I’m guessing not a lot of people have been watching NBC’s The Cape. I will state right off the bat that were it not for my ladylove Summer Glau, I probably wouldn’t have started. But while, dear sweet lord, I do love her, it’s fun for other reasons too.
For one thing, I’m kind of just a sucker for pure camp. It’s sort of like watching the 1960s Batman but with higher production value and (kind of, I think anyway) tongue-in-cheek. The dialogue is ridiculous, but a lot of comic book stuff is. And it has the decency not to make the mistake a lot of superhero movies make and try to take itself too seriously. Sure, there’s death and family angst and just sort of angst in general. But it’s still very much aware that yes, it is a television show about a superhero who’s buddies with a camp of thieving circus freaks.
(I also commend the circus freaks for not being too overtly clowny, because clowns are creepy and bad. These guys may be thieves, but they’re the good kind of thief. They stick together, and they help the protagonist Vince [David Lyons] in his quest for justice. )
You can see a lot of the plot twists coming a mile away, but that isn’t really the point. It’s just good wholesome ridiculous superhero fun. James Frain as Peter Fleming, the main villain, is sort of amazingly creepy a lot of the time. (You might know him from his roles as Cromwell on The Tudors or Franklin on True Blood. This leads me to believe that at some point, obviously in the distant future as he’s the series’ main villain right now, he will of course be killed off in a grotesque fashion. It’s what he does.)
And, okay, the circus freaks. You’ve got a whole passel of them (hey! It’s that little person who isn’t Verne Troyer! And a cool wise African-American man who’s sort of like Lucius Fox and Yoda rolled into one!) but so far my personal favorite is Izabella Miko as Raia. I don’t know, maybe I just like her ’cause she was a whore who got murdered on Deadwood (season two) and maybe I just like her ridiculous corset-y circus costumes, she hasn’t actually done a lot yet. But she’s quickly becoming the face that I put to the Nolanized Harley Quinn in my head. And she’s cute. And, you know, corsets for the major win, always.
But, well, the main draw here is of course my girl Summer. She’s insanely beautiful as usual, and useful to boot. She’s sort of like the Cape’s girl Friday who actually does things for one and has really swanky technology to mess with in her random lair of maybe-doom. And now there have been hints that she’s the evil guy’s daughter, soooo. Also, can I just say:
All arguments have been rendered invalid.
In short, I’m sticking with it so far. I keep using the word ridiculous, but I mean it lovingly. It’s camp in such a fun way, and this world needs more of that.
–your fangirl heroine.
