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 possessed parents, alien invasions, and angsty teens to spare.
1. Welcome to the Algorithm
The episode opens on Chase waking up wearing his fistigons in a (more) decrepit hostel and with a heavily injured team. He walks out of his room to find Gert being put into one of the Pride’s sacrifice machines but fights them off and wakes Gert up with True Love’s Kiss. Then we get thrown into the somehow more disturbing scenario of Victor Stein making eggs for Janet. She’s on the cover of Forbes and life is good! Suddenly we’re moved yet again, this time to a wedding- Nico and Karolina’s. Alex seems to be the Best Man. Chase walks Karolina down the aisle. It’s a genuinely sweet little scene that gets at least a little bit ruined when we cut to the image of Chase, Janet, and Karolina in some kind of stasis tubes.
2. A Divided Group and an Awesome Driving Lesson
Back at the hostel (the real one), Nico has a vision. She’s walking through a field where she’s greeted by Elizabeth Hurley (who’s playing Morgan le Fay but technically we don’t know that yet); Elizabeth Hurley tells Nico that she can give her what she wants and that Karolina is alive and nothing else really happens there. Here’s to planting narrative seeds in the weirdest way possible. Nico rejoins the remainder of the Runaways (Alex, Molly, Xavin, and a pregnant Leslie Dean), who are struggling. They’re all separated from people they love, and a rescue mission is in order. Gert, meanwhile, is at a cabin where her dad tells her he created Old Lace…and Gert (GROSS!). After Gert tells her dad off about how she needs to let her go (both in that she’s growing up and in that she’s tied to a chair because he kidnapped her) a couple times, he relents. Then he gives her the best driving lesson of all time. It turns out Gert’s connection to Old Lace goes even deeper than anyone thought; if Gert tries, she can see through Old Lace’s eyes and control her. Even if the lesson ends when Gert crashes into a tree, she got to drive a freakin’ dinosaur! The whole sequence is an oddly touching one. Who knew kidnapping could lead to real father-daughter bonding?
3. The Wilders are Going Through It
In the most grounded storyline of the episode, Catherine and Geoffrey Wilder are being deposed by the police after the gun that killed Darius Davis is found in their car. Catherine takes the fall for the both of them, telling Geoffrey that as a Black man with a record, he doesn’t stand a chance in court. It’s a strong subplot, with genuinely interesting social commentary about race. At the same time, it feels a bit out of place in an episode that otherwise focuses on constructed realities and alien bodysnatchers.
4. Meet the Parents (and Daughter)
The big bad of Runaways is the Magistrate (the artist formerly known as Jonah). Last season, after Nico killed his old body, he took control of Victor Stein and invited his family to join him. His Bride has taken over Stacey Yorkes and his Daughter is in Tina Minoru’s body. The scenario leads to some stellar character work, particularly on Brittany Ishibashi’s part- seeing Tina take on a vain, selfie-obsessed personality brings some great laughs in an hour of television with tons of angst. The most dangerous member of the family is certainly the Bride. Suspicious about why the Magistrate is keeping Karolina, Janet, and Chase alive, she goes into Karolina’s dreamscape and finds out that she’s the Magistrate’s daughter. Angry, the Bride decides to take away all of the joy in Karolina’s virtual wedding party. It’s not murder, exactly, but it’s definitely cruel and it shows that the Bride has a scary amount of spite inside of her. The Magistrate is honestly a bit boring in this family dynamic- he lacks the charm of his Daughter and the eeriness of his Bride but hey, 2/3 ain’t too bad. And there’s still a Son that we haven’t met.
5. A Nearly Successful Mission
A whole lot happens in this rescue mission. The four kids split into two pairs: Xavin/Molly and Nico/Alex. Leslie stays home because…well, pregnancy is hard and she deserves it. There’s one catch before they leave though- Xavin says everyone, even a reluctant Molly, needs to be ready to kill the Magistrate and his family on sight. Xavin and Molly head to the Stein’s house but find nothing. They do have a nice talk though- Xavin says she doesn’t show emotion because of her time as a soldier. Molly says wants to be a soldier but doesn’t want to lose herself and Xavin says she’s well on her way to being both. Then they “extend arms around one another” to use Xavin’s words. At the same time, Alex and Nico find the Pride facility where their friends are being held and watched over by the Magistrate and his family. To pull the possessed gang away, Xavin transforms into Gert and facetimes the Bride saying that she’s the Son. Nico and Alex break into the facility and then into the Algorithm dreamscapes. Nico gets to comfort Karolina in her’s while Alex is able to learn how to save the trio by speaking to Janet. On the other side of town, Xavin gets found out immediately and she and Molly have to fight off the possessed gang. Molly does make a breakthrough with the Bride during the debacle, getting Stacey to take control for long enough to run away. Xavin gets away from the Magistrate and the Daughter but that means that the pair gets back to the Pride facility before Alex and Nico can finish their leg of the mission. The episode ends with Leslie getting an ultrasound because of contractions; after the nurse suddenly leaves to speak to a doctor, Leslie takes things into her own hands and finds out that her baby is glowing. It’s a spooky end to a somewhat overly full episode but it’s definitely bringing me back for more.
