ABC Television (originally CTV)
Thursday Nights, 9 PM
With Kristin Lehman, Louis Ferreira, Lauren Holly
Created by Daniel Cerone
Five Scoops of Bosco
Reviewed by Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco
Some things that come from Canada are actually pretty good.
Like Hockey, Canadian Bacon, Rush, and most of the cast of SCTV.
The jury is still out on the Canadian Football League though.
The latest import from Canada, the television show Motive, is really good too.
Motive is a police procedural drama following working-class single-mom Detective Flynn played coolly by Kristin Lehman (The Killing) in her investigation of crimes with her partner Justin Vega portrayed by Louis Ferreira (Stargate Universe) .
Each episode reveals the killer and victim within the first couple minutes of the show, like the classic Columbo show, but with an edge.
The show is edgier than most crime dramas, because of the pedigree of the producers who also gave us Dexter and The Mentalist
You would think that revealing the killer and victim at the beginning would be a deal breaker but it's actually a refreshing approach. That's because the viewer is left wondering how and why these two people met in the first place and what the motivation for the crime was. After seeing the first three episodes of the series, it's never obvious and thus where the real mystery lies.
Motive gets more interesting when Lauren Holly (NCIS) who plays Dr. Betty Rogers, a medical examiner with a sense of humor, is added to the mix. "Morbidity suggests he sprouted wings two-to-three hours ago," Dr. Rogers says when assessing a dead body.
Also, it is interesting to see the interaction of the characters, who casually go about their work as if it is another day at the office which is realistic and expected from people who would get jaded from working in law enforcement for an extended period of time. Something you don't see on a lot of Crime Dramas.
Also the location of the show is also different than you will see in most shows from the US. Instead of seeing an American city like New York, Boston, or Miami, this show actually takes place in Vancouver. Not a show that is just shot in and around Vancouver which is passed off as another area, but actually takes place in the Northwestern city.
And this whole idea of taking a show that was originally on Canadian Televison and is now being shown in America as a summer replacement show must be a win-win for everybody involved. ABC pays relatively lower fees to get the rights to air in America while we the viewers get something more than a rerun during the Summer.
The show has been picked up for a second season of 13 episodes, but after seeing the first few episodes, it leaves you hoping for more.
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