I’m not going to pretend like I’ve ever read any of the comics, but given the track record of decent television shows, I looked forward to Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger, and figured I could figure out what was going on from just the show with no prior familiarity of them from comic books.
However, there were some red flags for me that I kind of knew of going into the show, and although I did make it through the first season, I have to say that I’m not really that impressed as a whole, and if I had to rank the show it is a definitive last place behind most all other Marvel television shows out there.
For starters, the show aired on the Freeform network. I didn’t even know that that network even still existed; I knew it did at one point, because there must’ve been one show that I saw while channel surfing in the past when I used to have cable television, but for the most part, it’s a no-name cable channel, and it should have been some sort of indication of the quality of the programming, even if it did have the Marvel name printed in front of it.
Going blind into this show worked against me in this instance, because I lacked any “Oh! That’s so-and-so” moments that tended to keep me engaged and interested in just about any other Marvel property show previously seen. That being said, the first two episodes of the show were a complete slog, and I was wholly uninterested in the characters and plot.
I stopped watching after the first two episodes, citing a poor mood to be watching new television, and told myself to give it one more episode before giving it the Legion treatment AKA walking away before feeling like I’m wasting my time. The third episode was on the verge of making me throw in the towel, but then the plot started to get interesting in the final eight minutes of the episode, which saved it from abandonment, and then the fourth episode finally started to get somewhere and kept it watchable. But with a ten-episode season, it literally takes 40% of the season for it to become watchable.
Overall, the show as a whole feels like a C-squad collaboration from the Marvel team. C-level writing, C-level show running, C-level plot, and C-level acting. If fans love to declare Netflix’s Iron Fist as bottom of the barrel as far as Marvel shows are concerned, they should really watch Cloak & Dagger to really put things in perspective.*
*Legion is indisputably the worst Marvel property television show in my opinion, but it almost can’t be helped since it was a FOX production
Aubrey Joseph playing the role of Cloak/Tyrone Johnson is robotic in his performance, and based on his speech affects, I figured he was born in Europe or somewhere outside the United States, but Wikipedia tells me that he’s a born New Yorker. There’s something really strange about his speaking that I often have to scrunch my brow when listening, and mythical gf kind of hit the nail on the head when she was convinced that I was watching something starring John C. Reilly, based on the sound of his voice alone. A black teenager has somehow managed to sound inexplicably like a middle-aged white guy.
The one bright spot in the show was clearly Olivia Holt as the role of Dagger/Tandy Bowen, who unmistakably carries the show. Sure, her character is written to be more streetwise and charismatic in contrast to the dull and hesitant Tyrone, which makes it easier to carry, but her acting chops definitely stand tall in comparison to the C-level performers surrounding her. She’s given more focus than her counterpart, but she also has a way more interesting life as opposed the kind of contrived racial issues that Tyrone is written to deal with.
Overall, the show is watchable after the fourth episode. It’s not really a spoiler, but the show is technically a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and a few choice references are made to confirm this. But by making such an association, the show cements itself as the weakest property under the umbrella** in my opinion, and really kind of makes the only reason to watch it as a weak Marvel fix, and/or just trying to fill all checkboxes of watching MCU properties.
**I haven’t watched Agents of SHIELD or Peggy Carter. Something about them being on vanilla network ABC kind of makes me not want to, but I know I really should if I want to really do some comprehensive ranking
Would I watch a second season? Sure. But I wouldn’t really rush into it, or prioritize it like I would most any of Netflix’s Marvel properties, and since it’s a cable show released a week at a time, I’d most definitely let several weeks pass so I could binge it, because the show isn’t strong enough to keep my interest on a weekly basis.
