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The Cape – So the circus is a band of crooks, right?

Remember back in the pilot episode, when Faraday was taken in by a band of criminal circus folk? What happened to them?

It occurred to me while watching this episode that the circus that’s currently Vince’s home seems to be … nice. Max seems to want to make sure Vince’s cape is being put to use for good, not evil. So what happened to the bank robbing band of misfits who seemed ready to kill Vince when they found him in the sewer? Did he turn them around so quickly? It seems that bit about the circus is simply swept aside, but I really couldn’t imagine Vince being able to stand idly by while they continued to perform armed robbery.

I liked the introduction of Gregor Molotov, who clearly is meant to make a return at some point. The opening scenes of the episode felt like something from a comic book, so it fit right in. What I didn’t like, though, was that his moment against Max and the others was so quickly throttled. After an hour of buildup, we got about five minutes of Molotov with the cape — a cape he apparently had a lot of experience with, mind you — and Vince took him out easily. It certainly doesn’t make “Gregor the Great” live up to his name very much; Great at grossing me out with his multi-jointed fingers, though.

There was some criticism as to how quickly the first to episodes ran, especially with Orwell so suddenly and quickly becoming the “Oracle” for The Cape. At least in this episode we got thrown a bone with Vince questioning who Orwell was, but it was a teeny, tiny bone; more like a bone fragment. How can Vince trust this woman so readily without getting as much leverage on her as she has on him?

There’s one thing about this show that I’m having a hard time getting over, and that’s Vince’s son Trip not noticing the The Cape looks and sounds a lot like his own father. Does he not remember his father already? At least put Vince in the shadows so he can’t see the unmasked parts of his face. Then again, Louis never really noticed Superman looked a lot like Clark Kent without glasses, so I just need to get over that and move on.

Though I seem to be ranting here about the show’s negatives, I really do dig the show. It’s pretty much what I expected to get after seeing the first hour many months ago, and that’s a good thing. I’m going to enjoy the ride while it lasts, no matter how short or long that ride may be.

Photo Credit: Michael Yarish/NBC

Categories: | Episode Reviews | Features | General | TV Shows |

8 Responses to “The Cape – So the circus is a band of crooks, right?”

January 17, 2011 at 11:17 PM

As soon as I saw the music box, I knew there was going to be the ballet dancing Glau-bot inside!

Keith, from the previews it would seem that they will be addressing the circus people’s thieving/non thieving ways next week.

Did Trip’s mom actually say yes to her boss taking her son to a game? I did not like that at all. If she keeps it up, I’m gonna start rooting for a Cape/Orwell romance.

January 17, 2011 at 11:47 PM

Blech, no at the Cape/Orwell romance. She could very well be his daughter. (She is the daughter of his nemesis.) As for Trip’s mom, as far as she knows, her husband is dead and the guy wants to help out a little kid. At least that’s all I’m going to read into it for now.

January 18, 2011 at 1:10 AM

He was born in 76, she was born in 81. Hardly scandalous. The guy wants to “help out” with the little kid – that means red frakking alert, mom.

January 18, 2011 at 5:25 AM

Yeah, the guy is obviously trying to ease his way in there. I’m just going “lalalala” and covering my ears. :) As for Orwell/Faraday while there might only be a 5 year age difference (where’d you get the birth dates anyway?) I just feel like the characters are from different generations. Maybe once they all know who she actually is and she’s grown up and figured out what she actually wants to be, things will be different. But that remains to be seen. (If the show isn’t renewed, I doubt we’ll ever get to that point anyway.) Overall I still like the show. It’s earnest, and there are very few earnest shows on TV nowadays. It just needs to work on its comedic timing a bit and it’ll be fine, quality wise.

January 18, 2011 at 8:10 AM

Good word to describe it. Earnest. I just looked up their real ages. Tha gal who plays Dana Faraday is only 2 years older than Glau.

January 18, 2011 at 12:01 AM

Keith – surely you remember Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, etc., and how easily recognizable they were. Just toss on a pair of glasses and you’re a stranger! At least Trip is a kid.

And, that’s about as much praise as I can muster. :-)

January 18, 2011 at 2:52 PM

Maybe the circus is more like a Robin Hood band of thieves stealing from the likes of Chess and the other highly powerful corrupt villains?

I’m a little surprised they actually took a moment to address Glau’s massive tech and car budget and finally started to question the alliances after they were formed after a whole 5 seconds of meeting each other. I was going to move on and blame it on pilots always rush things and out and not question it, but the fact they addressed it might make this show more interesting than a one hour cheese-fest. Though at its core, thats what this show will always be.

January 19, 2011 at 11:18 PM

I remember in the pilot episode Max saying something about robbing Fleming/Chess of everything. I don’t remember the exact quote, but I think it came after Vince referenced Fleming having almost unlimited financial resources and Max said, “Not when we’re done with him.” or something like that. So maybe the circus thieves only rob banks owned by Fleming. I think we’re overthinking this comic book, though.

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode whereas I came away happy, but slightly disappointed by the pilot. I think things just moved more slowly than I expected in the pilot, although I was still plenty entertained, but this episode was thoroughly enjoyable for the fun, pulp entertainment it is. It’s a keeper for me.

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