Cape Crap

So... yeah. "The Cape".

Let's get the obvious out of the way.

This is a terrible, terrible show. The dialog is atrocious. The story is beyond stupid. The directing is a crime against humanity.

That said, the effects are good. A couple of the characters have some promise. If they hired writers who could do scripts in something other than crayon, and get an actual director, this show might achieve mediocre status (which, for television, isn't too terrible).

The real pluses of the show are Martin Klebba as Rollo the badass circus "little person" who stomps everyone in his path and James Frain as the ham-tastic "Chess".

It's always nice to see Summer Glau doing her thing. Her character - "Orwell" - is a mix of Logan Cale, the cyber-journalist guy from "Dark Angel" and Lois Lane. It's a shame she always plays her roles with the same limited emotional range. I can't tell if it's her or how she's directed.

Come to think of it, I actually think the show would be better if it were the "Orwell and Rollo" show.

David Lyons appears to have made an unfortunate choice in starring in this show. He's a likable enough actor, but lacks charisma when standing with his co-stars. His character, Vince Faraday, comes off as a hapless buffoon with all the depth of a sheet of paper. While the effect of his namesake cape is cool enough, it's sort of a stupid costume with him depending on a cowl to hide his identity instead of supplementing it with a mask.

EDIT: In the second episode, it looks like he gets a mask. Regardless, the character remains ridiculously-stupid.

EDIT 2.0: Yeah, okay. Saying Faraday/The Cape is "stupid" isn't very specific. So the character is a former police officer and some kind of unspecified special forces soldier at some point in the past. He's allegedly some kind of badass. In addition, he's trained by circus performers (they still have circuses?) in the fine art of hypnosis, escape artistry, illusion, and what-not.

He's sort of like the '90's version of "The Shadow".

For all that, he demonstrates no concept of tactics whatsoever and gets the crap kicked out of him fairly regularly.

Seriously? This guy is a former soldier? If I were a soldier I'd feel pretty damn insulted at this portrayal. Just sayin'.

It's a shame that all TV attempts at superhero shows suck so badly.

*sigh*