Marvel's Runaways S01E01 Review: Kids and Cults

Marvel's Runaways, Season 1, Episode 1: Reunion

I've never, ever heard of the Runaways before, which is why it took me quite a while to actually bother to watch the series. Marvel's insanely gigantic Cinematic Universe is expanding in all directions, and with older shows being renewed and new movies coming out, it's really hard to sometimes care about a property I'm not that invested in, whereas when it's presented in movie format (like Guardians of the Galaxy was) or adapting B-listers that anyone who's picked up an Avengers comic would recognize (Punisher, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Luke Cage, etc) it's going to take some time for someone who's not entirely too familiar about superheroes to really care about. Still, I'm here to review it now, so... yeah.

So this first episode has to do a couple of things -- it has the unenviable task of introducing six characters and the premise of what is going on, as well as the premise of the entire series. It does it by making it clear that our six main characters, who come from completely differing backgrounds and whatnot, used to be close friends who fell apart after one of them, Amy, apparently dies. Oh, and their parents all are tied into this weird Scientology/wacky modern cult-esque religion called the Church of... Gibborin, I think? And as the final scene of the episode shows, the kids, after an episode of avoiding each other, discover that their parents are an actual honest-to-goodness robes-and-sacrifices cult, after a bit of a bonding session and a romp through Wilder's house reveals a secret door, causing them to witness a human sacrifice. Oh, and hidden (possibly-suppressed) superpowers and force fields are involved. 

Oh, and they all have superpowers, which I'm not sure if they all know or not. 

This is a slow-as-hell episode, and I'm not sure if I actually approve of the pacing. For so much of the first half it plays out like a generic teen drama. Perhaps it's because that the first episode is supposed to run for two parts, but so much of this tries to establish that our six main characters are friends who drifted away, and when they finally manage to come back together in perhaps not the most civil manner for the most depressing pizza dinner, they're thankfully thrust into something more exciting than 'oh, Chase stood Gert up for Spanish tutors for a par-tay!'

So let's go through the kids one by one, because there's scant little that happens here that's not just introducing us to the main six characters and their shared backstory. Wilder, the nice black kid, is the one who we perhaps root the most for because he's trying to do something -- namely, get all his friends back together. Some of whom are jackasses. I don't think other than a bit of a romantic feel towards Nico and the whole 'why didn't you come to her funeral' thing, Wilder gets to do much beyond being the glue? Nico Minoru (the only character who I know of from this bunch thanks to a Marvel mobile game) is one of those rare Asian superheroes. Here, for the most part, she's just... a goth chick. I'm not sure if real goths actually make huge bonfires and summoning circles in a beach trying to commune with her dead sister, but okay?

Carolina Dean is the very prolific daughter of the leaders of the Church of Gibborin, and despite having to act like the perfect poster child for the cult church, she's actually not really feeling it. After talking to a girl we see in the prologue (who gets sacrificed to Satan or something at the end of this episode) Carolina goes off to party, gets given some drugs, and nearly gets raped when she falls unconscious. Also, she has a bracelet that nullifies her... glitter powers? Or something?

Chase is a jackass jerk, initially a rather caricatured one until you get the scene where his father is your typical emotionally-abusive, results-demanding jackass. And I guess he saved Carolina from being raped, so there's some brownie points his way, but Chase also stands Gertrude up when he asks her for help in learning Spanish to please his dead, but buggered off to go party. Gertrude initially starts off like also a caricatured feminist, and perhaps ranks up there with Chase as the most confrontational ones of the group, although most of Gert's anger and bile tends to be directed at Carolina and vice versa.

And then there's Molly. Who, as Chase points out in their shouting match when everyone insults everyone else, he's like "I got nothing. You're nice." All Molly deals with (she's like Gert's adopted sister or something, I think?) is menstrual cramps that turns out to be relieved when her eyes glow and she is able to unleash some super-strength. And Molly has like a crocodile demon-monster in her basement that we briefly see and freak her out?

Overall, most of the characters honestly still feel somewhat flat, but I guess I'll give the intended pilot a try before I continue or stop this series, so expect an episode 2 review sooner or later.