In “Rabbit Hold” Cloak & Dagger pushes the Divine Pairing even further apart as Tandy and Mayhem are forced to team up while Ty goes on the run again. We also see the return of an old enemy and the rise of a new one.
Just when Tandy thought there were no more secrets between her and Ty, the last episode delivered a nasty shock.
Ty hasn’t been honest about his powers – or what happened to Connors – and now it’s gotten them into even bigger trouble.
Realizing Ty has been transporting people into a dark dimension (the Darkforce dimension to be exact if we’re going off the comics), gives Tandy new reasons to berate Ty, telling him he’s been hiding from real life when he’s known all along where Connors was.
What exactly did Ty think was going to happen? That he was going to hide forever? While we’ve gotten a lot of emotional interrogation of Tandy this season, I’m waiting for them to dig deeper into Ty’s psyche.
But until then, it’s going to take both of them to fix this mess. Ty can’t go in and rescue Mayhem or even control his power, but maybe Tandy can. Ty just needs to be afraid.
Tandy is desperate to get Mayhem back because she still thinks she’s the key. She feels guilt over getting Mikayla caught up in the sex trafficking, saying “I can’t unsee what I saw, can you.”
She pushes him to the edge, throwing daggers at him, suggesting he hasn’t brought Connors back because he’s afraid he’ll kill him for real. Tandy’s a little too good at being mean and pushes Ty to admit he’s terrified he won’t be able to protect his family from Connors this time.
It’s enough to open Ty up, literally, and Tandy enters the Darkforce dimension.
Every Coin Has Two Sides
Meanwhile, Ty has his own problems to deal with, as O’Reilly warns him the Uptown Block Kings identified him from his wanted poster at the station and could be coming after his mom. While we’ve already seen Adina this season, this is the second emotional reunion for Ty since his disappearance and it chips a little more away from the shell he’s built up.
Inside, Tandy meets a younger version of Ty. Of course, it’s not really Ty, just a spirit who explains the only way for Tandy to pass through is to give something up. She agrees to give up her powers and gets a coin to use in the observation binoculars. One side has a dagger…the other a cloak. Because as young Ty says, “every coin has two sides to it.” It’s been a theme for the show since day one, but it’s unclear how these two are going to work together to bring down such a different enemy this season.
Meanwhile, Ty and his mom try to escape but he can’t use his powers while Tandy’s inside so they have to make a break on foot. More suspiciously, Adina refuses to leave the house without some files. Could it be connected back to the man who signaled her during the parish meeting in the last episode?
Tandy ends up in a creepy facsimile of a mall, but eventually finds Mayhem who rebuffs her for refusing her initial team up offer. But Mayhem can’t exit since she’s not a whole person, so it’s up to Tandy to take them through the mirrors. But before the does she has to pick which reflection. The fact that she chooses the Tandy with the dagger, over the other possible futures, says a lot about her resolve to help others over choosing her self.
She’s forced to reconsider her choices, even more, when she gets into an argument with Mayhem about whether Mayhem is actually the “bad” version of Brigid. To Mayhem’s point, Brigid’s tactics weren’t working. She draws Tandy closer and closer to agreeing that maybe Mayhem is a good thing.
In a creepy turn, Mayhem and Tandy discover a store filled with hanging ponchos, effigies that resemble Ty’s cloak. It’s clear to both of them that Connors has been living there, but they argue over whether to kill him or to break him free to clear Ty’s name.
“When it comes to men they have their own power structure and do not need your help propping it up,” snipes Mayhem.
As much as we view Ty and Tandy as a team, the introduction of Mayhem is starting to break down those bonds and introduce more questions as to whether they can really work together.
This is compounded more when they find a store in the mall filled with records with faces and names of missing girls. The sex trafficking case feels much more personal for Tandy, not only because of Mikayla but because of her own experiences as a woman. Ty talks about sex trafficking in the historical sense, sharing the story of the New Orleans Casket Girls, while Brigid talks about it the very real, modern sense of how it still impacts New Orleans.
Tandy finds her own stack of records, with covers featuring some of her lowest moments. But some records are still sealed. After she starts listening to them we realize they’re some of her memories of her abusive father she had repressed. (Also one features a very creepy version of “Hit Me Baby One More Time” that I’d gladly never listen to again).
When she comes out of the last memory, Mayhem is gone. Whoops.
Meanwhile, Ty convinces the Uptown Block King whose life he saved in the last episode to let them go, but he’s deciding to do something even riskier instead. He calls O’Reilly to have the police bring him in. It leads to a devastating performance from Gloria Reuben as Adina has to face losing her son once again. She knows an accused cop-killer doesn’t stand a chance, especially not when he’s a young black boy.
Ty is running out of time, and Tandy and Mayhem still haven’t left. Tandy stops Mayhem from killing Connors but ends up breaking the “rules” of the Darkforce dimension by drawing her weapon. Suddenly they’re all transported to the church, Ty included.
They realize what’s happened just in time to see Connors escaping through a window.
Additional Thoughts:
- Compared to last season, this season has spent much more time in reality than dreamscapes or other dimensions. Having half the episode set inside the “mall” felt like a much-needed return to the mysticism of Season 1.
- We got a few references to voudon in this episode, but I’m curious if it will play the same prophetic role it played in Season 1. So far it feels like some extra world building with little plot payoff.
- Almost halfway through the season, a clear villain hasn’t really emerged. From the jump last season we knew Roxxon and Connors were the big bads, but this season is taking an even more scenic route in unraveling the conspiracy.
Cloak & Dagger airs Thursdays on Freeform.