By John Molina
Hulu’s first three episodes of Runaways sketches out the plot easily for fans and new watchers to understand, but there is a lack of action.
“Runaways” is based on the Marvel comic by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona. Although Hulu has made some subtle changes to the beloved characters, they portray the hero’s as accurately as possible.
The first episode spends a lot of time giving some background on the hero’s.
Taking place in Los Angeles instead of New York like traditional Marvel hero stories. Old friends who haven’t talked to each other for two years due to the loss of Nico Minoru’s, portrayed by (Lyrica Okano), sister Amy Minoru.
They are reunited by Alex Wilder (Rhenzy Feliz) for one of their classic hang out sessions, in his hopes that they will be close friends like they once were.
Along with other Runaways, Karolina Dean (Virginia Gardner), Gert Yorkes (Ariela Barer), Chase Stein (Gregg Sulkin) and Gert’s adopted sister Molly Hernandez (Allegra Acosta) are hanging out in Wilder’s house. When they accidentally discover a secret passageway while looking for alcohol in Wilder’s father’s office.
That leads them into a dungeon like basement and there they find their parents murder a young woman.
The second episode cleverly switches it up by focusing it on the parents and the events that took place before the murder. The episode shows what kind of people they are and dives into their personal life. They call their group The Pride.
The third episode consists of the Runways trying to make sense of what they just witnessed. They split up into teams to do some detective work hoping to find something that will prove that their parents aren’t murderers and figure out what is going on.
The episode is full of mystery and betrayal, and as the Runaways discover secrets and a couple of them their powers. You’re never going to want it to end. Nina Lopez-Corrado directed episode three.
Based on the first three episodes of this show, Runaways isn’t as dark as the Marvel shows on Netflix.
Hulu decided to take a more humorous, dramatic and mysterious route in this show and it works.
Each character gets their own time to shine throughout the three episodes whether it’s doing something cool or making a hilarious joke, each character is well developed.
Although as great as these characters are, some can be stubborn at times when they need to be a team. The show also takes its time rolling out the powers of the characters and that might bother some viewers because that means there’s not a lot of action going on.
As many pros as there are to this show, the lack of action in Runaways will notovercome the pros for some viewers. When Marvel fans see the Marvel symbol attached to a TV show or film, they expect action and a lot of it and they aren’t getting it in these first three episodes.
Even though Runaways are not as popular as iconic heros such as Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, etc., they prove themselves worthy to be in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) with a wonderful TV show that has well developed characters, funny moments and good mystery.
It is probably due to the fact that they are Marvel’s newest heroes, (their first comic book appearance was in 2003.
Hulu will release new episodes of Runways every week on Tuesdays.