Motive

Although Motive has what ABC is calling a "sneak preview" premiere tonight (May 20) following Dancing With The Stars, the program moves to its usual timeslot this coming Thursday, May 23 at 9 PM ET/8 PM CT.  The second episode entitled "Crimes of Passion" contains better performances than the last outing (mostly due to the absence of many teenage characters), but disappoints as a stand-alone piece lacking storyline development. 

As mentioned in my previous review of the show, Motive borrows a page from Columbo by revealing the killer and subsequent victim at the onset.  This time around the killer is revealed to be David Jacobs (Noam Jenkins, ABC's Rookie Blue), a former prosecutor in the midst of a mayoral run.  The victim is a 17 year old schoolgirl by the name of Tiffany Greenwood (Siobhan Williams, Flicka: Country Pride).  While not incredibly original, the story is most certainly inspired by the trend of political scandals that dominate the current news cycle.

Detective Angela Flynn (Kristin Lehman, AMC’s The Killing) continues her sarcastic, witty partnership with Detective Oscar Vega (Louis Ferreira, Saw IV).  Vega has a lot more dialogue in this episode and his humor does wear thin by the show’s end.  His continual snarky comments are a bit hokey, but not David Caruso-putting-on-his-sunglasses corny.  Medical Examiner Dr. Betty Rogers (Lauren Holly, Dumb & Dumber) has about three minutes of overall screen time and that might be a generous estimate.  Her outrageous character traits from the premiere are gone as well – somewhat of a letdown because Dr. Rogers’ comical tone is a nice change of pace in the dramatic world of Motive.

The story of “Crimes of Passion” is nothing new, but Motive still provides a fresh spin on the procedural drama.  Anything that separates itself from the 1,001 versions of CSI should be applauded.  Unfortunately, the second episode is a throwaway piece lacking connection to any long-term arcs in the series.  If Motive doesn’t start planting the seeds on some storylines and adding depth to the characters, the show runs the serious risk of becoming skippable programming.