The Cape 'Kozmo' Review

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Network: NBC
Air date: 01/16/11
Created by: Tom Wheeler
Starring: David Lyons, Summer Glau, Keith David and James Frain

The Cape definitely dropped down a couple pegs for me this week. They really need to make up their minds and decide exactly what the hell this show wants to be. One of the things that bugged me was that last week they went a long way to imply that despite what Vince and the carnies can do they are essentially still human beings with no special powers. When was the last time you saw a normal man rip a car door off and throw it 15 feet? Then in the same 42 minutes of television they show him struggling to simply yank on a guys arm forcing him to drop what he is holding. Despite all that it's not without the same quirky charm it showed last week and they also went a little ways into pushing the amazing Ms Glau more towards center stage.

This week The Cape  attempts to fill in some of the back story of the the titular cape and push on us the moral quandary possessing it can cause. Neither of which seem to be particularly needed. The opening see's Vince (David Lyons) confronting one of the corrupt cops he remembers from the train yard the night he was framed. He 'casually' rips the aforementioned door from the car and proceeds to interrogate the guy, Dark Knight style. Turns out he is more afraid of Chess (James Frain) then the cape wearing loon hanging him off an overpass, go figure, when Vince realizes that he's isn't getting anywhere with him he drops him onto the top of a passing...mattress truck...I guess. 

Here is problem number one for me, this is supposed to be the basis of the whole worry about the cape corrupting Vince. Seriously? So he dropped one of the guys who helped ruin his life 30ft onto a nice soft landing, what's he gonna do next attack his traitorous ex-best friend with a pillow? O no hold old him back, hide ya kid's, hide ya wife. I know it's network television and he's not about to go all Spartacus on the guy but surely we can go a little darker than something that wouldn't make a care-bear flinch before we worry about the power of the cape influencing him. 

Now we get into the meat of this week's story, Russian criminal Gregor Molotov manages to escape from prison leaving a wake of bodies behind him and heads to see his old friend Max Melini (Keith David) to retrieve his cape. Yes, that cape. Gregor was the cape's last owner before he went all darkside and forced Max to take it back and turn him into the cops. Gregor is being held up here as the cautionary tale, this is what can happen if you let the power of the cape go to your head. If you happen to be a mass murdering Russian psycho anyway.Turns out the cape has a long history of owners, each one calling themselves Kozmo the Unkillable, before Gregor it was Max himself. Max informs Gregor that he no longer has the cape and he becomes a guest of the carnival refusing to leave without it. While all this set up is going on the writers make perhaps the best decision so far by blowing up Orwell's (Summer Glau) headquarters. Not that we see it, it's all done with a single line of dialogue, which is why I credit the writers. Thankfully this sees them back themselves out of the corner they found themselves in last week by making Orwell an entity unto herself and cut off from every other element  of the show. Orwell move's in temporarily with the carnival and Glau gives us easily the finest moments of this episode with her quirky interactions with the carnies.

Once Gregor realizes that Max is lying and he actually gave the cape to Vince he tries to hold the carnival hostage and the inevitable showdown occurs. Despite claiming that you can only know the full power the cape holds after years of use and stripping Vince of the cape embarrassingly easily Vince still manages to defeat Gregor by turning the cape against him. Seriously if it's that easy then The Cape is *$&#@&. Deciding to turn him over to the authorities despite warnings that Gregor can easily escape from any jail and will never stop looking for the cape is supposed to show us that Vince has in fact turned from the darkside, at least for now. Funshine Bear and his little friends will be so relieved.


We get another little glimpse into how Vince's family is coping without him. His wife has started her new job at the public defender's office which she uses to try and prove Vince's innocence. A move that is immediately shut down by Marty. Again we have the most genuine moment of the episode when we see Vince interacting with his son as The Cape after he hears about him getting into a little trouble at school. Although if they both keep reading that one-shot The Cape comic book there won't be much of it left at the end of the season.


Another thing they seem to be trying to do is push Glau's character more which is fine with me. The way they do it? Not so good. They are implying that there is some kind of relationship between her character Orwell and Chess but they are about as subtle as a slap in the face. Anyone who isn't as blinkered as Richard Gere's gerbils will immediately know what they are getting at here. Problem is that it's actually a decent twist that they have pretty much ruined so early on.

Overall a little disappointing this week, I was hoping for a some rebounding from the pilot but it seems more like they took one step forward and two steps back. I still think this could be a fun and enjoyable show if they could just settle on an identity for it. After reading this and other reviews I'm starting to worry they simply just won't have the time.