(WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD FOR MARVEL'S CLOAK & DAGGER SEASON 2 EPISODE 3!)
It's not very often that I get hung up on early season cliffhangers of shows. I have to admit, that final scene of the Season 2 premiere of Marvel's Cloak & Dagger stuck with me all week. The LITERAL split personality of Mayhem was a big one, and the reaction was priceless. So I could not wait to dive more into that reaction in this upcoming episode. Little did I know that we would get another major revelation at the beginning of this episode.
Remember Mina, the Roxxon scientist? We get a flashback of her working on an experiment with mice. During one of these experiments, one of the mice gets duplicated, with the second being much more aggressive. Sound familiar? Now, we knew that Roxxon was responsible for what happened to Brigid, but we did not necessarily know that they were DIRECTLY responsible. So Jeph Loeb was right when he told us that Ty and Tandy were not quite done with Roxxon yet (hear it on our podcast or see the video.) I'll admit, part of me was hoping Roxxon wouldn't be a focus of this season. When I saw this, I was a bit worried. As the episode went on, it felt like more of a footnote than a focus, so I put my fears to rest. Yes we do see Brigid, Ty and Tandy find this information out, but it doesn't shift to a Roxxon investigation. They did find out that the aggressive personality has killed the normal personality before, so Brigid is understandably upset.
Let's talk about that for a minute. We saw in a flashback that Mayhem did have an opportunity to kill Brigid in the hospital. Just as she was about to do it, she heard some police officers talking about Connors and what had happened to Brigid as a result of her investigation. Not only does she not kill Brigid, she puts the pillow behind her head and actually seems like she wants to help Brigid. To me, this was a big scene because it shows that Mayhem does have a sense of control and emotion. This is not just some reckless, bloodbath of a mission that she is on. Her path is more deliberate than chaotic, but that could make her even more dangerous.
The flashbacks continue as we see Mayhem try to track down Connors, and almost avenge what happened to Brigid. Here is the other thing we found out from Roxxon, Mayhem has all of Brigid's memories as well. So really, these things happened to her as well. So if Brigid's boyfriend was murdered, so was Mayhem's. While Mayhem doesn't find Connors, she does end up killing his partner during the course of her investigation. She is also constructing quite the epic crazy person room, with stuff all over the walls. These rooms never get old for me, and I have no idea why. Why don't they have an HGTV show or something where we get to see different crazy person rooms? I'd watch that, and Mayhem could get her own feature episode. Anyway...I should probably talk about Ty and Tandy at some point.
Mayhem is on another mission, and that is to find all of these girls that have gone missing in the New Oreleans area. Tyrone, Tandy and Brigid just happen to be investigating the same thing. Every step they take, Mayhem seems to be there. Here's the other thing, she is getting results. While Team Cloak & Dagger can't seem to get anywhere, Mayhem is getting the job done. This creates a bit of a clash between Tyrone and Tandy, as Tandy can't help but notice Mayhem's success. Tyrone, of course, thinks that their has to be a better way. Even Brigid has a chance to stop Mayhem, and doesn't take it. I have a feeling that will be a big theme this season. Despite her methods, do you disagree with Mayhem or root for her? I'm all in for this being a regular thing.
Here's another angle to the story, Cloak & Dagger finally get their superhero win. They track down one of the locations where these girls are being held. Long story short, Tandy creates a distraction that allows Tyrone to Cloak the girls out of their cells and to safety. This seems to prove Ty's point that there is a better way, and Mayhem's way is not necessary. Problem is, Mayhem shows up and essentially kills every single of of the bad guys. Again, that has to create a lot of mixed feelings for viewers.
All in all, this was a very Mayhem heavy episode and I don't hate that. Emma Lahana is brilliant, and if flawlessly playing this dual role in the very early stages of this season. Going in, it was easy to feel like Mayhem would be the big bad of this season. Is she, though? I guess you could make that argument, or is she the anti-hero of this season? It's way too early to make that kind of a determination, but she definitely doesn't feel like the big bad after this episode. She has direction and motive, and actually seems like she is trying to do the right thing. So who's right way is THE right way? That's for you to decide, and for us all to see play out in the upcoming episodes. Personally, I can't wait!