Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger: Let’s talk about that twist

Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger started its second season this week and introduced a brand new, but somewhat familiar character. We’ve got some breakdowns for you

Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger wasted no time in its second season premiere setting up problems for our two main characters. Because we already knew it wasn’t going to be all sunshine and roses for Tandy and Tyrone. Nothing ever stays that way for superheroes.

Things have already started to get complicated for these teenagers. The one authority figure they thought they could turn to ends up being a little more complicated than we thought.

I discussed this at the end of the first season, how Brigid O’Reilly is also Mayhem in the comics. Marvel always takes some liberties with the comic book source material, and Cloak and Dagger is no exception. In the comics, O’Reilly and Mayhem in the same person.

But in Thursday’s premiere, we see they are very much two separate people. We spent most of the first two episodes thinking that O’Reilly was losing her mind, losing her edge because of the accident/shooting at the end of last season. In reality, she knows who’s causing the problems.

MARVEL’S CLOAK AND DAGGER – “Funhouse Mirrors” – “MarvelÕs Cloak & Dagger” airs Thursday, July 5 (8:00 – 9:00 p.m. EDT) on Freeform. (Freeform/Skip Bolen)

EMMA LAHANA

So it’s a very different take on the comics, but it’s one that seems like it will play better throughout the season. In an interview with TVLine, showrunner Joe Pokaski commented on the decision:

"We’ve seen the Jekyll and Hyde thing done a lot, and we wanted to do something different. Plus, our audience is ridiculously smart, so we wanted to try and pull one over on them at least once."

It’s true—I know I was surprised by it. And it is a very interesting twist, one that I think season 2 will have a lot of fun with. Tandy and Tyrone can literally see the difference in the two women—and the difference doesn’t necessarily mean that one is inherently good and one is inherently bad.

Two heads are better than one, right? Well, maybe. This is going to give us a timid cop who doesn’t always jump at every opportunity, usually following things by the books. And then you have Mayhem. She has some powers up her sleeve that she hasn’t shown us yet. And I’m not just talking her deadly fingernails. In the comics, her pores ooze noxious gas that can melt Tandy’s light daggers and paralyze her enemies. Plus levitation and flying.

I can’t imagine Cloak and Dagger will do too much with the latter powers. Now, having her be able to take on Tandy may mean Mayhem won’t always be on Tandy and Tyrone’s side.

Of course, we’ll have to see how season two plays out. For now, all we can do is speculate and wait for next week’s episode!