Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger, or Cloak & Dagger for short, is an American TV series created for Freeform by Joe Pokasky based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and connects to franchise movies and other TV series. The series was produced by ABC Signature Studios, Marvel Television, and Wandering Rocks Productions and featured Pokaski as a showrunner.
The series stars Olivia Holt and Aubrey Joseph Tandy Bowen / Dagger and Tyrone Johnson / Cloak, two teenagers with supernatural powers to form partnerships. The couple’s TV series began development on ABC Family in July 2011. The channel, which became Freeform, commissioned Cloak & Dagger in April 2016, and Pokaski joined the showrunner in August. Holt and Joseph in January 2017 Gloria Reuben, Andrea Roth, J.D. The series also stars Miles Mussenden, Carl Lundstedt, Emma Lahana and Jaime Zevallos. The series was filmed in New Orleans.
The first season was broadcast between June 7 and August 2, 2018, and received positive reviews. Freeform renewed the series with the second season in July 2018, which premiered on April 4, 2019, and ended on May 30, 2019. The series was canceled on October 24, 2019.
The Start of the Episode
We rejoin Tandy and Tyrone, where we left them at the close of the last episode, on a dark road outside New Orleans, with Tyrone teleporting himself into Tandy’s path. Officer Connors’ bullet races towards Tandy, forcing her to smash the getaway vehicle she was using to leave her city and her life.
It’s a startling meeting that leaves Tandy dizzy and unable to engage in conversation with a gun-wielding Tyrone. This is the second time Tandy and Tyrone had met as teenagers, the first being when Tandy attempted to pickpocket Tyrone. To put it mildly, the relationship is not going well so far. Tandy is still callous in leaving Tyrone, a black child with a pistol, on the side of the darkening road as police sirens come closer.
Cloak & Dagger’s promise of a meaningful Tandy/Tyrone chat to practically divide these two insane adolescents is becoming a habit. The slow burn of this dynamic is an irritating technique but not an unpleasant one. We’re still learning a lot about Tandy and Tyrone and their separate universes. We don’t need them in every scene together right now. Furthermore, even though these two spend most of the episode apart, they share a closeness in their views that is considerably more enlightening than any dialogue could be.
Tyrone punishes himself
The episode is structured intriguingly, showing us Tandy’s journey after the side-of-the-road meeting, then swinging around to show us what Tyrone was doing during that period. The parallel continues as Tandy and Tyrone both reach another plane of existence, Tandy through her concussion and Tyrone via a cleaning bath administered by Evita’s Vodun Auntie Clarisse. The visions help Tandy and Tyrone to understand each other rather than themselves better. Tyrone’s hopes—namely, that his brother had opted not to go with his buddies to take the car radio that day—as well as his deep guilt over surviving while his brother did not—are both visible to Tandy. Figures in the vision repeatedly hand Tyrone cash and present they think he deserves, but Tyrone feels entirely undeserving of receiving.
Tyrone refuses to pay them, contemplating other methods to punish himself for his brother’s murder. He shoots Officer Connors, causing his parents to die and the police to come after him with torches and riot gear. Alex Da Kid’s “American Funeral” and Joseph Angel’s retort of “America the Beautiful, America the Murderer” serve as a soundtrack while the cops lynch Tyrone, and he continues down the same road.
Tyrone tries to stop Tandy
While Tandy witnesses Tyrone’s self-flagellation, Tyrone witnesses the flavor of Tandy’s nightmare. Tandy is seen in his vision seeing her father being waterboarded by Roxxon workers. Tandy runs… and runs… and runs… and runs… and runs… and runs… and runs… and runs… and runs… and runs… and runs… and runs… She, like Tyrone, is unable to stop the cycle of misery. “Can you imagine what’s on the other side?” Tyrone asks Tandy as she attempts to run through a marsh. She always finds herself back where she started: forced to watch her father suffer.
Tyrone’s words can’t stop her, but his coat softly wraps around her like an embrace. He invites Tandy to remain, and she agrees, approaching the glass cage where her father is imprisoned with her blade drawn. We don’t witness the end; Tyrone discovers young Tandy in her church, infecting her congregation with communion hosts, including Liam and Rick. Tandy views herself as poison to both the people she loves and despises. If Tyrone feels he is cursed, Tandy also believes she is afflicted.
O’Reilly Refuses
Participating in one other’s tales is enough for Tandy and Tyrone to acquire some perspective in their lives and make positive decisions. Tandy must approach Officer O’Reilly and accept her assistance in delivering Rick to account for his attempted rape. Tyrone interprets this as kissing Evita. In these times, they both think, for a little while, that they are worthy of beautiful things. Tandy feels she is entitled to justice, while Tyrone believes he is entitled to love.
It’s distressing that, in the former scenario, emotional development isn’t encouraged healthily. Unbeknownst to Tandy, Connors had persuaded O’Reilly to blame Rick’s assault on someone else and end the inquiry. O’Reilly does not seem to be the kind to succumb to threats, but her hands are constrained for the time being.
O’Reilly informs Tandy that she will be unable to assist her but extends her heartfelt apologies. Tandy has an authority person who believes in her. Still, if actions don’t support those views, Tandy will perceive this as a reason not to trust the institutions (like family or the legal system) that are intended to keep her safe.
The Ending
The episode concludes, as many Cloak & Dagger episodes do at this point in the season, with another hint of a Tandy/Tyrone meeting. This time, it’s in Tandy’s home church, which Tyrone recognizes from being inside Tandy’s vision. Is this the chance we’ve been waiting for: a meaningful chat between Tandy and Tyrone that isn’t disrupted?\I’m looking forward to seeing how these two to address some of their questions together, while I’m enjoying their individual yet linked paths much more than I imagined.
