Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger – Lotus Eaters

By: Darryl Ley

In a flashback we see Young Mina Hess (Hannah Hardin) preparing a cookie for her father Ivan Hess (Tim Kang) before he leaves for work. We see him take a helicopter to the drilling rig where he asks Tommy how things are going, and he replies that the temperatures have been spiking as before and he hopes they will go down like before. Hess asks how the installation went for the conductive shielding tiles only to be told that it was cancelled. He angrily heads off and talks to Sam (Chelsea Bruland) who confirms that the shielding never arrived. He ignores a co-worker enquiring about his daughter and simply says he needs to talk to Nathan Bowen (Andy Dylan) before slamming the door to his office.

He takes out the cookie and is looking over the control area, asking why Bowen isn’t on the phone yet when suddenly the claxons go off and the emergency lighting switches off. Back in the real world we see the current comatose Ivan Hess sitting in his hospital room as we move to the title screen.

Tyrone (Aubrey Joseph) and Tandy (Olivia Holt) are at the church with Tyrone reeling over the death of Duane. His loss means there are no witnesses to the killing of Billy by the cop eight years ago. Tandy tries to comfort him and eventually comes around to asking for his help, telling Tyrone about Ivan and his surviving the explosion at drilling platform along with his current condition.

He agrees to help and they sneak into Ivan’s hospital room after Tandy reveals that Hess is the only living witness from the drilling platform and the only hope to exonerate her father. They each activate their power then take one of Ivan’s hands and find themselves transported to the area of his mind Tandy saw last time with the locked door. The door oozes with Tyrone’s cloak power and opens when he touches it transporting the two into a recreation of the drilling platform.

They immediately encounter a worker who attacks them with a wrench and Tandy manages to stab him with a light dagger. They are surprised that they can be seen in this vision and quickly run when they hear other workers coming. They arrive in Ivan’s office and find him there he is very surprised to find them and seems very happy. We find out that this Ivan Hess doesn’t know who he is and thinks that this is reality we also see that he is somewhat unhinged. He describes what happens in the vision a repeating loop of the final minutes before the explosion at the drilling station eight years ago.

Tyrone and Tandy head off after he tells them the way to stop the explosion – hitting a kill switch and shutting off the valves. They encounter a number of workers who try to kill them with Tyrone demonstrating more control of his teleportation, but they are held up by the workers until the final explosion happens and the loop resets. Back in the office Ivan explains the loop clarifying what happens and says that he has experienced more than a hundred thousand loops so far. They ask exactly what happened eight years ago and Ivan explains the whole process to them.

Hess explains after the Klaxons go off there is an initial energy expulsion which affected everyone but him and turned them into violent monsters. He believes that the energy they are drilling for when improperly released causes pure fear in people and that fear spread from person to person and terrorizes them resulting in the violent behavior.

He adds that thirty seconds after the Klaxons there is a phone call from an angry man after that the drilling platform becomes unsteady and the workers become more violent. Then, the final explosion happens triggering the reset of the loop. After that Hess hides behind a table before a burned worker walks through. Tandy and Tyrone realize that he has no memory of his life before the loop. Tyrone wants to give up, but Tandy is adamant that they need to solve the problem and get Hess out of his comatose state. Hess doesn’t remember having a daughter though he says he always wanted one.

Tandy tries to remind Hess of his life telling him that he was partners with Nathan Bowen, which Hess says sounds familiar and remembers that is the name of the angry man who calls every loop. This triggers a memory in Tandy who realizes she was in the back seat of the car when her father called Hess. Tandy is stunned and answers the phone when it rings. Nathan asks why she is at the rig and the two begin to talk while Tyrone tries to get her attention.

Tyrone tries to get through to her after the latest reset, but she can’t keep her eyes off the phone on Hess’ desk. Tyrone eventually decides to go by himself and attempt to stop the explosion. He teleports down to the core where the kill switch and control and watches the workers discuss the pressure and temperature build-up before the energy expulsion turns them into monsters Tyrone finds himself surrounded before teleporting away.

Meanwhile, Tandy continues to speak to her father on the phone as Tyrone successfully manages to hit the kill switch and release the valves before the explosion again resets things. Back at the office Tyrone explains what happened to Tandy who barely listens. He says they should get back to the real world, but Tandy doesn’t want to leave. She suddenly agrees and they figure out how to leave the vision with both of them letting go of Hess’ hand in the real world on the count of three.

Tyrone makes it out and sees that Tandy is still in, realizing she was lying to him she tries to release his grip from Hess but is unable to do so. Tyrone heads back into the vision and finds Tandy in the office next to the phone. She has already started losing her memories and doesn’t remember Ivan so she throws a dagger at a crazed worker sneaking up behind Tyrone and asks him his name as she answers the phone.

Tandy ignores Tyrone as she speaks to her father on the phone until he ends the call and warns her she is losing her mind like Hess. Tandy can remember bits of her life and eventually remembers Tyrone’s name, but she doesn’t want to go back to her life because it was horrible and that she was alone. Tyrone tells her he is her friend, but she turns on him and says that she conned him into coming to help her with Ivan Hess, finishing just as the final explosion happens.

After the reset Hess greets them before sensing the tension and leaving. Tyrone goes for the phone and Tandy threatens him if he stops her taking the call. He asks her how long she has been in the vision and we find out she has gone through two hundred loops as he tries to tell her staying there is not worth. She argues that if he was in her position he wouldn’t leave, and Tyrone reaches for the phone so Tandy generates a light dagger. The phone rings and while Tandy talks to her father Tyrone pulls the cord out of the wall.

Tandy loses it, shouting that she now has to wait until the next loop before suddenly spinning around and throwing a dagger at where Tyrone was standing, he having teleported to safety. As Tyrone tries to talk her down she continues throwing daggers. Eventually, he challenges her to tell her father the truth what she is now a thief and a liar. He also mentioned her drug use before she rushes him with two daggers only stopped by the final explosion of the loop.

After the loop Hess notices the aggression between the two as they’re in a standoff. Tyrone finally admits that he might do the same thing in her position, but he doesn’t remember the sound of Billy’s voice anymore. He makes a deal with her to leave her alone if she asks her father a detail only the real him would know. Tandy answers the phone and asks the question, who is in the back of your car and the Nathan on the phone says no one, causing her to cry from the realization that Tyrone is right. She puts the phone down as the explosion occurs resetting the loop.

After the loop Tandy takes the cookie from Ivan’s hand and forces him to remember who it was who made it. She talks about the importance of having a father in a child’s life and pleads with him until the phone interrupts her, which she picks up but does not answer. She finally tells Ivan that the secret ingredient is Cardamom, which unlocks his memories of Mina and he agrees that he wants to get back to her, but it is impossible. Tyrone realizes that it has to be Hess, who stops the explosion in order for the vision. Tandy reassures Hess that with her and Tyrone’s help they can get through just before the explosion reset.

After the loop restarts Tandy and Tyrone watch Hess at his seat wondering if he has forgotten before he suggests that they get going. The three fight through a number workers while Hess goes through the procedure with the shutdown process just before the explosion happens. Back in the real world Tandy and Tyrone both let go and are happy that they are each out before a newly awoken Hess asks who they are. He then starts asking for his daughter and we see the two reunite in the next scene as Tandy and Tyrone watch.

The two head to their respective homes and we see Tyrone bring out a shoe box filled with things from his youth including Tandy’s ballet shoe. He calls her when he finds a mini cassette recorder. Tandy is surprised that he got her number without her knowing. He explains the cassette has Billy’s voice on it and she tells him to play it. They both listen to Billy freestyling while Young Tyrone beatboxes and then talk before Tandy asks him to play it again as the end credit card rolls.