In the months between seasons, Cloak and Dagger both practiced with their powers and gained some new ones. That’s been both complicating and enriching this season, with some cool new tricks from both characters, and a lot better control. But with increased power comes more responsibility, to paraphrase one of Marvel’s best-known lines, and “Rabbit Hold” deals with fallout from the end of last episode.

Tandy is shocked, Tyrone a little less so, that Tyrone’s power swallowed Mayhem whole. Then again, Tyrone has the advantage of having seen this before. Tyrone confesses that this happened with Connors, and we cut to O’Reilly, dealing with the women being freed and the Uptown Block Kings gang being arrested. Tyrone and Tandy have some words about him keeping secrets and wanting to get his life back. He points out he can’t step inside himself, and Tandy comes up with the obvious answer. Tyrone does his best to explain how his power works, which is tricky when he doesn’t fully understand it himself. They continue to disagree about Mayhem’s methods as they try and work out how Tandy can rescue Mayhem and Connors. One of the gang members insists in making a phone call (which, by the way, is a privilege, not a right, something almost every cop show on tv gets wrong), and tells some of his cronies what he’s learned about Tyrone. O’Reilly has to deal with some of her fellow cops doing some really unpleasant things, and being reminded she’s out of her jurisdiction at the moment (which I’m not sure is accurate), but she figures out what the thug did with his call.

 

Tyrone and Tandy argue a bit more, and she’s understandably miffed that Ty’s been sitting on this secret all these months. Finally, between them, they manage to get Tyrone’s darkness going again, and Tandy disappears inside. She quickly finds the gas station we saw Mayhem end up at last time. O’Reilly calls Tyrone to warn hm, and he uses his powers to get to his mother and warn her about what’s going on. Mom’s been working on trying to clear her son, and while most shows would go to the overused “Crazy wall,” Adina Johnson has orderly piles and files and seems to be actually making headway. She’s thrilled then worried to see Tyrone, and we see a few things have changed for her in his absence. Tandy follows a blood trail that leads her to a mysterious figure in a familiar shape that makes some really interesting claims about who they actually are. He does have some interesting insights, and starts telling her about what she’s going to be dealing with.

 

Tyrone pleads with his mother to just get going, but she insists on stashing her files. Tandy figures out the price she has to pay to go on this quest, and reluctantly does so, but it turns out her choice effects Tyrone, too. She gets a symbolic token that is the closest we’ve come to the characters being referred to by their comic book codenames. In truly bad timing, Tyrone finds out about the complications from Tandy’s quest when the gang arrives and he tries to get his mother out of harm’s way. Instead, they end up fleeing out the back, over a fence, and Adina reveals she has a much less squeaky clean past than we might have thought.

 

Tandy ends up in a really weird place for a metaphysical quest, and does manage to find Mayhem, who isn’t necessarily happy to see her. They compare notes while O’Reilly gets to the Johnson home, too late to help Ty, and has to deal with more complications from another officer “helping.” Tyrone gives Adina a rough update on some of what he’s been doing, and they run into a checkpoint that’s going to be a problem for them.

 

Mayhem and Tandy study a map and try and work out what to do next, while Mayhem makes some bitingly bitter comments. Tyrone and Adina have some bad timing for a mother/son argument and attract some attention they’d have been better off without. Fleeing, they hop on a street car, another great New Orleans set piece that a lot of people don’t know about. In a really big coincidence, someone spots them on the car and they get off fast, ducking down an alley as cellphones make our hero’s life more complicated than it has to be.

 

Mayhem and Tandy talk about mall-hopping as a kid, which they had very different experiences with. They get a clue they are on the right track, and press on. Tyrone finds a place for them to hide, and relates a very New Orleans ghost story. Tandy and Mayhem disagree about what to do if they find Connors, and then end up in a place that has some really interesting symbolism. It’s really odd at first look, but it makes sense as they go. While Tyrone and Adina talk about Evita and Tandy, Mayhem and Tandy explore their new location and make some surprising, and disturbing, discoveries.

 

Mayhem gets some insight about Tandy’s early life and traumas, and Tyrone runs into someone he knows. Both Tyrone and Adina make some good appeals to the person’s better judgement, which I’m not sure they have a lot of. While Tandy goes down Bad Memory Lane, and brings Mayhem along for the ride, Tyrone and Adina talk (mostly) their way out of a bad situation and end up in a worse one with new arrivals. The Johnsons plot a few desperate ways to get out of things, and Tyrone manages to make a call for help, while Tandy keeps getting bombarded by her past.

 

Both plots build to a head as things speed up and get worse. Bridget O’Reilly rounds up her fellow cops for a sort-of rescue that could go really badly, while Mayhem lives up to her name. She and Tandy have a fight for the fate of Connors, and Tandy changes things enough to regain an advantage she lost. O’Reilly pleads with her follow cops to take it easy on Tyrone, which they ignore. Finally, Tyrone gets what he needed and teleports back to the church, just ahead of what could have been a fatal confrontation. When he gets there, Tandy is back, and at least one of the two swallowed by darkness is back. The other isn’t immediately clear.

 

What I liked: while they are very close partners in the comics, Tandy and Tyrone are frequently apart on the show, and the writers are making that work. They both had very different journeys on this episode. I like that they don’t automatically agree on everything. The symbolism in the dark realm was well done, and I’m hoping we learn more about the strange being Tandy met there. I’m glad Adina wasn’t just sitting around waiting for things to happen, and has been taking care of things herself.

 

What I didn’t: Not a great deal, really. I thought it was a good episode. Mayhem is a bit too vengeance-focused and Bridget too meek, but that’s the design of their characters at this point. I’m not sure how I feel about the complete tearing down of Tandy’s father as we learn more about him, but I get that a young girl might idealize her father without knowing everything going on. One minor gripe: what the hell does this title mean? Rabbit Hole would have made a lot more sense.

 

I continue to really enjoy this series. I think it’s my favorite show from Marvel now that the Netflix shows are cancelled. I’ll give this episode a 4 out of 5.