In the penultimate Season 2 episode, Ty and Tandy once again find themselves responsible for saving the city.
Vodou isn’t the only New Orleans culture Season 2 of Cloak & Dagger has leaned into. Also taking the stage this season is jazz, music strongly associated with the city.
In a flashback, we see Andre’s career as a musician and the fateful night he tries to hit a “blue note,” the attempt at which triggers his injury. Even before his injury, Andre showed a level of hubris that would lead to his downfall.
But the blue note, as he discovered the last episode, is also the key to unlocking the door with his veve symbol.
Meanwhile, Ty tries to locate Melissa the way he’d located Tandy and Connors but he can’t get a read on her.
Tandy turns to Brigid (now combined with her Mayhem personality), who rebuffs her. But with her mother’s life at stake, there’s no way Tandy is letting her go alone. You really do have to credit Emma Lahana for her performance this season, switching between Mayhem and Brigid while making them both feel equally real. The scenes between her and Olivia Holt are extra electric.
The girls from the motel are all humming the same creepy tune, trying to escape holding. Not a good sign when we know Andre is after new power.
They respond to a police call and discover Lia, who’s also humming the same song. Even if Lia can’t tell them where Andre is, Tandy still wants revenge. Even Brigid is surprised, not pegging Tandy as the “murdering type.” All season we’ve seen Tandy struggle with ideas of justice, and maybe being around Mayhem hasn’t been the best in showing her the light.
Ty calls Adina and asks how Connors is doing, but he catches her lying as he watches her through the windows as she burns bloody newspaper. There’s no confrontation, but you can see the disappointment in Ty’s face. His innocence seems to be on the backburner while they’re trying to save the city again, but I imagine this subplot will come to a head the next episode.
Tandy tries to read Lia, but it’s just a black empty space. She’s been completely sucked dry of hope. She’ll have to turn to Ty to read her.
Ty finds the gang member who spared him and convinces him to help Ty work with the gangs. There’s even a nice easter egg that the newspaper has an article about Luke Cage written by Karen Page. You’ll remember last season Brigid mentioned working with Misty Knight back in Harlem, but this season’s aside probably would’ve landed better if the Netflix shows hadn’t already been canceled (RIP).
“Even if he wasn’t bulletproof he’d still be in the mix. Try to make things right,” Ty says about Luke Cage in order to encourage the boy.
In another flashback to the night of Andre’s attempted suicide, we discover Lia was the nurse assigned to him and his unwitting first victim. Back then the record bins were empty, waiting to be filled with despair.
Ty reads Lia and we see Andre manipulating Lia to leave the hospital and join him. In a further flashback, it turns out Lia was also a musician but pushed into medicine because of her parents, which is how Andre drew her in.
Tandy borrows the young Lia’s cello as a way to reach out to Lia. There’s a look of regret on Tandy’s face as she walks away, knowing what fate awaits her. But it’s too late because Andre shows up in the Darkforce dimension, revealing his plan.
He is going to try to hit a blue note in front of an audience big enough to power his transformation, but his scheme is more “one note” than anything else. Again, it’s a bit of a letdown we were promised “Mayhem” this season only for her to be sidelined halfway through for a much less dynamic foe.
Andre once again takes Tandy to task for having previously abused her powers, pointing out they’ve only had theirs of 8 months. He’s lived with his for 8 years since the accident.
So yes, it’s up to Ty and Tandy to save the city AGAIN.
Tandy won’t kill Lia after all, but Brigid turns quickly after Lia loses her value. Only Tandy sees Lia as a victim.
“Yeah, they’ve had bad shit happen to them. But that does not justify the bad shit they do to others. Period.” argues Brigid.
Even with Brigid in there, Mayhem’s black and white thinking bleeds through.
Not afraid to use his powers, Ty convinces (cough, threatens) the drug dealers to work with him in stopping the sale of drugs being used to kidnap others and even finds out Andre’s likely location.
Brigid tries to fight Tandy, but Tandy pulls a dagger. Before she walks away, she tells Tandy she’s repsonsible for whatever happens next with Lia.
But, Lia is the least of their problems right now. They may have been able to spare Lia, but it’s likely they’ll have to kill Andre which isn’t easy to deal with. Wearing black and white, we’re reminded visually that they’re a pair and with their words:
“We do it together just like everything else, good, bad, and in between”.
They walk into Andre’s favorite jazz club but realize the original location of the club burned down and that’s where Andre will be.
Andre begins his performance, in front of a rapt audience of his victims. It’s like a horror movie, watching the zombified crowd including Melissa. Tandy and Ty can’t get to him because he escapes to the record store where the previously locked doors crack open, revealing the applauding crowd.
Tandy and Ty hear the music coming from all over the city. The blue note has been played.
Additional Thoughts:
- With one episode left, there are a lot of loose ends. While a showdown with Andre is inevitable, I’m more interested in the resolution of Ty’s path to proving his innocence.
- Like so many shows, Cloak & Dagger falls into the trap of having more characters than it knows what to do with. I’m hoping for another appearance from Father Delgado and maybe even Mina in the finale.
Cloak & Dagger airs Thursdays on Freeform.