Television 

Five Thoughts On Runaways‘ “Left-Hand Path”

By | January 10th, 2020
Posted in Television | % Comments

Runaways in back for season 3! It’s bigger! It’s bolder! It’s…ending. But that won’t hold us back from having a great time watching. This show has been one of Marvel’s strongest for two years now and this season seems like it’ll be bonkers in all the best ways. So watch with us! We’ve got mind control necklaces, kombucha dads, and coven spies to spare.

1. The Ultimate Screenager

This episode picks up right where the last one left off, with Molly staring into a floating Corvus (by WizPhone) that’s whispering nonsense evil magic words. When Gert, Chase, and Karolina try to grab the phone, Molly goes into a violent rage which, given her powers, is a pretty dangerous thing. Once Karolina is able to destroy the phone with a well timed energy blast, Molly snaps back to reality without a single memory of the confrontation. The gang resolves to do a livestream to warn people about the danger the phones pose. After they hit post, though, Morgan le Fey wipes it from the internet. It’s…pretty dull to be frank. Far from a cyber-thriller, it feels unnecessary and a bit half-baked as a subplot, stretching an idea that should’ve landed on the cutting room floor into a subplot that lasts for almost the whole episode.

2. Two Tiny Plots

There are two subplots this episode that aren’t particular action packed but are totally solid and do good character work. In one, Molly continues the real full person storyline she started last week; classic Molly storylines saw her as a kid and the heart of the group. Here, though, Molly is getting the chance to be her own complicated, dynamic individual. In another visit to the Church of the Gibborim, Molly confronts Leslie about her parents’ death. Leslie apologizes but it isn’t enough for Molly- she’ll still hate Leslie forever which makes a lot of sense given the whole parent murder thing. Molly ends up venting to Bodhi, the boy she took a clear interest in last episode, ultimately revealing her powers to him. In the other mini-plot of the episode, Victor, Stacey, and digital Janet all work on a plan to combat the spread of violence Corvus phones are causing. While they can’t prevent the literal delivery of Corvuses, they can upload a virus to the phones and luckily Janet has the ability to be one (it’s convenient but fake science is made to be convenient). When Victor and Stacey go to the Pride center to get Geoffrey’s help in uploading the file, though, he locks them in a basement, clearly having his will bent by a mind control necklace that Morgan gave him. Again, we’ve got a nice little plot that moves things forward every so slightly but isn’t overstaying its welcome. It’s also nice to see Victor and Stacey do undeniably heroic things, reinforcing the idea that the parents are people we should be actively rooting for at this point.

3.  My Friend Morgan

Look how far we’ve come. Morgan le Fey is shaping up to be the strongest big bad this series have seen so far. Like we’ve discussed, the Magistrate family was pretty boring. They didn’t bring the same morally complex dynamics that the parents did and they lacked the right kind of villainous energy to be particularly exciting or scary. Even at their best moments, they paled in comparison to the type of villain le Fey is. Equal parts fun and nefarious (nefunrious?), le Fey is such a needed force this season. Elizabeth Hurley is a force in this performance, brining an incredible amount of energy to every scene she’s in but holding back just enough to make her a believable schemer. Morgan le Fey is far from a two-dimensional character but her evil isn’t something to be questioned like it was with the Pride, nor is is a side-effect of classic interstellar imperialism in the case of the Magistrate family. Morgan basks in the chaos and evil she brings to the world and that’s endlessly fun to watch.

4. Minoru

The Minoru family gets the meatiest material of episode 7 by a long shot. At the start of the episode, Nico is part of the coven, Robert is in love with Morgan, and Tina is being sedated by a different member of the coven. After some more pressure from Morgan to bring the Staff of Destiny to her, Nico opts to find her mother, breaking her out of the magic sedation hospital. The pair heads to the coven to find Morgan’s spellbook so Nico can find a spell to save Alex’s life, with Nico serving as the lookout/distraction as Tina goes to find the book. There’s a sweet dynamic here- Tina clearly feeling deeply protective over her daughter but expressing that feeling in genuine ways that allow Nico to be brave and autonomous instead of being cold and controlling. On Tina’s end of the mission, she runs into Robert but quickly realizes that he’s wearing a mind control necklace and breaks it, leading to a nice reunion for the Minoru parents. The two search for the spellbook together but when Nico tells them that Morgan is going back to her office, Tina has to leave Robert to his own devices. Nico tries her best to hold le Fey back but when Robert finds the spellbook, Morgan senses it and immediately teleports away. Le Fey opts to take Robert’s life-force away, but just slowly enough that Nico and Tina get to give him a teary goodbye. The whole storyline is technically strong and is definitely doing good work with Nico. At the same time, it feels like it isn’t carrying the emotional weight that it could. Maybe its a matter of personal taste- I’ve found Nico more frustrating than sympathetic this season- but it’s tough to feel a full connection to the material here.

5. A Mr. Peanutbutter Special 

The end of the episode, for once, is actually pretty straightforward. On the non-Minor front, Chase, Gert, and Karolina go to the Church of the GIbborim to find Molly. Dale reveals himself to them and tags along but the group is trailed by a pair of le Fey coven members. After they find her, it’s revealed that Bodhi has been working with the coven this whole time. The group is knocked out and they wake up in the same room as Victor and Stacey and Karolina’s powers aren’t working. Meanwhile, Nico returns to an empty hostel, where she finds out that Robert recorded a video of the spellbook on his WizGlass glasses (side note: does that mean that he never needed glasses in the first place and has actually been an annoying tech bro this whole time?), which gives Nico exactly what she needs. When she uses the spell to try getting to Alex, though, black mist fills the room and Cloak and Dagger appear. Boom baby, we’ve got a crossover episode on our hands. It’s all intriguing setup for next episode, though not very notable in its own right. While past episodes have been slightly overwhelming in the amount of plot packed in their conclusions, this one mostly does place setting. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’d be nice to see a little more depth here.


//TAGS | runaways

Quinn Tassin

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