RUNAWAYS SEASON 3: An Unfortunately Brisk Yet Engaging Send-Off

Like any teen show that involves superpowers, doing homework, going to homecoming and losing one’s mind at a weekend party are not on one’s to-do list. In Marvel’s Runaways, the ragtag group of friends — teen polymath Alex Wilder (Rhenzy Feliz), Wiccan goth Nico Minoru (Lyrica Okano), secret alien Karolina Dean (Virginia Gardner), dinosaur owner and intersectional feminist Gert Yorkes (Ariela Barer), reformed jock Chase Stein (Gregg Sulkin), and ultra-strong kid sister Molly Hayes (Allegra Acosta) — have learned in season one that the majority of them wield superpowers, and their seemingly charitable parents are evil. So what does every teenager do when they discover their parents are evil, they run away, hoping to regroup and surface as heroes who can take them down.

The concept alone is exciting. Imagine waking up one day, only to discover your parents are part of an esoteric cult called Pride, which includes the recurring sacrifice of a tractable, low-rent teenager. A revelation that earth-shattering could easily cause your entire world to turn upside down. Unfortunately, with a sedate start that deeply focused on the parents, and the very beginning of how the teenagers came to acknowledge their powers, viewers weren’t heavily invested in a series called Runaways, especially considering it took a full season before the characters ran away.

That said, series creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage weren’t held hostage by its source material (created by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona). Not only do the creators choose a financially responsible approach, but a deliberately leisurely one that develops its characters and doesn’t let action define the narrative. But since it’s the last season of the misunderstood Runaways, why not indulge more action, more threats and more drama. By all means, go out with a bang.

Season 2 Overview

During the second season, answers were finally unveiled on who Karolina’s Gibborim alien ancestors are and what they’re doing on Earth. Decades ago, the Magistrate, a.k.a. Jonah (first played by Julian McMahon, now played by James Masters), along with his wife and their two children, were banished from their home planet because of a prophecy. They all ended up on Earth, where Jonah would persuade Leslie’s father to create a religion called Gib. Jonah’s close relationship with Leslie (Annie Wersching) would result in half-human, half-alien Karolina. To make familial matters more complicated, Leslie gets pregnant with another half-human, half-alien child.

Attempting to return on an alien space ship secured underground, the Runaways and the parents of Pride were able to destroy the lustrous ship, with Nico stabbing Jonah in the chest with her mystical Staff of One. Woefully, Jonah didn’t die, and his family members didn’t die, they simply abandoned ship and possessed the closest hosts. By the end of season 2, Jonah is in Victor’ Stein’s (James Marsters) body, his wife has taken over Stacey Yorkes (Brigid Brannagh), their daughter has taken over Tina Minoru (Brittany Ishibashi), and their son — who’s vilified as a barbarous psychopath — has taken over somebody, but we don’t know who yet. Chances are, Nico is harnessing the wicked vigor of Jonah’s son, predominantly because, in season 2, Nico exerted the full power of her staff to destroy the Pride headquarters, resulting in her father, Robert (James Yaegashi), getting severely injured in the process. At this point, Dark Nico seems inevitable.

Seeing that Stacey is now being possessed by a flinty, merciless alien, Dale Yorkes (Kevin Weisman) is terrified by his wife’s behavior to the point that he takes his daughter Gert (and her dinosaur, Old Lace) to live off-grid. It’s safe to say that Gert isn’t going to be fond of this decision.  In regard to Alex, the timid tech-wiz teen chooses to do the unthinkable, and plants damning evidence which gets his vile parents, Catherine (Angel Parker) and Geoffrey (Ryan Sands), arrested. Alex’s motivations had to do with the 17 teenagers they helped lead to slaughter for Jonah, and for murdering Darius, affable gangster friend. For Alex, his parents are evil, through and through.

Earlier in season 2, Chase betrayed the other runaways by working with Pride. Flash-forward to the end of season 2, Chase got kidnapped by the Gib aliens and is being held hostage in a tube along with Karolina and his mother, Janet Stein (Ever Carradine), in the basement of the Stein house. Oh yeah, you also have Xavin (Clarissa Thibeaux), a shapeshifting Xartan alien, who is tasked to protect and marry Karolina, to Nico’s dismay.

Season 3 Concludes The Alien Narrative…Three Seasons Later

Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage are in a position where many others were over at Netflix when a slew of Marvel shows were shamelessly canceled. These cancellations were kindled by the emergence of Disney+. All of the Marvel Netflix series, from Daredevil to The Punisher, were canceled between the end of 2018 and early 2019. Runaways may exist on Hulu, a company largely owned by Disney, even so, all of this Marvel-inspired content that doesn’t exist on Disney+, and what may be considered too peculiar or experimental for Disney’s platform, is getting wiped out of existence. Runaways was never going to surpass the third season, and the creators knew that, so they’re compelled to conclude the Pride-Jonah storyline — the thread that ignited these teens to (eventually) run away from home — while also introducing the sorceress Morgan le Fay (Elizabeth Hurley) as a way to underscore Nico’s darkness that’s boiling beneath the surface.

The season two finale left the runaways scattered: Chase and Karolina are captured by the aliens, mired in Jonah’s highly advanced algorithm that traps them in a specious reality. Alex, Nico, Xavin and Molly soon discover Chase and Karolina are trapped in Victor Stein’s basement. They’re expecting to find Gert as well, unknowing that she’s actually stuck with her dad in an isolated cabin. The first two episodes of season three follow the group seeking an entrance into Victor’s house, which is now inhabited by aliens that lurk the hallways like walking lava lamps. With Victor, Tina and Stacey possessed by this ruthless alien gang, and one of the runaways also a host to the Magistrate’s sadistic son, the stakes are exceptionally drawn. You would think the parents wouldn’t be butchered, yet that changes in this third season. Albeit you don’t really worry about the fate of the runaway teens, the parents, who have no doubt implemented the greatest of sins, get a chance to risk their lives to save their children, hopeful that they won’t turn into them. In general, a parent always hopes that their children will learn from their own sordid acts.

The concluding moments of the Jonah storyline are nothing to write home about, but at least the action is breathtakingly enhanced during the oscillating fight sequences between the runaways and the scintillating aliens. Karolina’s effulgent glow is still angelic and gorgeous. Chase’s Fistagon gloves let out a more impactful punch. Gert’s telepathic connection to her dinosaur is delightfully enlarged and still weirdly adorable. Molly is able to throw more massive objects with her super strength, which is always anticipated beforehand by the glow of her puncturing yellow eyes. Nico’s demeanor remains deliciously tenebrous, and her magical staff is more wholly employed. Alex is still Alex, whip-smart and righteous as before, but sidelined in the course of the second half (for reasons that serve the plot). The runaways are still mightily powerful teen heroes, juggling the threat of aliens, the impending arrival of Morgan le Fay, disunification, and the unremitting impulses of romance amongst the group.

The Final Season Deploys A Bewitching New Villain & Embraces Its Habitually-Teen Romance

When the Jonah storyline dissolves, Morgan le Fay is unleashed in all of her perfidious and seductive beauty. Surely, season three is rushed because Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage have to finish one story and trigger a new threat. Morgan le Fay is merely given five episodes to really lay out the framework of her depraved intentions. The thing is, we spent seasons with Jonah, seasons growing increasingly weary of this c*ckeyed alien scheme, and it’s about time we get a novel antagonist, just in time for the series to end six episodes later. Jonah had seasons to build intrigue around his true motivations; Morgan doesn’t get the same luxury. Morgan does appear throughout the first few episodes of season three as Nico’s shadowy mentor — who’s pushing Nico to embrace the darkness that’s fostered by the staff — but it isn’t until episode six that Morgan’s desires are rendered lucid. Throughout season three, Elizabeth Hurley gives an uncannily comminatory and beguiling performance as Morgan le Fay. With a black crow as her familiar, a domineering cape and driving wit, Morgan is clearly no-good.

The entity of le Fay exercises dark magic and duplicity, playing on Nico’s emotions and impelling her to use the staff. In hindsight, Morgan does teach Nico a couple of runes to get out of sticky situations. However, the dire ramifications of these incantations almost end entirely in expiry or banishment for those on the receiving end. At one point, in a spell gone awry, the runaways are transported to the Dark Dimension, a darkly toned, ash-ridden and remorseless reality where one’s nightmares manifest themselves in a vivid re-imagination. Every time Nico uses her staff, Nico’s drawing energy from the Dark Dimension. And Nico harbors a connection to the Dark Dimension and to Morgan, whether she likes it or not. In an episode following Nico’s return to the Dark Dimension, Cloak (Aubrey Joseph) and Dagger (Olivia Holt) tag along for one visually tense episode. (On a side note, Cloak & Dagger is another doomed Marvel show that was canceled after its two-season run on Freeform.)

As the force of dark magic continues to swallow Nico whole, romance still flickers. Karolina (Lyrica Okano) and Nico (Virginia Gardner) are trying to maintain their romantic relationship, which remains charmingly infectious. Nico harnesses dark magic (evoked by the Staff of One) and Karolina harnesses light magic (summoned by her alien DNA), vivifying the familiar psychology statement, “opposites attract”. No life is complete without a touch of darkness or light, and Nico and Karolina balance each other out. Lyrica Okano and Virginia Gardner channel their characters’ romance through affectionate hand gestures that feel tactile and kisses that ceases all surrounding chaos. LGBTQ representation has always existed in Runaways, and there’s no shortage of it in season three.

Chase (Gregg Sulkin) and Gert (Ariela Barer), a.k.a Chert, have broken up, but the spark remains lit. Gert is still the same vociferous, purple-haired feminist, and continues to call out the socially unacceptable comments that others say, including Chase. In this particular case, the former jock and the fervid feminist are destined to be together. Gregg Sulkin and Ariela Barer chiefly exude their characters’ romance through back and forth persiflage. The entire cast has splendid chemistry that has matured throughout the show’s brief run. Granted, the on-and-off relationships are terribly frustrating, but a teenager’s love life is perpetually impeded by misconceptions and pesky betrayals — it just so happens that for these teens, a betrayal means something like abandoning your team to join your evil parents.

The conflict with Morgan le Fay is faintly hasty and inchoate. Nevertheless, this fresh direction takes a sharper and bleaker glance at Nico, all the while giving the parents a redemptive arc and strengthening the relationships between the core characters. Morgan’s arrival prompted the discourse of whether or not the powers the runaways inherit are keeping them together (which is what they originally thought), or tearing them apart. Without spoiling the final episode, the introduction of a new plot device makes it look like the creators couldn’t refrain from fixing things, so another convenient element is thrown in to create the ideal ending. That said, the fashion in which this new plot gambit is utilized is still visually compelling and heartwarming. It’s not necessary by any means, but it allows viewers to get a proper goodbye.

Marvel’s Runaways Season 3: An Absorbing Farewell

An alternate pop soundtrack (featuring songs from Spin Doctors, Hilary Woods, AURORA and 2CELLOS) aligns with the overwhelming atmosphere of teen angst. The graceful cinematography sustains the aura of abstracted panic in the streets of L.A. with gossamer hues and abiding wide shots. The stellar production design foregrounds the quaint and hidden runaway home base, until finally revealing the vacant, minacious streets of the Dark Dimension. But pushing aside the dreamy appearance, ten episodes are hardly enough to flesh out a dissimilar path that’s pervaded with dark magic instead of extraterrestrial hokum we’ve become immune to since the first season.

Whilst the third and final season of Runaways is not thoroughly developed, it’s a bold and poignant farewell that’s tasked to reattach the dangling threads left from last season, while still admirably introducing a spellbinding new menace who does what she can with the limited screen time she has. Anchored by a lovable cast and an action-packed trek that crosses dimensions, Marvel’s Runaways does end up going out with a bang.

Have you seen season 3 of Marvel’s Runaways? What did you think about it? 

Season 3 of Runaways was released on Hulu on December 13, 2019. All seasons are available to stream on Hulu. Only Season 1 is available to stream on Disney+. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X11RrTLA-E8