How was the Cape?

[Uncle Yuan]

I don't have cable, and I spent last night watching season 2 of Eureka.  Did anyone catch this?  Thoughts?  Reviews weren't very kind.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

I'm watching episode 2 right now.

I like it. Other than the fact that the writers have no idea how to name anyone.  (The Cape? Chess?  Scales?  I can do better than that.)
Overall, I thought it a decent superhero story, with an oddly interesting supporting cast in the form of the circus group.  I'm sure how well they work with Orwell, but so far a pretty interesting bunch.  The action sequences are decent and the main villain, aside from his name, is also pretty good so far.

EDIT:  Okay the Tarot's a much better named evil organization.

[Kenn]

I enjoyed it.  Reasonably well done take on the masked urban crime fighter.  I like the whole thing with the Cape's family.  Summer Glau as Orwell is essentially DC's Oracle minus the chair - but hey, it's Summer Glau so, YUM.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Oracle is exactly how I'd describe her as well.  With a little bit of undercover disguise work thrown in for good measure.

I also like that this hero is learning gradually.  Even after his training, he's not automatically Batman.  He make mistakes, learns from them, and adds new training to compensate, such as

Spoiler

The knife catching training and point immunity gained in episode two in response to Cain.

[RTTingle]

A hero fighting with their cape... a circus support group?

Did I lose my hard drive in Hollywood somewhere?

[daglob]

A hero fighting with their cape... a circus support group?

Did I lose my hard drive in Hollywood somewhere?

That's pretty much what I said when this character was mentioned several months ago.

I think someone has just been reading a bunch of old pulp magazines.

[AncientSpirit]

I was determined to try this ... but didn't think it was very good.    Even in kid's comic, The Cape, the hero wears a mask.  If this guy is so concerned about his family being harmed if people learn he's alive, why is he showing his mug to everyone?

The use of the cape itself was interesting.    But the Circus of Crime?   Right out of the Early Spiderman books.    Summer Glau?  Always love seeing her. But again, too much like Oracle in DC and Chloe in Smallville, especially with the high-tech bank of computer screens.

The idea of The Cape showing up without a mask and not disguising his voice, and his own kid doesn't recognize who it is?  Ridiculous.

However, I did enjoy the twist that to "prove" himself, the Cape has to defeat the midget.   

For the first episode, I kept making excuses that they had to develope the character ... so gave it some leeway.

But by the second episode, I had moved into my office, turned on the tv set there, and ran the show in the background as I played CoX.    This show needs to do more to make itself unique.

[lugaru]

A hero fighting with their cape... a circus support group?

Did I lose my hard drive in Hollywood somewhere?

That's pretty much what I said when this character was mentioned several months ago.

I think someone has just been reading a bunch of old pulp magazines.

That is the main reason I want to check it out... not so much because it is a superhero show but because it is a neo pulp show. I mean he could easily team up with The Shadow by the looks of it. I'll watch 'em sometime this week.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

AS, he does wear a mask, but he waits until the middle of the second episode to start doing it.

[steamteck]

I thought it was fun. It may just need to get its legs under it a bit, find its voice. I'll keep watching.

[JeyNyce]

Decent show, you know what happen to any show that Summer Glau stars in........

[Glitch Girl]

Second episode was stronger than the first.  

I watched it and there were a few "Oh COME ON!" moments, and except for Tarot (and maybe Cain), most of the "hero" names stunk.

And yet, I was oddly entertained, moreso than I expected to be.  

The supporting cast it currently carrying the show for me.  Keith David still has a most awesome voice (and got most of the good lines) and Summer Glau continues to balance sweetness with kick-assedness.  It takes itself seriously, but not too much (as evident by the reactions when he introduced himself as "The Cape" - "..but you're not wearing a cape" and "...Eh, you can work on that") and I think that helped because it is pretty absurd.  I doubt it will last a full season, but I'll give it a shot while it lasts.

Sidenote: Was I the only one who nicknamed the kid "Guilt Trip"  when he was getting after mom about the name thing?  Probably.

[captmorgan72]

I also liked it. I've been a long time ER fan and thought it was weird at first seeing Dr. Simon Brenner trying to be Batman. Lots of "yeah right" moments but it's all good fun.

[Viking]

I've been watching it online, though some of the acting and scripting truly makes me cringe.  I can only presume the director is so influenced by the pulps that he decreed, "Pulp dialogue must not be acted!  It must be... OVERACTED!!!"  Because I tend to like many of the supporting cast members a lot better in other stuff that they've done.

The acting did seem to get a little better by the second half of the second episode, though.

[Shogunn2517]

Wow!

This is surprising.  I thought it was the WORST Superhero themed television show I've ever seen.  It made Night Man and Stripperella look like The World's Finest.

Clearly, I was quickly bewildered and put off by Title and Main Character.  The Cape sounds like the most unimaginative, factory-produced, and awfully pathetic name.  What made it worse is that the character is based off of a comic book.  Not like a Spiderman or Superman, but a fictional comic-book character in the show.  I didn't think that was a good idea.  And though I do like the idea of caped super-heroes having their capes serve a function or purpose(a flying mechanic, traditional garb of a culture), but I'm not sure if I'm too high on this construct.  It reminds me of what I hated about Spawn from that movie.  Unfortunately, the title character wasn't the worst.  The villains(Chess, Scales) were rather lame and I couldn't quite get their function.  It would have been sufficient if Chess was just a rich, powerful "behind the scenes" villain like a Lex Luthor or Kingpin, but not both costumed villain and business mogul.  And what's with his eyes?  Scales wasn't any better.  Was he just a thug with dermotological dysfunction?  All of that is just with the concept of the show, not the execution.  The execution was the nail in the coffin.  The writing was bad.  The acting wasn't great.  The editing and pacing was disgraceful.  Not that the show went by too fast(as far as I was concerned, it couldn't end sooner) but it was more like it wrapped itself up too conveniently.  I think he went from cop and family man to full blown superhero before the 2nd commerical break.  It likely should have taken place over the course of two or three episodes.  At least two.  With all they were putting it it, the show went by way fast.


Now there were some things I did like.  I liked the idea of a circus act helping bringing along someone with perceived super powers.  I like Keith David in almost anything he does. The whole "corporate badguy" is a safe idea.  But the vast majority of the show got really unwatchable.  I did all I could to get through the first episode, but I definitely couldn't do the second.  I know I'm not alone either.  I'm really confident it won't make it to February.  I'd be shocked if it made two weeks.

This genre is too good to be seemingly force-fed low quality stuff that in my opinion is insulting to the viewers and doesn't do the medium an justice or credibility at all.

[lugaru]

Watched it last night and I really loved it actually... it is a nice mix of pulp and "Xena/Mortal Kombat" guilty pleasure genre television.

The villain should be called Cheese instead of Chess but all in all the show is funny, the action is fairly good and the circus supporting cast is great.

[bat1987]

I liked it. Its far from perfect, but I like that he's learning gradually like cat said. Its fast paced, a lot of stuff happened in 2 episodes. Looking forward to seeing more cheesy villains.
Scales reminds me a lot of the early Killer Croc stories where he was just a skin condition thug, and Summer Glau's character = Oracle, but I can live with that.

One scene bothered me a lot though

Spoiler

The scene where he sees his son again. I mean he's on the roof next to him wearing only a hood and his kid doesn't recognize him? I don't buy it. And "learn math" line? Ugh.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Apparently the eyes are supposed to look like chess pieces.  I'd have to go back and look at that more carefully though.

[crimsonquill]

Apparently the eyes are supposed to look like chess pieces.  I'd have to go back and look at that more carefully though.

They are supposed to be chess pieces.. I didn't do a screen capture or anything but I think one is the King and the other is the Bishop.

Personally, I like the show for all the cheesiness pulp hero stuff but it definitely needs some major fine tuning if it's going to last a whole season (even a 13 episode one).

- CQ

[Trelau]

About the cape
http://hijinksensue.com/

That pretty much sums it up

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

I saw the ratings for the first day.  Not super huge, but solid and increasing throughout the show, and that was on a Sunday. Not a great ratings night overall.

As for those of you who dismissed it after the first episode, the second one is better.

[ow_tiobe_sb]

As for those of you who dismissed it after the first episode, the second one is better.

I watched both episodes this afternoon on On Demand, and I will simply say that The Cape (which I had hoped might also refer to Cape Cod or another seaside region recognised as a cape, instead of "Palm City") is probably the most embarrassing series that I've ever seen James Frain (an otherwise superb actor in more supportive settings) fail to redeem.  'Tis a shame.

ow_tioeb_sb
Phantom Bunburyist and Whirled Braker

[lugaru]

For me it is embarrasing like Buffy the Vampire Slayer was embarrassing (hope I did not offend anyone). With that show between the dialog and contrived plots I could never watch the show with anyone in the room (flipping the channel like I was caught watching porn). Same with Dark Angel, but I could claim I was just watching that for Jessica Alba.

Still based on my own taste the show has a lot going for it: the really cool mentor, the promise of a "league of assassins", his "plausible" yet insane skills and the comic way he keeps messing up. Watching him be "the cape" without a cape reminded me of Spidey with a paper bag over his head. I like that he cant take down thugs without getting bruised up and that he is full of bad ideas (the knife throwing training had me giggling).

[BWPS]

First of all, I'm glad if other people appreciate a show, it gives it reason to exist - I can just stop watching it, but since this is the internet I'm going to say what I thought:

I see what you mean about the embarrassment, every time I watch Buffy (of which I recently became a fan), I think, "I could never EVER convince anyone to watch this. Even describing an episode synopsis or quoting any line to myself makes this show sound so ridiculous and lame."
But to me, the difference is that Buffy is brilliant, and also laugh out loud funny. The Cape is just a rapid-fire series of stupid and derivative things begging to be cancelled, and also bad jokes. I don't want to rant too much after watching the first episode (which could have been the first season for what a rush job it was). But I honestly feel like a better superhero persona for his situation would be "The Common Sense". How anyone read the script and was like "THIS SHOULD BE ON TV NOW!" blows my mind. The OMGLAME moments were frequent but some of my favorites (other than the names, of course) were the quick flashbacks (oh really, that guy from 7 minutes ago who talks just like Chess was Chess? Thanks, I forgot about him), every scene with Orwell (is that an Animal Farm reference?). "You can be a symbol!"

Shows like this being put on every year while Veronica Mars and Arrested Development were cancelled after 2.8 seasons is the reason I can't sleep at night.

[lugaru]

every scene with Orwell (is that an Animal Farm reference?). "You can be a symbol!"

Reference to the author of 1984, probably the sort of world that she is avoiding. I actually found her name (like most) to be heavy handed.

Nineteen Eighty-Four (sometimes written 1984) is a 1949 dystopian novel by George Orwell about an oligarchical, collectivist society. Life in the Oceanian province of Airstrip One is a world of perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance, and incessant public mind control. The individual is always subordinated to the state, and it is in part this philosophy which allows the Party to manipulate and control humanity. In the Ministry of Truth, protagonist Winston Smith is a civil servant responsible for perpetuating the Party's propaganda by revising historical records to render the Party omniscient and always correct, yet his meagre existence disillusions him to the point of seeking rebellion against Big Brother, eventually leading to his arrest, torture, and reconversion.

[ow_tiobe_sb]

The Cape is just a rapid-fire series of stupid and derivative things begging to be cancelled, and also bad jokes.

That's my impression, spot on.  It's as if the writers/producers of The Cape suddenly woke up one day in a post-9/11, post-Iraq war (read "terrorism- and WMD-conscious," respectively) environment and finally got around to watching 1989's Batman and 1997's Spawn for the first time.  Having been blown away by the cinematographic and soundtrack signatures that Burton, Elfman, McFarlane, & Co. placed on the comic book movie genre (which have since become, arguably, trite commonplaces), The Cape's crack team of project developers set about ham-handedly reinventing this wheel for a television audience (with all the attenuation of depictions of violence necessary to translate those earlier films into material appropriate for prime time, major network programming).

I suspect the writers changed the codename "Ohwell" to "Orwell" before filming the series because the former betrayed too much of an honest assessment of the writing team's efforts to avoid insulting our collective intelligence.

ow_tiobe_sb
Phantom Bunburyist and Whirled Braker

[AncientSpirit]

For me, one of the funnest parts (and I mean that in a BAD way) was after the cape in civvies meets chess in civies ... and then is captured by chess soon after.    Now, chess is wearing a mask ...  but has the exact same distinct accent and speech patterns!

Well, I guess if Clark Kent could fool the world with a stupid pair of eyeglasses - for over 70 years now -- why not this?

And Sundays are no excuse for bad ratings: Just ask the Sopranos or Dexter.    

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

They weren't bad ratings.  8 million is far more than many shows on tv and is more than enough to be considered a success if they can just keep the numbers.  Also, the fact that the ratings increased thoughout the show us very positive, as the opposite is more common.

I said they weren't super spectacular by which I meant mega hit starts like 10 million or so.  Many shows get renewed with only 6 million or less.

[Shogunn2517]

They won't keep 8 million.  I'll be really surprised if it has more than four.

[detourne_me]

I think you guys are taking this series too seriously.  I think it is a pretty funny schlock filled pulp masterpiece.  I long for the days of M.A.N.T.I.S., Nightman, Jack of all trades, Cleopatra 2525, and other shows of that ilk.
After what happened to heroes, I never even wanted to start watching no ordinary family, I thought it was time to break away from Nolan-like heroes on TV.