I wasn't sure Prime Suspect was doing during "Shame." I thought the show sparked a great balance last week, and most of it that was slowed down here. Shameful, considering how much there was to love just last Thursday (and I really liked that pun I used, too).

Still, “Shame” was decent. There was enough there to keep me solidly entertained for an hour, but there was a much greater focus on the police elements and less on the characters. This was bound to happen on a procedural, and that’s okay, but the interaction amongst the characters wasn’t as natural or as prevalent as last week.

Which feels like a cardinal sin because there’s only so much bad guy-chasing you can do before the characters have to talk to one another.

There was very little Augie humor here. Except for his spot-on impression of Sweeney and “like a cracker to a ceiling fan” – which I’m still trying to figure out the meaning of – there was very little to laugh at from him.

At least the Statler and Waldorf-esque shenanigans whenever Augie and Luis are sent out to investigate were there when they went after Bugsy. The two of them psyching poor Bugsy out by pretending to get ready to rough him up was great. On top of that, they faked out a guy with a lie detector test. Nothing like riling up a suspect with fake infidelity to get him to turn his psychotic killer prostitute girlfriend in!

Once again Reg was back to being a overbearing, raging jerk to Jane after she went to Daniel a week ago for more boots to the ground. I’m glad the security guard called him out on his crap and pointed out to him that the job is about solving cases, not complaining about someone over and over again about their perceived advantages. Hypocrisy isn’t a very good color on you, Reg.

The case had a lot of potential and it felt original: a prostitute killing people with ketamine overdoses? That’s pretty unique, and I love that the show still isn’t focusing on a run and gun, drawn out firefight to get the bad guy. Instead they catch criminals the old fashioned way: in bars with confessions. Not shooting to kill.

Overall, there were still things to love in “Shame,” but it wasn’t nearly as enjoyable following last week’s strong episode. Hopefully, the ship will right itself sooner rather than later.

Two final thoughts:

1. Was there any gum chewing this week? I didn't catch any.
2. Death by horse tranquilizer, that's gotta be a fun read in the obituaries.