Network: NBC
Episodes: 11 (hour)
Seasons: One
TV show dates: January 7, 2013 — March 18, 2013
Series status: Cancelled
Performers include: Laz Alonso, Meagan Good, Victor Garber, Katherine LaNasa, Tate Donovan, Wes Brown, and Ella Rae Peck.
TV show description:
No one is really surprised when a wealthy socialite and notorious party girl, Vivian Bowers, is found dead of an overdose. She’s the heiress to the Bowers pharmaceutical empire and has been tabloid fodder for years. She’s wild, pretty, privileged and now, dead at the age of 32.
For ambitious and no-nonsense FBI agent Will Moreno (Laz Alonso), things don’t add up with this suspicious dynasty. He’s convinced the troubled girl’s death was a homicide and he has a clever plan to get to the truth. Her name is Detective Joanna Padget Locasto (Meagan Good), a San Francisco narcotics detective, who is also Will’s former partner.
Twenty years ago, Joanna was Vivian’s best friend and practically grew up inside the Bowers’ home. When she appears at Vivian’s funeral, the family re-embraces her and no one is the wiser.
Robert Bowers (Victor Garber) is the family patriarch and CEO of Bowers Pharmaceuticals. He’s a loving father, an unfaithful husband and a ruthless businessman. The only thing in the way of his ambition is his troubled children.
Sofia (Katherine LaNasa) is the ultra-glamorous second wife of Robert and the mother of Mia Bowers. Sofia will go to great lengths to get what she wants through whatever means necessary — no matter who stands in her way.
Edward Bowers (Tate Donovan) is the eldest Bowers son and the CFO of Bowers Pharmaceuticals. A product of the best schools and unimaginable access, Edward was a rising star before his life came to a screeching halt one one night 15 years ago.
Julian (Wes Brown) is the sexy, hedonistic playboy of the Bowers family and a fixture on New York’s most exclusive party circuit. He’s also a key member of the Bowers Pharmaceutical leadership and the first love of Joanna.
Whip-smart and smart-mouthed, Mia Bowers (Ella Rae Peck) is the daughter of Robert and Sofia Bowers and the half-sister to Vivian, Julian and Edward. Unlike her conspicuous older siblings, Mia has always preferred to keep a low profile, earning straight A’s at her elite Upper East Side prep school and hanging out at downtown gallery openings. When dark family secrets begin to come to light, Mia questions whether anyone in her family can be trusted.
Back in the world that she thought she’d left behind, Joanna quickly uncovers dark secrets and clues about why Vivian’s life was very much in danger. At the same time, she rekindles an old romantic relationship and rediscovers the allure of the luxurious lifestyle she once knew. She’s about to see once again just how the other half lives — and dies.
Episode #11 — I’ll Start with the Hillbilly
As the Bowers sit down with Meredith Vieira to discuss the closure of Vivian’s murder case, Joanna looks on with guilt. Vivian would still be alive if Joanna didn’t rat her out to her parents for running away from home at age 16. Nevertheless, Joanna is compelled to stay on the investigation, positive Audrey Cruz didn’t murder Vivian. From the hospital, Julian calls Joanna and updates her on Edward’s mental state. Edward’s not ready to let go of his Samantha, who’s brain dead with a signed DNR. Julian asks Joanna to move in with him; everything and everyone is crazy, and all he wants to do is come home to her.Will’s enjoying the fame that comes with solving a high profile case, which includes plans for a dinner party in his honor. Joanna finds him in his office, posing for photos for Empire State Magazine. Once alone, Joanna insists Will keep the case open, citing Audrey Cruz’s lack of motivation for murdering Vivian. Vivian needed to be alive for Audrey’s plan to work. Joanna thinks Haverstock had Vivian killed, but Will thinks she’s crazy. Joanna approaches Haverstock on her own and demands he provide an alibi for the night of Vivian’s death. Haverstock says he was at the White House, sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom. Not only is Joanna’s theory shot, but also Haverstock reveals he has known Joanna was a cop all along.
Sofia is at an upscale Manhattan supermarket trying to buy Edward a baked ham, even though Mia finds the gesture absurd. Furthermore, Mia thinks Sofia’s plans to attend Will Moreno’s big soiree when Samantha is languishing in the hospital are obscene. Spying Wyatt, Sofia orders Mia to get in line at the register. Wyatt hisses into Sofia’s ear; he fully intends to ruin her life for what she did to him. Spitting mad, Sofia attacks Wyatt, and when the managers step in, she starts throwing every grocery she can lay hands on. Meanwhile, Robert visits the hospital in a bid to patch things up with Edward, but Edward’s had enough of his family.
At the Bowers estate, an emotional and delusional Beverly confronts Julian thinking he’s Robert. She scolds him for killing his first wife Catherine, asking how he can live with himself. Julian is stunned. Will finds a suspect who matches the description of the guy who shot Edward’s wife. Edward is brought in to view the lineup, but when he sees the man, he refuses to identify him. Knowing something’s up, Will presses, but Edward remains mum, determined to take the law into his own hands.
Back at the office, Joanna asks Gabe for the file of witnesses he interviewed that were present at the motel on the night of Vivian’s death. He claims they’re all crazy drug addicts, mentioning one guy who clutched a suitcase, but she runs across a witness named Jeff – the same guy who just gave Mia heroin! Joanna visits Jeff a visit at his house, surprised to discover he’s a family man by day. Jeff admits to providing Vivian with heroine on the night she died. He remembers she gave him back the heroin and left the motel at 3:30 in the morning, although Joanna knows the coroner declared midnight as Vivian’s time of death. Jeff suggests Vivian may not have died at the hotel, energizing Joanna with new possibility.
At the police station, Will questions Wyatt about the incident in the grocery store. Wyatt brings up the past when he and Sofia “decided” he would take the rap for beating her father to death. When Will asks Sofia about her relationship with Wyatt, and whether Vivian knew anything about it, Sofia refuses to answer and threatens to call her lawyer. Meanwhile, Edward’s vigilantism leads him to an Albanian social club, where he asks a group of mobsters to bring him his wife’s killer for $200,000. He’ll do the rest.
Will visits Haverstock to question him about Sofia. Haverstock tells Will that Vivian definitely knew about Sofia and Wyatt because he told her… but isn’t Vivian’s case closed? Will won’t say, but it’s clear he’s beginning to give Joanna’s theories some credence, and Haverstock gets the idea that Sofia is the new prime suspect. At that night’s party for Will, Julian naively introduces Will to Joanna, and it’s hellishly awkward. After Will leaves, Julian gives Joanna a copy of the bracelet he once gave Vivian – that she was wearing on the night of her murder – and is surprised to see Joanna’s wearing the original on her wrist. Joanna excuses herself, this revelation too compelling to ignore.
At the hospital, Edward tells Mia he’s afraid of who he’ll become without his wife in his life anymore. Since recent events have aged Mia a bit, she offers some advice: Edward is remaining in the same limbo Samantha’s in, and he has two children to consider. Suddenly, Kyle shows up. Despite their terrible breakup, he just wants her “to have someone.” Mia doesn’t do any talking; she just embraces Kyle and kisses him deeply. Back at Will’s party, Haverstock confronts Sofia. If she had anything to do with Vivian’s death… he’ll grind her into dust.
Joanna tells Will about her discovery about Vivian’s bracelet, which Joanna just found in the wine cellar the other day. But if Vivian was killed at the Bowers’ house, how did Sofia get her back to the hotel? Joanna assumes it would be the same way anything gets into a hotel – via a suitcase. After all, Vivian was only 115 pounds. Joanna and Gabe track down the crazy witness with the suitcase he found outside the motel where Vivian’s body was found. Joanna’s confident that the suitcase will yield the DNA evidence they need to nail Robert, and Gabe offers to transport it into evidence. At the party, Julian asks his father about the events surrounding his mother’s death, but before he can get any real answer, Robert’s phone rings and he has to go.
At the hospital, a flashback prolongs Edward’s brutally necessary decision a little longer. He thinks back to happier days, when his wife had just given birth and the world was full of opportunity and warmth. The memory doesn’t last long, as Edward returns to the present moment and gives the doctors the go ahead to pull Samantha’s plug. Edward leaves the hospital, full of vengeance. He comes face-to-face with his wife’s killer, whom the Albanian mob has tracked down and apprehended. Looking him in the eyes, Edward orders them to cut both his hands off, the ones used to kill Edward’s wife. The rest is up to them.
Gabe was the one who called Robert during his talk with Julian. At the Roosevelt Island tram station, Gabe tells Robert about the suitcase. He now knows Robert used him to protect himself and eliminate Audrey, how he murdered his own daughter and stuffed her in a suitcase. Robert is caught out, and Gabe is holding the key – or in this case, the suitcase. Back at the Bowers’ estate, Mia tells Joanna her mother is lying as they watch the Meredith Viera interview together. On the night of Vivian’s death, Sofia passed out, drunk on merlot. Robert left the house after an argument, so she just assumed he spent the night with his sleazy assistant. Mia remembers her father packing a suitcase.
Joanna calls Will with big news: Robert killed Vivian! Back at the tram station, Robert isn’t prepared to give up so easily. He bribes Gabe with an obscene amount of money and the promise of a stellar career, convincing the now dirty detective to strategically “lose” the suitcase. Gabe is reluctant, but he agrees, since his career is at stake. Robert flashes back to the night of Vivian’s murder, when she came home with a bruise on her cheek, asking to sit down for a talk. The next morning, Will and Joanna are despondent when Gabe explains the property clerks lost the suitcase. That was their one piece of evidence pinning Robert to the crime – without it, they’re back to square one.
Joanna and Gabe are called to a meeting with Senator Haverstock. The senator is about to be promoted to Attorney General – that’s why he was at the White House the night Vivian died. He plans to use his power to bring Robert down, but he’ll need evidence. Now that he’s effectively Will’s boss and has taken a special interest, Haverstock re-opens the investigation to continue and demands Joanna keep working undercover at the house. That night, at the Bowers’ house, Edward returns to the fold, having nowhere else to go. Joanna sends Julian out the window when Robert knocks on her door to set the record straight: he always wins. Robert asks Joanna to join the family for dinner, but someone’s missing… Wyatt has kidnapped Mia.
Recap courtesy NBC.
First aired: March 18, 2013.
What do you think? Do you like the Deception TV series? Are you sorry that it’s been cancelled? What would you have liked to have seen happen in season two?
It baffles me that studio execs, producers and all involved in canceling a TV show seem to be clueless about certain audiences!!!! Over the years I have been deeply disappointed when great shows with great characters, great actors and great plots (Deception, Human Target, Life, Mob Doctor, Body of Proof, etc) have been canceled. Or, super great shows like Boston Legal end after only five seasons. On the flip side, I have been thoroughly disappointed and angered to see STUPID shows (Friends, Simpsons, Glee, etc) thrive for years. Also, why is SNL still on the air? It stopped being funny… Read more »
Thank You
I baffles me that studio execs, producers and all involved in canceling a TV show are seem to be clueless about certain audiences!!!! Over the years I have been deeply disappointed when great shows with great characters, great actors and great plots (Deception, Human Target, Life, Mob Doctor, Body of Proof, etc) have been canceled. Or, super great shows like Boston Legal end after only five seasons. On the flip side, I have been thoroughly disappointed and angered to see STUPID shows (Friends, Simpsons, Glee, etc) thrive for years. Also, why is SNL still on the air? It stopped being… Read more »
I totally agree all dump, silly, and etc shows stay on the air. Anything interesting gets cancel so you are right it is pointless to even watch anything new.
Argh! I just finished watching the series on Hulu and I can not believe you canceled this show and before we found out who murdered Vivian and why! I also wanted to know what happens with Joanna – was she going to tell Julian the truth?? So many unanswered questions!
Just watched deception on Hulu. I cannot believe I did not see it two years ago and now there is no ending!!!!!!! Grrrrrr! Please bring it back! Why do networks think a show does not have an audience after only 11 episodes? Soaps take awhile to get a fan base!!!!!!
Like this show and was looking forward to season II. NBC could have finished the series out. What a way to leave someone hanging. Reminder to not get into these one hit wonders.
I have been checking month after month for Deception to come back on. It was better than Revenge yet you cancelled the series. I thought it was great, it kept you on the edge with all the different dealing each person had going. I enjoy the cast.
I think you should think again. They almost cancelled The Blacklist, Hannibal.
I wish you would try again.
Please bring back Deception.
please bring Deception back! Give it a chance & don’t give up on the show! it was an amazing & exciting series to watch & see? I am waiting to know what’s going to happen & happen next? please, don’t leave us hanging without unresolved answers to the story & to the plot! Like, who really killed Vivian? What & why did Wyatt kidnap Mia Vivian’s daughter? Let Vivian’s friend Joanna find out the truth to whom & why they killed her best friend Vivian? At least finish off the storyline by solving the detective’s murder case! It would make… Read more »
there were just to many good shows that came out at the same time and we just can’t watch them all. i started watching this program in the middle but kept missing it because i was flicking channels to catch other programs. would have like to see is survive also, oh well.
I watched this show from the first series to the last & was disappointed that it didn’t return. I can’t understand why it was discontinued when some of those other lame shows still remain showing today that’ s not very interesting. You had your viewers on the edge of their seats waiting for the next seen. Not a smart move!!
Agree to the fullest. This was a very good show with great actors, and intriguing story lines. This was one of the best stories on tv at the time in my opinion. I don’t understand why it was cancelled. There are too many other shows on that are not worth warching. BAD DECISION.
I was really mad at abc for cancelling this show. The show was a very very good show that kept u on ur toes. I think it was in the wrong time slot. Abc should have put DECEPTION on after one of its bigger shows please bring back this show
Am so irritated. I have been waiting for Deception to return and now find out that it isn’t. There are enough horrible shows that are coming out and on TV and the good ones are being cancelled. My recommendation is to put it back on.
I had been waiting for the series to return this winter. I just got on the website today to find out it has been cancelled. I’m very disappointed that it ended without the truth being totally revealed and the love life of the star actress left in limbo. PLEASE, bring it back. I don’t get into most series, but I did like this one.
I thought this show was good.
Would love to see another station like TNT to pick up this series…loved it and think there would be a loyal following
That would be wonderful. I am very tired of Waltons, I Love Lucy, Mr. Ed…..
very good suggestion