The Cape

An extremely intelligent but nefarious ex-stockbroker convicted of embezzling millions from his clients spends 7 years of his 15 year sentence studying the law and planning his appeal. Though guilty, he concealed his crimes so well that only a technical slip-up by his bungling defense attorney caused his conviction. The bitter, brilliant convict achieves the overturn of his conviction the same way- on a tech- nicality. He vows revenge on the judicial system and passes the bar exam with flying colors. The press takes notice of this "ex-con" lawyer, and his notoriety gets the attention of Dana Faraday's law firm. Seeing the opportunity for free publicity, they hire him on a trial basis. The un- scrupulous lawyer proceeds to get every criminal he defends an acquital by unethical, often illegal means, without getting caught. His successes and his questionable methods come to the attention of Peter Fleming, who, though he controls much of the police dept., is still looking for inroads to control the courts and prisons. He also sees, and seizes apon, the opportunity to identify and recruit the smartest, most ruth- less criminals to create a street syndicate under his control to go after the Cape, Orwell, and any other public or judicial figures that get in his way. He does this through the manipulation of "the Lawyer" who is hell-bent on wreaking havoc on the judicial system, hiding behind the guise of a 'champion of the oppressed' defense attorney. Suspicions of Orwell, The Cape, and even Dana, working together, lead to the exposure and ultimate downfall of "The Lawyer", and the thwarting but not defeat, of Peter Flemming. Just an idea. Awesome show, but try to keep the plots and villains believable, though a little stretching doesn't hurt.

ABC's new show "The Cape" has a lot of good things going for it; especially with it's 1940's pulp-inspired superhero atmosphere, suspense, and hints at the mystical, which I really liked and hope in the near future, gets further explored. However, I felt the plot went by WAY too quickly. It would've been nice to see the plot unfold at a reasonably slower pace and get the audience to become more accustomed to the characters and proceedings. But there are some decent plot twists that made me smile though there are few between as the premiere episode was two hours long so even at that length, not everything can be fully explained.

I must say that it was a good start to a series that's hopefully getting better and better at the moment but I won't get my hopes up too soon as NBC's more recent superhero show, which had so much potential in which to build on(as evidenced by it's stellar first season) but with writer's strikes and the realization that Tim Kring and co really had no foundation for the subsequent seasons, the show died a tragic death. I'm hoping that with more polish and sophistication that this series will be a hit unless NBC and those on board learn their lessons and not screw it up.

Good: Cast is very solid especially Summer Glau and Keith David. They both seemed to fit very naturally into their characters. Interesting premise with a good cop turned vigilante with a comic book bent. Has great elements of tension, drama, comedy and a little flair for the theatrics throughout.

Bad: Writing (maybe directing? I'm not at distinguishing the two) was inconsistent throughout the pilot episode. The pacing was an issue. There was no clear progression of time so I was confused a lot about how much time had passed between scenes. A lot of the characters feel shallow and little time was concentrated on their depth, especially with the villains. World struggles to straddle the lines between campy, comic book world and the real world.

The bottom line: I would continue to watch the series.There's enough that grabbed me in the pilot episode to make me come back to it.Clean up the writing and allow for more development of characters and plots and you have a hit. Summer Glau and Keith David are good, not in love with the main guy. I think he's OK, maybe will get better as the series goes on. But compared to other shows that have been premiered in the past year this one looks way more promising. Give this show a chance.

I really wasn't sure about this show after the first ten to fifteen minutes of watching. Seemed like a show I would watch on the SyFy channel. Somewhere, though, in the fifteen-thirty minute mark, it became really interesting. David Lyon's performance as the tormented hero is quite believable, given everything that he went through. James Frain plays such a great over-the-top villain. Keith David provides the perfect mentor persona. Vinnie Jones and Summer Glau provide some fan-favorite faces.

The whole feel of the show seems like a throwback to the early 80s, with heavy doses of comic-book action and one-liners(again, done excellently by James Frain, so much that I was beginning to wonder if it was just bad acting or dialogue.

It's not quite Heroes, but we will see what the true power of "The Cape" holds in the future. I, for one, am sold on at least a few more episodes.

I'm not a fan of comics or superheroes at all. However, I really like well made Batman things. I don't watch NBC too often so I didn't see any advertising for this. I was lucky to stumble upon it when I was chatting with a guy and his cousin (Eric Micheal Cole) is going to be in the episode "Scales on a Train" on January 24th. So, I watched the premiere and was pleasantly surprised. However, you have to be paying attention during this TV show because it moves very fast and has no unnecessary scenes. Some of the dialog can be very cheesy which gets really annoying. I love the creative idea of The Carnival of Crime and it adds a whole new element to the story. This is something that you'll have to watch from the start so you know why he has the cape and how he got the cape. Fortunately, the "Pilot" is available as a free download on iTunes. You don't have to like superheroes/comics to like this. Not everybody will enjoy this series but it has loads of potential. Just try to ignore the cheesy dialog and this series can be very enjoyable.