DECEPTION “Masking” Review

DECEPTION – “Masking” – (ABC/Giovanni Rufino)
BILLY ZANE, JACK CUTMORE-SCOTT, ILFENESH HADERA

DECEPTION “MASKING” REVIEW

BY GEANNIE BASTIAN

It’s The Art of the Steal

This week street artists take center stage on Deception, with the team at first enamored BY a mythical street artist who has always managed to remain anonymous. Bishop, as he is known as always spoken truth to power while having just the right amount of deceptive skill to disappear into the ether when his work is done.

Unexpectedly something changes. Kay, Cameron and the team discover that a very valuable stained-glass window has been stolen from the church close to Bishop’s latest tag. Conveniently, the church is the national landmark and so the FBI takes point in the case.

But things get a little weird when Cameron becomes convinced that the Bishop case is connected to Johnny’s mystery illusionist. He’s just desperate, right? Maybe not.

Tag, You’re It

Kay drops by while Cameron is working on an escape trick that sees him hanging from the ceiling. Just when the team is convinced he’s been up there too long and Kay starts to grill her partner about whether Johnny is a person of interest for the prison escape last week, Cameron breaks free. He tells Kay that Johnny told him he wasn’t involved. That we the audience knows he’s lying, is a different story.

But before they can really dig into that, everyone is distracted by a computer alert saying that a street artist named Bishop is working nearby. He’s famous and clearly beloved by the team for his talents both at arts and at escapism, not to mention his socially conscious messages. But when the team goes on to watch, they quickly discover that a large stained-glass window has been stolen. Soon there’s another Bishop tag, and another expensive item is stolen – this time an antique watch.

It seems the Bishop’s work is now just the distraction for criminal activities, and he’s got a secret team of taggers and thieves of his own. His artwork, we learn, is providing messages as to where and when his team should move.

Along the way, they talk to Switch, another tagger who seems to sometimes turn up at odds with Bishop. Older now, Switch has a gallery in Soho. He’s given up the life and doesn’t know what Bishop could be up to. And then suddenly, Switch’s shop blows up.

But they have a bit of better luck with another tagger who they catch doing one of Bishop’s designs. Turns out Bishop wants to meet up with this kid, so of course Cameron impersonates him. This leads to a chase over rooftops that is pretty fun to watch, and then the shock – Bishop is actually Switch.

He explains to Cameron that Bishop was his art, Switch was how he paid the bills. But then he informs our favorite magician, he is well aware the FBI has gotten onto him through Cameron, and orders his team of thugs to throw him off the roof. Cameron, however, has a little bit of a surprise. It seems growing up in a band of roving magicians meant you also had to know how to take care of yourself. He quickly beats the tar out of Switch’s troughs, then asks the older man why he resorted to stealing. Not stealing, the thief says, but returning. But before Cameron can figure out what he means, Kay and the FBI team show up.

Then working their way through Bishop’s hideout, the team discovers something unexpected. Earlier attempts to connect bishops activities with their mystery woman seems to connect dates involving her activities and Bishop’s coded works. Their suspicions are confirmed when they find a massive wall mural of mystery woman’s multi-colored eyes at the back of Bishop’s hideout.

The Twin Thing

Because this week’s act of deception seems to involve uncovering the artist’s misdirection, there was no big trick this week. The team cracked the code in some of Bishop’s work, but there was no big flashy setup scene. That’s okay though as the coolest scene this week was definitely the twin fight scene. We see how Cameron explained to Bishop how their father taught them to survive out there on the road, His fight with Bishop’s men is interspersed with scenes of Jonathan finally beating the living daylights out of one of another prisoner who was trying to act as an enforcer and rough him up.

Later when Cameron goes to the prison to show Johnny what he’s learned about the mystery woman, both ask what happened to the other. Neither wants to say, so Johnny prompts his brother to ‘say on three.’ They both count to three, and then neither speaks. It is an interesting moment of normalcy for these two characters who have been growing apart through Johnny time in prison.

It’s a slightly subtle narrative turn, but it’s nice especially in light of the discovery finally connecting something they’re doing with the FBI back to the mystery woman. And, as Cameron says, he’s beginning to think this is bigger than just the two of them.