Archive

Marvel’s ‘Runaways’ S1. E7 Recap: “Refraction”

Last time on Marvel’s Runaways, the group attended PRIDE’s annual gala, where naturally, lots of drama got underway. Alex finally gained possession of the footage they need to turn their parents in, but Nico is becoming wary of him since he was able to guess her mom’s password. The secret is out regarding Janet Stein and Robert Minoru’s affair, announced in a speech by Victor Stein. Everyone also knows that Victor has brain cancer now, but Jonah (organizer of PRIDE, Leslie Dean’s lover, and Karolina’s biological dad) gave him medicine that boosted his immune system. Before the party’s end, Molly accidentally slipped by telling Catherine Wilder that she saw one of the sacrifices. Oh, and in better news, Karolina can fly!

Episode 7 kicks off with a flashback beginning 25 years ago, showing the Steins’ lives over the years. Janet and Victor first met in college, and had Chase years later after their marriage. In the delivery room, Victor holds his baby son, realizing that he’s the only thing in his life that truly matters. We jump ahead to where Chase is a bit older, waiting for his dad to pick him up from his lacrosse game. When he gets into the car, Victor is immediately hostile towards him, and Chase reciprocates since he failed to show up at his game. They begin to argue, and Victor hits him twice.

Back to present day, Victor is in his lab sleeping when his time machine awakes him with a futuristic message. The message is from an older Chase who apologizes to his dad, and warns him to never pick up the Fistigons.

At the Wilders, Catherine has decided to snoop through Alex’s room for evidence on his knowledge of what PRIDE really does. As for Alex, he can definitely tell that his parents are growing suspicious. Back at the Stein’s, Victor is still being overly nice due to his immune system from Jonah’s medicine. Janet is worried that he might return back to the typical, violent Victor, but Chase thinks that this change could be real for once. At the Minoru’s, Nico and her dad talk for the first time since she heard about the cheating. Nico has a much closer relationship with Robert than Tina, but she sees him in a different light upon knowing that he could leave their family.

In a hospital room, we see Leslie Dean alongside a couple who is saying their goodbyes to a loved one. After some Gibborim rhetoric, Leslie decides that he’s ready to be taken off the ventilator (or rather, “ready to see the spectrum”), but Frank walks in just before the doctor does anything. He asks everyone to leave the room so he can have a moment alone with Leslie. Frank completely revives the man with healing gloves that Jonah gave him, but Leslie warns him that those healing powers come with consequences.

Over at Atlas Academy, Nico and Alex are wondering how that night’s open house will go: All of their parents will be there, pretending that nothing is wrong as always. In the middle of their conversation, Nico asks him about her mom’s password again, but is interrupted when the rest of the group walks over. As it’s bottling up inside her, Molly tells the group what she spilled to Catherine at the gala. She knows that she screwed up, and everyone in the group reminds her of that except Karolina. Later on, Karolina notices Molly getting taken advantage of by girls on the dance team, and she reminds Molly of their friendship. Since they’re the only two in the group who have super powers, their bond is quite different from the rest.

At the church, Frank and Leslie’s assistant, Vaughn, are going through a storage room filled with items that belonged to Leslie’s father. Frank opens up a desk drawer, only to find an old picture of Leslie from her 8th grade graduation, standing next to Jonah.

Now it’s time for the Atlas Academy open house, where everyone is together. With the uneasy drama among the parents, Leslie goes around to the ones hurting most, encouraging them to make things right (as per Jonah’s request). She talks to both Tina and Janet privately, telling them to put the affair behind them and move forward for PRIDE. During Janet’s interaction with her, she tells Leslie, “I think you can leave the rest of humanity out of my extra marital affair,” leaving us to wonder if PRIDE’s existence is much bigger than we thought. A tense interaction between Robert and Victor shows that the latter is slowly returning to his typical self, as Jonah’s medicine is beginning to wear off.

Dale and Stacey Yorkes run into the Wilders, who pull them aside to talk privately. Since Molly knows about the sacrifice, Geoffrey and Catherine stress to the Yorkes that Jonah can’t find out. In order to deal with the situation, they decide that Molly needs to be quarantined. The Yorkes are apprehensive at first, but agree that it needs to be done.

At the same time, the teens have gathered to discuss the future: what happens once they expose their parents’ crimes? They unanimously agree that their parents need to be held accountable for their actions.

Frank finally finds Leslie towards the end of the night, and confronts her about the old photo of her and Jonah. Not only does she confess that she’s ashamed of her affair with him, but confirms that Jonah is the being of light, the being that confirms the Gibborim religion. As Jonah is Karolina’s biological father, the reason why she lights up has now become clearer. In other awkward conversations, Victor nearly strangles Chase’s former lacrosse coach, forcing him to reinstate him to the team. Meanwhile, Janet and Robert talk for the first time since the gala; she tells him that since Victor has changed, and that she’s going to stay with him. Robert knows that Victor’s cycle of abuse will continue, but Janet doesn’t change her mind.

At the Yorkes’, Molly walks into her room to find Dale and Stacey packing her belongings in a suitcase. Molly is confused, and giving her a poor explanation that she’s going to visit family (who she has no knowledge of) doesn’t help. She gets angry to the point of nearly activating her powers, but Gert pulls her away before anything goes wrong. As Karolina pointed out earlier, Molly usually has an extremely positive attitude. As we’ve never seen her so upset, this was easily the most poignant moment of the episode.

In the final scene of ‘Refraction,’ Chase is working on his Fistigons when Victor appears stern, and berates him for being in the lab without his presence. Chase quickly realizes that his father is never going to change, and their argument begins to get physical. After Chase hits him in the face, Victor grabs the Fistigons and blasts him through the glass wall. Victor walks towards Chase aiming the Fistigons at him again, and out of nowhere, Janet shoots him. If Victor is truly dead, what would the consequence be for PRIDE?

Aside from the ending and Karolina’s flare jeans, that might have been the weakest episode of Runaways thus far. The kids’ motives were put on the backburner to focus on the parents’ issues, which at this rate are almost soap opera-like. There’s no doubt in my mind that Runaways will continue with its usual intrigue and adventure, but maybe giving the parents more depth was never a good idea.

Lesbian Apparel and Accessories Gay All Day sweatshirt -- AE exclusive

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button