Cloak & Dagger season 1, episode 7 and 8 recap: ‘Lotus Eaters’ and ‘Ghost Stories’
Photo Credit: Freeform
Cloak & Dagger has gotten noticeably stronger in the second half of this season.
The majority of “Lotus Eaters” is spent within Ivan Hess’ mind with Tandy and Tyrone reliving the events of the rig explosion. It’s basically Groundhog Day within an episode of Cloak & Dagger but that doesn’t make it any less emotionally taxing to watch. For the first time, viewers get to see just how traumatized Tandy has been following her father’s death. She isn’t in control, and Tyrone is forced to step up to be a hero while she slinks further into darkness.
Like she suspected in the previous episode, in order to enter the vault inside Hess’ mind, Tandy needed Tyrone. The two are quickly transported to the rig where aggressive workers are attempting to murder everyone in sight. Except for Ivan Hess, who has been hiding out in his office keeping track of a baseball game.
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While the two try to interrogate him, he casually shows them how to survive in this time loop. Turns out, he’s entirely forgotten his old life and only knows this routine: An angry phone call, the rig explosion, and the attacks before it all restarts. Tyrone reasons that if they can shut down the core than perhaps it’ll event the explosion from ever happening in the first place.
His plan is forced to be enacted alone because Tandy realizes the “angry man” on the phone is actually her father. Suddenly, being stuck inside a constant nightmare doesn’t seem like a terrible alternative to real life. Tyrone manages to shut everything down, but it doesn’t stop the rig accident from happening. The two teens agree to leave together, but Tandy ends up staying behind at the last minute.
It’s a testament to their burgeoning friendship that Tyrone chooses to go back and save her. However, the loop has happened so many more times than Tyrone anticipated and Tandy has ultimately spent a long time stuck inside the rig. She doesn’t care though, because she gets to talk to her dad for a few minutes during before every explosion.
The writing in “Lotus Eaters” is fantastic, but both Aubrey Joseph and Olivia Holt steal the show. Both Tyrone and Tandy had to witness death at too young an age, but at least the former had a family who would deal with that trauma together. His parents smother him, but at least he has someone who will make sure he’s safe in bed every night. Tandy has no one, there isn’t one person who calls her to make see how her day has been. It’s heartbreaking to think she her “dad” on the other end of the line is the closest thing she’s had to support since the moment he died.
Luckily, Tyrone convinces her that this isn’t her true father and Tandy needs to keep living. Together they break out Ivan Hess, and manage to bring him back to the real world. Cloak & Dagger ends with one of the best scenes yet with Tyrone calling Tandy at the end of the night just to talk. The two listen to a rap that Billy once made for him, and it’s sweet to see these two bond over the feelings of loneliness they have without their loved ones.