#I love how much it's never even a question for Tandy that without powers Ty is still her best friend and the person she loves the most

[brw]

It's obviously loaded but something I do find charming about early Cloak and Dagger is that every time they lose their powers or something, Ty is always upset because he thinks Tandy is going to leave. He is so insecure and feels so much self hatred about his learning disability, about his speech impediment, and about how without being Cloak he isn't tied to Tandy in that way, so it's only a matter of time before she finds someone better, someone more suited to her personality and life, someone who doesn't stutter like he does, and he feels so much guilt about wanting Cloak back because it put them more on an even playing field in his mind, versus Tandy who is always like "This is great! Me and Ty can be normal kids! And I'll live forever with my best friend Ty who I want with me all the time and who does so much for me, my best friend in the whole world Ty Johnson ☺️☺️☺️" and Ty is an active suicide risk.

[douxreviews]

Cloak and Dagger - ‘Alignment Chart’ Review

"The next time you get mad at me for going out and doing something on my own? Remember this moment."

Cloak and Dagger's second season really starts to gel, in an episode that subverts our expectations in the best possible ways.

Pity about the framing device, though.

It's a difficult trick for a show to pull off, to have a character that the viewers are absolutely convinced is evil suddenly turn on a dime and be revealed to be good. It's an equally difficult task to do the reverse and have a character that the viewers trust completely suddenly be revealed as evil. Because in both cases you have to find ways to convince the audience enough of one thing, but not so much that it feels forced or unbelievable once you reveal that the opposite is true.  And you can't hedge your initial impressions of the character too much or everyone is going to see the reveal coming.

The good people at Cloak and Dagger managed both this week, and I never saw either of them coming for even a moment.

Well played, Cloak and Dagger writers' room. Extraordinarily well played.

At the end of the previous episode we saw Connors, the unambiguously bad, comprehensibly evil foe from season one released from the dark dimension inside of Ty Johnson. When last seen, our unrepentant villain was scrambling out of the window of the abandoned church, and enough time had been spent during that episode examining Ty's fears as to whether he'd be able to stop Connors from hurting his family again if he ever got out that we never for a moment questioned that that's what Connors would want to do. The focus was entirely on the question 'can we stop him', nicely misdirecting us from the question 'Is that what Connors is likely to do?'

Because, if you think about it for a moment, Connors has spent eight months trapped alone inside a dimension who's entire raison d'etre is to scare the holy crap out of people with their own sins. Scared straight is what Cloak's cloak does, and while I admit it hasn't been overtly presented that way to a great extent yet in the show, they certainly hinted at it enough in last week's episode for us to put the pieces together when Connors reveals his abrupt about face toward penitence here.

It was a good structural decision as well to only show him collecting all of his things without dialog for the first half of the episode. It very much read as sinister while being totally explicable once we're told that he was collecting the evidence against himself to give to Ty. Gold stars to J.D. Evermore tonight. His ability to simultaneously express that degree of fear and self loathing really sold the reveal.

My only minor quibbles with this side of the story are that Ty and his father were awfully slow to start believing that Connors repentance might be genuine. Which is totally fair and believable, given what he did to their family, but felt a little repetitive as a televised drama. Also, I understand that they're plotting an adventure story, and so the heist to get the magic file of concrete proof to get Ty's name cleared was as good a plot device as any, but even in New Orleans, Connors confession with the items of evidence that he produced to verify his story would have been sufficient.

Besides, I suspect at least part of the point to that plot thread was building up to us meeting Connors' Senator Uncle later on. I can't imagine that he'll be a good guy.

And let's be absolutely clear on one point, because the show went out of its way to be clear. Connors' remorse is absolutely genuine. When Ty shows him his greatest fear it's him putting handcuffs on himself over and over again only to have them fall off over and over again. He's afraid of not being allowed to be punished.

On the other side of the coin, Tandy gets in deep with Lea, the leader of her abuse survivors support group in what can only be charitably describes as a hail Mary attempt to get more information about who's abducting the girls by going after Lea's ex-boyfriend who apparently is untouchable because he grows an extraordinary amount of pot.

And yes, when you lay it out like that, that plot line doesn't really make a fig of sense. But the good news is that it doesn't really have to, since it only exists to set up the reveal that Lea is coordinating the abductions. Well staged, on that particular moment; the ambulance appeared in shot just long enough for the penny to begin to drop before Lea unleashed her taser. Really well structured, and the earlier reveal about Connors secretly having turned good was both a nice mirror for Lea being evil, but also had us wrong footed enough that we didn't see this reveal coming any more than we had the Connors' one. As a group counselor for abused women, Lea had been implicitly 'vouched for' as being a decent person, but of course it makes perfect sense that she would use the group to identify women that no one will miss in order to abduct them.

Which brings me to the framing device of Tandy telling an unseen group of revelers a tedious story about a farmer and a viper. It's a thinly veiled spin on the 'frog gives a scorpion a ride' anecdote, and I can't imagine that anyone was surprised with where the story went or what the moral was. That said, the subtle red/blue lighting notes were a nicely understated clue as to where she really was while she was dreaming this, and in hindsight the message 'people who you are trying to help might turn around and hurt you' was a warning about where Tandy's storyline was going, not Ty's, so that's a nice rug pull. At the end of the day, one thing that this show has difficulty with is it's tendency to experiment with theatrical framing devices that come off as a little heavy handed and forced. Still, 'try's too hard' is hardly the worst sin a show can commit.

Bits and Pieces:

-- Apparently Mayhem is still in the dark dimension, and her absence seems to be making Brigid fall apart. That tracks, if they're sharing a soul.

-- I wonder if Brigid ever wondered why her refrigerator was beaten up and laying in the stairwell when she got out of the hospital. Like, I absolutely would have asked some followup questions about that.

-- The ongoing theme of the last couple of episodes seems to be that Ty and Tandy need to stop trying to work alone and need to start teaming up.

-- Otis is making a new cloak! I love Otis.

-- Tandy is understandably worried about her mother having a couple of drinks, which is fair. But she overreacts to her mother meeting a doctor and tries to turn it into some sort of class issue as an excuse to project some more or her own survivor-anger.

-- Tandy's mom likes Ty. Ty's mom does not like Tandy.

-- Leaving someone who hurts you is not easy.

-- Very nice call back to Maman Brigitte's symbol and the way they use it to bring Ty face to face with Connors.

-- It's totally not safe to do that with bullets though. Under no circumstances try that at home.

-- Connors kept instinctively putting Billy's death in the passive voice and getting corrected on it. To his credit, he seemed to accept the correction and eventually stopped trying phrasing it that way.

-- Otis says he's making the new cloak for himself. That does not bode well for him surviving the season, does it.

-- Lea doesn't know about Tandy's powers. What on earth was she expecting to happen at the big pot warehouse?

-- Fuchs first name was apparently 'Kenneth'. I confess myself disappointed.

Quotes:

Tandy: "Apparently there's no cell reception in your hoodie."

Tandy: "Can I talk to them?" Andre: "The angel and the shadow?" Tandy: "No, the rescued girls."

Lea: "Seems like your ex brought out the worst in you, not the best." Tandy: "Is it possible someone can do both?"

Ty: "Your mom done freaking out?" Tandy: "She was. But then I freaked her out all over again."

Tandy: "In order for her to tell me more, I need to find some common ground." Ty: "So... so, who am I? Your abusive boyfriend or your pimp?" Tandy: "I mean, either one will do." Ty: "So you called your black friend." Tandy: "No, I called my best friend." Ty's right to be angry on this one, but I can't help but wonder if she'd said 'only' friend that his response might have been a little different. Because it's true.

A solid episode with just a few minor quibbles. I'm loving how this season is shaping up. 

Three out of four missing refrigerators.

Mikey Heinrich is, among other things, a freelance writer, volunteer firefighter, and roughly 78% water.

[chinuppoppins]

Could you possibly write something where Tandy and Tyrone accidentally kiss or kiss in the heat of the moment or something? I just love your writing so much!!!

Um yes and thank you my dear!

So like I listened to Perfect on loop for this fic, so I hope you all enjoy it!

There was a lot of things he was starting to learn about Tandy Bowen.

Tandy could sing, he would often hear her singing along to whatever song was pouring into her ears through her ear buds. Tyrone tried to to creep, but sometimes he would stop at the doorway just to listen to her before announcing his presence.

Also she wasn’t as open as he was. He would be happy to flesh out everything that happened during the day, from the conversation he had with his parents in the morning to what happened in class his, and the arguments and ending relationship with Evita. She would listen as she enjoyed a milkshake or a soda, never commenting about her day, not once.

Another thing was that she was a good listener, offered advice on how to handle some situations with the people in his lfe, it was good having her perspective on certain things. They’ve learned to trust each other, every other night was spent with her and he liked that, even if it was causing a rift with his love life.

They were sitting next to each other, enjoying pizza and for once just talking and laughing about life and listening to a random pandora station.

“So uh, I have to go to this school dance on Saturday.” He tells her while fetching another slice for himself. “My mom took me to get a tux, she had to match the color of Evita’s dress to the T.”

Tandy sips her soda, brow raised and a smile on her face. “Lucky lady, bet you don’t look half bad in a suit.”

He chuckles. “Yeah well, let’s hope that the suit is my saving grace. I am actually freaking out on the inside. This is sort of my first school dance-”

“Aw, choir boy, you’ve never danced with a girl?” She teases and holds back a laugh. “Right, you go to catholic school, so you gotta leave space for Christ.”

“You’re hysterical you know, making fun of me in my time of need. It’s not just dancing, I know how to dance, it’s what Evita expects  after the dance is what has me freaked. Last time we got that close, it wasn’t pleasant. I’m not sure, I want to fix us, it’s just like-”

“Your powers are rejecting her?” Tandy finishes. “Yeah you’re telling me, it’s like the ultimate cockblock. The light likes to make me into a freaking nun.”

“Maybe it’s just not supposed to be her, maybe it’s…” He stops, their eyes meeting for a split second before he breaks eye contact.

Silence fills the church, all that could be heard was the faint music playing from her phone. The song that they were listening to ended and a slower one began. “I have an idea.” She says as she turned the music up louder. “Show me your slow dancing skills and I can give you pointers on how to woo your girl.” She stands up, dusting off her hands and offers him a hand. “C’mon, slick, show me what you’ve got.”

“Is this- this is Ed Sheeran, you listen to Ed Sheeran?” Tyrone teases.

Tandy rolls her eyes. “It’s just a random station, you know how it just picks random songs.”

Tyrone looks over to the screen. “It’s your thumbprint station, and this song has a thumbs up.”

“Dude, shut up and just dance with me.”

Tyrone chuckles, takes her hand and leads her out to the center of the old building. “You gonna let me lead?” He asks and she scoffs as she wraps her arms around his shoulders. “So.” He began as they swayed to the music. “You listen to some Taylor Swift too? Is there a side of Tandy Bowen that I don’t know?”

“I swear Ty, I will step on your feet-” She threatens and he laughs, smiling a genuine smile at her there was a beat of silence before she began to speak. “This is actually nice.” She decided. “Our lovely gifts aren’t going batshit and you smell good, so.”

Tyrone smirked. “So a plus side is that I smell good?” She nods and he laughs. “So if I don’t step on Evita’s feet and smell good, I’ll win her back?”

“Pretty much, Ty. And smile at her, you have a handsome smile, use it man.” She tells him. “That was my worldly advice to you for the week.” Tandy teases him. For the moment, she lets her head relax on his chest, alright, maybe this song was getting to her and being this close to Tyrone wasn’t helping. Though when she felt him relax and pull her closer, something in her clicked.

She pulled back for a moment, her eyes locking with his. “What? Wait, this is okay, right?” and there it was, he was always checking, always asking and never taking. Ever since she opened up to him with what happened in the alleyway. “T, you al-”

She cuts him off as the song slowly begins to end by pressing her lips to his. It takes him off guard for half a second, but she finally feels him regain himself. Their kiss was sweet, slow, innocent. Something that Tandy had never experienced before until now. When they pull apart, foreheads touching and her eyes flutter open, the only thing she could say was. “You have nice eyelashes.” She rubs her lips, still feeling the bits of energy on them and then she remembers the girl Tyrone has been trying to win back. Her stomach sinks as she pulls out of his grasp.

“Tandy?” He questions and she shakes her head.

“This can’t happen, you have Evita, I have Liam.” She wraps her arms around herself. “We can’t do this.”

Tyrone steps closer again and she takes a step back. “Tandy, don’t run from me, please. Maybe we aren’t supposed to be with them, I think that it’s us, I think that we are supposed to be together- like soulmates or something. I can’t be with a girl and without thinking about you or what you doing, or if you are okay and you know you have the same problem. It’s not fair to them.”

He had a point and Tandy knew he was right. “We need to do this right then, be fair to Evita and to Liam. If we want this to work between us, and believe me, Ty, I want it to work, we need to stop dragging them along.”

Tyrone nods, walks over to her and ever so carefully wraps his arms around her. “I’ll talk to Evita tomorrow and you get a hold of Liam. They’re gonna be hurt, but, it’ll be alright in the end, I promise.”

And she knows he’s right.

[douxreviews]

Cloak & Dagger - ‘Rabbit Hold’ Review

Ty: "How do you know how to do that?" Adina: "Some things you never forget."

Ty finally begins exploring his coolest power, thanks to Tandy's decision to enter him and have a look around.

Look, it's not as creepy as it sounds.

I know I mention this almost every week, but wow, this show really pulls off some beautiful visuals. The image of Tandy standing in front of the five mirrors, each one reflecting a different aspect of who she is, contrasted with the sharp darkness of the location, was a particularly striking shot. Honestly, just lovely.

Since the first announcement that they were going to be doing a Cloak and Dagger show, I've been waiting for the developments we got this week. Apologies in advance for this, as you really shouldn't have to be familiar with the source material in order to watch the show, but I think in this case it helps to have a little background.

In the comics, Cloak is basically a gateway to something that they refer to as 'The Dark Dimension.' In that dimension there's nothing but darkness, as you might have guessed from the name. Within that darkness is something they used to only refer to as 'the predator,' who is basically some sort of demon that feeds on the light that Dagger generates, but is also happy to chow down on the terror that people experience when they're absorbed into Cloak's cloak and are forced to relive all their fears. Dagger, meanwhile, generates that delicious light that the predator eats, but if she doesn't release it regularly enough she basically burns up from the excess energy.

That's the symbiosis that ties the two of them together, and the fact that their powers are completely dependent on one another if they aren't going to run out of control is one of the fundamental planks of their relationship.

It was nice, then, that even while the show was finally exploring Ty's big portal they were also underscoring the symbiotic nature of their powers. Tandy had to give up her light powers in order to 'proceed on the journey' through the dark dimension and find Brigid, and tangentially Connors. That, unfortunately, comes at an inconvenient time for Ty, since he's spending some quality time with his Mom attempting to not be killed by gang members.

The character development we get here as we explore Ty's relationship with his mother is fascinating. Adina is a timely depiction of the constant worry implicit in raising a child of color in today's America. Her worry and the actions it leads her to take all feel very real.

The two parallel journeys that Ty and Tandy take this week, him running from the gang and her finding her way through the dark dimension's shopping mall, bounce off each other well, culminating in what I suspect was the point of exercise, the deliberate contrasting of Ty telling his mother the story of human trafficking hundreds of years ago intercut with Mayhem relating to Tandy some harsh facts about human trafficking today.

The point that they're making is clear and well presented. Human trafficking is not a thing of the past. It's not a story from history. It's never gone away. The showrunners deserve a lot of praise for the way they approached the issue.

Meanwhile, in the dark dimension, we finally get an explanation for something that's been bothering me a lot so far this season. Namely, why Tandy has been so incredibly prone to victim blaming in her domestic abuse support group. It made sense that finding out that her idolized father was really an abuser would cause an emotional crisis for her, but that didn't really track with how angry she was at Mikayla for not leaving her abuser.

Now of course it makes sense. She didn't just find out that her father was an abuser. We see very clearly here that she knew all along. She chose to 'not see it,' as we see by her literally choosing to walk out the door to avoid hearing her mother being abused. Of course she's projecting anger toward victims who allow the abuse to continue. The visual metaphor of the memories as records still in their shrink wrap was an inspired choice. Well done.

Lastly, and again I know I say this a lot here, but they continue their proud tradition of making changes from the source material that make everything better and stronger. I mentioned above the predator that lives inside Cloak in the comics. Here they've updated that, and very wisely used the move to New Orleans to justify replacing the predator with Papa Legba, who apparently greets all those who enter the dark dimension and guides them on their business. That just works, on every level. Instead of 'scary thing in the dark' we have 'mysterious guide' and there's a lot more story to be mined out of 'mysterious guide.'

Papa Legba is one of the Loa in Vodoun, and is one of those crossroads deities who's heavy into guiding destinies. That's a perfect fit for this context.

Bits and Pieces:

-- Ty's parents have separated, which explains why we haven't seen much of Otis. That's sad, but not at all unrealistic for a couple that loses a child. Two children, in their case. I wonder if the actor was busy, or if they just wanted to focus the story on Adina.

-- Speaking of Adina, she's startlingly adept at hotwiring cars and avoiding the police. I suddenly have a million questions about Ty's mom.

-- Starting with, what has she been investigating exactly. and does it tie into why she was apparently pressured into preventing an investigation into the girls' disappearances last week?

-- Both American Gods and Cloak and Dagger heavily featured empty shopping malls this week. 14-year-old me in 1986 sighed deeply, inside.

-- The special effect of Ty opening up his portal to the dark dimension was done better than I ever dared hope it would be in live action. Now please throw a cloak into the mix and I'll be happy forever.

-- Ty and Tandy said that Ty was able to open his portal because he was scared, but I bet it was more to do with the presence of Tandy's light.

-- Connors is out of the dark dimension now and ready to cause more trouble. We didn't see Mayhem in the last scene, but it feels safe to assume that she's out too, right?

-- Sadly, most places in the US do still treat victims of human trafficking as criminals and prosecute them for prostitution.

-- I've been meaning to ask this the last couple of weeks – so, does Brigid only have half a soul now? Is Mayhem like a horcrux? If you killed one, I assume the other wouldn't die, based on what happened to the mice.

-- Tandy threw light knives! That makes me geek out every time.

-- I really want one of those Cloak and Dagger icon coins.

-- I don't buy that the gang would just turn around and leave without killing Ty and his mom first. I do however believe that the police would come in shooting for an unarmed black teenager in Ty's position.

Quotes:

Tandy: "You saw what they were doing to those girls." Ty: "Yeah, and I also saw what she did to everything in her path."

Tandy: "Why didn’t you tell me about Connors?" Ty: "We were in the middle of saving the world at the time."

Papa Legba: "I’ve seen blood. And a green jacket. It was worn by half a woman."

Tandy: "You look exactly like her." Mayhem: "Why not ‘she looks exactly like you’?"

Tandy: "Sometimes the status quo is OK." Mayhem: "And sometimes girls are stolen and sold into slavery. Oh wait, that’s all the time."

Ty: "Nobody’s gonna come in here." Mom: "Why not?" Ty: "Because it’s haunted by 300 year old vampire nuns."

Adina: "Son." Gang Scout: "I’m not your son." Adina: "You’re somebody’s son."

A solid episode that pushed a lot of my fannish buttons and turned up the heat on the season-long plot.

Three and a half out of four voodoo tours.

Mikey Heinrich is, among other things, a freelance writer, volunteer firefighter, and roughly 78% water.