"The Cape: The Complete Series" (NR, 2011, Universal)

A lot of really good shows start off as slightly confused shows, and while there's no way to know if "The Cape" was destined for excellence, the possibility certainly was there. "The Cape" gets its name from the titular lead character (David Lyons), whose police career (to say nothing of his life as a husband and father) gets upended when he's mistaken for Chess (James Frain), a masked supervillain whose alter ego happens to be the most powerful man in Palm City. A group of carnies and magicians (led by Keith David as Max Malini) helps him capitalize on his new identity by giving him powers, a mysterious technophile (Summer Glau) gives him access to the city's underground, and just like that, The Cape is taking on a rogue's gallery of villains while aiming for the top of the ladder and a return to his former life.

That's a lot to make sense of with only nine episodes in which to make sense of it, and perhaps sensing the grasp of premature cancellation, "The Cape" feels rushed in some spots and a bit confused in others. But even at its messiest, there's fun to be had in the lines the show draws between comedy and drama as well as between fantasy and reality. The rivalry between Chess and The Cape grows in fits and starts and occasionally runs in circles, but it goes places, and it's a bummer that the impatient nature of network television never gave us a chance to see where the whole thing was headed.

Contents: Nine episodes, no extras.

For what it's worth, David Lyons mentioned Summer in an Interview.

THE CAPE

This is so much better than its early cancellation suggests. Trust us. In fact, it had some exciting moments, featured a vicious villain, an odd sort of superhero and a compelling story.

Nevertheless, The Cape was cut to 10 episodes and the show cancelled.

The main character is Vince Faraday (David Lyons), a former soldier and honest cop in a fictional city called Palm City. He leaves the force to work for a private security firm called ARK, owned by Peter Fleming (James Frain). ARK is pushing to take over a privatised police force.

Vince is led into a trap and framed for murder by his partner and Fleming who is really the arch villain Chess. The city and even Vince's wife and young son think Vince is Chess, and that he's been killed in an explosion while fleeing police.

Badly injured, Vince finds himself held by members of a mysterious carnival of crime. They act as a circus but also pull off bank robberies. The carnival is an underground, alternative world, led by the "ringmaster" Max Malini (Keith David).

Malini trains Vince so that he can use a magical cape that really only should be worn by the pure of heart to fight Chess and clear his name. Vince takes the name "The Cape" after his son's favourite comic book character. As "The Cape" he even visits his son who idolises the super hero. Vince is aided by an investigative blogger called Orwell (Summer Glau). Orwell is a complex character, who is connected to Fleming. The carnival is intriguing, the theme of revenge works and this series is jam packed with interesting ideas.

We're unlikely to see The Cape on mainstream TV but the series has been released on DVD.

The Cape was referenced heavily in the fellow NBC series Community, mainly by the character Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi), who is obsessed with movies and TV. The Cape is his main focus in the season 2 episode "Paradigms of Human Memory", in which Abed dresses like Vince and runs around school. In one scene (still in costume) Abed swipes Jeff's (Joel McHale) food off the table and runs away. Jeff angrily declares "Show's gonna last three weeks," to which Abed replies, "Six seasons and a movie!"[20] After Community was removed from NBC's schedule in December 2011 and October 2012, fans used the hashtag "#SixSeasonsAndAMovie" to show their support for the show (Community, not The Cape) on many social media networks.

13. Orwell -- The Cape
The Cape's superheroes didn't stick around for very long, but they offered sexiness like no one else. Orwell, played by Summer Glau, is beautiful, brilliant, and brave.