Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger
“Funhouse Mirrors” (Episode 106)
July 5, 2018
Before watching (or reading about) tonight’s new episode of Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger, make sure you’re caught up with our recap here!
When last we left our intrepid and budding heroes, Ty had just lost the big state finals basketball game (maybe on purpose?) and Tandy found an interesting thread in her Roxxon investigation – a thread I have to imagine she pulls on tonight (patience isn’t Tandy’s thing, really).
Read on for our deep dive recap & review … after the jump!
We open on Evita getting ready to do some deep voodoo shit with Auntie Chantelle. Evita is fresh off the sexy times with Ty but Auntie doesn’t seem as sold on Tyrone as her niece – some bad juju is going down in New Orleans and Tyrone may be the answer (or the cause?). With the help of the cards, we’ll see the past and present and, if the Loa care to help out … the future!
Title Card.
After Basketball Duane (Dalon J. Holland) is done making the sexy times with his girl (or, a girl … Basketball Duane may have lots of girls), he heads to his “office” where we see “Not So Subtle” Tyrone spying on him from behind a corner. Boss, you’re a bad spy.
Roxxon. Tandy, done up in a disguise of glasses, latte and a fake internship, approaches Mina Hess in the parking lot of Roxxon. For her part, Mina is having an intense conversation in French as she is changing from office worker to enviro-warrior. Tandy … she’s way overdressed. Mina stonewalls her with a whole, “I don’t have interns” thing, Tandy gets to her specialty – manipulation and lies.
After laying it on thick with lines like, “I wanted to learn from you after I heard you speak,” Mina relents and allows Tandy to tag along — but she’s going to need to get some actual proper clothing and equipment. Including waders, the good kind. “Never cheap out on waders.” Cloak & Dagger – fun AND educational.
Basketball Duane’s Shop. Tyrone has worked up the courage to head inside and immediately gets to asking B-Ball Duane for a job … he could really use something after that State Finals Fail! B-Ball Duane puts him off – tells Tyrone he’s smart and doesn’t want to do what he does. Tyrone is feeling introspective … what if there was some other life I could’ve had if Billy didn’t die? Nope, nothing doing. B-Ball Duane tells Ty he’s headed to college — he knows that Tyrone will find his right path. If we didn’t already know that B-Ball Duane was a shit bag, this would be a tender moment. They boys bro hug but Tyrone isn’t done yet — he spies a drug runner that B-Ball Duane was talking to when Tyrone arrived and he decides to follow him.
**This will definitely work out okay for Tyrone.**
NOPD. After another Drug Snitch rolls out of the NOPD, Officer Fuchs (he of the “boning Det. O’Reilly in the squad car” Fuchs) (played by Lane Miller) pays O’Reilly a visit – he tells her he can see whose attention she is trying to grab and that grabbing said attention could be dangers –
“Connors is flammable. Don’t play with fire, okay?”
Back on the street. Remember when I said Tyrone was a horrible spy a little bit ago? Yeah, he’s really bad. It takes him all of 30 seconds before Drug Runner (I think its Kev but we’ll stick with Drug Runner for right now) grabs him, throws him up against a wall, holds him at gun point, and strongly advises Ty to not be seen again. Whelp! Commercials.
When we come back, we are joining Auntie Chantelle’s reading, already in progress. She is explaining to Evita that New Orleans is a magnet for bad shit … from natural disasters to man made ones.
“We’re a goodie bag of bad oogie down here.” – Auntie Chantelle
Evita isn’t quite putting it all together – another disaster is coming? Maybe, Auntie responds unhelpfully. She feels another story is coming for New Orleans and thinks it may be the Story of Tyrone.
The Church HQ. Tandy spelunkers down into her Church Home to find Tyrone waiting for her. How does he get in – and why doesn’t she take the normal person method he does – Tyrone is not spelunking down a rope into the Dagger Cave?!? The duo banter a bit about visiting each other (to be fair, Tandy visited Tyrone first on his turf) and rubber pants.
“Judge less or leave more.” – Tandy
OLIVIA HOLT
As Tandy unpacks all of her wading gear, Tyrone catches her up on his attempt to get inside with B-Ball Duane (bust Connors from the inside) and she tells him that he should commit whole hog – become a drug runner himself. Hell, she’s become a Roxxon Intern for the cause. Commit to the fraud, Tyrone! After hearing that Mina Hess’s father worked with Nathan, Tyrone remarks that Mina could be Tandy. Sure, she says, in a different better version of life.
Getting down to the brass tacks, Tandy freely admits she’s going to use her “Hope” power on Mina and suggests that Ty do the same – learn Drug Runner’s greatest fear and use it against him so he can take his spot on B-Ball Duane’s crew.
Abandoned Amusement Park. “Intern Liz” shows up for her meeting with Mina … in an abandoned amusement park. Mina is in a trailer rocking out to some tunes and making … breakfast? I don’t know. She lives here? I’m confused. Anyway, you know Tandy is playing a role here because she says “Okie Dokie.” Maybe “Intern Liz” says “okie dokie” but Tandy Bowen sure as hell, does not!
Mina is all Happy Homemaker with her secret ingredient cookies while Tandy, because she has no chill whatsoever, gets right to asking questions about Roxxon and blueprints and the oil rig that went … boom … 8 years ago. Anyway, cookies are yummers but time to go to work. “Hope you like mud.”
The Street. We get a quick cut of Drug Runner chit chatting with some of his boys while Bad Spy Ty looks on.
NOPD. Connors pays O’Reilly a visit. She gets to chatting about how her Club Dealer from last week (I referred to her as Party Girl) mentioned that she’d never met her boss — how does he keep himself so insulated? Connors says maybe the guy is just smart – he opines that if it were him *ahem* he’d keep “himself removed.” O’Reilly is all agreeable to that and then explains that she’s picked up 5 more dealers since Party Girl and through them, has tracked several Drug Runners BUT, O’Reilly cannot seem to track them to a central location. BLURG! You can see Connors Internally Screaming but covers well and asks if she wants some company today. Sure, but she’s driving. Fuchs is giving her “please don’t get killed” stares as she leaves the station with Connors. Commercials.
Back in the Palace of Voodoo and Souvenirs, Auntie Chantelle is having Evita work through the connections of disasters through time. Spoilers – its always about two people. Auntie calls it the “Divine Pairing.” If Tyrone is one of the pair … “who is the other?” Ooooh, can I guess, I have a guess!!!
Swamp. No Chill Tandy is moving through with the swamp with Mina and asking about whether Mina’s dad is still with Roxxon (I had made the assumption he was dead last episode — he’s not dead; he’s not quite a live, but he’s not dead either). Mina responds by talking about the disappearance of the American Bumblebee, which she affectionately calls “Bee Arthur.” Tandy reveals a bit of her digging into Mina’s past by dropping knowledge from Mina’s own master’s thesis on the topic of Bees and Pesticides. Smooth, Brown Noser. Moving on, Tandy says she’s happy that Mina is looking for the bee.
“When you stop looking for something. That’s when you let it disappear.”
Mina continues her history lesson and refers to Bees as the “New Orleans of Insects.” They always come back from disaster. “Bees survive.” They remark on how awesome N.O. is and then Mina tells Tandy, there is something pretty sweet underneath the city too …
Ride Along. Connors is digging into O’Reilly, how she went from taking a bump off of Party Girl to following the supply chain. She equivocates that they are still selling drugs to kids – free bump doesn’t equal free ride in her moral code. She suggests they just pick up some runners and start squeezing them for info. Connors suggest she try to get into the mind of the bad guy – think like they do to catch them. She counters that if you climb into the mind of the bad guy, you might slowly become them.
Connors tells her to pull over and jumps out of the car. Apparently they are going to squeeze some runners because Connors is chasing B-Ball Duane’s Drug Runner. As Connors gives chase, O’Reilly goes to retrieve the bag Drug Runner clearly stole. But, because he was already on the scene, we watch as Ty walks away with Drug Runner’s drug bag over his shoulder. This could be useful …
The Swamp. Well, out of the Swamp – seems like Mina just took Tandy on a long, wet, path to her “valve.” If an oil rig is the shotgunned beer of underground exploration, Mina’s valve is part of a complex new system that will respect nature and prevent the same type of disaster that destroyed the last rig. Bold Claim! Tandy asks some questions about oil and Mina, feeling chatty, tells Tandy that what they’ve found — burns 10x better than oil and twice as hot (according to Mina’s dad anyway). The pumps on the old rig couldn’t handle that kind of heat and so … boom. Mina explains that she has spent a lot of time thinking about what went wrong the last time and making sure it doesn’t happen again. Tandy mentions Mina’s father … again … and Mina deflects, “someone’s gotta make lemonade out of assholes.” Feeling like she’s got a connection, Tandy presses her luck. She mentions that she heard some “Nathan Bowen” was responsible for the rig explosion – a miscalculation of some sort. Mina responds that her father said that “Nathan Bowen never made a miscalculation in his life.” The look of pride on Tandy’s face is arresting – I love Olivia Holt in this role so much.
The reverie is interrupted when a Roxxon stooge comes tromping up to Mina. The Roxxon Stooge’s name is Stan (Preston Vanderslice). Seems like her heat shield is malfunctioning. Stan seems like the type of person who flusters, easily.
Alleyway. Connors catches up with Drug Runner and delivers a message via sucker punches, that he and B-Ball Duane need to meet stat because B-Ball Duane is garnering unwanted attention. The Unwanted Attention arrives in the alleyway to catch the last few bits of this “message” being delivered and looks on … bewildered? Perhaps she is wondering if Fuchs wasn’t more right than she gave him credit for? Connors moves on and notices O’Reilly is bagless – you got a partner Drug Runner? Drug Runner says he’s got nothing but Connors can expect some payback. Connors doesn’t seem very worried.
Roxxon Site. With Tandy’s nifty schematic reading skills, the ladies realize that the safety valve was placed 10 meters (not 10 feet Stan, God, you idiot!) from where it should have been. This cutting corners could have literally blown up everything. Stan says it was too expensive her way and he made a call. She calls it a dumbass call and informs him that the ever powerful Scarborough is going to hear about this. He calls her a bitch, as men are wont to do when threatened by smart women, and Mina stomps off.
**NOTE: Stan’s License Plate is, “STANMAN” which really tells you EVERYTHING you need to know about Stan. Turd.**
Tandy light daggers Stanman’s tire as she follows after Mina, so there is that at least. Over on the streets, Drug Runner is lying in wait for Tyrone as he casually makes his way back to B-Ball Duane’s office. Sorry, “office.” Anyway, they tussle over the Drug Bag and when their skin touches, we are in Drug Runner’s worst fear — which, seems to involve a Dementor-like creature (Harry Potter fans know what’s up) and child nursery rhymes. The difference from previous nightmares is that Tyrone actively works to keep Drug Runner inside this one. When they break, Drug Runner is sufficiently scared and bugs out, right quick. Well, you’re one step closer to being Tandy, Tyrone! Commercials.
We come back from break in the Voodoo Speakeasy – this is legit the longest card reading ever done – Auntie informs Evita that the foretold disaster is upon them … unless the Divine Pairing can stop it. Auntie Chantelle is full of fun.
B-Ball Duane’s Office. We join B-Ball Duane on the phone – clearly talking to Drug Runner about the lost bag. B-Ball Duane is having a day, friends. never fear though, B-Ball Duane, Ty’s got the answers to your problems. He plops the bag down in front of B-Ball Duane and is all, Drug Runner is a pussy who shit himself at the first sign of cops so, you know, hire me. I want in. B-Ball Duane is STILL pushing back against this idea but not any longer.
“You know what I do? What I really do? You wanna learn?”
B-Ball Duane offers to let Tyrone ride with him to finish Drug Runner’s run (who is officially acknowledged as Kev but we’ll finish off today’s ep with Drug Runner). Tyrone almost can’t believe this whole thing worked.
Mina’s Amusement Park Trailer Home. The Ladies grouse about Stan and how he isn’t like them; also, jag off can’t read a blue print. Mina asks Tandy where she learned about this stuff and she talks about her dad in an unrelated way – a friend’s dad who wanted to make science fun. Tandy, who likes talking about herself less than any body else ever, moves it back to Mina – she asks if Mina is like her dad. Mina says a little but thinks of herself more as a “Nathan.” Which she says is a great thing. She talks a little bit about her recollections of the two men working together – she calls Nathan the Steve Jobs to her father’s Wozniak. Tandy, unable to resist any longer, says she’d like to meet Mina’s father so she can learn more about Nathan. Just as Tandy is going to “Hope” Mina, Mina tells her to freeze – there is a Bee Arthur on Tandy. She gently blows the Bee off of Tandy and Tandy decides not to go through the “Hoping.”
B-Ball Duane at Work. B-Ball Duane is talking to Connors on the phone – we know because he mentions the “message” Connors told Drug Runner to deliver. Connors can’t talk – he suggests they meet tonight “and take care of all of this.” All of what? Good Question, B-Ball Duane. Good Question.
NOPD. After the call with B-Ball Duane, Connors heads inside to O’Reilly and basically tells her he’s got a way to capture the guy she’s after – but they’ve got to do it tonight.
**Is Connors setting up O’Reilly? Or B-Ball Duane? Does he even know at this point or is he just going to see how it plays out?!?**
In the car, B-Ball Duane and Ty talk about how the “life” isn’t so bad – though “like” has nothing to do with it. Its all about survival, B-Ball Duane wise mans. Tyrone warns him that he’s been told that when you put out energy in the world, it always comes back to you. B-Ball Duane agrres. he says that’s life on the street too. Whatever you put out, it all comes back to you.
“It won’t come back fair. It won’t come back right. But it comes back.”
“Like Justice,” Tyrone says. B-Ball Duane ain’t about that though; Justice is for white folks somewhere else. Cynical, B-Ball Duane. Cynical.
Mina’s Amusement Park Trailer Home. Remarking on Mina’s choice of living arrangement, Tandy plays the “Mina’s dad” card once too many and Mina has had enough. She calls out Tandy on her day’s worth of lies – she knows she’s not “Intern Liz” but rather, Tandy Bowen. Also, a shitty liar, Mina adds. I can’t believe the glasses didn’t fool her. Commercials.
We come back to the Voodoo Reading that never ends. We’ve reached the end, I think, and Chantelle drops some hard truth on Evita. Like all of the patterns that have come before, this Divine Pair will end the same way – one will live and one will die. Whelp.
B-Ball Duane’s Office. Returning from their adventure, B-Ball Duane compliments Ty and says he shouldn’t be surprised – Tyrone has always stepped up … like when he jumped in the lake to try and save Billy.
Hmmmmmmmm. That isn’t something B-Ball Duane should know.
Tyrone pieces it together that B-Ball Duane was THERE the night that Connors killed Billy and knowing that, is still working with Connors. The Fuck Man?!? B-Ball Duane defends himself by saying, he’s still alive – what’s he supposed to do if not work with/for Connors. Tyrone isn’t backing down though — Billy helped build this business that B-Ball Duane is enjoying; Ty tells him that he should come forward, say what he saw about Connors. “And I’d definitely be dead,” is B-Ball Duane’s immediate response. You can tell he’s thought about this.
Tyrone isn’t done, even yet. He tells B-Ball Duane that he talks a good game and talks about having heart but really? He’s a pussy; is the implication.
“Every day, you kill my brother all over again. C’mon man. You can do better than this.”
“For what? For justice?,” B-Ball Duane sneers back. “For Billy,” is Tyrone’s simple reply. “So he didn’t just die for nothing.” *Pound Pound Pound* Connors is here.
Outside B-Ball Duane’s Office, Connors tells O’Reilly that this is his guy – so give him 5 minutes before coming in. Inside, B-Ball Duane tells Ty they can talk more but later – for now, Ty has got to go. Out the back.
Hospital. The mystery clarifies a bit – Mina’s father, Ivan, is still alive but in a coma or rather, a catatonic state. It’s all of thirty seconds before Tandy comes walking. Mina isn’t surprised she found her but asks why she lied – she would’ve taken Tandy to meet her father.
“I guess the truth never occurred to me … all I do is lie.” – Tandy
That’s some healthy introspection. Tandy tells Mina she was searching for answers … about her dad, about what happened. Mina says her dad isn’t really talkative these days and Tandy offers to try and reach him. While he lightly hums to himself, Tandy “Hopes” him. In his vision, she sees a bright yellow door with a turn handle – like a metal door you’d find on a battleship or an oil rig. As she goes to reach for the handle, black smoke that looks like the kind produced when Tyrone uses his power, cuts her off – it seems to almost burn her when she makes contact with the smoke.
Back in the present, Tandy breaks a little as she introduces herself to Ivan; Mina apologizes for him not being able to help. Thinking of the black smoke, Tandy thinks she knows someone who might be able to help.
B-Ball Duane’s Office. Connors tells B-Ball Duane that when O’Reilly comes through the door, B-Ball Duane needs to kill her – she’s gotten too close to the mess, he says B-Ball Duane and his boys have created. It has to be B-Ball Duane — Connors’ hands are already dirty enough. Of course, Ty is watching this whole thing. He tries to call O’Reilly but she doesn’t pick up. Back in the main conversation, Connors tells B-Ball Duane that if he does this, Connors will keep NOPD off his back.
resigned, B-Ball Duane cocks his gun, “use what you got, right?” O’Reilly comes in, Connors calls “RAID,” B-Ball Duane raises his gun and O’Reilly puts one dead in his chest. As B-Ball Duane falls dead to the floor, Ty screams, “Nooo” and Connors goes after him. As Tyrone runs, O’Reilly looks over B-Ball Duane’s dead body — is this remorse? Hard to tell.
In an Alley, Connors lines up Tyrone dead in his sights – but, after each bullet he fires, Tyrone jumps and temporarily disappears. On his third jump, he disappears for good. Connors? Connors looks confused as fuck.
Ty apparates in The Church, coming down from the last jump. Tandy is there, “Ty? Ty what’s wrong?” As Tyrone faces her, he begins to weep. Tandy goes to him but their powers prevent her from touching him. The framing on this final scene is beautiful and one of the many things this show does so well. We end the episode with this Divine Pair … so close and still, so far away.
Thoughts. “Use what you got” is a phrase mentioned several times tonight – by Tandy, by Tyrone, and last, by B-Ball Duane (RIP). In Tandy’s case, she says it with confidence – she’s weaponized what she has and has come to terms with using it offensively to help achieve her goals. In Tyrone and B-Ball Duane’s case, each of them use the phrase resignedly – each feeling forced into a role that they’d rather not be playing but, through bad choices and life circumstances, are forced to do. Like Auntie Chantelle cryptically says to Evita, there is always a point of no return … its called, the end. We always have to get to the end of our story – however, and whichever way that may work out. Tyrone needed to use his Greatest Fear power to remove Drug Runner from the equation – B-Ball Duane needed to raise that gun against O’Reilly because it was the path Connors (and B-Ball Duane’s lifetime lack of integrity and fortitude) forced him to be on. In this life, you really do, have to use what you got.
Last thing, what is the mystery of Ivan Hess’ Hope vision. Is his different because of his catatonic state or is there another reason for the difference? And, why is there Tyrone’s Nightmare power infringing on this Hope Vision? Does Ivan even hold the answers that Tandy is looking for? My guess is yes to the latter so we’re not done with Mina or her father.
Last, Last thing. Their powers weren’t being used, why couldn’t Tandy get close to Tyrone in that final scene – what was causing that barrier?
Really, the last thing. O’Reilly. I had been really digging this rogue cop vibe they’ve been setting up for O’Reilly but man, I was super bummed that she did Connors dirty work here -I am curious to see how the death of B-Ball Duane at O’Reilly’s hands plays out – the repercussions not only within the NOPD but also, as a contact point for Tandy and Tyrone – Tyrone witnessed her shoot this man that he believed he could still turn.
Okay, super final, last thing. What is the deal with Evita and Auntie Chantelle’s Neverending Voodoo reading? Are they the Greek Chorus, telling us the finale that we now how to watch – the Divine Pair has to be Tyrone & Tandy so, how does the “one will live and the other die,” work? They’re not killing either of these characters – the show isn’t called “Dagger” or “Cloak” – it’s “Cloak & Dagger” and it’s definitely going to have a Season 2 so, my take away is that the Voodoo Chorus is looking a t a possible outcome of the future – but one that can be changed. Perhaps, changed by using what you got?
Until next week, friends!!