Cloak & Dagger Series Premiere Review: Marvel's Newest Offering Has Lots Of Promise

Marvel's latest offerings is on Freeform (previously ABC Family) in the form of "Cloak & Dagger". It joins two other "teenagers with mutant powers shows"-- The Runaways" and "The Gifted"Three episodes of "Cloak & Dagger" have aired thus far. The first two are also currently viewable on Hulu.

The show is based on a Marvel comic series that began in 1982. Cloak utilizes the Darkforce and can show people their fears. Dagger uses light in similar ways and can show people their hopes. Each person must balance the other's powers. Cloak must feed on the psychic power from Dagger regularly. Dagger must similarly discharge her powers on a regular basis. The two have a very symbiotic relationship.

The TV series opens with a bang. A young Tyrone Johnson (Cloak) rescues another child Tandy Bowen (Dagger) when both end up in the water after a ship explodes off shore. Flashblacks fill in the details as the two meet again as teenagers. Ty has a pretty good life. He attends a Catholic school and is on the basketball team. He has loving parents. In contrast, Tandy is living a life of crime. She's preying on rich kids and living in a run down trailer. Her mom is a mess. The company Tandy's father worked for (the mysterious Roxxon Corp) blames him for the accident and goes out of it's way not to help the family (blocking insurance benefits etc).

"Cloak & Dagger" have a darker vibe (even though its main characters are teens). It's more akin to the Marvel shows on NetFlix instead of the huge budget Marvel movies. I also like that the show takes place in New Orleans. It seems voodoo will play some part in the story line.

It looks like the TV series is going to focus more on social commentary (as did the comics). Tandy's almost rape was not shyed away from. We also have a police coverup of Ty's brothers murder. And who knows what is up with the mysterious Roxxon Corporation. The company shows up from time to time in other Marvel series but we dont know details.

Grade: 4 1/2 Monsters (out of 5). All in all, I enjoyed the show. The actors are great and the cinematography is on point. If they keep it up, "Cloak & Dagger" might end up being near the top of my favorite Marvel shows The only negative is I found it a bit hard to keep track of what was reality and what was a vision/hope/fear-- especially since the show continually cross cut between two different people in two different locations. Hopefully this will improve in the future.