History Series / TheCape

The Cape is Vince Faraday, a cop in the [[WretchedHive highly corrupt]] Palm City whose [[LawEnforcementInc police force has been privatized]] under the ARK corporation. Vince uncovers evidence against ARK's CEO, Peter Fleming, who is really a costumed terrorist known as Chess. Fleming responds by having Vince framed for Chess' crimes. Vince then "dies" in an explosion, only to be rescued by the "Carnival of Crime", a shady underground circus troupe.

** Three last names from ''{{Lost}}'', [=LeFleur=], Linus, and Faraday have appeared.

* GreenLanternRing: The cape is something like this as it tends to develop new abilities as required (though often justified previously) such as being bulletproof in "Goggles and Hicks" and, judging by said character's thermovision, blocking Vince's heat signature.

* HypocriticalHumor: Says the guy who runs around in a mask with crazy contacts and what have you: "No offense, but your daughter is pretty creepy." Also considering his daughter is [[spoiler:[[HeyItsThatGuy River]] [[{{Firefly}} Tam]]]]

* {{Reconstruction}}: Whether it will be successful or not remains to be seen, but the series seems to be an attempt at a throwback to more traditional superhero stories (secret identities! costumes! clear-cut standards of good and evil!) after the {{deconstruction}} seen in ''Series/{{Heroes}}''. It also bears similarity to old serials like Radio/TheShadow and ComicStrip/DickTracy.

** There are some hints in the third episode that the cape may be something more than just a very elaborate stage prop. It's suggested it could be Merlin's robe or have belonged to JackTheRipper as well. Some of the things Kozmo does with it (such as throwing a man across the room just from the draft of flapping the cape) should not be physically possible either. Then again, maybe it's just a cover mythology and some more advanced tricks. Max suggests that the cape can wear the user and bring out their dark side if not careful; this could be taken literally, or it could be seen as symbolic of the training and skill required to use the cape (that is, power corrupts) means that it's tempting to use said talents for selfish reasons since few would be able to stop them.

** In Episode 4 Portman dresses up as the Cape for a costume party. He runs into the Cape they have an awkward moment. When Vince finds the unconscious guard he has Portman act as a look out.

* AttendingYourOwnFuneral: Apparently dead, Vince's family holds a memorial service as he secretly watches from the distance.

* AwfulTruth: Orwell finally knows what daddy did to mommy, too bad we don't know.

* BadassCape: Vince is able to grab , throw, or strike things with it. True to the source material as well, the cape seems to gain and lose length (among other things) as needed for the scene (in part due to the switch between CGI and prop). Notably for instance where The Cape is chasing Orwell who has several yards ahead of him and yet manages to use his ankle length cape to grab something that's ahead of Orwell. The cape seems to be able to hide most or all of its length in the leather mantle, due to the material. The length of the cape seen during most scenes is only a small part of the material. The weighted edge allows it to wrap around objects at range, like a whip or lasso. It was custom built for stage magician in the past, and it takes a skilled sleight-of-hand artist to extend the cape to its full length usefully and at will. Max reveals that almost all previous owners of the cape used it for their own gain. One used it to go on a killing spree.

* BrainyBrunette: Orwell

** Averted with Chess/Flemming the only pictures of him as Chess are blurry and when he goes to make a deal with his Scales as Flemming he sends a rep so that Scales can't get close enough to notice.

* [[TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil The Good, the Bad , the Evil and the Complete Monster]]: The Cape , the Carnival of Crime, Scales and Fleming

ActionGirl: Orwell. Especially when she uses her taser.

** Though there may be no subversion, since Cain poisons his knives (this was how he poisoned him the first time)
* ActionGirl: Orwell. Especially when she uses her taser.
* AffablyEvil: The Carnival of Crime, especially its leader Max Malini, to the point where both the hero and the audience may forget the evil part. At least until they rob a train.
** Believe it or not, [[BigBad Peter Fleming]].

* BadassCape: Vince is able to grab , throw, or strike things with it. True to the source material as well, the cape seems to gain and lose length (among other things) as needed for the scene (in part due to the switch between CGI and prop). Notably for instance where The Cape is chasing Orwell who has several yards ahead of him and yet manages to use his ankle length cape to grab something that's ahead of Orwell. The cape seems to be able to hide most or all of its length in the leather mantle, due to the material. The length of the cape seen during most scenes is only a small part of the material. The weighted edge allows it to wrap around objects at range, like a whip or lasso. It was custom built for stage magician in the past, and it takes a skilled sleight-of-hand artist to extend the cape to its full length usefully and at will.
** Max reveals that almost all previous owners of the cape used it for their own gain. One used it to go on a killing spree.

* CaptainErsatz: The Cape wants to be Franchise/{{Batman}} so bad it hurts. Some may see him as a modern day interpretation of Radio/TheShadow, however (Batman may have popularized a lot of those tropes, but he sure didn't invent them). He also takes aspects of The Phantom. In detail: costume and use of superstition from Batman, legacy back story from the Phantom, tactics (information control and hypnotism) from The Shadow.
** [[VoiceWithAnInternetConnection Orwell]] also seems to take a fair number of cues from [[ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey Oracle]], particularly when she's acting as [[MissionControl the Cape's operator]].

** It now appears that [[spoiler: the Chess persona is a SplitPersonality of Fleming, one he's not necessarily happy to see come out even if he does make use of it.]]

* EnemyMine: In "Scales" the Cape and Fleming have to work together to stop a runaway train.

* {{Jerkass}}: Rollo
** ''The Lich'' makes him much more of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.

* MindRape: The Lich's neurotoxin causes this on some of his victims.
** [[spoiler:After her ordeal with the Lich, Jamie/Orwell is clearly affected]]

* PreAssKickingOneLiner: "No bars."

* SecretIdentity: Obviously, it's a superhero series. Though played with as well since, as far as most people are concerned, Vince is dead. Thus for the most part, Vince runs around as generic drifter or The Cape not to prevent people from knowing who he is but from knowing he's alive.

* TrainingFromHell: Max promises this, but it's fairly light-hearted and some of it is even played for laughs, like a knock down, drag out bare knuckle brawl with a MadeOfIron dwarf.

* UhOhEyes: Fleming's [[NightmareFuel damn creepy]] chess piece contact lenses.
** One of the villains is even nicknamed Eyes, as he cannot blink.

* CharacterBlog: Given that Orwell is a blogger, it only makes sense that she'd be given [[http://www.orwelliswatching.com/ one of these.]]

* DuelingShows: Though the style of the two shows beyond throwbacks to the Golden/Silver Age is null, it can't be unintentional that the show appeared shortly after NoOrdinaryFamily, another superhero show. Humourously, NOF has a Marvel (edgy, gritty) flavor within a DC (four color) universe, while TheCape is more DC (Batman, more defined moral lines) in a Marvel (cynical, city of corrupt cops) universe.

* FaceFramedInShadow

* FakeAmerican: Aussie David Lyons as Vince Faraday/The Cape.
** In "Razer" Lyons ditches his American accent and uses his native Australian to impersonate the titular contract killer.
* FakeRussian: Gregor "The Great" Molotov is played by the German actor ThomasKretschmann. The other speaking Russians in that episode are played by real Russian actors.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: Episodes were cut down from 13 to 10. And Episode 10 was only aired on the official website.

** In a bit of an ActorAllusion, Orwell pulls the Stealth Hi component of a StealthHiBye on Vince, not unlike [[{{Firefly}} River.]]

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: Episodes were cut down from 13 to 10.

%%
%% Shout outs go on the Trivia Tab
%%

* [[LovableRogue Lovable Rogues]]: An entire gang of bank robbing carnival folk. They probably also qualify as [[SympatheticCriminal Sympathetic Criminals]].

* SympatheticCriminal - The entire Carnival of Crime. Criminals because they rob banks (in circus attire and with carnival music playing in the background), and sympathetic because they don't actually seem to hurt anybody directly, and because they are willing to help a former cop become a superhero. Though to be fair, while they're not fairly loyal to Vince, their initial bargain was that Vince provide them with police access to various things.

Not to be confused with [[TheCape the trope by the same name]], regarding morally upright and inspirational costumed heroes. The Cape is much more of a [[TheCowl Cowl]] anyways. Neither should it be confused with [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115126/ another series of the same name]] about [[{{NASA}} astronauts]].

* FoeYay: There's definitely some between Fleming and the Cape.

With the world believing Vince dead, he takes on the persona of his son's favorite superhero, a {{Batman}}-esque figure known as [[TitleDrop The Cape]]. The circus troupe trains him in a combination of martial-arts, stage magic, and [[BadassCape using a specially designed cape as a weapon]]. Teaming up with the Carnival and an [[IntrepidReporter investigative blogger]] called [[SummerGlau Orwell]] who has an interest in bringing Fleming down, Vince sets out to expose ARK, save the city and [[ClearMyName clear his name]].

* CaptainErsatz: The Cape wants to be {{Batman}} so bad it hurts. Some may see him as a modern day interpretation of Radio/TheShadow, however (Batman may have popularized a lot of those tropes, but he sure as hell didn't invent them). He also takes aspects of The Phantom. In detail: costume and use of superstition from Batman, legacy back story from the Phantom, tactics (information control and hypnotism) from The Shadow.

** Scales is ''very'' similar to [[{{Batman}} Killer Croc]], in terms of being a thug with a skin condition who wants to get respect. There is also the fact that Dominic Raoul and Waylon Jones were both sideshow freaks before turning to crime.

* CaptainErsatz: The Cape wants to be {{Batman}} so bad it hurts. Some may see him as a modern day interpretation of TheShadow, however (Batman may have popularized a lot of those tropes, but he sure as hell didn't invent them). He also takes aspects of The Phantom. In detail: costume and use of superstition from Batman, legacy back story from the Phantom, tactics (information control and hypnotism) from The Shadow.

* {{Reconstruction}}: Whether it will be successful or not remains to be seen, but the series seems to be an attempt at a throwback to more traditional superhero stories (secret identities! costumes! clear-cut standards of good and evil!) after the {{deconstruction}} seen in ''Series/{{Heroes}}''. It also bears similarity to old serials like TheShadow and ComicStrip/DickTracy.

* MsFanservice: Raia.

* XMeetsY: ''{{Heroes}}'' meets Silver-Age comics. Given that the show is on NBC and uses some of the same visual motifs (like the way the title cards fade into the scene, and the comparability of the in-universe's comic panels to 8th Wonders) comparisons to ''Heroes'' are inevitable.

* DidNotDoTheResearch: In ''Endgame'', Fleming's tailor ends a chess match by capturing Fleming's king. This cannot happen, as it means Fleming ended his turn "in check" which is not allowed.

A series picked up for {{NBC}}'s 2010-2011 season.

* LukeIAmYourFather: "The Lich Part 2" confirmed the suspicions of many GenreSavvy fans by revealing that [[spoiler: Fleming is Orwell's father]]. [[hottip:*: Then again, this tidbit was revealed in several interviews, so it wasn't exactly a surprise to people who have been paying attention.]]

-->''[[{{Community}} "Six seasons and a movie!"]]''

* {{Reconstruction}}: Whether it will be successful or not remains to be seen, but the series seems to be an attempt at a throwback to more traditional superhero stories (secret identities! costumes! clear-cut standards of good and evil!) after the {{deconstruction}} seen in ''{{Heroes}}''. It also bears similarity to old serials like TheShadow and DickTracy.

** [[VoiceWithAnInternetConnection Orwell]] also seems to take a fair number of cues from [[BirdsOfPrey Oracle]], particularly when she's acting as [[MissionControl the Cape's operator]].

** Orwell to [[DarkAngel Eyes Only]]. A cyber-journalist/hacker with a SecretIdentity trying to stem the tide of corruption. There are also parallels to be drawn to [[BirdsOfPrey Oracle]]. She is a super-tech oriented person who is unable to fight the corruption she hates directly; so she acts as MissionControl for a BadassNormal ultra detective who specializes in theatrics and deception and dresses in a long black cape, she also is a [[HollywoodHacking uber-hacker]] who uses her improbable, phenomenal skills to assist him.

* GenreBlind: So you've caught [[spoiler: the CrazyPrepared MadBomber, Razor,]] and locked him in a cage...he asks you for some gum...and you give him some?

* MeaningfulName: [[Creator/GeorgeOrwell Orwell]] a hacker who sees all and knows all, sorta like [[NineteenEightyFour big brother]].