Liam Hoofe reviews the series premiere of Marvel’s Runaways…
When the Marvel logo appears on your screen, it comes with a certain weight of expectation. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is an unstoppable juggernaut on the big screen right now, with the studio churning out excellent movie after excellent movie. The company’s success on the small screen, however, has not been quite as consistent. While Marvel’s relationship with Netflix has been fairly fruitful so far, shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and more recently Inhumans have not been as widely adored by audiences. Marvel’s latest project, an adaptation of everyone’s favourite teen heroes, Runaways, made its debut on Hulu this week.
One of the first thing you notice about Runaways is just how different it feels to the rest of the MCU’s offerings. In such a saturated market, Marvel have realised that they have to adapt to survive, and this year more than any they have shown how versatile they can be. The show is set in L.A., and the city itself, even after just one episode, feels like it is its own character in the show. The opening credits show us various shots of all the different aspects of the city, from the suburban mansions with swimming pools to the city’s grimy and crime-ridden underbelly. The first episode does a great job of establishing a sense of location, and that is not the only thing the episode gets correct.
For those who don’t know, Runaways’ basic premise is about a group of teenagers who discover that their parents are actually a group of twisted supervillains and run away from home to figure out how to deal with the situation, only to discover that they all have superpowers themselves. There are six members of the Runaways – Alex, Gertrude, Molly, Chase, Karolina and Nico – and the opening episode does a great job of introducing these characters;, we effectively spend the first part of the episode exploring a day in the life of each of them and the show does a magnificent job of juggling them all.
At the start of the episode, we discover that the Runaways, as a group of friends, are currently not on good terms. Ever since a friend committed suicide two years ago, the group have fallen out of touch with one another. One of the group, Alex, wants to get them back together at his parent’s house for one night and that is the focus of the second half of the episode. Initially rejecting Alex’s invite, one by one, the group all end up heading to his house for a reunion. It is at this reunion that they stumble across all of their parents sacrificing a girl in what appears to be some sort of cult. This might sound like quite a lot to cram into one episode, but Runaways is surprisingly well paced, moving everything along nicely while also not leaving too much unclear.
The group are currently unaware of all of their own powers, and the episode only featured fleeting moments of them using them. Instead, the episode spent the majority of the time just establishing the characters as teenagers, all of which are dealing with some sort of personal angst, angst that will no doubt play into the revelation of their powers in the coming episodes. And sure, some might argue that the teenage stuff is a little cliche, as are some of the characters, but the show does a good job of making it feel fun, and at times the episode feels like it has been taken straight from the page.
For those worrying about Runaways, especially after the car crash that was Inhumans, you can breathe easy. The opening episode of Runaways was a great introduction to the group’s unique tale. More than anything else, Runaways felt like a show comfortable its own skin, it establishes a strong aesthetic and introduces us to a wide array of characters. With the show only having 10 episodes, here’s hoping the whole thing can continue in the same vein as ‘Reunion’.
What did you think of ‘Reunion’? Let us know in the comments below, and let Liam know on Twitter @liamhoofe
