The Illusionist 《魔幻视界》

[convoy]

This is a series about a magician (ala David Copperfield, David Blaine, etc, not Harry Potter) who was collaborating with a TV station to produce magic programmes and the conflicts that happened between the magician and some personnel from the TV station, and also the conflicts in their lives. It is made by the same external production company as Perfect Cut 1 and 2.


The opening video of this series:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3bIwtiC6sI

The long intro about the series from the official website:
http://theillusionist.mediacorptv.sg...t_about_en.htm

Magic is no miracle
James Lee (played by Thomas Ong), a famous magician, is invited to produce a variety show Magic Go Live. As it is a live show, there will be no room for error.

Nothing is impossible to James as he is the master in misdirecting his audiences. But he never expects that the TV station is another master in this skill!
James is able to break free from all trapped situations in his magic performances, but is he able to do so in real life?

We create our own miracle…
Ming (played by Mei Xin), a fresh graduate, is delighted to join the promo department of the TV channel. Full of zest and aspiration, she soon finds out that the TV station is not what she thought it would be. Being a firm believer that there are miracles in life, she charges on and is met with obstacles. She is assigned to promote Magic Go Live. As she interacts more with James, she slowly learns how to put magic into practice in real life…

The Magician behind the Magician
Irene (played by Quan Yi Fong), a senior vice president of the channel, is a workaholic with absolutely no life. She is strict and she means business. She is able to pick up any issues and blow them out of proportion to achieve her objective. She is also ready to put herself into the spotlight and create publicity if she needs to. In short, she is objective-driven without emotion. Worst of all, she treats everyone as tools to achieve her objective.

Under pressure to achieve good ratings for Magic Go Live, Irene performs “magic” by manipulating the show and misdirecting everyone. This creates much friction between her and James. But deep inside, she is very lonely. One day, she falls for James and that becomes a turning point…

The Assistant behind the Magician
James has an assistant by the name of Casper (played by Jerry Yeo). Casper is not his real name and the sad thing is nobody bothers what his name is. Casper wants to be a successful magician like James but James is not committed to teaching him due to his unpleasant past with his ex-assistant Shayne…

Casper hopes that James will be proud of him one day. His dream comes true when he is approached by Irene to start a new street magic programme, not realising that he is just part of Irene’s plan to destroy James.

The Magician who waits for miracles
At the end of every performance, James would shout a slogan: “Believe in Miracle” (人间有奇迹). This slogan has made him a well-liked magician. But he himself is a non-believer in miracles

James witnessed his magician dad perform a vanishing act on his mother on stage when he was young. His mother never re-appeared. When pressed for her whereabouts James’s dad promised him that he would reveal the truth when James becomes a Magician. When James finally becomes a magician, his dad suffers a stroke and the truth is never revealed. His hope for a miracle to awaken his dad and find his mum never comes…

Worst still, his trusted former assistant Shayne betrays him and leaves. Years after, he has given up on miracles until he meets Ming whose strong belief in miracles influences him.

Who is the real Magician?
Shayne (played by Ann Kok) returns and teams up with Irene to produce a new magic variety show for the rival TV Station. During the head on fight for ratings, Irene plays on James’ emotional weakness to defeat him…

As a result, James is hurt and Casper has to replace him. But Casper isn’t ready for the challenge and the miracle never happens. Ming starts to lose faith…

Everyone is performing magic but who is the real magician? Are they lost in their own illusion?

[Leonidas]

This show is pretty good so far. Not surprisingly, it has the same style and feel as Perfect Cut.

I'm impressed by the performances of relative newcomers Mei Xin and Jerry Yeo. Less so with Quan Yifeng, whose attempt to display a cool persona seems a bit overdone.

[Lady Zhuge]

This is a series about a magician (ala David Copperfield, David Blaine, etc, not Harry Potter)

Since Harry's a wizard and not a magician, isn't this pretty obvious?

[convoy]

Since Harry's a wizard and not a magician, isn't this pretty obvious?

Wizard, magician (fantasy), they are all the same

[Guo Xiang]

It's a nice drama. So far so good. I like Quan Yifeng's role.

Is Nick Shen James' dad?

[Leonidas]

Is Nick Shen James' dad?

Looks like it. At least the younger version of the father.

[Guo Xiang]

Looks like it. At least the younger version of the father.

Depends how young you can accept. I believe Nick is already in his 30s, but his face had never changed all these years so he still looks like a teenager or young adult (21-25) to me. Him acting as a father just seems very "illegal".

[Gunner]

Anyone know the ending to this drama? I missed the last episode.