History Recap / InsideNo9S5E4Misdirection

* MirandaRights: At the end, the detective reads Neville the rights while cuffing him up.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: While Neville's tarot card trick that he performs for Gabriel is explicitly just a trick, its prophecy does appear to come true; Neville says the Hierophant card could refer to his grandfather, which is revealed to be why he's there, the Scales of Justice card presumably refers to his plan to avenge his grandfather's murder, Neville's remark that "we all know they can't be trusted" in explanation of the Magician card is strangely prescient given the circumstances, and the Death card never said it would be Gabriel's death in the future...

* AssholeVictim: Neville Griffin, an [[SmugSnake insufferably smug]] murderer and plagiarist, is hard to feel sorry for when he's framed for the murder of his wife.

* KarmaHoudini: Gabriel succeeds in framing Neville for murder.

* HaveYouToldAnyoneElse: In the prologue, Neville asks Willy if anyone else knew of the chair raising trick which the latter denies. It's his death sentence. What Willy missed to tell Neville was that his will makes a mention of the chair trick which ten years down the line is going to bite Neville in the ass.

* OffWithHisHead: When Neville's initial attempts to kill Willy fail, he finishes the job with a guillotine (presumably used in his magic act.)

* {{Homage}}: The episode is mostly one to ''Theatre/{{Sleuth}}''. It also references ''Series/{{Columbo}}'', and specifically an episode which involved a conflict between two magicians, one of whom killed the other with a rigged guillotine as Neville eventually does to Willy. ''Columbo'' is referenced when Jennie explains the idea of a Mountweazel to Neville; one of these was the centre of a real-world lawsuit between the writers of an encyclopedia who used an entry with a fake first name for the detective, and the makers of ''TabletopGame/TrivialPursuit'', who used the entry as an answer.

* DelayedReaction: A verbal example; when the police detective informs Neville of his wife's murder, it doesn't fully sink in at first, and Neville responds in a slightly distracted fashion at first until it hits, at which point he blurts out "Wait, ''what''?!" Though it's genuine shock, the detective clearly notes his initial lack of response and finds it suspicious.

* DoubleTake: A verbal example; when the police detective informs Neville of his wife's murder, it doesn't fully sink in at first, and Neville responds in a slightly distracted fashion at first until it hits, at which point he blurts out "Wait, ''what''?!" Though it's genuine shock, the detective clearly notes his initial lack of response and finds it suspicious.

* ChekhovsGunman: Willy mentions in the prologue that he has a grandson and performs tricks at his birthday parties.

* HollywoodSatanism: Jennie thinks Neville's outfit makes him look like "a devil-worshipper" and tells him he should dress more casually for his interview, which he refuses to do.

* BatmanGambit: Gabriel's plan relies on Neville being so keen to "school" Gabriel on his magic tricks that he misses the bigger picture (as well as tricking him into handling the real razor blade), then being curious enough to find out what he was writing down earlier, ''then'' becoming sufficiently obsessed with the idea of there being a Mountweazel in Willy's trick to open the safe (and that he'd turn off the CCTV before doing so), and finally his being unwilling to admit the truth to the police officer because doing so would require him to admit killing Willy and stealing his work.

* ManipulativeBastard: Gabriel's plan relies on Neville being so keen to "school" Gabriel on his magic tricks that he misses the bigger picture (as well as tricking him into handling the real razor blade), then being curious enough to find out what he was writing down earlier, ''then'' becoming sufficiently obsessed with the idea of there being a Mountweazel in Willy's trick to open the safe (and that he'd turn off the CCTV before doing so), and finally his being unwilling to admit the truth to the police officer because doing so would require him to admit killing Willy and stealing his work.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: Neville cold-bloodedly killed Willy so he could steal his trick. Gabriel is motivated by love, as he knows Neville killed Willy, his grandfather, but he still killed an innocent woman just so he could frame Neville for it.

* EvilVsEvil: Neville vs Gabriel.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: Neville's wife Jennie appears in two short scenes and is brutally KilledOffScreen, presumably by Gabriel.

Aspiring magician Neville Griffin (Reece Shearsmith) lures Willy Wondo (Steve Pemberton) to his storage container in hopes of buying his latest trick, a "levitating chair" act. When Willy reveals that he is planning to go on cruise ships with the act, Neville murders Willy. A decade later, journalist and aspiring magician Gabriel (Creator/FionnWhitehead) meets with Neville, now a wealthy and famous magician himself on the back of the act, in the storage locker to discuss his career. But watch carefully -- because as with all good magic tricks, nothing here is as it seems...

* HollywoodSatanism: Jennie thinks Neville's outfit makes him look like "a devil-worshipper" and tells him he should dress up for his interview, which he refuses to do.

* WholePlotReference: The episode is a homage to ''Theatre/{{Sleuth}}'', being about two men -- one an arrogant and manipulative creative professional working in a medium involving tricks and suspense, the other a younger man with a relationship to someone from the older man's past -- engaging in a cat-and-mouse game of wits and manipulation with each other where nothing is as it seems, presented largely as a two-hander.