Motive Episode 1.11 Brute Force

Mark "The Machine" Mason steps into the bathroom to teach a lesson to a thug who pushed around his brother, Joey. The bully is pummeled with a barrage of jabs and roundhouse punches. That's what you get when you mess with the family of one of the neighborhood's most legendary boxers. Mark "The Machine" Mason was one of the best. Now he's dead. He was murdered by his beloved brother, Joey. The question is... Why?

Mark Mason has two stab wounds in his back from an instrument that was hollow inside. Joey lets Angie and Oscar know that he found his brother dead on the gym floor. He then lets Mark's wife, Beth, know that the love her life has been killed. We jump back in time to a time when Joey could still walk. He tried in vain to convince his brother to expand their boxing gym. He wanted to generate extra revenue with exercise classes. These talks never went well. Joey's money-making pitches never resonated with his big brother. He worked hard to increase the gym's revenue before and after the unfortunate accident that put him in a wheelchair.

Ricky "Bam-Bam" Perez had a falling out with the Machine after Mark felt he had designs on Beth. But the up-and-coming boxer is no killer. Angie and Oscar believe the murder could be the result of robbery-gone-bad since Mark's gold medals are missing from the gym's display case. Joey points the detectives to a guy with a scar on his cheek who always hangs in the alley. This street kid is someone Mark used to give money to from time to time. Joey makes Angie's job more difficult when he talks to the press about the homeless man he's blaming for his brother's death.

After a city worker finds the gold medals, Angie suspects Beth may have been involved in the murder. There was stress in the marriage ever since Joey moved in with them. It was a frustrating situation for everyone in the family. Joey asks Beth for a year to turn the gym around. He's through feeling sorry for himself. As for the case, the homeless guy Joey was trying to blame is found dead of an overdose. Betty says there's no way he could have been the killer. This has Angie thinking Joey is a liar. He may also be a killer.

Angie uses the press to her advantage to flush out the killer. Joey feels relieved when he learns that the police have a suspect. This was just what Angie was hoping would happen. She notices that the handles on Joey's wheelchair have been switched. She gets a search warrant for the chair. Traces of blood are found on the hollow handle slots. Flashbacks show that Joey was angry at his brother for being a quitter. He blamed him for all his dreams being dashed. Joey smashed Mark's knee and stabbed him in the back with his wheelchair handle. The undefeated Mark "The Machine" Mason was finally beaten by the brother he loved. Cased closed.