Marvel's Cloak and Dagger S01E01 Review: Teen Romance

Marvel's Cloak and Dagger, Season 1, Episode 1: First Light

Superhero TV shows try their best to distinguish themselves from the standard superhero-sci-fi/vigilantism fare in order to, well, stand out. Luke Cage and Black Lightning carries with it an air of racial themes. Jessica Jones tackles some unexpectedly mature female themes. Legion is a psychedelic exercise in trying to screw with the audience's perceptions. So this year's new Marvel TV series, ostensibly set in the MCU but will never cross over with the MCU, Cloak and Dagger is more of a teen-romance drama. Or at least that's how the internet makes it out, anyway. It's not my kind of genre and I genuinely have no attachment whatsoever to these characters (they showed up in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 as NPC's, I remember that much), so I'm definitely pretty sure reviews of this series will be pretty sporadic, or maybe happen after I binge-watch the entire season. Hell, I'm like two and a half weeks late with reviewing the first episode as it is.

The first episode's definitely an origin story, though, showing how the titular Cloak and Dagger -- or rather, young Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen -- ended up quite literally sharing a tragedy during one faithful night. And the episode neatly opens up with some neat cinematography showing the bright, white colours of Tandy's ballet class, and the grungy, darker colours as young Tyrone looks at his brother and his gangster friends, and ends up stealing a car stereo to impress his big brother. In true comic book fashion, there's a huge energy explosion and a family member's death, leading to their superhero origin. The way the episode builds up to that is pretty well done, though. Tandy is in a car while her father argues about ominous-sounding things, causing said father to be distracted and quite literally run into a truck. Tyrone and his brother ends up chased by policemen who see them holding a car radio, and one of them shoots Tyrone's brother. Both of them end up in the same lake thanks to the accident, and both of them end with a beloved older family member dead. And somewhere in this moment, some shadowy tendrils apparently manifest and Tyrone saves Tandy with his nascent superpowers.

Flash-forward a couple of years, and our main characters are young adults... and it seems that they've sort of swapped levels in society's class lines. Tandy's mother is an addled woman who's driven her family to the ground in pursuit of getting their property back, and is addicted to drugs. Tandy herself makes money by pretending to be a lady looking for some fun, only to drug rich young men and rob them blind with her boyfriend Liam. Meanwhile, Tyrone is part of his school's basketball team, and has a pair of now-smothering parents. The two of them end up in a high school party in the woods, and, of course, meet each other. Tandy steals Tyrone's wallet after a talk, and in the ensuing chase Tandy's light-generating powers are activated. It's a  good thing that actors Olivia Holt and Aubrey Joseph have some genuine chemistry with each other, otherwise I probably wouldn't be able to sit through some of these scenes. And while the episode does sort of bring the two together through increasingly convoluted coincidences, I have sort of a feeling that the whole "brought together by fate" deal is a part of their story? Maybe? They definitely remember the original meeting after the accident, so there's that.

Regardless, the episode ends with both Tandy and Tyrone manifesting their powers. Tandy's is simpler. She ends up watching an expensive ballet show with the tickets she stole from the random rich kid. Said rich kid and her buddies pull her into an alley in a pretty lengthy and uncomfortable attempted rape -- emphasis on the attempt, because Tandy manifests her powers in a literal dagger of light and stabs the fucker in the gut. Tyrone, meanwhile, have been trying to look up the corrupt policeman who murdered his brother billy years ago, and ends up confronting the policeman. After several moments of teleporting all over town while asleep and wrapped in a cloak. We get a chase scene showing that Officer Connor does exist and is corrupt, and while held at gunpoint, he manages to properly manifest his powers as Cloak and teleport back to his room.

It's a strong enough pilot episode -- if not particularly impressive, IMO. I am guessing that this is a more character-driven series than anything, so it's definitely important to establish these characters and their shared history first, and that the only stakes for Tyrone and Tandy -- at least for the time being -- is trying to figure out just what happens to them.

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• Not going to look up spoilers for Cloak and Dagger themselves, but the company that owns the exploding oil rig, and that Tandy's father used to work to, is Roxxon Oil Company, the same company featured in Iron Man 3, Agent Carter, Agents of SHIELD and Daredevil.