Red Stewart reviews the first episode of Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger…
I have always been enthralled by the concept of a universal connection – this idea that all or most of humanity have invisible bonds to one another. With social proposals like the six degrees of separation to even scientific theories like quantum mechanics and string theory lending some credence to the idea, it makes sense that fiction would exploit this concept for its storytelling potential, especially the sci-fi genre.
M. Night Shyamalan’s famed Unbreakable delved into this territory before, but a television series dedicated to it was a dream come through in the form of Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger. Unfortunately, not everything went well in the pilot, but I can’t deny that I wasn’t left wanting more. Debuting on the Freeform channel (formerly ABC Family) this week, Cloak & Dagger follows two seemingly unrelated strangers, Tandy Bowen and Tyrone Johnson, who are united through a freak accident involving a Roxxon Corporation tanker leaking chemicals into the ocean.
Fans of the comics will be disappointed to see that the series, at least when it comes to the development of the duo’s powers, subsides the source material by not having them be the subjects of deliberate drug experimentation, but I suspect this was done to avoid comparisons to the first season of Jessica Jones. Of course, the most important thing when it comes to the origin stories of new superheroes is how much time is devoted to them prior to them receiving said superpowers; if viewers don’t know these people beforehand, they won’t get invested in their subsequent character arc that ends with them becoming a superhero.
Many comic book TV shows have failed in this regard, and with two main characters to focus on, Cloak & Dagger had twice the odds against it. And the truth is writer/creator Joe Pokaski both succeeds and fails. Pacing-wise, Cloak & Dagger is terrific, but writing-wise it falters. We’re not just dealing with Tandy and Tyrone in the present, we’re dealing with their childhoods prior to and past the incident, and that balance is something you need to nail down at the script level as even the best director can’t weave a strong narrative from a weak foundation. Cloak & Dagger chooses to avoid risking falling into the realm of a fractured storyline by going with a heavy-handed approach to the multiple narratives. And while I understand why it was done, I can’t say I fully respect the creators for doing so.
See, Tyrone and Tandy’s backstories do have similarities that make for some interesting parallels despite their differing backgrounds: both are unable to fit in with their social groups, both have weak relationships with their folks, and both have to deal with a family trauma. But sadly, this is all depicted to audiences through hard cuts that lack a thematic cue that would make the transitions feel natural. One of the things Unbreakable did so well was showcase the duality of its protagonists without it coming off like Shyamalan was spoon-feeding the connections to his watchers.
This might seem like a small thing to complain about, especially when the show has to get through many narrative elements in less than an hour. But readers have to understand that, when the emotional beats are this obvious, it feels more like the showrunner is just slapping the audience in the face, rather than letting it play out naturally. And this, in turns, takes away from the enjoyment of the show.
Still, as I said before, there was something inherently fascinating about Cloak & Dagger that made me want to fast forward past all the commercial breaks. Like I noted in my review of the Waco finale, I judge the engagement level of an episode based on the number of notes I have taken by the end, and Cloak & Dagger just didn’t have many. I theorize that part of the reason it got this strong of a reach from me was the grounded, realistic nature of the characters. Tyrone isn’t a billionaire and Tandy isn’t some former Soviet spy: these are kids that have had horrible childhood experiences that have reasonably left them with their current state of minds. For example, Tandy’s lack of true parental figures to provide her with morals has made her slip into a life of crime, while the loss of Tyrone’s brother to a corrupt criminal justice system has made him socially-withdrawn and angry.
This realism extends to the side characters as well. Tandy’s excuse for a mother was already dealing with drug issues: the encounter with even more traumatic experiences has driven her over the edge. Likewise, Tyrone’s parents are cloyingly overprotective of their son now that he is brother is gone. This kind of connective tissue made Spider-Man: Homecoming thoroughly enjoyable, and it applies the same here.
The two leads are a mixed bag. I really liked Olivia Holt as she made me invested in her character’s internal conflicts: this is a person who, at their core, is a broken child. She isn’t stealing for pleasure, she just wants to get out of the terrible circumstances life has thrown at her, and Holt makes you believe she is a good person overall.
Aubrey Joseph, on the other hand, was iffy for me. He is playing a harder character in the sense that he has to be more subtle with his emotions, but there were times where I felt that he came off as too withdrawn, as though he was incapable of playing the more open-type. But his ending scene in “First Light” did hint otherwise, so I’m more than willing to give him a second chance.
There’s not much of a story that can be talked about without going into specifics as a lot of the Cloak & Dagger pilot is built on character moments as opposed to plot developments. It wasn’t great, but it was intriguing, and when it comes to creating an original show with long-lasting appeal, isn’t that the real end goal?
Notes:
-There’s something to be said about the underlying exploitative nature of the pilot. Because Olivia Holt’s character is a woman, she has to be put in carnal situations. And because Aubrey Joseph’s character is an athlete, he has to take his shirt off in scenes. Whether this was done to make it clear that this show is aimed at older audiences remains to be seen, but I sincerely hope it was done for the purposes of serving the greater story.
-Part of the reason the pilot looks so good is because it could be made on a lower budget. None of the leads are showing off their powers….at least not yet.
Rating: 7/10
Red Stewart
