(WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE SEASON 2 PREMIERE OF MARVEL'S CLOAK & DAGGER)
Marvel's Cloak & Dagger was one of the most personal and emotional stories on comic book TV last year. We saw in last season's finale that there would be a lot of changes coming for a lot of the show's characters. Season 2 wasted no time in showing out those changes will play out. Freeform allowed us to dive right in with a 2-hour season premiere, so let's talk about it.
We know that Tyrone is in hiding and living in the church, while Tandy is now back with her mom. Let's focus on Tyrone here for a minute, as he really seems to be having a hard time adjusting. We see him dropping in on his family, as well as Evita. Tandy still comes to visit him, of course, and they even have movie nights. I think movie night with Ty and Tandy should be a regular thing on the show. One of my favorite parts of last season is when Ty and Tandy would just sit down and talk. At it's core, this show is deeply personal, and those conversations are when those feelings get hashed out. It gives the show a different depth than similar comic book TV series. As Tandy would find out during one of her visits, Ty is doing much more than just waiting for movie night.
Tyrone is becoming much more comfortable with his powers. He seems much more in control of where he is going and when. He feels so in control, in fact, that he is trying to help fight crime on his own. We see him take some drugs and money from some bad people, then just sort of drop in on Detective O'Reilly with the evidence. O'Reilly obviously tells Tyrone that this is dangerous and that he isn't helping as much as he thinks he is. As it turns out, this theft has launched a bit of a gang war. Remember, these guys have no idea who stole from them, so they just assume it was one of their rivals. This also puts even more pressure on O'Reilly, as it is really messing up her investigation. This is stress that she doesn't need, but we'll get to her in a few minutes.
As far as Tandy goes, we get to see that she is quite the dancer. She is in some pretty intense ballet classes, but it's almost like she is on the path she would have been on had things not happened the way that they did when she was younger. We also see that she is in group therapy with her mom, since she had found out that her father abused her years ago. I think we're all seeing Tandy's mom in a different light now, and understand her a lot more than we did last season. Tandy is finding out in therapy that her mom was much more of a hero than she realized, and even admits as much during one of the sessions. These sessions also lead to Tandy taking matters into her in vigilante hands as well.
There is a new woman in the group who does not feel comfortable sharing her experience with her boyfriend. Tandy reaches out to her, and the woman eventually does end up sharing a bit. Once Tandy finds out that this woman is being abused, she goes to confront the boyfriend on her own. She even uses her light daggers to tear up this guy's house and leave him a very clear message on his walls. This ultimately backfires, as they boyfriend claims that he was attacked by men inside his home and feared for his life. He gets sympathy from the girlfriend and she thinks that he is a changed man. Tandy, knowing the truth, blows up at this woman during therapy and storms off. Did you think Tandy's temper would just go away overnight? She is clearly still dealing with the truth about her father, and that is completely understandable even months later. This is where our stories start to converge a bit.
Now for the uncomfortable part, where Ty and Tandy find out that they are both not quite being honest with one another. Tandy is mad at Ty for not including her in his vigilante acts. Ty is upset with Tandy about not telling him what's really going on with her. This of course leads to Tandy saving Tyrone from a sure beating, and them coming to the realization that they need to be more honest with one another. I'll admit it, I don't like it when these two are mad at each other. They have such great chemistry together, and work so well as a pair, that yes I just want them to get along all of the time. Unrealistic? Sure, but that doesn't mean I don't want it to happen anyway. So it's time for a team-up!
Tyrone and Tandy go to a club where the two rival gangs are supposed to be meeting. Tyrone has the idea that they can get both gangs on tape admitting to what they are doing, deliver that evidence to Detective O'Reilly and they will both go down. Things don't go as planned, and everyone in the room somehow ends up dead. After making this horrifying discovery, Detective O'Reilly finds them both in the room. She's clearly not happy with either one of them, but gives them a chance to make an exit before backup arrives. Well, it turns out that there was a very good reason that everyone died so easily.
We saw that Detective O'Reilly had quite the transformation at the end of last season. As it turns out, she is dealing with a bit of a split personality. Brigid O'Reilly is still dealing with the loss of the love of her life and the pressures that come with being a detective. She also has these young people with abilities, who she has been a bit of a mentor to in the last year. She's stressed, she's drinking and she is not quite herself. Then you have Mayhem, who just wants to take over and rip everything to shreds. When Brigid finally hits rock bottom, Mayhem comes out and it's hard to see her giving back control anytime soon. She was the one responsible for killing all of those gang members and she's not stopping there.
Tandy goes to investigate a possible sex trafficking ring tied to a private ambulance service, after Tyrone ends up in one of these ambulances to try and save one of the women. As Tandy arrives, so does Mayhem, and that is where the cat is out of the bag. When they stop one of these ambulance workers to question him, Mayhem kills the man while Tandy wasn't looking. That is when we see them catch Mayhem in the act, and there is a real "where do we go from here?" moment before the episode ends. When I say "they", I mean Tandy, Tyrone AND Brigid. Clearly this is going to be quite the intense Jekyll and Hyde situation this season.
There are a few other details here and there that might prove to be important. Tyrone seeks help from Evita's mother about a symbol that he saw when the gang members were murdered. It turns out to be the symbol of a Loa, which could ultimately be tied back to all of these abilities. Only time will tell what direction the show decides to take on this, but if you know anything about Loa, it could be a very interesting angle. We also know that things are far from over for Evita and Tyrone, after they finally see each other after several months. Really though, I don't think you'll find a single fan who doesn't want to see more Mayhem this season. When I was talking to Emma Lahana and the producers at WonderCon this year, they were talking about how they want the audience to be conflicted about Mayhem. They think that a lot of people won't necessarily disagree with why Mayhem is doing what she is doing and might even root for her a bit. Her methods, that's another story. Only time will tell what kind of effect this will have on Tandy and Tyrone's relationship.
All in all, this was VERY solid start to Season 2 for Marvel's Cloak And Dagger. We still have that personal connection, but we also have an incredible new villain (maybe even anti-hero?) deal with and we haven't even begun to talk about how Tyrone is going to clear his name. I have a feeling we are in for quite a ride this season! What did you think of the Season 2 premiere of Marvel's Cloak & Dagger on Freeform?