I'm a big comic book fan, so I'm EXTREMELY grateful to my bro-in-law for letting me know that the premiere of the new NBC series "The Cape" was playing last night. (Way to drop the ball, NBC marketing department.)
The story is about a Palm City's last honest cop, Vince Faraday, who is framed for murder by a masked villain who soon becomes the owner of the city's privatized police force. Hunted down and presumed dead, Faraday is unable to come out of hiding until he can clear his name. Luckily, he is found by a disillusioned circus troupe who trains him with their combined talents to become a masked superhero modeled and named after his son's favorite comic book hero, "The Cape".
I saw previews of this last summer and have been highly anticipating the pilot, unsure of what to expect, but still hopeful. With the cancellation of NBC's "Heroes", it looks like they're trying to get a second chance with a similar demographic, only this time, the show features just one "superhero" and he has no superhuman abilities.
Another difference noticeable almost immediately is the tone. While the lead character and his family are written with more realistic personalities than those in ABC's "No Ordinary Family", and the show includes a very serious, even tragic plot thread in that regard, the show in general is certainly much lighter than the tone aimed for in "Heroes" or modern superhero films like "The Dark Knight" or "X-men".
The chief villain of the story is a big business man who moonlights as a rubber-masked criminal named "Chess". Yet for a guy who names himself after a deeply strategic, "thinking man's" game, he still makes the foolish decision to "monologue" and reveal his true identity and plot to the hero near the beginning of the story.
Likewise, reality is stretched regularly in the realm of technology and physics. Hypnotism that controls even the unwilling, grabbing and throwing things with nothing but a cape, holographic computer interfaces and "on the fly" illusionist tricks that amount to teleportation. Granted, these are all common elements in comic books, but most comics today take more time offering exposition and also contain years of continuity that explain how the unrealistic elements are possible or came to be.
Still, if you don't need to have a foundation of realism laid out for you, there's much to be enjoyed, and the story is constantly grounded emotionally in Vince's desire to reconnect with his wife and son, who believe him to be dead. The seriousness and realism with which these elements are treated goes a long way to help emotionally invest in the lead character. And if emotional investment is present, lack of realism can be forgiven to a degree. The writers would be wise to make his desire to be reconnected to his family the driving force of every episode.
Love for family is probably the strongest theme in the premiere, though it is unlikely to inspire much conversation, regardless of how it may connect with one emotionally.
Every father wants to be a hero in his children's eyes, and Vince Faraday actually takes on the persona of his son's favorite superhero. Emotionally sensitive comic book-loving Dad's beware: You may find yourself with "something in your eye" as you watch this show.
The premiere is an enjoyable, though flawed beginning that will hopefully become refined in time. Until then, it may have just enough material worth investing in to keep audiences interested, including myself.
Quality: 8.0/10
Relevance: 6.5/10
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