Red Stewart reviews the second episode of Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger…
Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger was interesting in that its debut was marked by two episodes. While it’d be easy to surmise that this was done to give the pilot room to breath, I’m under the impression that it was actually purely a business reason: an attempt to catch on to the last remaining media fervor brought about by Avengers: Infinity War before Incredibles 2 sweeps the box office this week.
That’s not to say that Cloak and Dagger’s second episode, “Suicide Sprints,” lacked any thematic connection to its predecessor, but it definitely felt very different. It’s much better edited, with the duality of the protagonists handled more subtly and effectively than in “First Light”. However, it also wasn’t as intriguing, choosing to subvert the pilot’s offbeat verisimilitude in favor of a more conventional teen drama atmosphere.
In the aftermath of stabbing her attempted rapist, Tandy is left with no choice but to change her identity and get out of New Orleans. Meanwhile, Tyrone struggles with his internal anger reignited by his encounter with the corrupt cop who murdered his brother, which starts to affect his social life in harsh ways. Despite the seemingly different narratives, there is a connection in the form of forgiveness. Tandy is someone who doesn’t believe in forgiving either herself or her mother, instead choosing to run away from her problems. Tyrone, likewise, is filled with vengeance, letting it corrupt him even as he accepts it as a dangerous poison.
Tyrone’s tale is, obviously, the writing team’s attempt at not only initiating his character arc, but also tackling the typical comic book question of superhero morality. It’s an admittedly tired trope that is hard to freshen these days, but it makes sense given who Tyrone is and what he has experienced: he grew up in a lower class neighborhood where his primary “friends” were thieves, and losing the one person who gave him moral guidance has warped his view of society.
Of course, we have seen revenge play out multiple times in superhero fiction. What makes Cloak & Dagger’s take on the “crossing the line” situation interesting is its tie-in with religion. Religion is a sensitive topic to utilize in a story as it is a cultural system with a lot of historic, philosophical, and ethical weight. Tyrone and Tandy both have encounters with religion and are enticed by its ideals, but are ultimately withdrawn from the idea as a whole. Tandy, for example, literally lives in a church at times, yet never prays, and indulges in criminal behaviors. Tyrone attends Church every Sunday like a good Christian, but doesn’t pay much attention to the sermons at hand.
Adding to the tenderness of these events is the continued development of the twos’ superpowers. Unlike the comics, which essentially limited Cloak and Dagger’s abilities to energy projection, the series has given the duo the additional power to access fears and happy memories respectively. This was shown in the prior episode, but here it serves an actual story purpose: Tyrone sees the inherent fears his mother feels regarding the mortality of her children, whereas Tandy witnesses her boyfriend’s, Liam, hopes and dreams for the two as a romantic couple. As is consistent with their characterizations, the two choose to act on these feelings in an instinctual way: Tyrone uses his mom’s anxiety to jump-start his vengeance against the corrupt cop, while Tandy sets off on a path that sees her abandoning her relationship with Liam, possibly for good.
This type of interconnected writing is what separates a great show from a good show, but unfortunately things are not as well-executed as I’m initially making it out to be. For starters, a lot of the side cast are expanded upon despite us just getting to know Tandy and Tyrone. But given that this is a 10-episode miniseries, it makes sense to expand upon the personalities of characters who will play a strong part in future entries. The issue here is that a few of them are given minor subplots that don’t particularly go anywhere. Take, for instance, Tyrone’s mother: there is a scene where she hears something outside, and prepares to face it with the family’s revolver. However, this scene is cut-short and never touched upon again, seeming to exist for the sole purpose of setting up a literal Chekhov’s Gun. There is also a part of the episode featuring the family priest pickpocket an innocent woman: an interesting criticism of church officials that does not really add anything to the religious themes of the episode.
However, the strangest one had to be the introduction of a detective whom I presume will be a major antagonist for Tandy and Tyrone in the episodes to come. Her scenes are bizarrely handled because of two things: they’re overshot and feature no dialogue. By overshot, I mean there are a lot of editing cuts, prominently featuring close-ups of either her badge or an item she is holding like a sketch. It is as though the filmmakers were insistent on hammering into viewers that she is a no-nonsense law enforcement official, as though we could not tell that from her introductory scene alone.
A lot of engaging events happen, from Tyrone dealing with hazing from his teammates to Tandy and Liam robbing a wedding ceremony to pay for her new identity, setting up the primary story of Cloak & Dagger with the two protagonists re-meeting at the end. It will be interesting to see how things develop from here.
Notes:
-Shout out to writer/creator Joe Pokaski and actor Carl Lundstedt for going out of their way to make Liam a likable boyfriend. It would have been cliche and simple to cast him off a d-bag who doesn’t really care about Tandy, but here he’s actually portrayed as a lovable guy. Of course, we all know that Tyrone and Tandy are slated to get together, so how things ends between these two will definitely be heartbreaking.
Rating: 8/10
Red Stewart
