Wild Hair Entry 1: Amnesia and Stupidity makes The Cape Go ‘Round

I finally had a chance to watch the 2 hour premiere of The Cape yesterday and despite many of my geek friends nay saying it I enjoyed it thoroughly. Yes, it’s implausible and silly with thin characters and overly dramatic syrup scenes but I found it fun and cheesy in the best way possible.

There are a million things I could complain about in this show. Whether it’s the insane physics of spider cloth, the radically shifting ethics of main characters or mysteriously disappearing wounds of characters there are many avenues of vitriol I could saunter down. I want to bring up something that seems to plague many shows, not just sci-fi or fantasy shows.

My big problem with this show is the not so subtle combination of stupidity and amnesia that seems to plague these characters. Granted, the main character of Vincent is pretty generic looking as far as leading men go but not until the very end does he even consider a mask.

He talks to his son from about 10 ft away and yet this kid doesn’t recognize his dad’s voice or most of his face despite the fact that ‘The Cape’ admonished him about things only his parents could know. Either this kid is ridiculously stupid or a Gilligan-esque  scene was cut in which the kid was hit on the head with a coconut. If my dad showed up 10 feet away dressed as my favorite superhero (Matter Eater Lad) and started talking to me I’m sure I’d recognize him even at age 10.

Next up is the ‘criminal genius’ Chess. Chess knows Vincent, he sees him without a mask and with a mask and even sets the schmuck up so you’d think a genius might remember that guy and yet he doesn’t seem to recognize him. Chess also kidnaps the hero’s mentor and after the guy escapes promptly forgets about him. Days pass and no retribution from this supposedly ruthless criminal genius. Is that more stupidity or amnesia?

I think Chess must also have perfected amnesia gas because every simpleton in his police force seems to be in on his plots in both guises. Why would he use Ark officers in his Chess guise and business guy persona?! Why does the faceless officer know of his plan to poison the Secretary guy in charge of Prisons? You think people might start wondering why the same jack booted officers guard the biggest criminal mastermind in the city as well as Palm City’s leading business man?

There was enough fun stuff and hotties in The Cape to make me want to come back and keep watching for awhile. I caught the last half of the episode on Monday and it showed some promise. I just hope the writers figure out the importance of a secret identity and that everyone shouldn’t have the memory of a goldfish.