Red Stewart reviews the third episode of Cloak & Dagger…
Surrealism is a hard genre to breach. While presenting an opportunity to experiment with the typical molds for linear storytelling, too often it is used as an excuse by pretentious directors to create something that stands out in the arthouse market. But when it is done right, it can create some of the best pieces of work that the world has ever seen. For example, though I personally find it to be a bit too much of a Daffy Duck torture porn, the Warner Bros. cartoon Duck Amuck is widely considered to be a timeless masterpiece from the Looney Tunes canon.
This week’s episode of Cloak and Dagger tried to create a surreal atmosphere for its characters, but unfortunately ended up hitting a disappointing middle ground between something like Duck Amuck and avante-garde indulgence. When we last left off, Tyrone was teleported to Tandy’s location right before he shot a gun he was about to use on the corrupt cop who murdered his brother years ago. Because of this, the bullet hits Tandy’s (stolen) car, and causes her to careen off the road.
From there, the episode divides into two halves in a way, using the incident as a focal point for the split. The first part follows Tandy as she enters a dreamscape that sees her viewing Tyrone’s memories and fears, while the second part, as you can guess, follows Tyrone as he enters a Voodoo-induced state of mind that sees him viewing Tandy’s past and, what is presumably, her own anxieties.
It may sound interesting, but I had an inherent problem with the episode’s premise from the beginning, and that is that it couldn’t help but feel like filler. We already know that Tyrone and Tandy share an interconnected relationship as a result of both of them being exposed to this unknown chemical at the same time. And we also know that their powers have a symbiotic relationship, explaining why Tyrone was conveniently moved to her location in the first place. And furthermore, we know that they both have the ability to access someone’s hopes/fears/aspirations/past recollections/what have you, so why did we need an entire episode devoted to the concept? It just felt inherently unnecessary.
That being said, I could have put all my qualms aside if “Stained Glass” itself had been enjoyable. However that just was not the case. When it comes to making surrealism, the most important aspect is pacing. To use Duck Amuck as the go-to standard for this genre, there is no gag or joke or skit that drags out for too long in that short: it is all concise, quick, and does not overstay its welcome. Cloak and Dagger is obviously tackling more dramatic material, but even then the character interactions in these planes seem to go on and on, and the thematic material is so heavy-handed that it makes the pilot look subtle.
Take, for instance, Tandy’s vision of Tyrone getting punished for murdering the corrupt cop. It is contrasted with Tyrone’s own daydream of Tandy running away from her father and mother as they get punished by external people. The idea is of course that Tyrone needs to let go of his need from revenge and Tandy needs to stop avoiding her problems, but the way the scenes play out, it is not only cliche but also boring to watch because we know what the end message is: the two need each other in order to be saved from their own vices.
Outside of Tandy and Tyrone, there is a subplot involving the detective from the previous episode “Suicide Sprints.” This time around, her scenes actually play out like a conventional police procedural without any of the over-editing from before, with her digging deeper into the case of the rich guy who got stabbed by Tandy. Last week, I was under the impression that she would be introduced as a secondary antagonist for Tyrone and Tandy to contend with given that they will be operating outside of the law, but here it turns out that the detective, whose name is O’Reilly, is actually trying to find Tandy so that she can protect her. There is some interesting elements of police corruption thrown her away, but none if it is particularly fleshed out beyond conventional drama parameters.
As you guys know, one of the things I praised in the pilot was its intricate pacing: how it was able to incorporate so many events into the narrative without it killing the flow of the episode. “Stained Glass” plays almost like the opposite of that, as though the filmmakers suddenly forgot what they had perfected just two episodes before. And while I do always encourage creators to be more daring with their works, the surreal atmosphere ultimately failed here because of poor editing (transitions between the two characters are done via hard cuts, similar to how Thor: Ragnarok disappointingly handled Doctor Strange’s insta-teleporting), poor execution, and poor writing. It is not without its merits, but I couldn’t help but feel bored from all the padding.
Notes:
-For some reason that I will probably never understand, there are few scenes strewn throughout the episode featuring close-ups of this black object being 3D-printed while some popular music song plays in the background. It is eventually revealed to be a contemporary voodoo doll of Tyrone being made by his girlfriend’s aunt. All I can say in response is wtf? Just…why?
-On that note, I’m kind of getting annoyed of Voodoo being exploited for its spiritual qualities in western fiction. It’s gotten old, demeaning, and a little lazy.
-Despite the title, Christianity plays no part in the episode, though some Voodoo cultures like Haitian are a syncretic combination of African and Christian cultures.
Score: 5/10
Red Stewart
