THE CAPE “Dice” Review

THE CAPE, Season 1, Episode 5 “Dice” – This installment of the “THE CAPE” was different; we didn’t even see our hero decked out in costume until more than halfway through the show.

In “Dice,” Mena Suvari took the spotlight as Tracey, a savant whose spent her years since being a little girl planning to kill Peter Fleming – Chess – who killed her father. And Fleming getting ready to market a prediction module based on her brain patterns, called T.R.A.C.E. (pronounced like her name) has her all the more over the edge.

The attempts on Fleming’s life escalate well, starting with just the the exploding dice at a gambling event. Enter The Cape and Orwell, who does more this time out that just feed The Cape info. The break-in to Tracey’s apartment was needed because it showed out psychotic she was, with numbers, formulas and phrases written all over the walls (including “God is the Dice” on a mirror), plus photos and news articles and plans for Fleming’s demise.

When The Cape stops her second attempt on Fleming who’s having dinner with her and is so pompous (more good character reveal) he doesn’t believe she’ll kill him, he amused at his savior. The calculated destruction of an electrical system to bring a chandelier down was like a Rube Goldberg device. Then it gets better with the plan to kill Fleming by blowing up his ARK Corp building.

Scenes of The Capehaving to learn high wire from his carnival friends were short, but effective. Also good was not just stopping Tracey, but Orwell clocking her as payback for a punch previously in the apartment, plus The Cape, once clearing the building, blowing up Fleming’s T.R.A.C.E. work.

There were a few scenes with Faraday’s family of his son reading The Cape comic, but they seemed just a reminder that they’re around. We didn’t need it. But the ending with Fleming and then a snake-eyed version left us hanging, wondering if he has a twin, a split personality, or why the snakey eyes. Then another ending, Max revealing to us he knew Faraday would arrive and need to be trained as The Cape didn’t impact as hard; the scenes should have been reversed.

One more thing: a great cameo by legendary Elliot Gould as Fleming’s doctor; maybe we’ll see more of him.

Still, all in all, “Dice” was a solid episode of “The Cape,” which is offering the right twists and turns to keep one guessing about outcomes. Next week, it looks like a techno-greek tracker-killer is brought in by Fleming to take out the The Cape.