Recap: The Cape, 'Scales On A Train' shows Jones' mad skills

By Ian Cullen Jan 25, 2011, 19:11 GMT

Synopsis: The Cape tips off Scales that Fleming (Chess) has betrayed him in business dealings, which leads to a confrontation at a costume party aboard a train, the same train that The Cape and Orwell discover Max and the Carnival crew plan to rob.

Synopsis: The Cape tips off Scales that Fleming (Chess) has betrayed him in business dealings, which leads to a confrontation at a costume party aboard a train, the same train that The Cape and Orwell discover Max and the Carnival crew plan to rob.

This, for me, has to be the best episode to date.

It gives us some emotional drama as Vince Faraday (aka The Cape) has to deal with the fact that he cannot be there for his son's 10th birthday and we get perhaps one of the biggest showdowns in the series that we’ve seen yet.

The showdown is a three-pronged affair, because not only do we have The Cape pitting Scales (Vinnie Jones) against Chess, aka Peter Fleming (James Frain)  but we also have The Cape having to deal with The Carnival Of Crime as well as the alliance between him and Max becoming a bit strained.

We see a break-out performance here from Vinnie Jones, who plays it beautifully as he mixes his own East End bad boy persona with somewhat of a lighter and more comic book twist. Nice cameo too with "Sons of Anarchy" star Dayton Callie as the Mayor.

In fact, I can see Vinnie doing well in a comedy at some point because amid the gangster stuff there was a lightness of touch to the character where he is quite literally winking at the audience.

Against we see some cracking interplay between Scales and Rollo, who is played marvelously by Martin Klebba, who has to be one of the unsung heros of this series. Rollo comes off as perhaps a tad more Machiavellian and more of villain than Scales in many ways. As M&C's TV editor April MacIntyre said to me earlier on Skype, 'Rollo is an arse hole.'

I think Rollo should run for President. I’d vote for him.

Also, putting in a great performance, but with very little screen time and dialogue when compared to Vinnie Jones, and who just chewed up the scenery was Keith David, who seems to work wonders with very little to do in pretty much most everything you see him in.

Hopefully we will see an episode which covers the backstory of Max Malini, because I so love what Keith is doing with this character.

David Lyons also put in a confident performance as The Cape and managed to hold his on in a confrontational scene between The Cape and Chess in which James Frain put in an effortless performance as he slowly comes to the realisation that Faraday may not be dead after all;  ‘I’m gonna end you!’ says The Cape.

Just another leisurely walk in the park for superb actor James Frain here.

To sum up this episode, it is a game changer for the series, and those who have dropped off and discounted the series already should really come back and give it another try, and maybe start with this episode because things are starting to unravel nicely.

Next week: Mena Suvari as a villainess who tries to off Chess, can't wait!