'Cloak & Dagger' Recap: 'Funhouse Mirrors'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

What continues to amaze me when it comes to Freeform’s Cloak & Dagger, is how it never waivers from its unconventional style of storytelling when it comes to the superhero genre. Because week in and week out, it puts character development above anything else, to the point where the overall plot is moving along at a snail’s pace in comparison to the usual superhero show, something that I find refreshing and downright magnificent, and this week’s episode, ‘Funhouse Mirrors’ was no exception to that rule, since once again this show provided us with a quality character study, and a slight surprise, in that, the show kicked some of the plot into ‘overdrive’ in this tale, in its own special way of course.
 
Because we are still in the dark when it comes to what Roxxon and Connors are actually up to, but we got a little bit of insight into all of that, thanks to the ‘special way’ in question, wherein every single character in this story, pushed ahead to learn more when it comes to their respective conundrum, including the intrepid Detective O’Reilly, who took the time to get close to Connors and his operation and surprisingly was able to get some ideas as to what makes this man tick and it would simply seem that the darkness of the streets corrupted Connors many years ago. Yet, while it was fascinating to learn a little more about the man who killed Tyrone’s brother, I did make mention of the fact that everyone forged ahead for knowledge in this tale.
 
Tandy accomplished that, by disguising herself as a brand-new Roxxon intern to get closer to Mina Hess, and she was able to learn that this young lady is thankfully not evil. She wants to follow in her father’s footsteps and change the world, and thanks to a little pressing on Tandy’s part, we came to learn that Roxxon is searching for something far more valuable than oil and Mina may hold the key to retrieving it and we also learned, that Tandy met her match in this tale. Because Mina saw through Tandy’s disguise and figured out she’s Nathan’s daughter and with false pretenses finally dropped between the two of them, Tandy was able to meet Ivan and see that he is no condition to reveal any secrets about what happened on that fateful night, at least…not without a little help…
 
However, while Tandy dealt with all of that, Tyrone felt compelled to learn more about Duane and his illegal dealings, to the point where he straight up shadowed the drug dealers working under Duane, so he could finally get close to him and learn more about what drove him down this path. But as is often the case with Tyrone’s story, things simply don’t go as planned, and the good in his soul always shines through and eventually he was able to confront Duane about his actions past and present, and he even learned that Duane was there on the fateful night when his brother died. But before he could learn more, Connors showed up and played Duane like a fiddle, leaving Tyrone broken and filled with sorrow over the incredible revelations that came his way.
 
If anything, this may hands-down be my favorite episode to date of this young series since it offered up so many wonderful and compelling moments and it was just solid storytelling through and through and I loved the intimacy this episode provided us with, and the lovely wrap around story present in this one as well was equally as magnificent since it helps set the stage for a grand disaster that Tandy and Tyrone will likely have to help in stopping. The only question that keeps bubbling up to the front of my mind from that part of this episode, is whether or not the prophecy in question, wherein one of them will die, will come true or not. Until next time.

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