Unfortunately the third episode of new series “Backstrom” was as anticlimactic as the first two despite the addition of a new character and the interesting draw of cult murder.

The episode begins in a similar way as the first with a consultation between Detective Everett Backstrom and his doctor in which he complains of a lack of sleep. The doctor gives him yet another lecture about taking care of his quickly decaying body, and Backstrom promptly ignores the advice as usual.

A murder of a 21-year-old girl is called in, and Backstrom goes right back to his painfully cliche police work that proves to be lamer with each episode.

Multiple suspects are brought under questioning, but it doesn’t really matter because most of the dialogue focuses on how weird the mass “religious” group is and glosses over how the details of the case were actually found.

However, according to the show’s writers, it is alright to obtain evidence illegally and use it to their advantage because Backstrom does so at least twice during the episode.

The most exciting development of “Backstrom” was the appearance of Everett’s former fiance who just joined the force to investigate a shooting he was part of in episode two. The actress to join the cast is Sarah Chalke, most well known for her role as Elliot on the former hit sitcom “Scrubs.”

It is slightly unbelievable to the rest of Backstrom’s team, and the viewers, that such a woman could fall for him but of course the show conveniently provides almost no information about how they ended up together other than they “met over dead bodies,” according to Backstrom.

Once again, the resolution of the week’s plot is rather obvious and unimpressive with the arrest of the cult leader on statutory rape charges as the climax of the show.

The arrest of the actual murderer came off as rather silly when the young criminal jumped up and tried to run out of the police station after realizing he had been caught. Not only did this moment supply an awkward two minutes of the team chasing the young man around the office, but it didn’t really add anything to the plot.
Overall, the third episode of “Backstrom” was slightly boring and did not offer any new spark of entertainment.