Little MOTIVE to Watch

Article first published as MOTIVE Review on Seat42F.

Grade: 84%

ABC’s newest drama, premiering tonight, is MOTIVE. Detective Angie Flynn (Kristin Lehman, The Killing) is a tough single mother and homicide detective with a killer instinct, so to speak. She, more than anyone else in her department, is concerned with the MOTIVE of the murderer, which helps her catch the perp when others cannot.

MOTIVE follows a simple formula. We see the victim of the crime. The police investigate said crime, as they do in any hour-long procedural, and the viewer gets to see what happens during the violent act via flashback, doled out in bits and pieces throughout the installment. What makes it slightly different from its peers, the hook if you will, is that there is a focus on why a bad guy does a thing, rather than just how they are caught.

Angie, our hero, is a lot like other leads in other crime dramas. She has an almost super-human level of perception and intelligence, able to spot small things and remember details, which allows her to complete the investigation. For instance, in the “Pilot,” it’s an offhand comment from a teenager she encounters that leads her to figure out the real villain, even though the evidence is pointing to someone else.

The problem with this formula is that it makes the rest of the department look inferior at their jobs, and it relies on coincidence to save the day. What if she had not talked to a certain person, or that person had not remarked on that topic of that one crucial piece of information? Sure, we can accept that a great detective, who is always paying attention, will eventually find that one puzzle piece, but it’s the type of stretch that frequently only comes up on TV dramas.

The success of this series will largely rest on Lehman’s shoulders, and she seems to be up to the task. Despite being in the same genre, MOTIVE is quite a departure from her previous job on The Killing, and the role she plays is a drastically different one. She does handle the part with ease, feeling comfortable in Angie’s skin, and realistically crafting the character into her own. She adequately joins the ranks other main characters in a similar job on other crime dramas.

Because Angie is so front-and-center, the rest of the cast kind of takes a back seat to her. They are around to support her, but any major breakthrough must come from Angie, not them, to preserve why she is the one we should root for the most. MOTIVE is definitely not a true ensemble piece, with the world revolving around Angie and only Angie.

No one else really stands out as super memorable in the “Pilot,” but we are introduced to a number of others, including plenty of familiar types. There’s: Dr. Betty Rogers (Lauren Holly, NCIS), the super flirty medical examiner; Detective Oscar Vega (Louis Ferreira, Stargate Universe), Angie’s doubting partner who seems to care about her at least as much as a friend would; Staff Sergeant Boyd Bloom (Roger Cross, 24, Continuum), the hard-nosed boss who stays in the office; and Brian Lucas (Brendan Penny, The A-Team), the fresh-faced, naïve, enthusiastic youngster on the squad.

Over time, we will probably get to know all of these people, and every once in awhile, the spotlight will shine a little on them. For now, they are a capable group of characters, if easily interchangeable, to fill in the space around Angie a bit, without drawing attention away from her. Which means, for this type of show, they are doing their job correctly.

Of course, in keeping with the current trend, Angie isn’t just a dedicated cop. She’s also a single mother with an unruly, but good at heart, teenage son named Manny (Cameron Bright, Twilight). Sex and speeding tickets are the issues between them right off the bat, and Angie handles those situations with a kind-hearted nature that reveals her affection for her child, but also that she’s not a pushover. This also results in the most entertaining moments of the “Pilot,” especially when Angie asks Manny’s girlfriend about her boobs.

All in all, MOTIVE is an enjoyable way to kill an hour, and it’s well made enough that fans of murder-based procedurals will enjoy it. It seems like the type of series one could grab an episode every now and then, and you won’t have to watch every week to keep up on the story. This also means there isn’t a lot of depth, and the formula will likely stay pretty rote, so it could get boring pretty quick. There is definitely an audience out there for MOTIVE, as the ratings for shows such as NCIS and Castle prove, and because it’s on during the summer, provides a nice respite from reruns. But for the discerning viewer that wants a compelling narrative, you can probably skip this one.

MOTIVE premieres tonight at 10 p.m. EST on ABC.

Please renew the lease on The L.A. Complex

The L.A. Complex, a Canadian series that airs on the CW in the states, finished off its second batch of episodes with "Don't Say Goodbye," the second consecutive hour of the series aired that night. Given its horrible ratings in the U.S., it may be that the network was just trying to burn off the episodes they had left. But "Don't Say Goodbye" ended with little resolution, and hopefully the popularity it has up north will be enough to garner it a third season. And hopefully it will continue to have a home to air on here.

In "Don't Say Goodbye," Kaldrick King (Andra Fuller) finally has peace. Yes, his father (Eugene Clark) is dead, and he has lost his best friend, Rook (William Stewart). But he also gets closure with Tariq (Benjamin Charles Watson) after apologizing, has a loving boyfriend in Christopher (Jarod Jospeh), has just recorded a great album, and is ready to come out of the closet, finally comfortable with who he is. It's been a dynamic, engrossing journey for the rapper, and he comes through the ordeal better and stronger than ever!

But Rook makes a huge mistake in shooting Infinite Jest (Stephan James). Kaldrick is mad at Infinite, but manages to keep his temper, and tells Rook not to go after him. Rook thinks it's the only way he can make up for his betrayal of Kaldrick. As good a place a Kaldrick is in, he will surely get pulled into this murder mess. After all, Kaldrick has enough motive to be a suspect in the killing. It's hard to guess how this will play out, but given the talent oozing off of Fuller, it should be very good.

Nick (Joe Dinicol) suffers his own loss when Sabrina (Georgina Reilly) won't let him follow her to New Orleans, where she has landed a great gig. It's a shame, given how wonderful the chemistry is between the pair, that it has to end. But I guess that's how L.A. works. One has to go where the jobs are, and while Sabrina is traveling to something, if Nick were to leave town, it would damage his career, perhaps irreparably. So Nick will stay, and hopefully his star will continue to rise, as it has been slowly doing.

Sabrina isn't the only one out of the cast should a third season be commissioned. After Dean Pirelli (Louis Ferreira, SGU Stargate Universe) takes Simon (Michael Levison) to the Yukon, Beth (Dayle McLeod) decides to follow so that she can be with her brother. Beth was never in L.A. to be famous, simply serving as a manager to Simon. Simon was the one who was going to be the actor. So there really isn't anything left for her here except Cam (Kristopher Turner), and family trumps boyfriend.

I admit, I'm not really sad to see Simon and Beth go. They were kind of annoying. The only reason it's regrettable that they're leaving is because Cam will be upset, and I like Cam. Why isn't he a main character yet?

Beth, Simon, and Sabrina, the latter of which will be deeply missed, are the latest to leave L.A., but they weren't the first to do so in The L.A. Complex. Alicia (Chelan Simmons), a main character in the short first season, briefly resurfaces by phone to lend her support to Nick in "Don't Say Goodbye." It's nice to know that she's still on tour, and seems to be doing well. But her absence has been felt. Is this brief a scene a reminder of who she is so that she can return to the series next year? That would be wonderful!

Like Alicia, Abby (Cassie Steele) is happy. Her joy stems from getting quickly married in Las Vegas. At the end of "Don't Say Goodbye," Abby, too, is seen leaving L.A., flying to Germany to be with her new husband, Gray (Steve Byers, Alphas). It all happens much too fast. Although they decide against the annulment, this relationship is moving too quickly to survive long. It will flame bright, and then burn out. After all, Abby is far too young to give up her dreams of being an actress and settle down. She would just grow resentful of him, and that's not a recipe for a satisfying marriage. With luck, she will be back in the City of Angels by the start of the third season, should one be ordered.

Neither Connor (Jonathan Patrick Moore) nor Raquel (Jewel Staite) have healed from their various wounds yet. Will they ever? Even when things look up, more things go wrong. Raquel has a great movie trailer finished, but her love interest is arrested for a crime she committed. Connor is trapped in a cult. They just can't catch a break!

It's interesting that the two more experienced characters in the cast, the people who have been in L.A. the longest and worked the most, are so scarred. Is this what Hollywood does to a person? Is there any hope for either of them to find peace? Are Nick, Abby, and the others destined to end up the same way if they stay?

The L.A. Complex is soapy, but in the best possible way. It's a very interesting, entertaining story of young people in a city that it full of glitz and disappointment. It seems realistic enough, and most of the cast is fantastic (especially Staite, Dinicol, and Fuller), which keeps fans engaged week after week. The ending montage in this finale is very memorable. The show would even be worth watching during the regular season, not just the summer, where it might find a few more eyeballs tuning in. Wherever the CW decides to put it, all I care about is that it is brought back. We need more chapters in this story.

If you like my reviews, please follow me on Twitter! Check out my website, JeromeWetzel.com! First posted at TheTVKing