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It makes sense for Netflix to adapt its popular Magic for Humans reality series for Spanish audiences, since Barcelona illusionist El Mago Pop’s star has been steadily rising during the last decade. The concept is pretty much the same as the Justin Willman-hosted American series — El Mago Pop (real name: Antonio Diaz) wows people with large- and small-scale tricks. Some of Mago Pop’s new pals are passersby, others are celeb-types, but all are inevitably TOTALLY AMAZED by our intrepid host’s feats. Notably, this is the latest popular American Netflix reality series to cross over to different cultures and languages a la Nailed It and The Circle; can Too Hot to Handle: Kyrgyzstan be next?
MAGIC FOR HUMANS SPAIN: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: A wiggle-cam establishing shot of a lovely piece of Barcelona architecture.
The Gist: El Mago Pop introduces himself as Antonio, so let’s just call him that. In this debut episode, he explains that the theme is “hobbies,” but doesn’t really get into why, so we’ll assume it’s because “hobbies” is a theme that definitely exists. “Hobbies” doesn’t quite encapsulate the disappeary-switchy thing he just did to the wristwatches of two women on the Barcelona street, but that’s OK — you’ve gotta fire off a decent wowser to hook us.
Cooking is definitely a hobby, so Antonio visits famous sushi chef Hideki Matsuhisa — who, one might note, doesn’t cook as a hobby but as a career, although never mind. Hideki writes the letter “K” on a coin, buries it in a bowl of uncooked rice, then tosses the rice into the air so Antonio can Miyagi the coin out of mid-air with a pair of chopsticks. Kazow: it’s the same coin with the “K” on it. BANANAS. He then drops a slice of salmon sashimi into a water glass, and it apparently transforms into a real live goldfish. DOUBLE bananas.
He then pulls a large skateboard out of a small backpack, solves a Rubik’s Cube by tossing it in the air, turns a torn receipt into two 20-Euro bills. He visits a rich-ass guy named Josep who’s collected more than 40 fancy motorcycles, and the guy thankfully also likes absurdly expensive cars, giving Antonio the opportunity to make a vintage Jag appear out of thin air. (It’s not a gift, though — Josep has to buy it, and can probably afford it.) Then he visits some knitters and a famous-ish YouTuber/gamer named Christinini, and without fail, everyone goes slackjawed after he performs his tricks. Between segments, Antonio blither-blathers some words about hobbies that are the equivalent of saying roughly zero words about hobbies (“It’s surprising how many different pastimes people can have. Whatever you can imagine, there are people doing it and enjoying it”). He doesn’t say it, but the implication here is, hobbies are neat, and magic is definitely a neat hobby!
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Penn and Teller: Bullshit! is still the best TV show ever hosted by magicians.
Our Take: Of course Antonio’s tricks are nifty and surprising — we don’t expect him to pull rabbits out of hats. Also of course, it’s the type of stuff that’s stagey to the point where we’ll wonder if they’re more film-editing tricks than magic tricks, which will allow him to talk about how his illusions are all “real” in interviews, thus feeding the PR for the show and generating viewers who are curious to see what the all the blah-blah is about.
So yes, Magic for Humans Spain is reasonably enjoyable, and it’ll inevitably entertain fans of this type of escapist fare. But after one episode, I’m not sure if the standoffish Antonio is as personable as Justin Willman, who banters more with the “average folk” who witness his tricks, and injects some personal stories into his version of the show. As for Antonio’s visits with locally famous people — well, they’re almost certainly blatant promotional opportunities.
And an episode about “hobbies” seems like a good opportunity for the host to offer a bit of personal insight and talk about how his hobby became his career, but he doesn’t. He just isn’t particularly charismatic in this context (something that apparently isn’t in question for his Discovery series El Mago Pop, which is a huge international success). It may have to do with the writing, because the voiceover narration has the amateurish tone and content of a book report written by a middle schooler who didn’t read the book. Future episodes may be sturdier; they tackle love, time and (gulp) fear, which seem a wee bit weightier than “hobbies,” which this episode definitively proves is a thing.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: The guy astounded by the skateboard trick hops on the board and goofy-foots his way through the park as Antonio’s voiceover says something about how neato it is that hobbies help people escape their problems for a while.
Sleeper Star: Only Christinini gets a silver of an opportunity to show a little personality and say something more than “holy cow” or whatever, and don’t forget to like and subscribe!
Most Pilot-y Line: “You won’t’ believe what you’re about to see. But it’s real,” Antonio teases.
Our Call: Magic for Humans Spain gets a very lukewarm STREAM IT. Willman’s shtick is more engaging, but fans who’ve exhausted the original series may want to whet their palates with El Mago Pop’s relatively less substantive take on it. Maybe the hobby-themed episode was a bad one to launch the series with — future entries are titled Everything is a Lie and Tunnel of Terror, and seem to promise a little beefier thematic content.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.
