The Cape
NBC | Release Date: January 9, 2011
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
12
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
NewsdayDiane WertsJan 6, 2011
Season 1 Review: While critics like me count quibbles, kids of all ages should share my husband's assessment: "It's a superhero show. Superman flies. Give The Cape a little space." Read full review
80
The New York TimesGinia BellafanteJan 6, 2011
Season 1 Review: The Cape is far more economical in its storytelling, far less weighted by its own mythologies and a much better time. Someone in network land as learned a lesson [from "Heroes"]. Read full review
80
VarietyBrian LowryJan 6, 2011
Season 1 Review: If the premise sounds cheesy and busy, the execution is crisp and efficient--and manages to sell dialogue like, "Together, we can take this city back," which often sounds better in a word balloon. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesPaige WiserJan 6, 2011
Season 1 Review: Either you'll jump right in or you'll give up immediately. I think it's about time a drama embraces a super power that's long been forgotten: showmanship. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyKen TuckerJan 5, 2011
Season 1 Review: It's probably doomed to cult status, but The Cape is primal fun. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesMary McNamaraJan 6, 2011
Season 1 Review: Marked by logical elisions, word-balloon dialogue and conveniently located plot holes though it may be, this is a machine for putting its heroes in tight spaces and watching them kick their way free, and it does its work efficiently and with flair. Read full review
70
The Huffington PostMaureen RyanJan 6, 2011
Season 1 Review: It's a self-aware superhero drama that manages to have some fun amid the righteous butt-kicking, and if it can develop its characters intelligently and keep up the sprightly pace, I'll stick around. Read full review
63
USA TodayRobert BiancoJan 6, 2011
Season 1 Review: A cape is simply not exciting or convincing as a superhero weapon. And making constant jokes in the dialogue about the flaw isn't the same as fixing it. To its credit, The Cape is at least easier to follow than The Event and is less mythology-burdened than Heroes. Read full review
60
Zap2it (Inside the Box)Jethro NededogJan 9, 2011
Season 1 Review: Whether you like it or not depends on your ability to leap with the show. We won't lie, though. While the pilot is well-executed, once we get into hour two of NBC's planned two hour premiere, we got the feeling that this may be too much of a good thing in one sitting. Read full review
60
Boston GlobeSarah RodmanJan 6, 2011
Season 1 Review: While little about The Cape could be deemed fresh - from its noir-ish "Dark Knight"-esque color palette to the sometimes boilerplate dialogue - the show has several elements going for it. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyJan 6, 2011
Season 1 Review: Like any good graphic novel, The Cape doesn't forget to sometimes be funny. It also at times asks us to suspend disbelief. Read full review
58
Boston HeraldMark A. PerigardJan 6, 2011
Season 1 Review: NBC's The Cape aspires to be "The Dark Knight" but unfurls more like the campy 1960s "Batman" TV series. Read full review
50
People WeeklyTom GliattoJan 11, 2011
Season 1 Review: Every time he flaps into view in his baggy hoodedness, he looks like Batman in need of a tailor. [17 Jan 2011, p.40]
50
San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa TimesChuck BarneyJan 9, 2011
Season 1 Review: Unfortunately, The Cape fails to fly. Lyons has all the charisma of a fence post, and the leaden scripts bring no fresh twists to the genre. Read full review
50
PopMattersCynthia FuchsJan 9, 2011
Season 1 Review: As much as they have at stake, neither Vince nor Dana is as much fun to watch as Max. Master of the arched eyebrow and the sly grin, Max is better than a circus act. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubJan 9, 2011
Season 1 Review: Show creator Tom Wheeler goes a little heavy with the overwrought dialogue (sample line: "It's not all corrupt! One man can still make a difference!"), but he has a sense of humor that emerges more in the second episode. Read full review
50
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GrayJan 6, 2011
Season 1 Review: It's lighter than "Heroes," but also less coherent. Still, fans of Summer Glau (you know who you are) probably won't be able to resist. Read full review
42
Uncle BarkyEd BarkJan 9, 2011
Season 1 Review: What's supposed to be a taut and many-splendored mythical yarn in league with Heroes instead registers as a topsy turvy laughable feast complete with chapter titles. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushJan 7, 2011
Season 1 Review: This isn't a catastrophe, mind you. It's not Knight Rider-Bionic Woman awful. It's merely forgettable. Which is just sad. Read full review
40
HitfixAlan SepinwallJan 6, 2011
Season 1 Review: All the color in the margins doesn't matter if the man at the center of the picture is a bore, which Lyons unfortunately is. Read full review
30
SalonMatt Zoller SeitzJan 11, 2011
Season 1 Review: The source of the show's downfall is more basic: It rushes through everything, pulverizing potentially engaging characters and story until the whole production starts to feel like a long trailer for itself. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterTim GoodmanJan 10, 2011
Season 1 Review: It's a series that looks like a whole bunch of cooks decided to build the most creatively awesome and different kitchen imaginable, forgetting for a moment that none of them can really cook. Read full review
30
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenJan 9, 2011
Season 1 Review: For anyone who's seen the "Spider-Man" films (or even the last, worst season of NBC's "Heroes"), there's little to recommend about this new series that has its bloated, two-hour debut. Read full review
30
TimeJames PoniewozikJan 7, 2011
Season 1 Review: There are also, unfortunately, a stiff performance by star David Lyons, as a cop, on the run for A Crime He Did Not Commit, who becomes the eponymous superhero, and the kind of dialogue that gives comics a bad name ("One man can still make a difference!"). Read full review
25
Slant MagazinePeter SwansonJan 6, 2011
Season 1 Review: The Cape falls into a wasteland of its own making, where neither the stakes nor the jokes can distract one from the thinness of its writing. Read full review
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