3 out of 5

More variations on a theme.  DB’s feature shows (as opposed to the live shows) started out focused more on his up-front trickery, excepting early attempt Walking Dead which would look forward to the grander scale to which he would necessarily upgrade (once his shtick became expected and perhaps less exciting for him).  Walking Dead was also one of the least effective of those early specials, though, and its a trend that’s continued, for better or worse.  While the ideas are always interesting, it’s generally when Derren is willing to get a little evil in exposing our weaknesses – The Heist being a great example – that his art of manipulation is most captivating.  While ‘The Experiments’ plays at that, it feels ‘safer,’ and often falls into the same camp as Apocalypse in terms of feeling a bit too obviously leading to its subjects.  It’s the episodes that feel a bit more open (or are less reliant on misleading) that are successful: the first experiment where he ‘creates’ a mind control assassin is pretty chilling (there’s that evil bit), and the last episode, circulating a rumor about luck in a small town to see if it ‘creates’ luck, while nibbling at DB’s need to celebrate the human spirit and yadda yadda, is fun and fascinating since it really is an experiment, at that point, in sitting back (for the most part) with a theory and watching something happen.  The middle two episodes – convincing someone they might’ve murdered someone and a game show where people vote on what happens to a contestant – leading up to his death – might sound gripping, but in the former case, it’s a bit too hammy and the environment a bit too forced (with actors playing parts named after characters in the game Clue…) and in the latter case, somewhat blandly effected, as the votes are often between “do this exciting thing” or “do this mundane thing” – meaning not really subtle enough to effectively underline the point –  and besides this, that mob mentality is not a misunderstood concept.

As I usually add, though, I appreciate that Darren keeps finding different ways to work his skills, even when they don’t always land, as he’s truly a charming and seemingly intelligent and earnest entertainer, and one of the few guys willing to “go there” – fairly, not sensationalized – when the designed show offers that opportunity.