*This review contains some spoilers*
Watch the SPOILER review on YouTube
“Cloak & Dagger” season 2 continues to tell mostly grounded stories, while doubling-down on the voodoo magic and some abstract concepts.
The grounded portion of the story worked great, and covers some dark territory. Our heroes find themselves stumbling onto a human trafficking ring, and they don’t sugarcoat it. We see girls without hope, slipping through the cracks of society, being taken advantage of and being controlled through drugs and lies. And it gets creepy once Tandy is snatched, and she is nearly raped while unable to move. It’s pretty uncomfortable, but the series has never been afraid to tackle real-life issues.
The series struggles most when tackling the more fantastical elements. The voodoo stuff is odd, and tends to be poorly defined, but it’s the trips inside Tye’s cloak where things get strange. Not only does this dark realm contain a gas station and an abandoned mall, but also a few voodoo gods hang out here as well. And for some reason Andre can access this place at will, and it’s where he keeps all the records that represent the despair he takes from his victims.
As for as big bads go, Andre ends up being a bit disappointing. The setup revealing him as the villain works well, and he’s pretty powerful, even though we only see his best work when he’s messing around with his record collection. However, once he finally becomes a god, it’s kind of a letdown. He generally doesn’t do much besides sending our heroes visions and blowing his horn at them.
Overall, Tyrone and Tandy have a solid arc. They continue to become better versions of themselves and are much more active as heroes. And, they begin to get much more impressive with the use of their powers as the inch closer to being on par with their comic book versions.
The Mayhem/Brigid story ended up being a bit of a bust. While it was an interesting twist that they were separated into two beings, after a point they didn’t seem to know to do with them both, and when the reintegrated nothing really came of it. And initially, Mayhem seemed to be unstoppable, but as the season went on she seemed to lose her fighting prowess.
“Cloak & Dagger” season 2 scores with the grounded material, but often struggles with the metaphysical stuff.
**1/2 out of *****