'Cloak & Dagger' Recap: 'Lotus Eaters'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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

What I’ve always found interesting about our favorite television shows as a whole, is how we get comfortable in watching them, regardless of what they bring to the table. If it’s a dark show, we are content with the darkness. If it’s a drama, we’re good with the tears it brings to our eyes and if it’s an unconventional superhero series like Cloak & Dagger, we find ourselves lapping up the twists and turns it sends our way. Of course, while it seems as though this is a setup for a rant on how this can be a problem for an audience, it’s not. If anything, this is on my mind today because when a series establishes what it’s all about and finds a way to surprise its audience, that’s a special moment indeed, and that’s precisely what Cloak & Dagger managed to pull off last night.
 
In fact, I’m ready to declare ‘Lotus Eaters’ as the best episode that season one has offered up to date because not only did it tell quite the unconventional story by sending us inside someone’s mind in order to give the audience and our heroes some answers, but also due to the fact that it finally allowed for Tandy and Tyrone to become the heroes we’ve been waiting for them to become in the most subtle ways imaginable. But, before we dig too deeply into that part of the story, let’s take a moment today and discuss that first story element I made mention of because they really did venture into someone’s mind for answers, Ivan Hess’ to be exact and what they found there…was downright fascinating.
 
Because inside Ivan’s mind, was a waking nightmare, one where Ivan constantly re-lived that fateful night eight years ago when the rig exploded and well, he had been in his own memory for so long that his real identity was a mystery to him but he did have some interesting nuggets to offer up to the audience in that, whatever energy was released before the Rig explodes or exploded, ‘infected’ some of the crew, transforming them into something angry and while that may have been part of the nightmare, putting it front and center makes me question whether or not there’s some credence to this and if its related to Tandy and Tyrone’s abilities and quite frankly, their destiny as superheroes as well, and really, this was just a cool idea through and through and their concern over seeing Ivan’s inability to escape his worst nightmare is what led to the heroic moments in question.
 
For there was an unexpected trap in Ivan’s mind; a phone, one that rang during every destructive cycle and on the other end of the line was Tandy’s father and well, when given the choice to either to speak to her dad or complete the mission to save Ivan, she chose her father every single time and that’s where the heroics came into play. Because Tyrone had to step up and push Tandy to understand that this was all a fantasy and once he was able to do that, Tandy was able to influence Ivan to understand the same thing, allowing for him to escape the prison of his own mind and return to consciousness and his daughter at last and most importantly, Ivan became the first life saved by this budding dynamic duo.
 
So really, when all is said and done, this episode was just magnificent. I loved the twist when it came to Tandy and the phone call with her father since the past and its power over us has always been a predominant issue on this series and I loved how the neutral territory of someone else’s mind allowed for them to learn their powers and heal and because that twist was downright original through and through. But, most importantly, they are continuing to embrace their roles as heroes and what they did in this tale was a wonderful thing. But I am still concerned about the lucid revelations in this one involving a form of ‘evil’. Because when you take the messages we received a couple of weeks ago regarding a threat to come, and ponder upon what Ivan had to say in this tale, it makes one wonder if something incredibly dark is on its way…      

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