This Sunday, NBC launches its latest series, a midseason replacement for the network titled The Cape. The series launches with a two-hour premiere this week but returns to its normal slot Mondays at 9 p.m., starting January 17th. Let’s see if the show is worth your evening in our The Cape series preview.

NBC’s The Cape series follows Vince Faraday, played by David Lyons (formerly of the series ER) in the fictional setting of Palm City (think Gotham). Faraday starts the show as a good guy police officer with a wife and a son, but he quickly loses everything including his identity, his family, and his job when the city and the police force go corrupt.

All bad things can be attributed to the villain who goes by the name Chess (James Frain). Unfortunately for Faraday, he gets framed for the wrongdoings and has to disappear in order to keep his family safe.

Left for dead, he is recruited by a circus ringleader/bank robbing leader named Max Malini (Keith David) who thinks he can put Faraday’s evil ways to use to help with the bank jobs—until he finds out The Cape’s Vince Faraday is the good guy.

Essentially midway through the first episode, the continuous storyline for the show is exposed as The Cape’s Vince Faraday decides that in order to expose Chess and get his family back, he has to take on a character no one can identify and single-handedly take back the city. The idea for him to be ‘The Cape’ comes because that is his son’s favorite comic book character and he wants his son to know that there is still good in the world.

The series definitely comes off as more of a movie than a television series, which provides extra appeal. It’s a new-age Batman series complete with advanced effects and technology. Comic book fans will love it and fans of shows like Heroes will be instantly hooked with good reason.

Our The Cape series preview has a few concerns for the show though after viewing the first two hours. You have to wonder how long The Cape can chase around this one villain. An issue that can easily be neglected with good writing of course. Possibly the most pressing concern however is can NBC’s The Cape series really sustain itself without coming off as a less popular, less spectacular Batman. After just the first couple of episodes, there are no answers yet, but we are provided with enough to want to see more.

The concept is good, and the characters are good, but as far as the plot it’s too early to tell. But if the upcoming episodes of The Cape can be at least as entertaining as the first two hours, you’ll be disappointed you weren’t watching it from the beginning if you miss it. I expect good things to come.

The Cape series preview
This NBC series receives a PAR

Rating System:

P… Horrible
PA… Tolerable
PAR… Good
PARL… Kinda Great
PARLÉ… Classic

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