Last time on Marvel’s Runaways, the kids embarked on a mission to uncover what their evil parents have been hiding: Nico and Alex investigated the magical Staff of One, Chase and Gert discovered a genetically engineered dinosaur in the Yorkes’ basement, Molly continued to adapt to her super strength, and Karolina tried to determine why she turns into a glowing rainbow without her bracelet. Meanwhile, the parents’ sacrifice, Destiny – who they thought would be the last – was found washed up on shore, meaning that they’re still bound to PRIDE, and a new sacrifice must be found.
This week’s episode begins with a traumatic flashback to the day that Nico’s sister, Amy, passed away. Nico is panicking and insists on calling the police, but Tina stops her. She runs off, attempting to call for an ambulance anyway, but her mom makes the Staff of One electrocute her. If her parents’ suspicious looks weren’t enough, a live feed of her home indicates that the real cause of Amy’s death was covered up.
Back to present day, the six kids start a group video call with each other to discuss the news about Destiny. While most of them are having trouble believing that their parents could be murderers, Nico is the only one who’s willing to come to terms with it. She believes that the sacrifice they witnessed is linked to the day of Amy’s death, but are their parents evil enough to harm one of their own? The call is ended with Chase giving the group advice, to which they all agree: Regardless of what they believe about their families, make sure they won’t be able to hurt them. Alex decides to investigate the ceremonial room again, and finds a secret drawer with his dad’s gun inside of it.
The next day starts with Victor Stein driving with a new sacrifice tied up in the back of his van. As a result, the parents call for an emergency PRIDE meeting (minus the attendance of the Yorkes), but the girl is nowhere to be found when he opens up the van. Robert and Victor are forced to find someone else, but their attempt fails when they are stopped by police.
At the kids’ school, Nico tells Alex that she’s going to confront the police about the murders. As the kids are the only witnesses – and their families are prominent in the community – Alex rejects her idea. Meanwhile, Chase gets into another fist fight with the guys who almost sexually assaulted Karolina in Episode 1. Karolina is nearby, and gets accused of hooking up with them as opposed to what really happened. She has no recollection of what happened after she passed out, and is concerned as to why Chase didn’t tell her the truth.
Over at Leslie’s church, she decides to seduce the gross, sickly man that she’s keeping in her meditation room. We still don’t know who this man is exactly, but the need to keep him alive is likely connected to PRIDE. Frank suspects that she’s having an affair, but his suspicion is halted by Leslie promising him a higher status at the church. Since she previously made that exact promise to Destiny – and Frank isn’t a member of PRIDE – could he be the next sacrifice?
Gert felt awful about what Karolina went through, and agrees to go to her house for Gibborim research that could be linked to their parents. The two of them have the most tension out of the group due to their opposing views, but it was nice for them to finally bond. After finding an encrypted file on Leslie’s computer, Chase unexpectedly stops by to talk to Karolina alone. He tells her the truth about what happened at the party, and that he stopped the guys before anything could’ve got worse.
Karolina takes Chase up to her room to show off her rainbow glow, which is more radiant than the last glimpse we got. Even though she doesn’t know what it means yet, Karolina is clearly getting more comfortable in her own skin. Runaways is moving slow on the reveal of Karolina being gay (even though it’s obvious to us) which totally works for her storyline. Self-discovery takes time, and Karolina has a lot to process in her life as it is. Chase clearly has a thing for her, but thankfully she never reciprocates.
Nico arrives at the police station to find Alex there, willing to be by her side. After a while of waiting, they notice Victor and Robert being taken in and decide to flee. Nico notices the man who covered up Amy’s death, and realize that their parents work with the police to cover up their secrets. Alex brought his dad’s gun with him, which startles Nico, but he reminds her of their need for protection.
Over at the Yorkes’, Molly attempts to email Catherine Wilder with questions about her birth parents, but is interrupted by Gert’s dinosaur roaming through the house. Molly gets scared, which activates her super strength, and is determined to fight the dinosaur. Gert walks in and calms her, just as Dale and Stacey walk in and discover that their pet has been found. They almost reveal the truth about PRIDE to their children, before an unexpected arrival from Tina Minoru. After missing the emergency meeting, Tina decided to track them, figuring out their plans to flee to a remote ranch in Yucatan. Tina reminds them that they can’t run away, since their focus needs to be on PRIDE.
At the Stein’s, Chase is in the lab working on his Fistigon gloves when his dad arrives. Victor is typically hostile towards his family, especially Chase, but this time he’s open to learning about his son’s passion. This could be the first civil and genuine conversation they’ve ever had, which Chase is taken aback by.
Nico and Alex relocated to a coffee shop to open up Leslie’s encrypted file. Inside is a list of names of runaway teenagers, none of which had been reported missing. They discover that those kids were the parents’ sacrifices from the past 15 years, and Karolina’s mom is the one who chooses the victims. Nico decides to tell Karolina over the phone, which leaves her distraught as she watches her parents’ happiness right in front of her eyes.
In the final scene, Alex goes outside to turn off his car alarm but is gone for too long. He gets taken away in an unknown car, and Nico is too late.
It feels like Runaways is getting darker and more unpredictable with each episode. It’s definitely a slow burn – especially for readers of the comic – but that gives room for deeper character development along the way. Even though the show’s narrative might feel like a fantasy, the emotions and betrayal that the kids are experiencing continue to feel real.
