Thursday, February 3, 2011

What I’m Watching: The Cape

The Cape: Season 1, Episode 5 “Dice” (C-)

Why isn’t this show good? I don’t understand. There’s something about it that makes it the opposite of engaging, so concerned with digging into its own mythology that it doesn’t bother to make any of the present-day plotline interesting. This had to be one of the most disappointing clairvoyant future-seer fantasy storylines ever, and I’m also not so pleased with what Mena Suvari is doing these days, since the “American Beauty” actress should be doing much more than one-shot guest spots on this and “Psych” (at least that’s a better show!). This show isn’t headed anywhere fast, and we have another two instances of the Cape coming face to face with Peter Fleming. Orwell may be yelling at Vince for being short-sighted, but he’s obviously never going to be able to prove that Fleming is Chess, so why does he need to keep on saving his life in the name of taking him down in the long run? It’s as if this show could have had a long-term premise but then someone realized it didn’t, and it’s now just a tiny arc being stretched out to fill a bunch of episodes. Viewers are declining rapidly, and the show’s first season order has just been cut from thirteen to ten episodes, signaling a likely swan song for the series sooner than later. Only three additional episodes are scheduled until the even worse “The Event” assumes this timeslot, so it could be lights out for the Cape in just a few short weeks. Unless Summer Glau doesn’t get a TV role shortly, I doubt I’ll miss it. Also: random note about casting - Elliott Gould as Fleming's doctor? Fun, but who thought of that?

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