Deception, NBC's attempt at a Revenge-esque mystery sudser, aired its season finale Monday night. The serial finally revealed the killer of troubled heiress Vivian Bowers (One Life to Live alum Bree Williamson).
SPOILER ALERT: It appeared Viv's dad, Robert Bowers (Victor Garber) killed his junkie offspring, who had been trying to expose evil doings by his pharmaceutical conglomerate before her demise.
Viv's BFF, undercover cop Joanna Locasto (Meagan Good) was too busy banging FBI handler Will Moreno (Laz Alonzo)—and Viv's brother Julian (Wes Brown)—all season long to actually solve the crime! Now, according to TV By The Numbers, Jo may never get the chance to bring Papa Bowers to justice, due to the soap's less-than-stellar ratings.
Personally, I enjoyed the sexy, lightweight, interracial thriller. Joanna lacks the get-your-man-at-all-cost professional drive of Scandal's Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington), but she's just as quick as Liv to justify her amoral bedroom antics, which made for some hot love scenes in season one.
NBC did a pisspoor job promoting the serial, which starred two cast members from Oscar winner Argo (Garber and Tate Donovan as eldest Bowers offspring Edward), yet Deception still managed decent numbers. Imagine how the show might have done if it would have had the PR muscle behind that sing-a-long trainwreck Smash?
Deception has all of the elements of a great, long-running sudser. It just needs some fine-tuning, ala a pre-Heather Locklear Melrose Place 1.0. I hope The Peacock allows promising creator Liz Heldens the chance to retool Deception a bit and bring it back next midseason. What do you think?
Should Deception get a second season?
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