I was actually one of the people being optimistic a few pages back. I had seen the preview about a month ago, and I was intrigued. I liked how
The Cape embraced the old-school superhero concept, complete full-on supervillains and a do-gooder hero who spoke about inspiring people. Not another show that seemed embarrassed to be about superheroes, cutting out the costumes and colorful names, and featuring morally gray antiheroes...
Now that I've seen the 2-part part premiere, I can't say that I'm optimistic anymore. And I'm someone whose usual movie/TV diet is mostly comprised of scifi/superhero genre stuff. I'm the kind of person who should be most receptive to a show like this, and I wasn't impressed at all. How is this show supposed to appeal to the common viewer?
God the writing was bad. As quite a few people in this thread have already said, the pacing was far too rushed. We don't get to see much of Vince Faraday's normal life before he becomes a hero. That best friend of his? Betrayed Vince in just his
second scene. Then Vince starts training under those carnies, but before we see him getting REALLY impressive, and putting on his costume for the first time, he's already out there on his first fight. It's like the writers had an aversion to proper transitions. Something that is taken for granted in pretty much every other show or movie.
And in that first fight, he goes down like a b*tch from one or two punches. Way to impress me there. "The Cape" is a wussy superhero. I understand that he doesn't have powers, but the various Batman shows and movies have always done things to show that Batman is no regular man. Even unpowered, Batman is most definitely a
superhero. This "Cape" guy? Not so much. I thought it was ridiculous how in his training montage, he was getting his ass kicked by a midget. And not a midget who had previously been established as some kind of amazingly improbable ass-kicker, contrary to appearances. Just some jerk midget who hit him a couple times before while he was tied up.
The villains weren't impressive either. I read an article or something about how the producers wanted to build up a memorable rogues gallery full of colorful characters, but these guys were all bland and wussy. "Scales," the poor man's Killer Croc, beat The Cape within seconds in their first fight. Scales later gets his own ass kicked by that same midget. "Cain," intended to be a terrifyingly psychotic assassin, had his hands full with The Cape's female assistant Orwell. If a midget or a girl can beat up these "superheroes" and "supervillains," then they aren't all that "super," are they?
Besides not being able to write transitions, the writers couldn't handle flashbacks either. Several times in the second episode, they flashed back to Vince's family life. Stuff that SHOULD have been shown or at least touched upon in the premiere, but looked completely made up as the episodes went along. A couple times, I could've sworn that one character's flashback ended with another character being the one thinking back.
And while the pacing was sped up beyond all reason throughout most of the premiere, the second episode took a ridiculously big step BACK. Vince gets the cape taken away, and is forced to wander the streets like some damn bum. And fight crime in plain clothes with just a simple mask on. They took the cape away just so that he would make himself a mask, when he should've worn a mask WITH the cape to begin with. Why waste time?
I'm also very uncomfortable with the idea of the superhero's mentor and supporting cast being a gang of
bank robbers. That was a concept that seemed tailor made for a one-shot appearance in the premiere, before being conveniently dumped: The hero resorts to working with these unsavory characters because of his rough beginnings, before stepping out on his own and becoming a full hero. I really don't know if they'll ever properly address the fact that these carnies are gangsters in future episodes. And you know what? The first episode ALREADY provided a way out of this weird situation, when Chess decided to take out the carnies. I was sure that he'd gun them all down, leaving The Cape with more people to avenge. But then they only captured the mentor. Who looked like he was going to die, and even had a big death scene...until he instantly got better from a freaking GUNSHOT for the sake of a lame joke.
I really don't see this show lasting very long...
I'm interested, but I'm spending too much time trying to figure stuff out. I wish they'd fleshed out what Chess' deal is more. Like, was he a serial killer who formulated this plan as a means of getting away with it and still be able to hurt people, or is he a corrupt corporate executive who created a serial killer as a piece of his power grab scheme? I know the difference seems minor, but each scenario says something very different about the character. It'd be nice to have seen more of his psycho killer reign of terror before he became shadow mayor of the city.
It seemed pretty clear to me that billionaire Peter Fleming, who ran a private security company, was using his "Chess" identity to stir up trouble and make more business for himself. No, the problem with Chess is that the man has no good reason to keep going out there with a mask on. Fleming was willing to dispense with the Chess identity after replacing the city's public police force, by framing Vince as the villain. So WHY does he become Chess again, when he had already gone through all that trouble to cover up his own crimes? If he's just in it for the business, why does he need to get his own hands dirty? Why does he need to wear that mask, when he's willing to appear unmasked in front of lackeys like Cain? It seems to me that they made up a masked supervillain for the sake of having a masked supervillain.
And despite how much the two episodes built Chess up to be the persisting, overhanging big bad...the show is already hinting at a bigger bad. That "Tarot" secret society, which Cain doesn't make much of an effort to keep a secret with all his calling cards. They haven't even achieved any real follow through on Chess yet, and they've already got their minds on something else. Slow the hell down.
. He/She was either mad drunk, or doesn't like their job very much.
