Cloak & Dagger Season 2, Episode 3 “Shadow Selves” Recap And Review

Last week Tandy and Tyrone found out about each other’s extracurricular activities during the eight months in between seasons. This was nothing compared to the shocking discovery concerning their friend Detective Brigid O’Reilly. Now it’s a matter of getting answers concerning Brigid’s new personality along with trying to solve the mystery of the missing and abducted girls in the area.

Warning: There will definitely be spoilers for Season 2, Episode 3 of Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger, “Shadow Selves,” below.

(All images courtesy of Freeform).

Mina’s Discovery About The Roxxon Leak

Mina is conducting an experiment on a mouse exposed to the chemicals from the Roxxon leak. While the mouse is running in a maze, a power surge occurs. When the lights come back on, Mina notices there are now two mice with the same markings. The new one sees the original and viciously attacks and kills it.

After Tyrone, Tandy, and Brigid come face to face with Mayhem, they have Mina check out Brigid. Brigid’s body divided because of exposure to the chemicals in the water. She and Mayhem share the same DNA and memories up until the split. They also find out that most of the twin mice in the lab have ended up killing the original docile one.

Mayhem’s Activities

Through a series of flashbacks, we see Mayhem from the moment she crawls out of the water. She goes to her apartment but is angry and impatient. Upon seeing her refrigerator, she’s reminded of her boyfriend who was killed and stuffed inside. She begins punching it and throws it down the stairs in the hall. She then discovers that Brigid is in critical condition at the hospital. Going over there, she is ready to smother her with a pillow but is interrupted by voices in the hall. Hearing Connors’ name, she decides to get revenge on him for shooting her and killing her boyfriend first.

Leading up to the present, Mayhem has been obsessed with tracking down Connors and kills anyone associated with him that is no longer useful in her hunt. She becomes sidetracked upon learning of the missing girls in the area. She also has some encounters with Father Delgado when looking for Tyrone in trying to get his help to track down Connors. Delgado has left the school and is drinking more. Mayhem talks to him about being angry and the killing she’s been doing. It’s a weird relationship that’s forming.

On The Trail Of Mayhem

Because Brigid and Mayhem share the same memories, Brigid is able to deduce Mayhem has been staying at a rundown hotel. Inside they discover maps, photographs, and information taped to the walls. They know Mayhem is trying to track down the missing girls, and Brigid is able to figure out her next move is at a strip club.

At the club, Tandy and Tyrone go inside while Brigid covers the entrance. They find Mayhem threatening to kill a guy, and a fight ensues. Tandy is surprised when she throws a light dagger at Mayhem and she easily catches it. Mayhem asks Tandy if she’s going to join her or just get in her way?

Later they find a bunch of the missing girls and a dead ambulance driver killed by Mayhem. Tandy and Tyrone try to get a vision off a survivor, and it’s Tyrone who can see where they were being taken. The building is full of gang members, and Tyrone teleports the girls out. Mayhem soon arrives and starts shooting the gang members inside. Tyrone extends his cloak to save a young kid and sucks in the bullets. His cloak then extends and pulls Mayhem inside. Tandy sees this and is shocked.

Thoughts

This week’s episode was good. It feels like things are moving at a pretty brisk pace. That’s the good and bad thing about having a ten-episode season. Story elements need to move quickly in order to hit all the beats of the main story. The flashbacks were cool to see, although I did get a little confused a couple times.

Like with previous episodes, the story jumps back and forth a little. Most of the flashbacks were labeled with “242 days ago,” “200 days ago,” etc. They didn’t always occur right at the beginning of the new scene. If you happened to look away from your screen, you might miss it. There was also an interaction with Delgado that I wasn’t sure if it was in the present or one of the past moments. This is just a minor complaint.

Having Brigid and Mayhem two separate characters was a great and unexpected twist. Emma Lahana is doing a fantastic job carry herself differently for each version. Little touches like the jacket, green nail polish, and bright lipstick ensure there is no confusing the two.

It’s also interesting seeing Tandy and Tyrone coming at odds over what’s right and wrong. Tandy is frustrated with the way the girls (and women) are being victimized. She’s slowly leaning towards the idea that perhaps Mayhem’s methods aren’t too bad of a thing. Tyrone, despite having been on the run from the police for eight months, is still the calm voice of reason. He even risked his life to save a slightly innocent looking gang member kid.

Now that Mayhem has been pulled into the cloak, it’ll be interesting to see what happens next. Why does she come across an old gas station (with a gruesome refrigerator) inside the cloak? As executive producer Joe Pokaski said at WonderCon, you definitely want to sit and wait the seven days for the next episode.