The Cape
The Cape combines cop noir with comic irony in what could be either a wonderfully sardonic, fresh take on an old genre, or a miserable failure a la Heroes. David Lyons stars as Vince (as in “invincible”?), a good cop framed by bad cops and forced underground to try to clear his name. He takes on the persona of his son’s favorite comic superhero. So far so good. We even get a rich man whose hobby is serial murder, played by the always delicious James Frain. But we also get concepts such as “a circus gang of bank robbers”, who function as Vince’s martial arts instructors. You can’t even say “circus gang of bank robbers” with a straight face, so this could either be straight camp a la 1960s era Batman, or takes-itself-too-seriously dreck such as Heroes.
Although not officially cancelled, the show went on permanent hiatus in February 2011, as NBC announced that the last episode ordered would not be broadcast, but would be available online. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I call it a weaselly way to cancel a show.
Pilot and Tarot – Vince Faraday becomes “The Cape” to battle criminal forces that have taken over his city. Airdate 9 January 2011.
Kozmo – An old accomplice of Max’s battles Vince for the Cape, as Dana finds a job in the public defender’s office. Airdate 17 January 2011
Scales – Vince pits Dominic Raoul (aka Scales) against Fleming on a train casino trip, hoping that Scales will incriminate Fleming in front of the whole city, but the scheme backfires and Vince must team up with his arch enemy. Airdate 24 January 2011
Dice – A beautiful woman uses her extraordinary calculating abilities to predict the future, even to predict The Cape’s next move. Who said blondes don’t like math? Airdate 31 January 2011
Goggles and Hicks – On his ‘day off’, Vince finds he is being stalked by a team of assassins hired by Fleming. Airdate 7 February 2011
The Lich, parts 1 and 2 – An abused heir to the richest property in Palm City plans to unleash terror and death on the city unless Vince can stop him; worse, he holds Orwell hostage. Airdate 14 and 21 February 2011.
Razer – Vince disguises himself as a dangerous assassin to infiltrate a pact between Scales and Fleming. Airdate 28 February 2011.
Endgame –