From Wayne Kawamoto,
Your Guide to Magic & Illusion.
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For Criss Angel fans, "Mindfreak - The Complete Season Two" offers all 21 episodes of the illusionist’s second season on television. It’s an entertaining collection of episodes that is filled with magical innovations, puzzling television magic and intriguing and varied themes. And there are limited “extras” tossed-in for good measure.

Second Time Around

After a successful first season, Criss Angel continues to explore new magical areas. The success of his second season is a tribute to Angel’s efforts as well as to his team that includes such notables as Johnny Thompson and Banachek.

Highlights of Mindfreak’s second season include: 1) Angel sawing himself in-half, 2) the splitting of a spectator into two pieces on a park bench, 3) floating between two buildings (click here to read our review of this episode), 4) walking across a swimming pool that’s filled with people, 5) disappearing in mid-air while jumping on a motorcycle and 6) conducting an eerie séance in Death Valley with celebrity guests that’s complete ghostly apparitions and moving tables.

Lots of Magic

For magicians and the lay public, the most intriguing episodes are when Criss Angel saws himself in half and walks on water. In particular, the sawing-in-half episode not only features Angel’s amazing self-bisection with a huge buzz saw, but a segment where he splits a woman in half on a park bench and his version of the “Impaled” illusion that occurs on a wrought iron fence.

Adhering to his formula from the first season, in each episode, Angel performs a combination of close-up and mentalism that ultimately lead to the big illusion or stunt. It’s amazing the sheer volume of magic that Angel competently performs. Although some effects, such as the card that disappears from the pack to be found on a spectator and some mentalism routines do appear more than once in different shows.

New Angles

While magicians will enjoy the big illusions and escapes where, for example, Angel releases himself from a box that will soon be hit by a speeding car and gets out of a strait jacket while being towed behind a speed boat, there’s lots of first rate close-up and stand-up magic interspersed throughout. In particular, the “party” episode, where Angel and his entourage visit Las Vegas clubs, features lots of close-up magic. Here, Angel slams a ringing cell phone into a bottle, performs classic “coins to glass” with poker chips and more. There’s also an intriguing “spirit hank” illusion that occurs in a lounge area, complete with a bottle for the hanks to quickly enter and exit.

Angel continues to come up with new angles. There’s a card stab style effect that is performed with a gun-the chosen card ends up with a bullet hole. There are also lots of classics: card in balloon, “Things That Go Bump in the Night” on a beach, gypsy thread and torn and restored newspaper. A treat, in one episode, Angel presents his stunning “no cover” metamorphosis that was a key part of his live show earlier in his career.

Ups and Downs

In the “scam” episode, Angel performs “psychic” surgery and exposes other scams such as pickpocketing. Unfortunately, the series chose to have Johnny Thompson expose the three shell game. Angel shows a different side in the poignant “Chad Long” episode where he gives a young magician, a cancer survivor, an opportunity to perform in Lance Burton’s Las Vegas show.

The season’s lowpoint comes in the animal episode. While the big illusion, vanishing an elephant in the middle of a parking area, is good, Angel performs cheesy clown-style magic for a couple of chimpanzees, which is way below Angel’s abilities and persona.