Motive

:

Season 1
  • Network: ABC , CTV
  • Series Premiere Date: Feb 3, 2013
Season #: 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Metascore
51

Mixed or average reviews - based on 14 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 14
  3. Negative: 2 out of 14
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Critic Reviews

  1. People Weekly
    Reviewed by: Tom Gliatto
    May 16, 2013
    75
    Motive isn't ingenious enough to motivate imitations or spinoffs, but it's smooth and diverting. [27 May 2013, p.40]
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  2. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: David Hiltbrand
    May 20, 2013
    70
    Its nonlinear, whydunit approach makes the show stand out. The fractured loop-de-loop narrative creates not just surprise but suspense.
  3. Uncle Barky
    Reviewed by: Ed Bark
    May 16, 2013
    67
    It’s a reasonably involving series made better by the chemistry between the two leads.
  5. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
    Reviewed by: Rob Owen
    May 20, 2013
    60
    It doesn't reinvent the genre by any stretch but this lighter tone is noteworthy.
  6. Hitfix
    Reviewed by: Alan Sepinwall
    May 20, 2013
    50
    The characters don't feel any richer here than they do on CBS' various cop shows, and the series doesn't even commit to how much it wants to keep you guessing about why the crime occurred.
  7. RedEye
    Reviewed by: Curt Wagner
    May 20, 2013
    50
    Both believable and appealing as the hard-bitten homicide investigator, Lehman provides the only real motive for tuning in.
  8. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Mike Hale
    May 20, 2013
    50
    It’s reasonably smart, reasonably interesting and reasonably well acted without being particularly good.
  9. Newsday
    Reviewed by: Diane Werts
    May 17, 2013
    50
    Lehman is good, most everything's OK, but nothing is especially fresh or compelling.
  10. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: David Wiegand
    May 15, 2013
    50
    Instead of being a whodunit, Motive is a "whydunit," which, except for the appeal of the show's star, amounts to a "whocares."
  11. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Mary McNamara
    May 20, 2013
    40
    There is really only one reason to watch ABC's Canadian-import place-holder crime drama Motive--Kristin Lehman.
  12. PopMatters
    Reviewed by: Dorothy Burk Vasquez
    May 20, 2013
    40
    The standard pieces are all here, just fit into the hour in a different order.
  13. Variety
    Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    May 16, 2013
    40
    Lehman’s character is allowed to exhibit a bit of a personal life, but for the most part the series doesn’t stray far from its criminal motif. Nor do other members of the squad have enough material to register beyond a blip.
  14. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Mike Lechevallier
    May 22, 2013
    38
    Motive flounders chiefly, however, because it expends lasting suspense by providing the audience with all the hard facts they need up front, subsequently granting them an invitation to leave the party early.
  15. TV Guide Magazine
    Reviewed by: Matt Roush
    May 20, 2013
    30
    You've heard of open-and-shut cases. Motive is more like open and yawn.

Awards & Rankings

85
#85 Most Shared TV Season of 2013

User Reviews

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User Score
6.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 23 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 23
  3. Negative: 5 out of 23
  1. wollyv
    May 22, 2013
    8
    The series is entertaining. That is what it should be. If your are looking for art, change the channel, if you are looking for yet anotherThe series is entertaining. That is what it should be. If your are looking for art, change the channel, if you are looking for yet another entertaining, scripted crime drama you will like it. The victim and the killer are identfied at the start and the series is called "Motive", i.e. the "why" is the center of the plot. A little surprise, a little humor, a little "homicide cops & killer". Not boring, not "end guessable" and a must for hard-core Stargate- /SGU-fans.… Full Review »
  2. nautico
    May 21, 2013
    4
    Boring. The only other cops-and-robbers series that I can recall as having used this device of identifying the culprit from the git go wasBoring. The only other cops-and-robbers series that I can recall as having used this device of identifying the culprit from the git go was Columbo, and Motive is no Columbo. Once the audience knows who done it, the writers must come up with a lot more reasons to keep watching such a show than the trite banter that characterized the opening episode.… Full Review »
  3. toin0u
    Aug 6, 2018
    0
    a stupid formatted serie T_T
    a blond bimbo cop with his macho colleague who solve stupid investigations
    oh yeah and by the way, of course    a stupid formatted serie T_T
    a blond bimbo cop with his macho colleague who solve stupid investigations
    oh yeah and by the way,
    of course there's an hispanic a black man and a white man
    pfffffff    … Full Review »
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