Name: Deception
Genre: Crime Drama
Starrting: Jack Cutmore-Scott, Ilfenesh Hadera, Lenora Crichlow, Justin Chon, Laila Robins, Amaury Nolasco and Vinnie Jones
Seasons: 1 (Cancelled as of May 11th, 2018)
Number of Episodes : 13
Air Date: March 11, 2018 to May 27, 2018
Introduction
I am not one that watches a lot of TV. I watch my TV shows on streaming services. However, one Sunday, my wife and I were chilling and we caught the first episode of this series. The premise seemed interesting.
Story
The premise is that you have an illusionist Cameron Black and his twin brother Jonathan Black (played by Jack Cutmore-Scott). Behind them, there is a Deception team. They essentially help the brothers with their shows. Although they are twins, Cameron Black is the face of the act, while no one knows that his brother exists.
The first episode starts with Jonathan Black being with this Mystery woman. They are both in a car and then there is a car crash. Unfortunately, the mystery slips away and replaces herself with another woman. Jonathan is then framed for the murder of this said woman. There is no proof to the contrary and he heads to jail.
Jonathan's brother Cameron, then embarks in a mission to get his brother out of jail. Cameron then tries to get the authorities to listen and look at his brother's case. So he works on the first case with Kay (played by Ilfenesh Hadera). He demonstrated that what was used for the crime was deception. So, he then works on the case with Kay, even though Kay finds him annoying at first.
Once that case gets solved, he is then considered a consultant for the FBI, solving crimes while still trying to help his brother get out of jail.
There you have the general idea of what the show is about.
Trailer
Bottomline
I really liked this TV show. The show was a combination of The Mentalist and Castle. I think that given a little more time, it would have worked.
I believed the chemistry between the Deception team. I especially liked the character of Vinnie Jones. It was nice seeing him as a good guy for once. He has been known as being cast as a bad guy with a mean streak. Other than Vinnie, I was not familiar with the rest of the crew. At least I did not recognize them off the bat.
I find the one weak character was the Mystery Woman. She never quite convinced me. I think they could have found someone a lot better for this particular part. Yes, she has the looks but I think this was just a miscast actor.
The storyline was only started to get developed and I think it could have benefited from having a second year under its belt. On May 11th, 2018, ABC cancelled the show. They claim that it was due to their low numbers. As per TvLine, they stated the following:
TvLIne:
It was a respectable start for a drama in the current ratings environment, though not a breakout. By April 23, though, the series had dropped to its lowest demo rating: a 0.6, with 3.38 million viewers. The series has since recovered a bit, drawing a 0.7-0.8 for its subsequent airings, but that wasn’t enough. In most current ratings, Deception’s Season 1 average is 1.2.
I agree that the ratings were not as strong as execs would have hoped but it was a much better written and acted season 1 than the MacGyver reboot Season 1.
Also, like with many other shows, the season finale was filmed before they cancelled the show. So the last episode ended on a cliff hanger. Season 2 could have been really interesting. Unfortunately, this will never happen, unless someone picks up this show. The chance of that happening are close to nil.
This reminds me of Martial Law with Sammo Hung. They ended season 3 with a cliffhanger and it never appeared again on TV. It seems that every time I actually like a show, it is DOA. I think most shows should never be canned after one season, especially a mid season replacement. Like any other medium it needs to mature. I do not think that they did that with this.
I am sad to see it go and I hope that someone is able to snatch this concept and revive it in some form.
Ratings: 4.25 cards tricks out of 5
What do you think? Did you watch it? Did you like the show. Let us know below.
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