Melissa Bowen's relationship with her daughter Tandy can only be described as "complex." On Freeform's Cloak & Dagger, the mother-daughter duo have struggled to understand each other since the death of Nathan Bowen, Melissa's husband and Tandy's father. Now a teenager, Tandy has more in common with her mother than she'd care to admit; both turn to substance abuse to drown out their feelings, and that leads to blowouts between the two. Despite their disagreements, though, Melissa loves her daughter -- even if she has a hard time showing it.

Speaking to CBR, Cloak & Dagger star Andrea Roth offered some insight into Melissa's character. She discussed Melissa's "mama bear instinct" and her favorite scene from tonight's episode "Call/Response," while hinting at the "shocking" and "heartbreaking" things to come. She also revealed her inspiration for those tough mother-daughter scenes, what drew her to the role and more.

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CBR: What initially drew you to the role?

Andrea Roth: Initially, I was drawn to the complexity of the character. She was a woman who was currently living in a trailer park, who had once been fairly wealthy, and wondering how that turn of events actually happened. And at the fact that it was a Marvel! Who's kidding? That's exciting! Getting to play the mom of a soon-to-be superhero. And then [showrunner] Joe Pokaski, of course, from Heroes. Recently, I've been watching The Underground, and just loved the writing and everything that was going on with that. What a great, great project to get to be involved in.

On that note, what sets Cloak & Dagger apart from your past work?

For one -- I mean, obviously, it's a very specific genre. However, I feel like we aren't doing the typical. It's a little more dramatic. I feel like it's a little more complex. The relationships are a little more complex than the normal Marvel ones, which is really exciting. In many ways, there's a whole other element of excitement and Marvel-ness sort of sprinkled upon all of us working on the show. For me, pretty much, I feel like I'm still doing -- or I'm trying to do -- just truthful, dramatic, real work and to portray this woman's complex journey dealing with her daughter, that relationship with her daughter, and trying to fix my husband's name, to try to redeem [him].

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Needless to say, Melissa and Tandy have a very complex relationship. Where do you draw inspiration from for that?

Well, I'm a terrible mother, and so I -- [laughs] No, I'm kidding... I just love anything dark. Not in my life! My life, I'm surrounded by flowers and cute little play areas everywhere that I've built for my child. But psychologically, as an actress, it's so interesting, the things that are sort of darker and complex and trying to understand them. And well, listen, I had -- you know, I think every -- well, maybe not, not every teenager -- does have issues with their mother. I guess I went through some trying times with my mother. I think the proper way to say it would be my mother went through trying times with me. [laughs] I guess just little bits of that and then it's just jumping into the unknown, because I don't have a substance abuse problem nor a drinking problem. I don't have things to pull that from, but I know pain and anger and hurt and grief, so I just try to bottle them all up together.

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What was it like to work so closely with Olivia Holt, who plays Tandy?

Olivia is a ray of sunshine. She's actually incredibly special for her age. For her age, it is incredible. She's poised, the professionalism, the talent, the kindness, the levelheadedness. I kept forgetting that she is as young as she is. She's talented. She's lovely. Whenever the two of us had to do a scene together, we just jump into it and I think we both feel very lucky that we can just -- I know that she's going to be there and it's just the two of us in a scene and we have each other's backs. I really can't say enough nice or kind things about her because she truly is so filled with goodness and kindness and talent.

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Last week, we saw Melissa protect Tandy when Detective O'Reilly came knocking at her door. What, in your opinion, spurred her to do that?

I think, again, it's so confusing to the audience with this character, but she loves her daughter! She loves her daughter. She was sober, I'm sure. Hungover, but sober, at the time. So she's less flighty, less manic, less dramatic in her emotions. The police were after her daughter. It's just a mama bear instinct and she wants to protect her daughter.

Can you tease your favorite moment or scene from tonight's episode?

You know, my favorite thing about it -- I just love the truthful conversation and the way it all happens and is dealt with between Tandy and Tyrone. I just think all of that, which is weaved throughout the show, I just think it's all so beautiful and so revealing about both of their characters.

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If you could describe the episode using only three words, what would they be?

The third word, because we should end on that, would be "surprising." "Revealing." And "sad." "Heartbreaking," maybe! Yeah... Actually, I think "shocking" is a much better word than "surprising."


Airing Thursdays at 8 pm ET/PT on Freeform, Cloak & Dagger stars Olivia Holt as Tandy Bowen/Dagger and Aubrey Joseph as Tyrone Johnson/Cloak, as well as Andrea Roth as Tandy’s mother Melissa Bowen, Gloria Reuben as Tyrone’s mother Adina Johnson, Miles Mussenden as Tyrone’s father Michael Johnson, Carl Lundstedt as Tandy’s partner in crime Liam, James Saito as Dr. Bernard Sanjo and J.D. Evermore as Detective Connors.