Runaways: Ep I & II - Nov 23

Marvel’s ‘Runaways’ made their premiere in Canada, and what can be said about them?

The show started slow, with the titular heroes – the children of the Pride – are hurting over the death of Amy, Nico’s sister, who was not shown yet – in a flashback, on a photo, etc. This is important, because – spoilers, or rather – the comics.

Just as the rest of MCU, ‘Runaways’ have existed as a comic book series a long time before now, (when the TV series/web TV series got released) and people have gotten familiar with them by now, with their parents, friends, enemies, etc. They know the plot, they know where it is all going, and so they are not too surprised with how it all is developing, TV-wise.

…So now ‘Runaways’ are throwing plenty of original content, and while they are still seem to be following the initial plotline and conflict (parents vs. children, etc.) they are throwing plenty of their own, new twists into the plot, possibly inspired by the initial comics, but something new all the same. This makes ‘Runaways’ different from such Marvel shows as AoS and ‘The Gifted’, which are simply original from the start, but also introduce various Marvel characters from all over the MCU as part of their narrative, (AoS) or are outright redesigning comic book characters into someone new (‘Gifted’). This is very impressive, but is it good?

So far, most reviews claim that ‘Runaways’ are a soap opera, but so were the ‘InHumans’, actually, and no one made a big deal out of that. Of course, this raises the next question: was the first season of ‘InHumans’ good of its own, and honestly? While it had some flaws, it certainly was not any worse than, say, AoS, (especially in the later seasons), so it is doubtful that it had earned all that hate… However, the truth is that people did not hate ‘InHumans’, they just did not care about the show, and so it collapsed. A show can pull out all of its stops, but sometimes, it is just not good enough. Are the ‘Runaways’ good enough?

Judging by the first two episodes, they can be – certainly by the second episode the action begins to go up, the plot begins to have layers, and the new developments, away from the original comics, certainly help. So for now let us remain cautiously optimistic and hope that the ‘Runaways’ continue to deliver, period – MCU needs it.