“Funhouse Mirrors” laid the groundwork for some intriguing potential storylines as Tandy, Tyrone, and O’Reilly each went undercover to uncover their truths. Read on for our Cloak & Dagger review.
With each and every passing episode of Cloak & Dagger, I find myself incredibly excited about the future. Where this show is headed. Where these storylines are headed. Where these characters are headed.
I also find myself saying that this was the episode where things changed. Because things are constantly changing and the narrative molding itself to these characters and the journeys they’re taking. And it’s beautiful.
But “Funhouse Mirrors” can most definitely be considered one of those game-changing episodes that manages to set up several things at once. Be it a potential alliance between Tandy and Mina or Tyrone being pushed to the brink or O’Reilly finding herself in the lion’s den with Connors. This episode of Cloak & Dagger was so brilliant, but the most exciting part of it was the potential storylines and areas for character development that it set up.
Everyone in this episode was going undercover to find the truth. Their truth. And it all brought them dangerously close to losing something. For Tandy, she nearly lost hope. For Tyrone, he lost a friend. For O’Reilly, she almost lost her life.
But this was also the episode where Cloak & Dagger really addressed Tyrone and Tandy — without addressing both of them directly. As in, a couple of characters addressed impending disaster and the only thing that could stop it: The Divine Pairing. And I think we can all figure out who the Divine Pairing is.
Cloak & Dagger has really taken its time in establishing this world and these characters as individuals, which will make for a sweeter payoff when it does come. But it feels like this is the moment where Tyrone and Tandy become more a packaged deal. Could next week be the first time we — and they — learn the truth about what’s happening? About what fate has in store for them? That only one of them will survive this?
Gimme, gimme, gimme!
Let’s talk a little more about “Funhouse Mirrors,” including a potential alliance against Roxxon, Tyrone’s rude awakening, and O’Reilly’s playing with fire with Connors.
Has Tandy Found an Ally Against Roxxon?
There cannot be enough said about the pacing as far as storylines go in Cloak & Dagger. Because as Tandy went undercover as Mina Hess’ assistant to learn what she could about her father and what happened that night, this storyline could not have happened at a better time.
We’re six episodes into this show, so we know a good deal about who Tandy and Tyrone are as individuals. Tandy is someone that’s untrusting, convincing in her lies, and doesn’t really have friends. All she has is herself. So when Tandy set out to learn more about Mina — the girl that Tandy could’ve been in another life had Roxxon not framed her own father for the oil rig tragedy — she never expected to find a friend. But that’s exactly what she found.
For someone that’s really good at blending in and acting her role to a tee, Tandy was a little overzealous in this episode. Though that’s probably due to the circumstances of the situation. Here she had Mina Hess, the daughter of the man that was pretty much her father’s partner, and this was her best shot at learning about the truth about what happened. So Tandy asked way too many questions. Tandy didn’t shy away from her skills with a blueprint. And Mina, an environmental scientist, was no dummy when it comes to human interaction. Mina was able to put the pieces together that Liz was actually Tandy, Nathan Bowen’s daughter.
The thing that I really enjoyed about this storyline was what it presented at present and also what it poses for the future. First, the present. It allowed Tandy to thrive in a situation where she began to develop feelings of friendship for someone, which is clearly something she hasn’t done often in her life. We got to see Tandy ask Mina questions but instead of just learning about her dad and Roxxon, Tandy learned that Mina is actually one of the good ones. Could it be that someone good works at Roxxon? Could Tandy actually be gaining a friend? All I know is when Tandy refused to use her ability on Mina that the phrase “actions speak louder than words” could not be more true.
Speaking of, the future. With presenting Tandy an individual that represents the antithesis of Roxxon — that just so happens to work for Roxxon — we’re presented an opportunity that I’m sure these showrunners will not pass on. Cloak & Dagger has now presented Tandy with an ally in her fight against Roxxon. Now, of course Mina has no idea that Roxxon was behind this whole thing. But the point right now is to establish the relationship and the bond and this idea that the daughters of the men that were trying to save the world might actually be able to save it themselves.
There are still so many questions and so many possibilities when it comes to Tandy and Mina’s dynamic. Not only is Nina the only one, I presume, that knows that Tandy is Tandy Bowen, but there’s this sort of understanding between them now. Both of their fathers were harmed during that explosion — Tandy lost her father, though Mina kind of did, as well, as he’s pretty much unresponsive. So we have to girls that couldn’t be more different but also are proving to be pretty similar presented against this evil that is Roxxon. And I cannot wait to see this unfold.
Tyrone Gets a Rude Awakening
One of the many things that I love about Cloak & Dagger is that it goes against stereotypes while also not ignoring what’s happening in the world. Case in point: Tyrone is a black man that grew up in a wealthy household and went to a private school and had no affiliation with crime since his brother died when he was young. And in this episode, Tyrone decided to explore that unseen world in order to bring Connors down.
Tyrone is fueled by his desire to bring Connors to justice for what he did to his brother. But as we know, it’s unlikely Connors will go down for murdering Billy. But Tyrone knows that he can bring him down for something else: drugs. This drives Ty to go undercover from the inside in an attempt to bring Connors down.
That means going to Wayne, Billy’s old friend, who happens to be in league with Connors, as we saw in the previous episode. Tyrone knows his way to Connors is through Wayne, so he tells Wayne that he wants a job. As a drug dealer. Wayne immediately shoots him down, but Tyrone heeds Tandy’s advice and creates an opening of his own. He grabs the abandoned backpack stashed with drugs and returns it to Wayne as a sign of good faith but also a sign that he’s serious about getting involved in this life.
Watching Tyrone roam a world that he’s never know was quite the eye-opening experience for him. Because as much as he was quick to lie that he wanted in on this life (to bring Connors down), he got a front row seat to how this life really works and how fortunate he was to have escaped it.
While Ty certainly doesn’t want in on this world, he feels he has no choice. It’s the only way to get justice for Billy. To take Connors down. And the only way to get to Connors is to bring him down for dealing drugs. So Tyrone has thrown himself into this alien environment and found himself confronted in certain situations he’d never found himself before.
But perhaps it was one of the episode’s final scenes that really got to Tyrone as he watched Wayne, one of his brother’s friends, shot and killed — again because of Connors. Connors set him up. To save his own ass. To have someone else fight his battle. And because Wayne knew the only way to survive was to listen to Connors, he listened. And he died as a result.
“You can be better than this,” Tyrone had told him minutes earlier. “So (Billy) didn’t die for nothing.”
The thing is, Tyrone doesn’t understand the world that Wayne comes from. And this episode did a great job at highlighting that. Ty believes in the best of people, but Wayne has just had to focus on surviving every day. Wayne understood what he had to do to survive — even if it meant cowering to a douche like Connors. Because it was either that or death. And, in the end, death was what became of him.
O’Reilly Plays With Fire With Connors
The more we progress with Cloak & Dagger, the more intrigued I become with the two detectives that are showcased. At first, I thought Connors was just your typical white male cop that messed up and tried to convince himself that he did what he thought was right in shooting down an innocent black boy. At first, I thought O’Reilly would be your typical female cop with a desire to do good and find justice…the right way. Luckily, for us, both of those assumptions were completely wrong.
There has been so much exploration when it comes to O’Reilly and Connors, especially where O’Reilly is concerned. Yes, she wants justice. But she’s not afraid to dive headfirst into the fire — even if it means breaking the law a little. Case in point: Her goal to take down the corrupt Connors.
We all know Connors doesn’t play by the rules. He doesn’t even follow them. He’s too far gone in that world of power and control to even know why he joined the police in the first place. And O’Reilly has no idea what she’s doing in going undercover to try and bring Connors down from the inside. She is in fact “playing with fire,” as one of her colleagues warns.
But Connors has taken the bait — or has he? In knowing that O’Reilly is sniffing around these drug dealers, he knows that his ass will be affected, as well. So while O’Reilly believes that she has this guy hooked, she might have taken the bait he set for her.
As they drove together to hunt some of these guys down, Connors gave O’Reilly the key to this whole thing:
“You know the key to this stuff? Getting inside someone else’s mind.Thinking like them, seeing the world the way they do. That way you can predict what they’re going to do.”
And then a warning:
“You start thinking like the other guy, you live a little longer.”
Case in point: When Connors knew that O’Reilly was onto a drug side job he was running, his instinct was to take her out. If O’Reilly had any inkling that Connors was working with these guys, she didn’t show it. Because she should’ve heeded his advice when it came to thinking like the other guy. What would Connors do if he thought she was getting too close to the truth? Try to kill her. Which is exactly what he did. Only, because he’s a coward and to save his own ass, he made Wayne do it.
If O’Reilly had been thinking like the other guy, Connors, then she would’ve suspected that he was trying to set her up. Let’s hope this was the rude awakening she needed to remind her who she is dealing with.
The scary thing about this whole situation is this: Look at what Connors tried to do to O’Reilly when all he thought was that she was on to him drug business. He tried to have her killed. Now, imagine what Connors would try to do to O’Reilly if he knew that she was trying to take him down from the inside. That thought sent a chill through my body the second it crossed my mind.
O’Reilly isn’t just playing with fire anymore. She’s playing with a volcano. And it’s only a matter of time before that thing erupts. Let’s just hope she can manage to escape with her life.
Cloak & Dagger airs Thursdays at 8/7c on Freeform.