer in the pilot was a bullied kid. The show could have really explored that and gotten in the killer's head. Instead, it was something they showed briefly at the beginning and then discussed at the end with barely a passing mention in-between. The show could use its format to do something different but it doesn't. Aside from Lehman, there is not much to say about the other actors because they did next to nothing in the pilot. That's another problem even if character development isn't the number one priority.

BOTTOM LINE: What can you really expect from a Canadian series filling a timeslot in the summer to avoid more repeats? Maybe a little more since Rookie Blue has connected with viewers. Still, there was nothing here that makes me want to watch another episode. I can watch better stories on other procedurals like the Law & Order series. It had a hook to make it different, but that wasn't carried out so that means there's nothing unique. Good performances can sometimes overcome this but that isn't the case here either.