Divination - Episode 1.04
Deception continued to dazzle with its fun stories over the past couple of weeks. In 'Divination' a woman's involvement with an arms dealer gets her partner and fellow fortune teller murdered.
What followed were a series of fun sequences from Cam saving a girl from committing suicide by hanging at the side of a bridge, to the staging of a murder and, of course, some clever deceiving.
The fortune teller bit allowed us to understand magic versus spirtualism through Cam's eyes, who says they have been in conflict for centuries and quickly dismisses Kay's remark that fortune telling is "magic adjacent". As Cam puts it, psychics have actual powers.
It was pretty fun to see the team taking advantage of the arms dealer's superstitious personality, sprinkling signs of good luck around him, including eight straight green lights and the lucky number 8 appearing on billboards everywhere as he is driven to the hotel, as well as putting a lucky golden arowana fish in the hotel's tank.
We see the arms dealer being tricked continually into Cam and co's plan, but the biggest deception is on us as we are led to believe that Vivian is shot dead. The plan though was for her to "die," so that her name would be cleared and she could go into witness protection. Silly me for believing they'd actually kill a girl in this show.
'Diviniation' also explored more of Johnny and his life in prison. The poor, unlucky brother is now under the thumb of a fellow inmate, who tasks him with various personal favours that can come with serious injuries if he were to refuse.
This dilemma makes him more distant, wedging a wall in his relationship with his brother Cam.
Masking - Episode 1.05
It seemed Switch died early in this episode, shortly after Cam and Kay talked to him, though because he is Billy Zane, we know he is still alive and well, and is most likely Bishop. Lo and behold, the truth is eventually revealed.
Despite the predictability this was a fun episode. Watching Cam undercover as a tagger and then having to run across the roofs of buildings with other artists, barely keeping up, was a humorous joy to watch.
Cam would of course be caught when meeting with Bishop who instantly recognizes him. This would lead to the best scene of the episode with Cam telling his captors that his father taught him how to survive on the road.
Cam's fight with Bishop's cronies is interspersed with sequences of Johnathan fighting a prisoner much bigger than him. No magic, no deception, just plain old fists and a will to survive.
We also find out that Bishop, who is still at large by episodes end, is part of a bigger scheme involving the mystery woman who Cam is after. The plot thickens.
'Masking' was a breath of fresh air. There was no deception, no fancy magic this time around. Cam didn't even depend on a small trick to get himself out of the sticky situation with Bishop, instead we see him resorting to another set of skills, his fists.
We are reaching the halfway point of Deception and the show remains engaging. The fun stories, 'Diviniation' especially, make up for the formulaic plot, and the main story weaving throughout most of the episodes give this first season a much needed consistency. 'Masking' in particular was an intriguing step forward to revealing more about the operations of this mysterious women.
Divination: 8/10
Masking: 8.5/10
