The Cape (2010 TV series)

A series picked up for NBC's 2010-2011 season.

The Cape is Vince Faraday, a cop in the highly corrupt Palm City whose police force has been privatized under the ARK corporation. Vince uncovers evidence against ARK's CEO, Peter Fleming, who is really a costumed terrorist known as Chess. Fleming responds by having Vince framed for Chess' crimes. Vince then "dies" in an explosion, only to be rescued by the "Carnival of Crime", a shady underground circus troupe.

With the world believing Vince dead, he takes on the persona of his son's favorite superhero, a Batman-esque figure known as The Cape. The circus troupe trains him in a combination of martial-arts, stage magic, and using a specially designed cape as a weapon. Teaming up with the Carnival and an investigative blogger called Orwell who has an interest in bringing Fleming down, Vince sets out to expose ARK, save the city and clear his name.

Though the series debuted fairly well, ratings tanked soon after, and NBC decided to cut the episode number down from 13 to 10 in response. The final episode was an online-only airing, with NBC cancelling the series for good in March of 2011.

Not to be confused with the trope by the same name, regarding morally upright and inspirational costumed heroes. The Cape is much more of a Cowl anyways. Neither should it be confused with another series of the same name about astronauts.

Tropes:
"Max: You know I think it's worth reminding you, Scales; by profession I make people disappear. Sometimes they don't come back."
 * Acquired Poison Immunity: The Cape, after a bad run in with a serial killer specializing in exotic poisons. Subverted as well, due to
 * Action Girl: Orwell. Especially when she uses her taser.
 * Affably Evil: The Carnival of Crime, especially its leader Max Malini, to the point where both the hero and the audience may forget the evil part. At least until they rob a train.
 * Believe it or not, Peter Fleming.
 * Anti Villain: Marty Hoyt
 * Arch Enemy: Chess.
 * Armor Is Useless: Despite wearing some sort of breastplate, Vince gets stabbed right through it not once, but twice, in the first two hours alone. By more or less regular people. At least one of these stabbings was near his shoulder where the armor cuts away to give room for free movement of the arms. This has a little bit of Truth in Television, as most bullet-resistant vests are not much help against stabbing attacks. At least it helps against the taser. See however Bulletproof Vest below.
 * Ascended Fanboy:
 * Vince reads his son "The Cape" comic books every night and then when he is framed he becomes the Cape.
 * In Episode 4 Portman dresses up as the Cape for a costume party. He runs into the Cape they have an awkward moment. When Vince finds the unconscious guard he has Portman act as a look out.
 * Attack Drone: Goggles and Hicks use one (nicknamed "the bumblebee") to try and kill Vince.
 * Attending Your Own Funeral: Apparently dead, Vince's family holds a memorial service as he secretly watches from the distance.
 * Awesome By Analysis: Tracy's savant skills make her this. She's so good at predicting the odds of everything that she can walk right past security guards.
 * Awful Truth: Orwell finally knows what daddy did to mommy, too bad we don't know.
 * Badass Boast:

""Damnit, I thought that was it! Wasted that great speech.""
 * Badass Cape: Vince is able to grab, throw, or strike things with it. True to the source material as well, the cape seems to gain and lose length (among other things) as needed for the scene (in part due to the switch between CGI and prop). Notably for instance where The Cape is chasing Orwell who has several yards ahead of him and yet manages to use his ankle length cape to grab something that's ahead of Orwell. The cape seems to be able to hide most or all of its length in the leather mantle, due to the material. The length of the cape seen during most scenes is only a small part of the material. The weighted edge allows it to wrap around objects at range, like a whip or lasso. It was custom built for stage magician in the past, and it takes a skilled sleight-of-hand artist to extend the cape to its full length usefully and at will.
 * Max reveals that almost all previous owners of the cape used it for their own gain. One used it to go on a killing spree.
 * Badass in Distress: Orwell in "The Lich Part 2"
 * Batman Gambit: Run by a villain of all people.
 * Berserk Button: Nobody puts Scales in a cage. He also doesn't like midgets.
 * Big Bad: Chess.
 * Big Blackout: Done intentionally by Goggles.
 * Big Damn Heroes:
 * In "The Lich, Part 2," Vince, Max and Rollo show up just in time to rescue Orwell.
 * In "Razer,"
 * Black Best Friend: While he is his best friend, he is also a traitor. It's implied that this is under duress. Played semi-straight with his mentor Max, except for having to tolerate his side job as an armed robber.
 * Brains and Brawn:
 * Orwell is the brains to Vince's brawn.
 * Goggles (brains) and Hicks (brawn). Also an Evil Duo.
 * Brainy Brunette: Orwell
 * Bulletproof Vest: The cape apparently acts as one. Slightly justified as spider-silk is incredibly strong and actually is bullet proof (though being exceptionally flexible, while the material won't get punctured by a bullet, it won't actually stop the bullet from making a wound). Also slightly subverted as while the cape does protect Vince, he's still hurt by the sheer kinetic force of being shot (the bullets draw blood and leave visible welts).
 * Busmans Holiday: Naturally, almost the instant that Vince tries to take a day off to rest up from his injuries, a pair of assassins come gunning for him.
 * Camp: Even though it takes itself entirely seriously, the Camp is almost intentional in quantity and quality.
 * Captain Ersatz: The Cape wants to be Batman so bad it hurts. Some may see him as a modern day interpretation of The Shadow, however (Batman may have popularized a lot of those tropes, but he sure as hell didn't invent them). He also takes aspects of The Phantom. In detail: costume and use of superstition from Batman, legacy back story from the Phantom, tactics (information control and hypnotism) from The Shadow.
 * Orwell also seems to take a fair number of cues from Oracle, particularly when she's acting as the Cape's operator.
 * Car Cushion: The Cape survives a fall from a multistory building this way.
 * Cassandra Truth:
 * No one believes Scales when he says Fleming is Chess.
 * No one believes Vince was framed.
 * The Cast Showoff: Only took two episodes to get Summer Glau into a dance leotard, even if it was only for a few seconds of an aerial silk stance.
 * Catch Phrase:
 * Lampshaded. The Cape (in-universe comic version) has one. When Trip asks Vince (in The Cape costume) if he actually does say it to people, Vince gets flustered and can only get out a weak "Sometimes."
 * The hypnotist tends to go with "Don't get cocky." Usually when he does something pretty cocky to counter someone else's cockiness.
 * Character Blog: Given that Orwell is a blogger, it only makes sense that she'd be given one of these.
 * Chess Motifs: Peter Fleming. He even takes on the supervillain alias "Chess". Also, he has contacts that look like chess pieces, and a holographic terminal (with the projector hidden under a chess board!) that projects his files in a chessboard layout. When he is having a bad day he hallucinates a chessboard with red and black pieces and on one occasion
 * Chekhov's Skill: In the pilot Vince goes through a training montage to learn the circus trade. Later he is chained and thrown into deep water, as per a famous escape artist trick.
 * Chronic Villainy: Even though Peter Fleming's plan in the pilot involved killing his "Chess" persona with Vince as his patsy, in the very same episode he seems compelled to continue carrying out his crimes as Chess.
 * It now appears that
 * Clark Kenting:
 * Averted with Chess/Flemming the only pictures of him as Chess are blurry and when he goes to make a deal with his Scales as Flemming he sends a rep so that Scales can't get close enough to notice.
 * Played straight with the Cape/Vince. Neither Fleming nor Vince's Black Best Friend recognize Vince while he's wearing a tiny mask and not changing his voice. Slightly justified in that they believe Vince to be dead. He also turns his head away from them.
 * Clear My Name: In particular, to his wife and son.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Trip's friend Jerry, who establishes his credentials within two minutes of introduction.
 * Combat Pragmatist: Just shoot him? Shooting is almost always the first thing the mooks do upon seeing The Cape. They always miss, of course, but it is the thought that counts. More rarely, even Chess, the Big Bad, is quick to grab a gun and shoot. Still misses though unless it's with a knife.
 * Comic Book Time: The show runs on this heavily at times. How much time passed between Vince's fake death and completing his training with Max? How much time did he spend building up his immunity to poison? How much time passed between his "death" and his family getting a new job/starting fights at school?
 * Cool Car: Orwell has a couple of these.
 * Conspicuous CG: In "Dice," there's a couple shots of The Cape jumping over rooftops and balancing on top of a high wire that obviously couldn't have been done with live stuntmen.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: Peter Fleming.
 * The Cowl: The hero, interestingly enough.
 * Crazy People Play Chess: Chess, of course.
 * Creepy Doll: There is one hanging in the Lich's lair.
 * Daddy Had a Good Reason For Abandoning You: Because he was framed and forced to fake his death. Unusually, this trope is portrayed from the perspective of the father.
 * Death Dealer: Playing poker with Gregor is hazardous to your health.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: As Orwell spends more time with Vince, we get to see her... girlier side. In one conversation with Vince, she admits that she would normally be getting her nails done on a Saturday if she wasn't Orwell.
 * Designated Girl Fight: Averted in "Dice," despite the promos making it look that way. The closest we get is Dice pistol-whipping Orwell in one scene and then
 * Determinator: Comes with the territory.
 * Dirty Old Man: Fleming, as of "Dice."
 * Disappeared Dad:
 * A particularly sad example as he was a clear example of a doting father. But having to fake his own death makes it that much more painful.
 * Inverted with Flemming who has been shown looking for his long lost daughter.
 * Disposable Vagrant: Several lived in the train yard where Vince "died." They're being arrested on trumped up charges rather than killed though.
 * The Dragon: Scales, albeit one who is at open war with the Big Bad.
 * Dueling Shows: Though the style of the two shows beyond throwbacks to the Golden/Silver Age is null, it can't be unintentional that the show appeared shortly after No Ordinary Family, another superhero show. Humourously, NOF has a Marvel (edgy, gritty) flavor within a DC (four color) universe, while The Cape is more DC (Batman, more defined moral lines) in a Marvel (cynical, city of corrupt cops) universe.
 * Dynamic Entry: The Cape specializes in these, but becomes especially notable in "From Russia With Love" when Gregor reveals himself and taunts "Where is a hero when you need one?" Well, when you give Vince a straight line like that....
 * Enemy Mine: In "Scales" the Cape and Fleming have to work together to stop a runaway train.
 * Also in "Lich", where the Cape has to work with Marty to stop the titular villain. All Vince has to say to convince Marty is that Lich is real, as every cop in the city knows about the mysterious crimes.
 * Evil Brit: Chess
 * Evil Counterpart: Gregor, who lampshades it by saying: "You're just me with a badge."
 * Evil Versus Evil: Scales vs. Chess.
 * Expy:
 * Orwell to Eyes Only. A cyber-journalist/hacker with a Secret Identity trying to stem the tide of corruption. There are also parallels to be drawn to Oracle. She is a super-tech oriented person who is unable to fight the corruption she hates directly; so she acts as Mission Control for a Badass Normal ultra detective who specializes in theatrics and deception and dresses in a long black cape, she also is a uber-hacker who uses her improbable, phenomenal skills to assist him.
 * Scales is very similar to Killer Croc, in terms of being a thug with a skin condition who wants to get respect. There is also the fact that Dominic Raoul and Waylon Jones were both sideshow freaks before turning to crime.
 * The Carnival of Crime to Marvel's Circus of Crime.
 * Eye Scream: Poker Face's eye drops being replaced with turpentine.
 * Face Framed in Shadow
 * Faceless Goons: Many of Ark's police/soldiers run around in heavy SWAT-style gear and gas masks.
 * Fake American: Aussie David Lyons as Vince Faraday/The Cape.
 * In "Razer" Lyons ditches his American accent and uses his native Australian to impersonate the titular contract killer.
 * Fake Russian: Gregor "The Great" Molotov is played by the German actor Thomas Kretschmann. The other speaking Russians in that episode are played by real Russian actors.
 * Faking the Dead: Sets everything in motion and allows Vince to take on his new identity.
 * Falling Chandelier of Doom:
 * Faux Death: The Lich uses a toxin to do this to people in order to brainwash them.
 * Feel No Pain: The Lich feels nothing due to his condition. This is also how Orwell realizes she's in a Lotus Eater Machine.
 * Flash Back: Several involving Vince with his family, before he was framed.
 * Final Speech: Subverted to hell and back in the pilot;  gives a standard-issue one, then decides that he isn't dying after all.


 * Foe Yay: There's definitely some between Fleming and the Cape.
 * Foreshadowing: In the second episode, Max tells Vince about how he has to be cold and precise on the high wire. Guess what Vince had to do a mere three episodes later?
 * Gargle Blaster: The Vietnamese Snake Wine from the finale likely applies.
 * Genre Savvy: In "Goggles and Hicks," Scales recognizes the setup for what it is and gets the hell out of there.
 * The Good, the Bad, the Evil and the Complete Monster: The Cape , the Carnival of Crime, Scales and Fleming
 * Golden Age: It can be argued to be a modernization of this era; it is not quite as ludicrous as some of the things the Silver Age was (in)famous for.
 * Gratuitous Russian: The prison in the first scenes of episode three (though the spoken phrases don't match the subtitles).


 * Green Lantern Ring: The cape is something like this as it tends to develop new abilities as required (though often justified previously) such as being bulletproof in "Goggles and Hicks" and, judging by said character's thermovision, blocking Vince's heat signature.
 * High Altitude Interrogation: In episode 3, Vince dangles a corrupt cop by dangling him over a bridge with his cape. It doesn't work.
 * Highly Conspicuous Uniform: Genre Savvy tropers probably didn't take too long to figure out where/who Max was on "Scales on a Train" -
 * Hoist By His Own Petard: Fleming demands Scales payment and give up some low-level cronies in exchange for letting him be the Godfather of Crime in the "bad" part of the City.
 * Hypno Fool
 * Hypocritical Humor: Says the guy who runs around in a mask with crazy contacts and what have you: "No offense, but your daughter is pretty creepy." Also considering his daughter is
 * Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every episode is named for its villain.
 * I Have Many Names: In the pilot episode Max told Vince that the cape was made for Kozmo the Russian escapist  In the third episode, it is revealed that
 * I Have You Now My Pretty:
 * The Lich . Even ends with a "My Dear"...
 * Gregor has a brief moment like this with Orwell as well. He wraps the cape around her waist and drags her close, and his voice gets lower and huskier while he taunts her.
 * Immune to Fate: Dice is able to use savant-level mathematics to predict everything... except The Cape. Somehow, he exists in a blind spot in her calculations.
 * Instant Sedation: In the pilot, when Vince is jumped after finding the bombs being smuggled into the city. In an interesting case, this one actually makes sense; the sedative is injected directly into Vince's neck, ensuring it hits his brain very quickly.
 * In the Hood: Played with. The Cape spends a lot of time with his hood up, but in several fight scenes shown thus far it has fallen down, or he wears a mask to conceal his face.
 * Intrepid Reporter: In a nod to the modern mediascape, she's a blogger, rather than an Old Media type. Since she's played by Summer Glau, we get the Hot Scoop trope thrown in.
 * Kubrick Stare: Cain's signature look.
 * Large Ham: Max Malini, and pretty much the entire Carnival of Crime to boot. They're a circus that robs banks in costume, after all.
 * Law Enforcement Inc: ARK Corporation's MO in Palm City.
 * Legacy Immortality: Kozmo the Unkillable.
 * Lovable Rogues: An entire gang of bank robbing carnival folk. They probably also qualify as Sympathetic Criminals.
 * Lens Flare: Used rather excessively during the church meeting in "Goggles and Hicks".
 * London Gangster: Vinnie Jones plays Scales as one of these.
 * Lotus Eater Machine: The Lich's drugs trap Orwell in a fantasy in which she's.
 * Luke I Am Your Father: "The Lich Part 2" confirmed the suspicions of many Genre Savvy fans by revealing that.
 * Manly Tears: When "the Cape" gives Trip a message "from his father."
 * Made of Iron:
 * Rollo, the pugilistic dwarf of the circus folk.
 * Vince manages to fall from the top of Fleming's apartment onto a car and not be seriously injured. He was shown arresting his fall with the cape, however, and he's pretty battered afterwards.
 * Scales escapes from a metal cage by
 * Maybe Magic Maybe Mundane:
 * There are some hints in the third episode that the cape may be something more than just a very elaborate stage prop. It's suggested it could be Merlin's robe or have belonged to Jack the Ripper as well. Some of the things Kozmo does with it (such as throwing a man across the room just from the draft of flapping the cape) should not be physically possible either. Then again, maybe it's just a cover mythology and some more advanced tricks. Max suggests that the cape can wear the user and bring out their dark side if not careful; this could be taken literally, or it could be seen as symbolic of the training and skill required to use the cape (that is, power corrupts) means that it's tempting to use said talents for selfish reasons since few would be able to stop them.
 * In "Dice", we also see that Max had a chart that apparently predicted Vince's arrival and that he would become the cape. The flashback in question followed a conversation concerning the existence of Destiny or Fate, suggesting higher powers at work. However, the same episode also involves a savant who can predict the future using math. It also indicates that either he's very good using them quickly, or
 * Meaningful Name: Orwell a hacker who sees all and knows all, sorta like big brother.
 * Mentor Occupational Hazard: Max gets captured by Ark, beaten, shot, and gives his Famous Last Words to Vince while lying in his arms.
 * Mission Control: Orwell acts as the Cape's eyes, ears, and money.
 * Mind Rape: The Lich's neurotoxin causes this on some of his victims.
 * Ms. Fanservice: Raia.
 * Murder Inc: The Tarot society.
 * Name of Cain: The Code Name of assassin Raimonde LeFleur is Cain.
 * No Escape but Down: Vince gets away from Cain this way in the second episode.
 * Non Indicative Name: The Cape is actually an example of The Cowl. Also it's really more of a cloak...
 * No One Could Survive That: Various explosions.
 * Parental Abandonment: Appears to be at the center of The Lich's motives.
 * The Password Is Always Swordfish: Marty Voyt's password for the ARK mainframe is "Flowers." Vince as his old friend can remember it and gains access with it.
 * Picture Perfect Presentation: The panels of little Trip's comic turn to live action in the credits.
 * Pint Sized Powerhouse: Rollo
 * Pistol Whip: Dice does this to Orwell in one scene.
 * Playing Gertrude:
 * A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Gregor Molotov.
 * Police Are Useless: Especially when they're in the Big Bad's wallet.
 * Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: "No bars."
 * "When you wake up, let me know if you felt this."
 * Private Military Contractors: Ark is mostly this, but they want to expand into the police and prison business.
 * Privately Owned Society : Pretty much everything is privatized in this town.
 * Reconstruction: Whether it will be successful or not remains to be seen, but the series seems to be an attempt at a throwback to more traditional superhero stories (secret identities! costumes! clear-cut standards of good and evil!) after the Deconstruction seen in Heroes. It also bears similarity to old serials like The Shadow and Dick Tracy.
 * Redemption Equals Death:
 * Red Right Hand: An interesting variation; Peter Fleming doesn't actually have silver eyes (they're just colored contacts), but he puts them in whenever he's feeling crazy, so the effect is the same.
 * Rogues Gallery: The Cape is acquiring quite an impressive one. So far, there's Chess, Scales, the Tarot society, Gregor, Dice and the Lich.
 * Room Full of Crazy: Dice's apartment
 * Rube Goldberg Hates Your Guts: Attempted by Dice in a clever split-screen montage.
 * Running Gag: Vince can never seem to win against Scales in a fist fight.
 * Secret Identity: Obviously, it's a superhero series. Though played with as well since, as far as most people are concerned, Vince is dead. Thus for the most part, Vince runs around as generic drifter or The Cape not to prevent people from knowing who he is but from knowing he's alive.
 * Orwell, too. Even the audience doesn't learn her real name until the eighth episode, and no one else in the show has learned it yet.
 * Secret Test of Character: In the second episode,
 * Secret Test of Character: In the second episode,

"Orwell: Have fun at Owl Island, bitch."
 * Shirtless Scene: Vince gets one in "Goggles and Hicks".
 * Shotgun Wedding: Minus the shotgun,
 * Shown Their Work:
 * "British Bartitsu ... Kodokan Judo ... the warrior dancers of the Tang Dynasty used their robes as weapons, and so will you!" A pleasant surprise to hear this wasn't an example of getting Dan Browned. The writers did their homework.
 * The toxin that The Lich uses is also a real thing, commonly used in Voodoo.
 * Shut UP Hannibal: In "Kozmo", Gregor is in the middle of a long winded victory speech when Vince comes up behind him, punches him, and says "Don't you ever shut up?!"
 * Sibling Team:
 * Silver Age: The show wears its heart on its sleeve when it comes to its content.
 * Smoke Out: The Series! If there's not one Smoke Out within 10 minutes, you're not watching the same show.
 * Split Personality:
 * String Theory: The walls in Dice's Room Full of Crazy
 * Sympathetic Criminal - The entire Carnival of Crime. Criminals because they rob banks (in circus attire and with carnival music playing in the background), and sympathetic because they don't actually seem to hurt anybody directly, and because they are willing to help a former cop become a superhero. Though to be fair, while they're not fairly loyal to Vince, their initial bargain was that Vince provide them with police access to various things.
 * Tarot Motifs: There's a secret society of tarot-themed assassins, with tattoos of their major arcana. So far we've met:
 * The Tower, LeFleur, who specializes in poison and knives.
 * The Chariot, actually a duo consisting of Goggles (Mission Control, hacking, surveillance) and Hicks (who performs the actual wetwork).
 * This Is for Emphasis Bitch:
 * "Say hello to Dorothy, bitch."
 * Also happens in "Dice," when

"Orwell: There is no way she could sneak a weapon in, in that outfit."
 * Those Two Bad Guys: Goggles and Hicks
 * Title In: Rather than location and time, they're chapter titles for each section of the story.
 * Train Job: "Scales on a Train."
 * Training From Hell: Max promises this, but it's fairly light-hearted and some of it is even played for laughs, like a knock down, drag out bare knuckle brawl with a Made of Iron dwarf.
 * It doesn't stop with his origin story though. He's still pretty unpolished in episode too and subjects himself to more of this to make it up.
 * Traintop Battle: Vince vs Scales, in episode 4.
 * Trickster Mentor: Max
 * Truth in Television: The cellphone headsets are the obvious one, sure, but Orwell's keyboard is as well.
 * Training Montage: Vince uses one in the first episode to learn the carnival tricks he needs to be a superhero.
 * Uh Oh Eyes: Fleming's damn creepy chess piece contact lenses.
 * One of the villains is even nicknamed Eyes, as he cannot blink.
 * Unresolved Sexual Tension:
 * The promotional material alone has copious amounts of this between Vince and Orwell. Which makes things awkward since Vince is a married man and part of his whole origin story is getting back to said wife and kid. Take Up to Eleven when Orwell is dreaming about marrying Vince.
 * There appears to be something between Vince's "widow" and her new boss. When they accidentally touch hands in a bar, she runs home and cries in bed, trying to convince herself it's not flirting.
 * Victoria's Secret Compartment: Averted with Dice, notable because it is lampshaded by Orwell:


 * Viewer Friendly Interface: Chess and Orwell both have fancy holographic displays.
 * Villain Ball: Oh Peter, if only you hadn't lost your temper and gone all You Have Failed Me on Hicks, you would know who the Cape is. Nice work.
 * Villain of the Week: Setting up to be this, with Chess being an overarching Big Bad. The first villain was Scales, the second Cain and so on.
 * Villain With Good Publicity: Peter Fleming (as himself, not as Chess.)
 * Waistcoat of Style: Scales.
 * Wig Dress Accent: Orwell's preferred M.O.
 * Worthy Opponent: In the second episode, Chess is disappointed when the Cape doesn't turn out to be this and pleased at the end after the Cape has taken another level in badass.
 * X Meets Y: Heroes meets Silver-Age comics. Given that the show is on NBC and uses some of the same visual motifs (like the way the title cards fade into the scene, and the comparability of the in-universe's comic panels to 8th Wonders) comparisons to Heroes are inevitable.
 * You Killed My Father: Dice to . She predicted it at the beginning of the episode, thanks to her being able to calculate almost any odds. Her father doesn't listen.

""Six seasons and a movie!""