Last week, Hulu debuted season 2 of Marvel’s Runaways. If you’re not familiar, Marvel’s Runaways is a Hulu Original series based on the Marvel comic series Runaways. It follows the story of six diverse teenagers: Alex, Chase, Gert, Karolina, Molly, and Niko who discover the “charity group” their parents work for, Pride, is actually involved in some evil stuff. It’s up to the misfit group of friends to put a stop to their parents, but Pride seems to always be one step ahead.
In preparation for writing this review, I went back and watched the last two episodes of Marvel’s Runaways season 1. And I was glad I did. Not so much for clarification or to jog my memory on events, but more for rhythm, and pacing and to get psyched for the new season. Marvel’s approach to television entertainment has been well received and while I haven’t watched many of their shows, what I have seen I’ve loved. Thanks to subscription services, the ability to stream shows has made it possible for fans to fully enjoy their favorite programs. Sure there’s something to be said for delaying gratification, however, being able to focus all your attention on one series via a multi-day binge session feels like reading a book from cover to cover. Personally, I like it this way.
Runaways season 2 picks up on the following day where season 1 left off. There’s no flashback, time leap, or teases — just right back into the story. When we last saw the Runaways, they’d just learned that there was a city-wide manhunt for them in connection to a murder they did not commit. So they took off (in a beautiful closing episode shot) looking for a place to hide. Now things are about to get real.
Our reluctant heroes need to avoid being seen, but also need to find necessities like food, extra clothing, and shelter. Right off the bat one of their weapons, and a wad a cash Alex acquired is stolen raising tensions among the friends. While they figure out what to do next they focus on nourishment and go to a soup kitchen run by Pride. Fortunately, no cameras or parents are in sight. Alex’s tells the others he’ll get more money from his source, but won’t reveal who it is, insisting they need to trust him.
As for the parents, they’re concerned about the children and are growing more and more wary of Jonah, the man in charge of Pride. They may be divided on many fronts, but they’re united in wanting to protect the children, and bringing down Jonah. They decide to take matters into their own hands. Then when a caregiver connected to one of the children tells a news reporter they have proof that Pride’s up to no good, the parents split up to “handle the situation.” The kids, catching the news report. head to the caregiver’s house, but it’s too late. While there’s no evidence of a struggle the kids know better than to believe what they’re seeing.
Marvel’s Runaways is just my kind of show. Marvel has found a perfect balance (yes, reference intended) between characters, story arcs, comedy, tension, romance, mystery, and lore. Nothing feels misused. The show has just enough violence to prove its points and intensity of a situation with going overboard. Considering that this is TV-14 series, the show adds what is necessary to set the tone and raise the stakes without ever making the viewer uncomfortable.
I love the cast. I love the writing. And while the special effects aren’t perfect, they aren’t cheesy. I was even commenting to my husband, that whoever decided what to spend the FX budget on, made the right choices. Everything is well planned out and used effectively and I’m excited to watch the rest of this season.
I give this first episode of season 2, 5 out of 6 Runaways. All 13 episodes of Marvel’s Runaways season 2 are available now to stream on Hulu.
Secret hope: While Runaways and Cloak and Dagger are on two separate networks and have more than enough characters, I for one would love a crossover episode or mini series event. In the Runaways comics an adult Tyrone and Tandy assist the youths and seeing them all together in a TV format would be awesome.
