‘Cloak And Dagger’ S1E9: “Back Breaker”

Last week Cloak and Dagger ended with the good guys seemingly winning.  Tyrone, finally got corrupt police officer Connors to admit on tape the murder and cover-up of his brother’s death that has been tormenting him for the past eight years.  Tandy confronted Roxxon executive Scarborough, but instead of burying him, she took a payout.  Having resolved their problems that stemmed from that night when their lives changed forever, both of them looks to be ready to move on.  Of course, happy endings aren’t always on the horizon…..

The episode begins with Chantelle walking through the streets with a bottle of vodka.  While she may look like a normal partier just having an episode of day drinking through New Orleans, that’s not the case it’s voodoo related.  She’s taking a swig, spitting (some of) it out, and marking the sidewalk as she strolls about.  She senses something bad is about to happen.  As she drunkenly talks with her niece Evita later on, she says that a disaster is coming for the city and only the “divine pairing” can save them.  She asks Evita is Tyrone has met Tandy yet, telling her to ask him.

It’s ironic that while the episode focuses on Tyrone and Tandy, the narration is being told by Father Delgado as he’s instructing a class on heroes and myths.  He even uses Odysseus, Dorothy, and Rick and Morty (of all heroes) as examples.  He mentions the trials and tribulations that a hero has to go through.  To paraphrase Thomas Wayne from Batman Begins, they have to “fall to get back up.”  This episode was most certainly about the heroes falling, so they can rise once again to be the heroes the city needs them to be.

Tandy is suffering from the revelation that her father isn’t the nice wholesome person she envisioned from her childhood.  Last week when she and Tyrone touched her mother, they both saw her hopes and fears.  Her father was nice and loving to her mother, yet beat her at the same time.  She proceeds to burn a picture of her father, and go back to snorting opiates.  With that bundle of cash she received from the Roxxon executive, she had plenty of cash to burn for her drug habit.  She also learned to develop her powers a little.  In addition to seeing a person’s hopes, she not could enter their minds and remove them, as she did on an unsuspecting guy she was conning.  Oh, and she’s back to conning people.

Tyron is also at a rough spot.  He thought getting Connor’s arrested would mean everything would work out and he and his parents could finally put the loss of his brother behind them.  As they are being briefed by someone at the police department, both his parents are skeptical that anything will come out of this.  His father mentions that he’s heard all this before.  Tyrone is upset with his parents for not believing him all these years, and also, because they don’t seem to care that the guy was arrested.

Thing’s aren’t bad for just them, O'Reilly is also having a terrible time.  She discovered her boyfriend, Officer Fuchs was murdered and stuffed in the refrigerator.  To nurse this pain, she’s drinking heavily.  During the funeral, she’s very drunk and things only get worse when she runs into Connors at the wake.  For one, he’s not in jail, meaning he once again has some of the blue line in his corner, and two he taunts her that her “YouTube video” means nothing.  The exchange of words turns into an exchange of fists and Connors beats her up pretty bad, with all the other cops looking on.  She’s definitely on her own.

Tandy goes to the police station and bails Liam (remember him?) out.  While she’s there, she notices the same woman who was a Roxoon assassin that shot her mother’s boyfriend walking out, meaning this isn’t over.  She and Liam have a unique reunion as he’s resentful that she took so long to help him out.  At first, he thought she skipped town, now he realizes she was avoiding him.  She reassures him that she needed to raise the necessary money and shows him where he stash is (big mistake).  The two share a touch and she then sees his hopes again centering on marriage.  Meanwhile, Tyrone is having problems.  The anger surrounding his brother’s death not really being solved has led to a fight at school.  He goes to Father Delgado’s office for counseling.  As he rages on, he takes a swing at the priest.  As the two engage in a struggle, Tyrone touches him and sees his dark fears.  Turns out, Father Delgado at one time was a drinker, and his drunk driving led to the death of a young girl.  At the same time, Tandy’s touching of Liam has caused their two realities to start shaking and once again Tandy and Tyrone are pulled in together.  This time, it’s not a happy reunion as they spend more time yelling at each other and promising to leave each other alone.  Later on, as the two are arguing in the real world, Evita comes to talk with them in which Tandy is hostile towards her.  Tandy touches her as to see her hopes (and probably take them away) and sees Evita as a doctor in a hospital.  As she goes to touch her, Evita tells her “no,” meaning that she has the ability to enter this reality as well.

Tandy leaves and goes back to her home, only to see that Liam has ransacked it and stolen all the money.  She goes to her mother’s house to finally have a conversation about her father and notices that the Roxxon assassin her a gun to her mother’s head telling her to come out.  Tandy lights up one of her daggers.

Tyrone heads home to talk with his mother about his brother and his death.  She wants him to move on not because she doesn’t care about his brother, but because of how the world works.  She and her father know that in a Black Lives Matter world, the police don’t get justice for their crimes, and if Connors had the resources to cover up his brother’s death, there’s nothing to stop him from being killed as well.  Just then, SWAT approaches the house.  Tyrone was been (falsely) accused of killing Fuchs and is now on the run!

Next week is the explosive season one finale.  Tyrone and Tandy have to save the city from Roxxon’s experiments.