At some point or another in childhood, you may have thought about what it would be like to don a costume and venture into the night to fight crime like your favorite comic book heroes.
Unfortunately, as time goes by, the reality of that fantasy becomes much more grim than previously imagined. However, NBC realized the potential of superheroes in television with the four-year run of "Heroes."
As that series ended in Feb. 2010, writers for NBC decided to once again discover the potential of heroes with the release of "The Cape."
Unlike "Heroes", though, "The Cape" explores the notion of normal people looking for change in a corrupt world.
Set in the fictional Palm City, "The Cape" follows the life of Vince Faraday, played by David Lyons, an honest cop who is out to catch the criminal mastermind known as Chess.
Having discovered the connection between Chess and Peter Fleming (James Frain) the billionaire CEO of Ark Industries, Vince is framed for Chess's crimes and left for dead.
The only way for him to clear his name is to use a cape that holds unique abilities and seek help from a mysterious hacker, Orwell (Sumer Glau), and a master magician/circus gang ringleader, Max Malini (Keith David). Not revealing his true identity, Faraday adopts the name of his son's favorite comic book hero, The Cape.
During his mission Vince soon discovers he is not the only one willing to use an alternate persona in the war between crime and justice.
At first, most would think that "The Cape" is just another comic book knockoff, but after viewing several episodes it proves to be much more. What sets "The Cape" aside from other hero shows is that it can provide the fantasy of masked heroes in a manner grounded in real-life situations.
Having only run five episodes, "The Cape" is slowly but surely gathering followers as one of the most popular shows on television.
"The Cape" airs Mondays at 9 p.m on NBC but those who missed the premiere can view it online at NBC.com. Of the new shows that have premiered so far this year, "The Cape" is sure to be one to follow.
Christopher Spall can be reached at christopher.spall@student.shu.edu.
