Deception – Pilot

• Title: Deception – Pilot
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My initial reaction to the “Pilot” episode of Deception is that ABC’s latest odd couple consultant detective show is a bit too complicated than in needs to be. The network got quite a bit out of the flamboyant and risk-taking consultant and the more straight shooter cop in Castle, but there Castle’s simple interest in real-life crime (and the lovely backside of Detective Beckett) was more than enough to keep him around week to week. Here the show’s creator Chris Fedak has saddled the show with an ongoing conspiracy backstory that may or may not ever payoff. The show starts off with a magic trick and then a frame job that put the twin brother of famous magician Cameron Black (Jack Cutmore-Scott) behind bars. A year later, with his act it ruins, Cameron is still searching for the magician (Stephanie Corneliussen) who destroyed both brothers’ lives.

Here we get introduced to FBI Agent Kay Daniels (Ilfenesh Hadera) whose prisoner escapes in an elaborate explosion that Cameron is certain was created by the same person who framed his brother. Weasling into the investigation, Cameron shows off some skill in misdirection and, yes, deception which allows the FBI to recapture their missing prisoner. A single episode in, there’s not much chemistry between Cutmore-Scott and Hadera meaning the show is going to have to up its game in terms of both illusions and mystery for the crime of the week while hopefully not string us along too much with the ongoing search for the mystery woman.