Cloak & Dagger, series premiere - June 8

‘Cloak & Dagger’ premiered this week. How can it be described?

As – a bagel. A very well done, nicely toasted, cream-cheese-augmented bagel, but still a bagel. Just a bagel, or a great bagel, but still a bagel. There is no surprise about it, no twist – and that already sets it apart from AoS and possibly from AC.

What ‘Cloak & Dagger’ – this version of them, anyhow – is about? On one hand, there’s Tandy the Dagger, who was a princess and an aspiring ballerina, but now that her father is gone, and her mother is a drunken ho, Tandy herself is a semi-drug addict and a thief and is about as anti-heroic as you can get, especially that now she can manifest potentially deadly daggers made from solid light. Her archnemesis is the Roxxon Corp., and she will do anything to bring it down and avenge her father’s death and mother’s humiliation. And Cloak is Tyrone, a young Afro-American man, who raised himself from poor roots alongside his surviving family but cannot rest easily while his brother’s killers – corrupt police officers of NOPD – are alive and free. His powers are his trademark cloak of shadows that can teleport him away from danger, among other things.

Sounds cheesy? But that is what 2018’s version of ‘Cloak & Dagger’ are about. Tandy & Tyrone are living parallel lives that are only beginning to touch each other, (in a non-sexual way, here), but both of them are already ‘little people’ whose lives were ruined by ‘the man’ in bad ways. Frankly, the only TV show that has this depicted in a more blatantly obvious manner is ‘Killjoys’, who are, themselves, an imitation of AoS, but done in such a manner that they come across as a fairly original TV series, very politically correct and progressive too, whereas ‘Cloak & Dagger’ are not. Politically correct and progressive, that is. Yes, ‘Cloak & Dagger’ are crossing the racial lines in their relationship, (we’re talking about the titular heroes, here), but so far there’s none of that on one hand, and on the other…as we’ve talked before, Marvel™ seems to be downplaying ‘Cloak & Dagger’, as opposed to ‘Runaways’ – no new comic books about these heroes seem to be appearing on shelves.

Let us get back to real life USA – for them, apparently, interracial relationships are a big deal…or at least this is how their mass media presents them. In Canada, interracial relationships are a regular deal instead, and no one is making a whoop about them, or a fuss, or anything else – including a TV show. (Unless we are talking ‘Bachelor’, ‘Bachelorette’, or something similar, which is something else entirely). But that’s Canada, and ‘Cloak & Dagger’ is an American TV show, set in New Orleans…but so far we had nothing that made their home city specifically New Orleans: it is actually quite generic, and could as well be called L.A., Chicago, Boston, or Mexico City.

Well, maybe not Mexico City – ‘Cloak & Dagger’ so far was a dichotomous, black-and-white world, anyone else almost didn’t exist there, (though there were one or two secondary characters that were neither Anglo- nor Afro-American, but of different nationalities), and this isn’t real life America – just look up the Aaron Hernandez incident, as an example. Whatever ‘Cloak & Dagger’ are doing, it is an idealized America, a fictional one, regardless of whether or not it is a utopia or a dystopia, and this brings us to Marvel™. It is absent.

No, there is the logo before the episodes begin to fly, but that is it. There is no sign that connects ‘Cloak & Dagger’ to the greater Marvel™ universe, save for…the Roxxon corp that featured in AC and the first two seasons of AoS, (the last sightings that is). Sadly, so far we still have no idea just what does Roxxon do in ‘Cloak & Dagger’, is it an energy corporation as it is in the basic canon or what. It will be revealed, probably, as Tandy’s story develops further, hopefully, but for now – it could just as well be called ‘The Company’, as its’ counterpart is called in ‘Killjoys’, and nothing would change in ‘Cloak & Dagger’ plot-wise, at least for now.

Anything else? Firstly, it would be nice to know more about father Delgado’s own backstory – he has lot of tattoos beyond those priestly robes of his in this universe – is he an ex-Yakuza or something? That would actually make ‘Cloak & Dagger’ more interesting, at this point.

Secondly, the Biblical quote that we saw in the church scene of the opening episodes? It is from the second chapter of Daniel. In it, king Nebuchadnezzar has a dream, and one of his courtly magicians, diviners, oracles, and whoever can explain it to him. Along comes Daniel, and promptly explains it… but first, he says, (we are quoting the King James Bible here):

“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
    wisdom and power are his.
²¹ He changes times and seasons;
    he deposes kings and raises up others.
He gives wisdom to the wise
    and knowledge to the discerning.
²² He reveals deep and hidden things;
    he knows what lies in darkness,
    and light dwells with him.
²³ I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors:
    You have given me wisdom and power,
you have made known to me what we asked of you,
    you have made known to us the dream of the king.”

That line – number 22 – is the one used in the opening episodes of ‘Cloak & Dagger’, and this is important because it raises the issue of the divine/mystical/supernatural in that show. What we knew before the premiere of the show is that this version of ‘Cloak & Dagger’ will have their powers rooted in the mystical/etc. But again, so far we have no evidence of that, the audience might as well assume that their powers came from the explosion of the truck that’d also fallen into the water alongside Tandy, (who was in the car with her father), and Tyrone, (who jumped after his brother, who’d been shot by the ‘corrupt cops’) – and that is the only real problem with ‘Cloak & Dagger’, though it is a big one: it is generic. It is built from clichés and while it utilizes them with a great efficiency and the acting skills of, well, actors, helps the show greatly too, it doesn’t nullify the fact, that just like the ‘Black Panther’ movie, ‘Cloak & Dagger’ is yet another mouthpiece for yet another American perception, this time of itself, set in a fictional universe that is affiliated with Marvel™, however loosely. And is that a problem?

No, but it is a sufficient motivation to keep a careful, watchful eye on the show and the direction in which it goes. Until then – see you all soon.