"Runaways" Season One Talkback (Spoilers)

[Yojimbo]

Please note, this thread may contain spoilers and references to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This thread is for members to speak about all 10 episodes or the majority of them at once.

Series Talkback
Tuesdays, starting November 21, 2017 @ 12 a.m. on Hulu
Website: https://www.hulu.com/marvels-runaways

Wednesdays, starting November 22, 2017 @8 p.m. on Showcase (Canada)
Website: Showcase schedule

See also: News & Discussion thread

Every teenager thinks their parents are evil. What if they are?

The 10-episode series follows a group of six diverse teenagers who can barely stand each other but who must unite against a common foe – their parents. Based on the Marvel comic books, the action series explores the younger side of the Marvel Universe in a coming of age action tale.

This thread is for members to speak about all 10 episodes or the majority of them at once.

#1.01: Reunion
#1.02: Rewind
#1.03: Destiny
#1.04: Fifteen
#1.05: Kingdom
#1.06: Metamorphosis
#1.07: Refraction
#1.08: Tsunami
#1.09: Doomsday
#1.10: Hostile

Streaming tonight/airing tomorrow
Episode 1.01 Reunion

A group of six Los Angeles teens, fractured by a tragic loss, reunite only to discover that their parents may be hiding a terrible secret that turns their world upside down.

Episode 1.02 Rewind

A retelling of 101, as seen from the parents’ perspective. Everyone’s on edge, but after tonight, should all go as planned, they won’t have to worry about their obligations again.

Episode 1.03 Destiny

The kids are reeling following last night’s events. As an investigation begins, they discover their parents may have more to hide than they could have imagined.

 

[TheLemsterPju]

Halfway through the first episode, Alex may be my favorite character in terms of personality. I can totally relate to some of his social issues and friendship troubles.

The show is stylistically extremely different than anything else in the MCU. It's not as weird as Legion (non-MCU) but the cinematography is still jaw-droppingly gorgeous.

 

[Magmaster12]

I saw the first three, I really enjoyed but I hate how much focus The Pride is getting. I'm starting to wish they'd shorten there programming to a half hour because there's a serious tell don't show problem in all of Marvels programming now, we need subtly because we're finding too much about our characters and leaving little as a mystery for our main heroes to find out. I'm also going to be super angry if the main driving focus of this program is the church because I'm SUPER DUPER sick of evil organizations after the Defenders and would much rather have it stick to the comics of the sacrifices being to an ancient deity but it doesn't look that way. It's likely that Karolina probably isn't even an alien since her dad clearly isn't because making her part of some religious cult is just SOOOOO original compared to what they could have done. I hope that at least they keep the part about Gert's parents being time travelers.

We can have all this comic accurate stuff with characters like Daredevil and the Punisher but if stuff gets too weird, oh no that has to go out the door in favor of more of the same cliched stuff.

I've already lost interest in the Netflix stuff and it seems like Jeph Loeb's job isn't keeping the universe connected but more of restraining everything.

 

[Yojimbo]

Episode 4 "Fifteen" should now be live.

The parents try to find a solution to Pride's problem, and the kids grapple with a new discovery that yields more questions than answers.

 

[Yojimbo]

Episode 5 "Kingdom"

After their not-so-fearless leader is taken, our kids spring into action. Alex discovers long-buried secrets about his dad, as the kids uncover new truths about themselves.

 

[Yojimbo]

Episode 6 "Metamorphosis"

During PRIDE’s gala, the kids set in motion a new plan to take down their parents for good. As the evening unfolds, everyone’s personal drama threatens to derail their plans.

 

[Yojimbo]

I caught up on the 6 episodes and I'll totally floored by this series. It's pretty damn amazing and I went into it ambivalent about teen dramas but this is just a whole new facet to the MCU in terms of pretty much everything - POV, style, story. With two short form MCU shows released nearly back to back, this show is the extreme opposite of Inhumans. I am hooked on this show. Even the longer than usual title sequence with a very 'California' theme interlaced with a foreboding tone with hidden images of the objects and companies of the show. It's also nice to see the writer and director credits at the start of the episodes. It's interesting that it carved it's own place in the MCU without a whole lot of recurring movie references like AOS or Netflix does. I think the only connection was WHiH in episode 3 when Destiny's body was found and I suppose the overt Star Wars references. But overall this show surprised me in a good way.

The Church of Gibborim seemed like the big bad in the pilot with its Scientology-esque inspirations and it's not really even the Pride either because they have their own conflicts and moments but still committed a lot of crimes sure -- but this Jonah character is another story. Definitely laid it thick they all took his Faustian deal to further their companies and careers. He appears to be a Majesdanian like Karolina is in the comics but I think he's a new character made for the show. Or they switched them up to this continuity's version of the Gibborim. Still 4 episodes and a lot of mysteries left like Amy's suicide, the meaning of the school, the destruction of LA on Victor's time travel viewer, Leslie's father and his role in all this, the death of Molly's parents, and the origin of Molly's super strength. The school and Jonah's interest in the location definitely has similar overtones to what we saw in the Netflix shows with the Hand and Midland Circle. Hopefully, the execution is done better.

 

[Yojimbo]

Episode 7 "Refraction"

At Atlas’ Open House, our parents and kids are thrown together following the revelations of the gala. But for one family, the school event is only the beginning of the drama.

 

[Yojimbo]

Episode 8 "Tsunami"

PRIDE tries desperately to clean up their latest mess without involving Jonah. But can they handle this on their own?

 

[Yojimbo]

Episode 9 "Doomsday"

The Runaways are feeling more fractured than ever when Molly arrives with a devastating message from her parents. Now the kids have to stop their parents before it’s too late.

 

[Rick Jones]

Karolina's parents are legitimately just the worst. Any single one of them. It's amazing that she turned out to be a relative sweetheart while being molded by these self-serving, self-righteous, manipulative, evil people. After the events of the last episode, it felt as though they got over Chase's laptop incident pretty quickly, especially in comparison to something like Nico still being angry at Alex. It kind of sucks liking Gert's parents as much as I do when I still have to remind myself that they've been accomplices to the murder of innocent kids, which is one of those actions that I always consider to be irredeemable. In general, I think the show has been good at humanizing the monsters that these kids call parents. Other than Leslie, who had her head filled with all of her dad's nonsense at a very early age and has been enamored with Jonah for just as long, I can sometimes forget how horrible these people are when I see them interact with their children.

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[Yojimbo]

Season Finale: Episode 10 "Hostile"

The Runaways face off with their parents. But when Jonah arrives unexpectedly with a new game plan, the kids realize they are in over their heads.

 

[Rick Jones]

Finale? Here I was thinking that it was going up to 13.

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[Yojimbo]

Finale? Here I was thinking that it was going up to 13.

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Nope, always just 10 but Season 2 will be 13.

 

[Dudley]

So they finally run away. Not just because of their parents, but also because their now fugitives!

I like that Karolina has her outfit from the comics.


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[PapaGreg]

So they finally run away. Not just because of their parents, but also because their now fugitives!

I like that Karolina has her outfit from the comics.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

They did that to everyone except for Gert

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[Yojimbo]

A rushed season finale for an otherwise excellent first season. Too stuffed with questions by the end.

They "Lost"ed us with the hole. Well, at least there was the reveal it's alive down there. Probably a Gibborim and Jonah is its herald (like a similar relationship between Galactus and Silver Surder), trying to free him? Out of left field guess Leapfrog, maybe this time it's Jonah's space ship he was forced to ditch and he got stuck on Earth? I was surprised he didn't reveal to Karolina he was a Majesdanian or an alien period. I'm not sold on Frank betraying everyone to serve Jonah. He's still a wild card, imo.

Should be interesting if Victor, Xavin, and Klara will show up in season 2. Though Victor's backstory would have to change since he's the son of Ultron in the comics. Xavin maybe unaltered. Even with the merger, they may have to avoid 'mutant' with Klara like with Molly. I guess they will end up finding and using one of the Hostel bases from the comics. Then there's Future Chase's message and perhaps an aspect of time travel might be expanded on in season 2.

It was nice to see two little MCU easter eggs, the WHiH news at the end and the Griffith Observatory in the background where the Runaways hide out was featured on Agent Carter season 2.

Didn't know what to make of Jonah's text. Or what his cryptic statement about Victor. Or who Geoffrey called.

 

[Magmaster12]

They probably don't need to change Victor since James Spader does plenty of tv stuff and it would just require him to go into a recording studio to voice a prop head maybe.

 

[Fone Bone]

Marvel's Runaways "Reunion"

Oooh, I wanna see more! I don't know if I'll wait and see if the series comes to Blu-Ray, or if I'll subscribe to Hulu for a month to binge, but that was a perfect way to whet the appetite. It was a LOT, but not TOO much. You know the parents are evil and committing an atrocity, but you don't know what is.

I like the jock saying he had nothing against the little girl. That was funny.

I know why they hired Kevin Weisman after years in the wilderness. He is the guy who hilariously has to walk back inappropriate comments to everyone else's disgust. Marshall was Felicity Smoak ten years before Felicity Smoak was an actual thing.

Lotta Buffyverse alums in this. Besides Weisman there is also James Marsters and Brigid Brannagh.

Gonna see the rest of the season. Don't know if it will be sooner or later, but I definitely have to see how that all shakes out. ****1/2.

 

[Fone Bone]

Runaways "Rewind"

It was an interesting choice to spend half of the second episode playing catch-up from the parents' point of view of the first, but I don't think it was the right one. Fortunately, the episode didn't lean TOO hard into that idea, and the last third of the episode was after where we last left off. But I remember the stir the Clerks cartoon had in making the second episode a clip show. That was the joke on that show. And yet the producers here don't seem to understand why that's not a good idea for a show just starting out. Lost did a lot of frustrating storytelling too, but they put in the work to hook the audience first. Runaways has not earned that yet. Not in episode 2.

I find the parents on this show far more interesting than the kids. Except Gert. Love me some Gert.

Larry Miller now looks like Rush Limbaugh. CURRENT Rush Limbaugh. So, yeah...

I suspect episode 2 is really only going to start in episode 3. ***.

Runaways "Destiny"

I am not shocked at what this show got away with on Hulu. I AM shocked at what it's getting away with on Disney+. This has got to be the hands-down raciest thing on the service. If you ever wanted to see a Disney channel where characters talk about dildos, this is the service for you.

I like both Molly and Nico's head-fakes to cast suspicion off the fact that they know something. Why? Well, for Molly she's talking about getting booze for the other kids, and Nico stages an aborted sex scene with Alex. These are all plausible things that an adult would not want to question their kid about further due to embarrassment. It's quite genius. They both used excuses that automatically stopped the questions due to discomfort. That's really smart on the part of those kids, particularly Molly, who is much younger and had nobody else to work with. These kids keeping this secret even for three episodes is weirdly impressing the h*ll out me.

The adults on the show seem (for the most part) reluctant about the evil they are doing. I am told in the comics the parents were straight up evil supervillains. I'm not saying this is better than the comics (I haven't read them) but I think it makes the adults more interesting for ME at least. Although there will be people accusing the show of Nerfing the premise.

I liked this one. ****.

Runaways "Fifteen"

I'm not going to say that Dale and Stacey are actually good. But they seem to be the only pair of parents here who actually love each other and their kids. I won't dismiss that, even if they are serial killers.

Victor is outright incompetent. It's interesting he only responds positively to Chase once he's learned he's invented something.

Chase's former friends suck. Can you believe they expected HIM to apologize?

That nude scene between Leslie and the mummy in a face-mask was both sexy and creepy as sin.

This was a good one. ****.

Runaways "Kingdom"

I knew the guy at the beginning was Koraline's mummy father as the episode went on and that reviving him was the master plan. What's next?

Geoffrey is such a scumbag. Even by the rest of the parents' standards.

Didn't suspect Victor had a brain tumor. Although it perhaps explains his erratic behavior.

I'm starting to love that dinosaur.

Solid episode. ***1/2.

Runaways "Metamorphosis"

Koralina being gay and having a crush on Nico was such a nice and unexpected surprise. She's pretty much the prom queen of the series and the resident hot chick. You expect her triangle with Chase and Gert to actually be, you know, a triangle. And it won't be.

I like that she called Gert out for speculating about her orientation because she wanted Chase for herself. And I liked that because that was what was going on, and it threw Gert for a loop that Koralina isn't the dumb class bimbo after all. I don't begrudge Gert that much because until this episode I was sure that she was. It does explain why she was so uncomfortable walking in on Alex and Nico's heavy petting last episode.

The reason Chase doesn't notice that Koraline is not into the kiss is because she is supposed to be. Without knowing her orientation it makes no sense that she isn't in his mind. After all, he's Chase! What girl could possibly resist him? Yes, boys are dumb.

I like Chase because he's on Victor's side in the family meltdown. For many reasons, and not just because Janet has been cheating.

My favorite scene in the episode was Nico and Alex hiding in his mother's office when Tina came in and started to cry. Nico instinctively gets up to comfort her, and Alex has to put his hand on her arm to remind her why she can't actually do that. And if nothing in the series told me how hard this is for the kids, that brought it home in a way nothing else had before. They love their parents. And they have to reconcile that fact with the idea that they are dangerous killers.

This was my favorite episode so far. ****1/2.

Runaways "Refraction"

Man, that scene of Gert hugging Molly and telling her they were sisters forever got me right in the feels. No, I'm not crying. YOU'RE crying.

Victor has never been more unstable and crazy. He can't even be a good guy right.

Speaking of which, isn't Robert SO pathetic? I can't believe he thought he and Janet could ever actually happen. Even after she shot Victor it won't. He is such a cretin.

Do you know what angers me most about him? Nico was all set to be on his side. Last episode she assumed her mother was the one having the affair, and assumed she just got a little crazy in her ear when she's told it's her father. And at the beginning of episode she actually believes he wants to work things out like a sane person. The reason Robert is stupid is because he's crazy to think Nico would or should accept that idea. That's even crazier than expecting Janet to, which is saying something.

Things are getting nuts. ***1/2.

Runaways "Tsunami"

I'd think the parents' version of a fatal Survivor would have been a lot more interesting if they had gone through with it. Frankly, it's not okay that they raised the scenario and didn't. I disdain a series killing off a character to keep things interesting, but that specific scenario is one of those devastating high-concept ideas modern drama thrives on. To not actually go through with it is unacceptable in a modern project. If Star Wars can go through with killing Han Solo, Runaways can go through with killing Janet or Robert. It's not an unreasonable expectation for this specific high-stakes premise.

So basically the episode was riveting and meaningless at the same time. Not a good combo or look for the series.

Anything I liked? I like Alex and Nico talking out their problems at the beginning. They didn't resolve anything but it was interesting to see them work around it. I also liked Gert realizing the reason Koralina didn't want to be alone with Chase. Those were nice small moments in an episode unfortunately promising a big one and refusing to deliver.

A disappointment. **1/2.

Runaways "Doomsday"

Frank is such a snake. I can't believe he betrayed the kids, but I can totally believe it at the same time. What a rat.

Darius appears to be the wild card of the season. I love his girl hoping it wasn't going to be a crack baby. Jury is still out on that.

Okay NOW Karoline has thoroughly confused Nico. I love it.

Great final confrontation and cliffhanger too. ****1/2.

Runaways "Hostile"

Good kick-off to the actual premise of the show and the rest of the series.

That being said, while I don't object to a redemption arc for most of the parents, I think it's far too soon to be exploring it. That should be a concept for the last season, not the first. The parents being conflicted about their evil is enough for now. This tips the scales too far in the other direction.

Love that dinosaur and that Old Lacey will be on the run with them after all. Love it.

Nico is into Karolina after all? Things just got messy.

I liked how the season ended. I hear the next season is polarizing, but one step at a time. ****.