Here is what I would describe as a fairly basic episode of "Furuhata Ninzaburô" in that there is nothing wrong with it but there's also nothing particularly outstanding about it either. Tojuro Sawamura plays a conceited art dealer and gives pretty much a template performance for a "Furuhata Ninzaburô" villain. He's cold, sleazy, calculating yet undeniably charming. A perfect foil for the wily Furuhata played with aplomb here by Masakazu Tamura who seems to have a ball playing off of Sawamura.
Another good performance in this episode comes from Takuzo Sumino as Sawamura's nervous accomplice whose nervous energy and obvious anxiousness give him away immediately. It is him Furuhata first suspects and there is a tense scene in which he sweats Sumino with the same cruelty he exhibited in "The Contradictory Corpse".
The episode is directed by Keita Kôno, a reliable if unimaginative safe pair of hands. Nevertheless, there is salacious brutality to the murders here rarely seen in Keita Kôno's previous episodes.
The screenplay focuses more on the confrontations between Sawamura and Furuhata than a concrete mystery making this something of a throwback to the first season. Kôki Mitani writes great dialogue here, as usual, making an interesting connection between detective work and art appraisal. It's all in the detail!
Masahiko Nishimura gets a lot to do in this episode as well which is always a treat. He has several very funny scenes in which Shintaro is unable to hide his enthusiasm for pottery. A nice subplot involves a Buddha statue which Shintaro is hoodwinked into buying. The climax to this storyline is quite obvious but Masakzu and Nishimura play it with such joy and excellent timing that I laughed uproariously nonetheless.
There is nothing here we haven't seen done better in previous episodes but "The Tricky Motive" is still a competent, entertaining and occasionally tense "Furuhata Ninzaburô".