After a week off because of the Juno Awards, MasterChef Canada was back with the Top 10 cooking on Sunday. Doctor Shawn clearly should cook outside of his comfort zone more often: despite no knowledge of baking or working with pumpkin, he wowed the judges and had the best Elimination Challenge plate of the night.
But the biggest shock wasn’t what Shawn was able to do, but what Michelle wasn’t. One of the strongest home cooks going into this season was eliminated after her pumpkin soup was deemed unsatisfactory by the judges. Her elimination led to plenty of tears by the remaining competitors and a little head-scratching on my part. Yes, I know every judgment is made solely on your latest dish, but Michelle has, overall, been pretty impressive. Alas, she’s gone and we’re left to wonder what could have been. Meanwhile, April Lee and Jennifer got a massive wake-up call and need to improve if they want to continue.
At the other end were Mary (pumpkin gnocchi), Shawn (pumpkin soup) and Terry (pumpkin risotto)—Jeremy and Matthew’s absence from Elimination Challenge judging meant they were safe—whose pumpkin plates won raves from the judges and landed them all captain status in next week’s team challenge. Shawn and Mary have been obviously strong out of the gate, but Terry is quickly closing in on them. He’s also got a great story; you can’t help but cheer for him to win.
And then there’s Veronica. She appeared to be the villain of the season early on—being a confident lawyer will do that—and she seemed cold and detached. Clearly she’s anything but; she and the likable Michelle are best friends and she spent a lot of time sharing personal stories regarding her father. She’s also one hell of a cook; her Japanese Matcha Roll Cake was outstanding and claimed her not only the Mystery Box challenge win but a spot in a Becel margarine ad. After Michelle was eliminated, Veronica pointed out that the other home cooks are merely competitors and she’ll take them down one by one. The remaining Top 8 better watch out.
MasterChef Canada airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET on CTV.
As the final season of Motive rolls, Tuesday’s newest instalment, “Index Case,” features one of the show’s most expansive storylines yet, and the city is in danger. The main storyline also marks the debut of a new cast member in Karen LeBlanc (Cracked), who checks in as Det. Paula Mazur. Here’s what we can tell you without giving any major plot points away.
Motive goes international … sort of
The episode begins in the rain forest of Chile, where the murder victim is mapping out the best route for an oil company’s pipeline. His return home—and regular spa appointment—sets in motion events that put citizens at risk.
Five-yards for unsportsmanlike conduct
I’ve personally loved Det. Mitch Kennecki’s brash assumptions and cockiness. He did push the boundaries of professionalism, however, when he asked BC Furies quarterback Russell Bowman for an autograph. That indiscretion gets Mitch called to the carpet in front of Vega.
New-ish kid on the block
Det. Paula Mazur makes her first appearance of the season. She’s accomplished, confident and catches Angie off guard. Matt MacLennan’s script leads to some great awkward moments between the two ladies … and an extra coffee for one lucky cop.
Lucas vs. the Librarian
Lucas goes in search of clues at the local library and runs afoul of a militant marm.
Betty’s in danger
Let’s just say certain details regarding the victim cause an uproar in the morgue and Betty’s not safe.
Awwww, Bega…
You’ll know what we mean when you see it.
Get out the Purell
You’re going to want it after watching this episode.
The actor, reportedly 34-year-old Brendan Fletcher from Comox Valley, B.C., was hurt while filming Cardinal, a CTV crime drama, during a scene where he was to take a discharge from a firearm into his mouth, according to a report received by the ministry, which is investigating the incident. Continue reading.Â
“If you think it’s cool, let’s discuss it. And if I think it’s cool, let’s fucking do it.” That was the attitude Dennis Heaton had going into the fourth—and final—season of Motive.
We spoke to the series’ showrunner to get his take on upcoming storylines, key recurring characters and Bega vs. Flega, the differences between the American and Canadian TV industries and what’s going to happen in Motive‘s series finale.
Congratulations on four seasons of Motive. That’s a success story no matter what country you’re in. Dennis Heaton: I agree!
Before we get into this season specifically, I wanted to point out that we have a unique challenge in this country with regard to funding and the hurdles that need to be jumped to make television here.
It’s true. The Canadian market is completely different from the U.S. They’re apples and oranges. We’re dealing with CRTC guidelines and Canadian Media Fund guidelines. We’re dealing with Heritage Canada intentions. Every show around the world has its own set of hurdles, it’s just that ours are unique to this country as the ones in the U.S. are unique to their very much for-profit system. There you get more people getting the opportunity to make a pilot because they go with the, “You gotta spend money to make money” format. Their one Game of Thrones is going to pay for their 10 failed pilots. HBO isn’t the best example, but you get what I’m saying. It’s an amazing amount of content that they produce to get that one hit compared to the Canadian model.
OK, let’s talk about Motive. Once you knew this was the final season, were there season markers or storylines you wanted to hit?
Particularly in Angie and Vega’s relationship, the show has always been about them as much as the cases, this very unique office spouse relationship. I love that the fans have the Bega vs. Flega sort of thing, but for me nobody has to decide. It doesn’t have to be either of them, the way the relationships are Vega gets to enjoy both. As we moved into Season 4 and we knew this was going to be the last season, I really wanted to make sure that we did service to that friendship. That became a key element of the season, along with the natural message of all things must change. Life inevitably draws you in different directions and to that end I pitched a series finale to work towards that gives me that satisfaction of knowing what is to become of our team.
(l-r) Louis Ferreira, Kristin Lehman, Lauren Holly, Brendan Penny
At what point did the series finale idea come about?
The idea for what I wanted to do came two to three weeks into the room. It came up while we were sitting and talking about how series end and what’s been a satisfying conclusion of a series and which conclusions leave you unfulfilled as a viewer. We talked the gamut. We talked about cop shows that we’ve loved, we talked about the infamous St. Elsewhere ending, the famous Newhart ending. All of those elements were thrown onto the table and discussed. There were also ideas that I’d had over the years that we’d never gotten to do and those were thrown into the mix as well. The marching orders that I gave everyone, not just in the writers’ room, was to err on the side of cool. If you think it’s cool, let’s discuss it. And if I think it’s cool, let’s fucking do it.
That said, could the finale mean this world was all inside a snow globe?
[Laughs.] I’m not going to give away the ending, but I will say it’s very true to the emotion of the series. And I will also say that it’s the craziest fucking murder weapon we’ve ever used. [Laughs.]
How difficult is it to write an episode of Motive? Does it take a different way of thinking to write a “whydunit”?
We start every season like the first day of camp. One of my first episode pitches in any season will result in myself or one of my writers saying, “Yeah, that’s a great idea … if it was a whodunit.” And then we say, “Right, it’s a whydunit,” and then we go. It’s one of the great challenges about the show: how do we create two disparate characters and smash their worlds together? And, how do we do it so that we don’t create a language for the show and allow the viewers to get ahead of it?
Vega is a Staff Sergeant now; how did you alter the storylines so he and Angie could keep in contact?
It made writing for them fresh again, for me. They weren’t at the crime scene together all of the time so when Angie is talking to him they’re riffing and it has a fresher spin to it, a fresher feel. We see them apart a bit more, but when we see them together in his office or in the bullpen or out in the field, there is more grist for the mill.
Let’s talk a bit about the new characters. Victor Zinck, Jr. has certainly made an impact as Det. Mitch Kennecki.
I love Kennecki as a new character because he’s a fucking idiot and that’s exactly what that character was meant to be, in the wrong place at the wrong time. How he wreaks a certain amount of havoc in the bullpen was a lot of fun. We’ve never had that dynamic before; he’s the puzzle piece from the wrong box.
What can you tell me about Karen LeBlanc’s character?
Karen is great. Her character, Det. Paula Mazur, is a detective on par with Angie in terms of skill level and intensity. It was really exciting to, 1) bring in another female detective to the series, and 2) bring in a  female detective who had nothing to prove to anybody.
We know who pulled the trigger: CTV. The network has announced that this will be the fourth and final 13-episode season for the Vancouver-based police drama. What we don’t have is the motive for killing “Motive.” Continue reading.
