Runaways is back baby! And they’ve finally run away. The first season was arguably the best of any Marvel television and so far, the things the first season did right have been carried over but the stakes are even higher. On the run, they’re wanted by the cops and their parents. In “Double Zeros,” Alex gets played, the gang gets some training in and a big cliffhanger introduces a new element. Let’s jump into this but be warned, there will be spoilers.
1. Team Building
Last week we saw Nico kind of lose her mind over how unprepared they all are for an actual fight. This week, she kind of takes over and gets the team together for some actual training. She, Karolina, Gert, Old Lace, and Chase get together in the foyer to start proving what they can actually do. Karolina shows off how much she’s grown with her own personal training and starts flying around, Chase starts messing around with the fistigons to great effect but Gert is struggling. She’s not on her medication and she’s having major physical and psychological issues as she adjusts to it. She can’t do a whole lot here and everyone else is starting to get really worried about her. Nico really wants to test the Staff Of One and she does but realizes that there’s something a bit off about it. She tries to block Chase’s attack more than once with the same spell but it doesn’t work. What she’ll discover later in the episode is that each spell can only be used one time. In the comics, Nico has had to learn all kinds of similar words and learn those words in multiple languages so that she can keep doing certain spells. It’s an incredibly difficult thing to master but also it’s a part of what makes her very cool. It seems that is getting picked up here and she’s starting to put those pieces together. The training sequence is interesting because it doesn’t get done in a kind of corny montage. We really get to spend time with each of them trying to figure their own powers and what their limits are but all that still contains all the teen drama that we would be sad without. Nico taking on the role of leader the way that she does really works for me as well. Nico is not as emotional as the rest of the group, at least not outwardly so, and it feels very natural of her to take on that role.
2. Molly The Masked Crusader
In last week’s episode, we saw Molly run out in the middle of the night and we had a good idea of what she was up to but this week we get confirmation of it. Molly goes out to try to help people. She’s a baby vigilante with a pink hat. In “Digital Zeros” we see her go out and stop a (presumably) pimp from beating up one of the women who works for him. Molly steps in and scares the guy but the woman she helps says something about Molly’s eyes reminding her of some guy (we’ll come back to this). Molly gets caught by Nico and has to tell her the truth. Nico wants to tells Gert but she ends up not doing it. Molly is probably the most powerful of the group at this point. She’s got super strength and knows how to use it however she wants. She’s even getting less tired when using her powers and that’s a good thing. However, she’s already been through a lot and she feels like sitting around the house and hiding from their parents is not what she should be doing. She wants to matter and she wants to help people, so she’s doing that. Nico comes around to it for the time being but Molly’s choice in doing this leads to some complications later on. Molly is the youngest of the group but that doesn’t make her stupid. Her desire here is a little naive but it’s coming from a good place. She’s struggling with a lot going on and it comes off to me that because she’s so powerful, she’s got to use that for good and do something meaningful and it’s sweet. I want Molly to find herself and do the things she wants.
Continued below3. Alex Gets A Dose Of Reality
Alex has basically left the group at this point and is spending all his time with Darius, Tamar and Livvie. He’s living the kind of life that his dad didn’t want him to experience. He’s got something authentic and not glamour and glitz but for Geoffrey Wilder, that’s a bad thing. Geoffrey does push back against where he came from in a very negative way and now Alex is experiencing something real instead of something manufactured by his mega rich parents. However, all of this comes down crashing hard on Alex in “Digital Zeros” when Darius turns him over to his parents. He takes Alex to an abandoned warehouse and turns him over to Geoffrey with little effort. They have a conversation that gets personal and they leave things kind of messy but it’s done and squashed. Alex is being taken to the airport because the Wilders have decided to run away completely but Alex still has his flip phone and he calls Nico so she can hear what’s happening. The kids go to the airport and use their combined forces to get Alex back. It’s the most exciting part of the episode and it brings the group back together in a really meaningful way. These first three episodes have not had the group feeling very cohesive but that makes sense. This is the point where they get it together and really band together to help one of their own. They feel like a team now and that’s important.
4. Tangled Webs
As far as the parents go, we don’t get all of them this week but we do get to see Frank and Leslie, which we haven’t gotten yet. Frank took over the church to spite Leslie after all that she did but it led him to this, he just wanted to talk to her. Frank wants to get their family back together and Leslie is seemingly into that but can’t quite say that because Jonah is lurking like always and Frank is trying to play Jonah. Frank isn’t stupid but I do think he thinks he’s a lot better at this sort of thing than he actually is. I’m pretty sure Jonah knows that Frank is trying to do something and it won’t work. Leslie tells Jonah that she’s still supporting him but Jonah doesn’t believe her and wants her to stay by his side and stay vigilant. It’s a tense conversation. Elsewhere, Janet Stein is called by Jonah to help him out because Victor is working at his own pace and Jonah is running out of time. Janet needs helps with the deciphering of the book she has so she is able to convince Jonah that only she can really connect with Victor. He believes her and so she goes in and talks to Victor on his own. She tells him that she was the one who shot him and they talk about Jonah and he helps her out with what he needs in exchange for her getting him out without Jonah winning. The thing about the drama with the parents is that it all feels so scattered. They are a scattered bunch unlike the kids and they have so many separate motivations and all of it isn’t really coming together for me just yet. It’s hard to fit so much into these episodes and I’m still really into the show this year but the parents need to come together more in a way that makes sense.
5. A Hello And A Goodbye
After Darius hands Alex over, Geoffrey gives him a key to a fancy hotel room for he and Tamar. He gives him this as a so called taste of the good life he’ll get to live now that he was given the deed he wanted so badly. When he gets there, he’s met by Catherine and she tells him that all this time it was her that orchestrated everything that happened with him and Geoffrey. She then tells Darius that he will take the fall for Alex so that they can bring him home with them and she shoots him dead right there. The frame job was done and even though it was telegraphed a mile away, it’s still sad to see him go. I liked the character and I liked what was being done with him but I think this tragic turn really works well for the show. Catherine is deadly and trying to rival Tina for most evil parent and I love it. We say goodbye to Darius here and then we say hello to Topher, a character from the comics that I wasn’t quite expecting. In the comics, Topher is a vampire and he’s a villain and he’s the WORST. He follows Molly home after her little trip out as a baby superhero and tries to make himself at home. I’m not super into this choice right now because I think there’s enough drama to keep this show going without him. I don’t expect him to be a vampire because that seems a little out of the blue for this show but I think his story line will probably remain the same, more or less. I hope I’m wrong and that it works but I am not really excited about it.
