Ever felt trapped in a meeting?

The third episode of Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger, “Stained Glass,” brings a particularly New Orleans approach to superpowers. I am enjoying the fact that the series has a different feel than the majority of Marvel projects set in New York, but isn’t just showing the river, Bourbon Street, and Jackson Square every few scenes, either. I give them points for that. This starts off with what appears to be a 3D printer making something, but what isn’t clear. That image recurs several times through the episode.

Picking up where we left off last time, Tandy and Tyrone are having another unexpected meeting, this time by the side of the road after his teleporting bullet trick. Each of them is confused and shaken up by what just happened. Tandy, despite the annoyingly loud ringing in her head that seems to be television shorthand these days for “This character has a concussion” drives off as sirens approach.

Detective O’Reilly goes to the hospital to see Rick, the man who tried to revenge-rape Tandy after she drugged and robbed him. As O’Reilly asks some very pointed questions, Rick claims to not remember what happened that night. He eventually claims to need rest and the detective leaves, vowing to come back again.

Tandy, an experienced and smart crook, wipes down the car she was in when it finally dies, and sneaks back to her mom’s place. Weirdly, mom and the boyfriend are both passed out in chairs in the living room. I guess they never made it to the bedroom? Tandy goes to clean up in the bathroom, and her mom wanders in to continue their earlier argument. Credit where it’s due, Mom does stop lecturing when she sees that Tandy is hurt. This almost-moment between them gets broken up when NOPD pounds on the door, in the person of the dogged Detective O’Reilly. Mom and her boyfriend/lawyer don’t let her in and eventually get rid of her, but Tandy has meanwhile fled in the chaos. After another annoying ringing sound episode, she gets on a bus and then has a weird vision of a young Tyrone.

Then, we go back to the 3D printer, which is further along on its task, before seeing the meet up again from Tyrone’s point of view. As Tandy drives off, Tyrone hides from the cops and then somehow ends up back at the school. He prays, but not how you’d think, and it’s very touching. Evita catches up with him in the chapel, and offers him a chance at some help.

With some more New Orleans flavor, Tyrone takes a streetcar to meet Evita, and learns she makes some of her money as a tour guide. They end up at Marie Laveau’s grave and Evita tells him about a New Orleans ritual for granting wishes. I’ve actually seen that one myself. The next stop is a small voodoo store, where Evita has a connection and steers Tyrone towards someone who might have some insight. It’s a good scene, with some great humor, and ends up with Tyrone trying for a vision. That puts him on the roof at Roxxon with Tandy as young girl. See a pattern yet?

Tandy sees some visions of Tyrone as a kid as he goes through some really disturbing pieces of his childhood. She sees some tragic episodes from his time with Billy and what led to his death. Young Tyrone has several options laid out before him, and he keeps taking some bad ones. Finally, she changes a few things and it’s a better outcome for the young Tyrone.

On the other end of things, Tyrone sees young Tandy in ballet class and finally hears her name. Then he sees a very stylized version of Tandy’s father’s death and we get a few more clues about what’s going on with Roxxon. There’s a really weird time loop of Tandy running into neck deep quicksand a few times with Tyrone trying to get her to not run. Tyrone and Tandy follow the visions of their younger counterparts’ selves and end up on opposite sides of stained glass with their respective power coming off their hands before they snap out of it.

Tyrone and Tandy wake up from their trips, back where they started. O’Reilly gets a visit from Connors and he brings her some news about a part of her case. They clearly don’t get on, and she doesn’t buy what he has to say. Tandy finally calls O’Reilly and they meet up. Tandy doesn’t like what O’Reilly has to say any more than O’Reilly did when she heard it from Connors. They talk for a bit and then Tandy stalks off in an understandable huff. Tyrone and Evita share a scene showing that he seems to have learned a few things from his vision quest. The show ends with us seeing what the 3D printer was up to during all this and Tyrone and Tandy meeting up not in the midst of a crime and/or crisis for once.

What I liked: As I mentioned above, I like that they are giving the show a New Orleans feel without going to the stereotypes. The visions Tyrone and Tandy had taught them about each other and will hopefully give them the tools to work together. I grant there’s a slow build going on here, but I think it works. And Evita’s connection she brought Tyrone to was really entertaining.

What I didn’t: Really, not much. I’m enjoying the show. It’s a different style of a Marvel property, and it’s working for me.

I’m liking this more than I thought I would. I’ll give this a 4 out of 5. This take on the characters is really growing on me.