This TV Show Uses Illusion Methods

One of the most exciting things about being a professional magic writer is seeing magic methods in everyday scenarios. One of the places you see them used most is on television and in movies. Is there any wonder why so many directors like JJ Abrams happen to be hobbyist magicians?

There are so many ways that magic methods can be used in marketing, product design, theatre and live music. And every time I see a method in use outside of the magic community, I leap up in the air and want to tell everyone immediately. How cool is that! I think to myself, and then I tell anyone who will listen.

I'm based in Porto for the month. The goal is to take it much more steadily than I have been recently and to finally catch up on writing my novel. So, the other night, I pulled out my iPad and opened a streaming platform. I started scrolling for a show to watch when something caught my eye, a show called "Couple's Therapy."

It didn't garner my attention because of its title or theme. I can't imagine watching couples have therapy is particularly entertaining. No, I tapped on the thumbnail almost immediately because I thought to myself, oh wow, that set design would perfectly hide a specific illusion method.

How funny, I thought, I should screenshot this so the next time I work on a similar illusion. At this point, I assumed the perfect set design was purely coincidental. And then I realised – oh my god – it IS the illusion method; they've built the illusion into the set!

And then I spotted the second half of the method they were using and all of the magic convincers, and I leapt up into the air.

This TV show uses a classic illusion method, and it's amazing.

I did some research and found out exactly why the producers of the show decided to use the illusion, how they built it, and what they found worked best. My favorite part of all this is when executive producer and director Josh Kriegman says, “It’s an old-fashioned trick.” It might be old-fashioned, but it's executed brilliantly, with a ton of thought-through magic convincers. We'll delve into the illusion and the key takeaways for magicians. But first, what's the method, and why are they using it...

There's a mirror box illusion built into the back wall of the therapist's office. The entire first level of the shelf, at about waist height, is, in fact, a mirror box. I've never come across the illusion formatted in such a long, narrow way and built as part of a fitted shelf.

A mirror box usually works by placing an angled mirror from one lower corner to the opposite top corner of a box. The mirror perfectly reflects the bottom of the box, and because of how everything is angled and the square shape of the box, it appears as though you can see directly to the back of the box.

In reality, all the audience can see is a reflection of the base of the box, and about 50% of the box is completely hidden. In its most basic terms, the mirror box method is normally used to show that a box is empty when it is actually not.

There are some terrific convincers magicians can employ to make this method look more fooling. The Couples Therapy producers employ them too:

1. Hide the edge lines of the mirror. The part of the illusion which lets it down is the natural lines of the mirror on the right and left side of the box. In the Couples Therapy set, the designer has added angled wood slats. Importantly, they haven't just added one slat to cover the mirror edge. They've added multiple to create a diagonal pattern. The amazing thing is there are only three slats – the two you see at the far end of the shelf are reflections only.

2. Create a sense of continuity. People tend to use this illusion with a box, which works well because the bottom of the box looks identical to the back of the box. In this case, the back of the cupboard looks completely different to the top of a wooden shelf. So to pull off this illusion, the top of the shelf, which is out of view, needs to be coated in the same wallpaper as the back wall. The thing which really sells this is the continuity of vision, as it connects to the wallpaper covering the rest of the wall.

3. Use of spheres. You might have had a magic money box as a kid, with a floating football or similar in the middle of it. The genius thing about this is that if a sphere is placed sliced down the middle of the mirror, it'll look like a complete sphere when reflected. The set designers were smart to find metal spheres that looked like they belonged on the shelf. This decision enhances the illusion by disguising the possibility of mirrors by making the shelf not empty. In the most recent series, they added little wooden boxes too, which are spliced vertically by the mirror. Watch the trailer below.

4. Using an overhang. You'll notice a small plant that overhands and drapes down in front of the mirror illusion in the Couples Therapy set. This is a great way to dismay the idea that mirrors are used. If there was a mirror, an audience might think to themself, then surely the overhanging object would be reflected by the mirror. Of course, the perfect angle of the mirror means that the overhang does not at all appear in the reflection.

But why did the filmmakers decide to use this illusion? And why on earth did they go to such extraordinary lengths to pull it off so convincingly? Keep reading to find out, and for an unexpected kicker you might not have spotted yet.

For this, take a look at this excerpt from a Vulture article:

This is the beautiful thing about their use of the illusion. It wasn't for the viewer's benefit at home – well, not their immediate benefit. The directors were concerned that if the show's participants could see any cameras in the room, that they might not open up and provide more interesting content.

Usually, when TV shows want to hide the camera, they'll employ two-way mirrors. And build hides. Couples Therapy had the luxury and budget to do something much more engaging and well-executed. The key goal was always to put participants at ease by, well, tricking them into believing they were in a real therapist's office. The show's production designer Nora Mendis said that the initial options looked a little like an interrogation room.

Now, then – here's the kicker. I missed it initially, and maybe you missed the entire illusion when you first saw the header image for this post.

Sure – the bottom shelf is a mirror box.

But did you see the second mirror box? The middle portion of the second shelf, with the books that look a little less well-lit – that's a mirror box too. It reflects a row of book ends placed flat on the shelf floor. The books were based on a list provided by the therapies, and they had to be flipped so that the mirrored versions were the correct way around. Isn't it great!