The time has come for the Runaways to…run away.

Before I start I want to say it’s been a while since I discovered a new show I count down to every week and get excited over. At first I got annoyed Hulu didn’t release the entire season at once but now I’m grateful I got to enjoy the nervous excitement for each episode.

If you’re looking to start Runaways I have a review for the first three episodes or if you’re a comic reader, a review for the first three volumes. I highly recommend both if you’re looking for a fresh superhero show about a group of teenagers discovering their parents are evil.

Enough of that, onto the recap which has spoilers. 

Jonah Just Sucks

Most people are united when they say Marvel villains aren’t that great, but Jonah just digs under my skin. He’s manipulative, yet charming. He’s secretive yet wants everyone to trust him. I want him to be taken down and yet am interested to see what his next moves are.

The episode starts where the last episode ended with a face-off between the kids and parents. By this point everyone has shown off what they can do, even with an appearance by Old Lace…whom Dale shoots two seconds later with a tranquilizer. After some fire being thrown by Chase and Karolina at Tina’s shield Molly insists on helping but is shot by Jonah and his solar energy? (I’m going to assume.) Then he proceeds to knock all the kids over and it seems like for the first time the parents realize their kids are in danger.

Karolina decides to hold him off on her own, despite protests from Nico, and the rest of the kids (including Old Lace) run away just as the fight starts. Despite discovering her powers not that long ago Karolina holds a fight until they knock out the electricity around them. With no idea what happened to Karolina they run away.

Mission: Save Karolina

Now that Jonah has Karolina the kids come up with an idea of getting into the church to save her. Chase and Molly pose as runaways (well at this point it’s not that far off) and get taken in with others. They’re taken to Karolina by a fellow church member named Vaughn who they tried to talk to earlier.

Meanwhile Alex is trying to find a car to steal and Nico and Gertz are on watch, a bit less conspicuous than earlier now that they’re in “disguises.” By that it means Gertz in a green wig, Nico wearing a lip ring, and Chase in a long trench coat. Very sneaky.

Unbeknownst to them, Leslie is helping them rescue Karolina. Some creepy church-goers try to stop them but they manage to escape in a van Alex stole, but not before he overhears a conversation by his parents…which leads me into them.

What’s Under the Earth

Since discovering their kids know everything the parents also decide to find more about what Jonah’s up to with his drill. The Yorkes start on that while the Wilders try to talk to Karolina while she’s at the church (in other words, get the truth out about her.) Leslie is becoming more suspicious of Jonah by the day and for once Tina is catching a break as Leslie confesses all the bad things she’s done in the past.

While using Gene and Alice’s equipment Dale and Stacey uncover a living “thing” in the earth Jonah is drilling towards. What it could be they aren’t sure but perhaps related to Jonah. Or that’s their theory.

The Wilders are unable to talk to Karolina since Jonah seems to be running things now and get upset, announcing they’re done with PRIDE and are focused on finding Alex. Alex hears this conversation and it looks like he’s about to say something to them before the scene cuts. Just something I found a bit odd…for comic book readers I think you know what I’m getting at.

Tensions keep rising now that Leslie is turning away from Jonah and trying to make amends with the parents. She confesses to Gene and Alice’s murder, which we knew, but also admits she knew about Amy’s death. To no one’s big surprise Jonah killed her but Leslie knew and tried warning her with a text. However that’s not getting her away scotch free because Tina and Robert see it as just as bad by not telling them.

It’s as emotional as you think it would be.

Ships are Sailing

Instead of starting this with the romantic relationships I’m talking about the friendships that grew throughout the season. I understand some didn’t like certain episodes that dragged or stretched incidents out but I liked that it spent more time on developing their friendship. Not to get into comic spoilers but it doesn’t take long for them to run away. The show lets us see them grow and when they all decide to run away together I understood it.

Moving on.

Chase admits to Nico he really likes Gertz and of course she feels the same, but something is holding her back whether it be her anxiety (that she admits to taking pills for) or self-consciousness but I like their progression more than in the comic. In the comic it seemed to come out of nowhere after some bickering throughout the books. Here I believe their relationship and I like Chase and Gertz.

But not as much as Karolina and Nico.

For those fans you’ll be happy to know that while Karolina is missing it’s Nico who doesn’t want to leave her behind and is more worried. When they finally get a moment, after Nico watches Karolina change, they kiss and then sleep next to one another. In the comic, Nico doesn’t express the same feelings back but I am happy they decided to make them canon.

Not only is it great to finally see a gay couple in a Marvel adaptation, but in general. Most are aware of lesbian couples not lasting, specifically in TV shows, due to death but it seems as if Karolina and Nico will last. We can only hope.

On the Run

Before I talk about what caused the Runaways to become…the Runaways there does seem to be a mole within the group. After rescuing Karolina, Jonah gets a text from an unknown number telling him the plan worked and he’ll receive more information soon. It’s easy to pin this on Leslie as she helped them escape, but why would she use an unknown number? There’s also Karolina who spent some alone time with Jonah but I think they’re both red herrings.

Again, comic book fans, that plot twist may be happening.

They wind up at a bus station ready to get the hell out of LA. Gertz reunites with Old Lace, whom everyone wanted to leave behind and pissed me off, when a news alert announcing Molly’s name catches their attention.

Why? Their parents (specifically the Wilders since they talked about it. If the others know, we don’t know at this point) blamed Destiny’s death on them and also claimed they kidnapped Molly. This pissed me off in the comic and it pissed me off here.

Obviously it’s their way of finding the kids but if they wanted a reason for their kids to hate them even more…they got it.

The episode ends with them running down an alley way, all in slow motion, with Old Lace bringing up the rear and a newspaper article displaying an earthquake that may be hitting LA soon.

Overall

Arguably this is the best episode this season, with many other favorites thrown in there. It moves constantly, usually twisting us all in different directions. As far as the comic concerns I thought this shared many similarities, more so than the rest of the season. From them running away, to the “mole,” and the end with the police coming after them.

Most of them even wore the same clothes as their comic characters.

Now that season two is confirmed it’s going to be a long wait for us to see what happens next. I like to think it’s following the comic more closely now but Jonah is a wild card and it’s hard to say what could happen with him/how it will change.

If this season as a whole said anything, the show is just going to get better as it goes on.

Have you watched Runaways? What did you think?

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