TV episodes review
US airdate 9 January 2011; 17 January 2011; 24 January 2011; 31 January 2011 (NBC)

Comic-book style villains abound in recent episodes of The Cape, but the scripts are sadly routine…

Episode Two sees The Cape go up against Cain, a poisoner working for Chess and a member of the ‘Tarot’ assassin guild. Guest star Richard Schiff is the prison chief standing up to Peter Fleming/Chess’s attempt to have Ark take over Palm City’s jails. When Vince is poisoned, it’s an excuse for flashbacks to his life in law enforcement, filling in some character background.

The superhero thrills are more basic than those in Smallville, and more attractive for that, while Summer Glau gets more to do.

Thomas Kretschman stars as a previous owner of the Cape who goes toe-to-toe with Faraday in ‘Kozmo’. As feared, The Cape has rapidly fallen into a predictable routine and the early promise has worn off—worst offender is the script, with every line having a familiar ring to it. The ‘death by playing card’ scene is like a more adult version of the 1960s’ Batman show, while the mythological back-story for the Cape itself is welcome, even if much of it is questionable legend.

Even Vinnie Jones’s scaly villain, who pushes The Cape ever closer to Batman territory, can’t save ‘Scales’ from being a routine instalment. Despite some good lines and cool monster-face make-up, Jones is embarrassing, balanced by the good-value James Frain and the return of The West Wing’s Richard Schiff, who finds himself as a Robin-like sidekick to the Cape. The train setting introduces the usual clichés (a roof-top fight, faulty brakes), while Tripp’s birthday allows for a series of schmaltzy father-son bonding flashbacks.

‘Dice’ opens with a chilling prediction from a decade before, and goes on to explore Fleming’s use (and abuse) of predictive technology. A starry guest cast includes Mena Suvari (too old for her role surely?), Elliot Gould, and even Earth: Final Conflict’s Kevin Kilner. There’s still too much Batman-style villainy and things have become very 1990s Flash-like, compared to the fun and breezy pilot. Average stuff. Brian J. Robb

VERDICT
Episode 2: Tarot: 6/10
Episode 3: Kozmo: 6/10
Episode 4: Scales: 5/10
Episode 5: Dice: 6/10