What is Cape Fear (2026)'s IQ Score?

Cape Fear (2026) has an IQ Score of 142/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient framework, placing it in the Stimulating tier. The score breaks down to 35/50 Cognitive Stimulation, 31/50 Educational Value, and 43/50 Craft & Quality.

Is Cape Fear (2026) educational?

Cape Fear (2026) is moderate on educational value, 31/50 on TVI's rubric. Some learning happens, but it isn't the show's primary work.

How does TV Intelligentsia calculate IQ Score?

TV Intelligentsia's current published formula is round((Cognitive Stimulation × 0.4 + Educational Value × 0.35 + Craft & Quality × 0.25) × 4), scoring titles from 0 to 200 across five tiers. TVI publishes a three-dimension breakdown only when those values reproduce the displayed composite. The framework is published at tvintelligentsia.com/methodology/.

Cape Fear (2026) IQ Score 142/200

Cape Fear (2026) has an IQ Score of 142/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient rubric, placing it in the Stimulating tier.

By Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH·Updated 2026-09-07·Methodology

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142/ 200

Stimulating

Consistently challenges the viewer and rewards attention

Score Breakdown

Legacy score. Published under our earlier workflow, before the current standard took effect in August 2026. A founder reviewed and approved it against our methodology, under a process that does not meet the standard we hold now. What this means →

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Cognitive Stimulation/50

Educational Value/50

Craft & Quality/50

IQ = round((Cognitive × 0.4 + Educational × 0.35 + Craft × 0.25) × 4) · How we score →

What these dimensions mean

Cognitive Stimulation: observable narrative complexity, conceptual density, ambiguity, inference, and sustained intellectual demands in the work.
Educational Value: the density and integration of substantive academic, historical, scientific, cultural, ethical, or practical information in the work.
Craft & Quality: production excellence in service of the work, its direction, writing, performance, and aesthetic intent.

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The Verdict

Best forThriller patrons who want the Bowden-Cady standoff stretched into an episodic siege

Skip ifYou prefer the films' compressed dread; the slow-burn format trades punch for patience

Use it asA charm-first villain study, Bardem building menace long before open threat

Why you should trust this score

Scored under Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH

Physician and founding editor. Maintains the adult catalog against the published rubric and reviews the rubric application.

Methodology

Published rubric, v1.3.1

Formula

round((C × 0.40 + E × 0.35 + Q × 0.25) × 4)

Database scale

2,607 titles, version-controlled

How we stay independent. Editorial scores are not for sale. TVI may take on paid advisory or research work, but no commercial relationship buys coverage, advance access to scores, favorable treatment, or a change to a published finding. We pay for our own streaming subscriptions, and no reviewer sees sponsor data or affiliate revenue tied to a score. More about how we work →

The TVI Take

Nick Antosca relocates the Bowden-Cady standoff to a streaming-era limited run, with Javier Bardem playing Max Cady as a man exonerated after seventeen years rather than paroled. Bardem builds the menace through charm first and threat second, and Amy Adams gives the targeted family a fault line the 1991 De Niro version never developed.

The eight-episode length earns the slow psychological siege the films had to compress, which is why its craft register runs ahead of its thematic one.

People & Production Universal Content Productions · Apple TV · United States 11 connections