Cloak & Dagger – First Light

  • Title: Cloak & Dagger – First Light
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Cloak & Dagger - First Light  TV review

Apparently every comic character is getting turned into a television or movie property at this point. Initially created back in 1982, the characters of Cloak and Dagger are reimagined for the new Freeform television series. The show’s pilot episode keeps the overall idea of the characters while choosing to make a few tweaks to their backstory. Dagger, or Tandy Bowen (Olivia Holt), goes from being the priviledged daughter of a supermodel to the daughter of a druggie waitress (Andrea Roth), living on the streets and supporting herself by stealing from wealthy teenagers. Cloak, or Tyrone Johnson (Aubrey Joseph), gets a suburban home (and trades in his stutter for abs) that is tinged with the tragedy of an older brother shot by police because of a decision he made as a kid. Rather than their powers being the result of some mad street chemist, the episode shows the pair being exposed to some kind of energy one fateful night when they both lost a loved one that not only links them together but gives them complimentary powers.

Meeting up years later, the pair’s powers begin to manifest for the first time as Dagger is able to create crystal-like daggers of light to protect herself from the unwanted advances of a young man who she robbed. Cloak in the meantime begins to teleport in his sleep and also give off an dark shadows that swirl from his body. His powers seem to be connected to his subconscious as they lead him to the cop who shot his brother. As introductions go the mysterious bubble of light that gives them their powers is one of the more vague explanations for super-powers, but there are hints that it could be tied to the company who Tandy’s father worked for. Perhaps the mystery of their powers may be enough to pull these two strangers together to search for answers (and then fight crime)? As a standalone first episode, the pilot is lacking (which is probably why the network chose to air the first two episodes of the series back-to-back).