Batman-inspired series fails to break ground, undeserving of time slot
With a new year comes a new superhero on NBC. “The Cape” debuted Sunday as NBC’s attempt to recreate the superhero in a fictional metropolis called Palm City. However, this recreation proved to be overly tasteless and too familiar.“The Cape” showed plenty of promise in its previews, but apparently the producers were oblivious to the show’s overall ridiculousness.
David Lyons (“ER”) plays Vince Faraday, who is one of the few honest cops in Palm City. After being framed for murder by evil billionaire Peter Fleming (James Frain), Faraday is believed to be dead as a result of a freak explosion. He is then found alive by a group of underground carnies that practices crime and teaches him how to perform hypnosis and other illusionary tricks. Faraday then takes on an alter ego he calls The Cape, named after his eight-year-old son’s favorite comic book character. With this new persona, Faraday plots revenge against the billionaire who framed him.
Lyons’s character is somewhat likeable in the show, a devoted father and husband prohibited from seeing his family due to the consequences that would unravel. However, Faraday demonstrates some ridiculous qualities, including being an ordinary man able to bounce back after his various beatings.
Just like your typical comic book superhero show, “The Cape” features several outlandish, cartoonish villains. The main antagonist of the show is Fleming, a billionaire who has a super villain alter ego known as Chess. Fleming can be viewed as the Lex Luthor character of the show as he plots to control Palm City through its police department and prisons. Working alongside Chess is Scales (Vinnie Jones), a British mobster with a skin condition that gives him greenish gold scales. Also, there’s Cain, a psychotic murderer who mostly relies on poison and represents a league of assassins known as Tarot.
During its two-hour premiere, “The Cape” started in a sentimental fashion until Faraday becomes his alter ego. From then on, it slowly develops into a not-as-cheesy knockoff of the 1960s “Batman” show. The similarities between the two superheroes become apparent, such as the silhouette of the hero looking down upon the city and the music that sounds strangely similar to Hans Zimmer’s score from “The Dark Knight.”
Still, “The Cape” is not without its share of humor and fun. Keith David mostly provides the slightly witty comedy as he plays Max Malini, Faraday’s mentor and head of the underground carnival of criminals.
With a targeted audience of eight-year-old fanboys, “The Cape” is doomed to become nothing more than a cult favorite. The biggest mistake behind the making of this show is airing it on a major primetime network like NBC, as opposed to NBC’s sister station SyFy. Nonetheless, “The Cape” deserves a solid “C” as in “cape.”