‘Criss Angel’s Magic With the Stars’ Recap: ‘100 Foot Rope Escape’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Five of ‘Criss Angel’s Magic with the Stars’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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Thus far, our journey through the world of magic via The CW series, Criss Angel’s Magic With the Stars, has provided us with some fascinating lessons about becoming a magician. For instance, we now know that showmanship is a priority for anyone that wants to get into the industry, and you better be ready to work outside of your comfort zone and push yourself often to connect with the crowd and be noticed. Which has led to some fascinating moments on this series, the kind that have seen every competitor for the Golden Wand, grow before our eyes and learn how to work a crowd. Making it clear that no one can just walk out on stage and wow people from the get-go because of the work that goes into this.
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Or so… it seemed. For this week’s episode of the show, ‘100 Foot Rope Escape’, informed us that once in a while… true showmanship can bleed through as evidenced by how Super Bowl Champion Vernon Davis and Music Legend Flavor Flav handled their time on the show. Because they both came out and WOWED the crowd. For Vernon used his athleticism to move about during the Double Cutting Illusion and he made sure to turn on the charm while doing so. Which got the audience going and impressed the judges, and Flav… was ready to match that energy as only he can and totally drove the crowd into a frenzy with his Levitation Illusion, one that included a dog and well… the close scores and cheering made something clear.

In that, we had a pair of natural showmen on the stage and tonight they were going to up the game and get this crowd into it. Which they continued to do during the Close-Up Challenge. Since Vernon was all about that charm once again as he demonstrated his fun side with a delightful and curiosity inducing card trick and Flav… wasted no time in using his natural charisma to just engage everyone during his illusion. Which immediately drew everyone in and brought laughter forth left and right and these two natural performers once again did such a great job with their illusions and that all-important showmanship… that the score was still ridiculously close as we headed into the final round, one that would test these two like never before.

Because for the Grand Illusion of the night, Vernon and Flavor Flav were going to take part in Houdini’s 100 Foot Rope Escape. Wherein the magician is indeed tied up with 100 feet of rope, tightly, and has to find a way to quickly unravel it and free themselves. And to really put forth a show for the crowd, they would both perform this on stage and well, for a brief moment there it seemed as though Vernon might have the edge and the win here because Criss pointed out to them in rehearsals that people with larger frames had a tendency to pull this illusion off better. But in the end, that didn’t matter. Because Flav and Vernon were neck and neck the whole way, in fact… they both finished the illusion at the same time, once again making life difficult for Criss and Loni and Lance.

After all, how on earth do you declare a winner from a tie? But they did, and we won’t reveal who exactly was the winner, because that’s not something we do in these recaps. That’s for you to experience and it is up to us, to discuss what made this episode so great, and in the end… what accomplished that… was indeed natural showmanship. The kind that let these two gentlemen just slip into the role of magician and bring that magic heat and thunder to the stage and this, this might be the best episode of this series to date. That’s how much fun it was and it of course, leaves us eager for more. Because it’s difficult to have one’s fill of a series that just lets loose with fun through magic and once more, we will all be counting down the minutes to next week’s entry, to see what other surprises await us from this brilliant series. Until next time.

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