"Runaways," Year One

Minor spoilers ahead.

I knew very little about the "Runaways" comic before watching the show, only that it was about a group of teenagers in the Marvel superhero universe who discover that their parents are members of a secret cabal of supervillains. On the surface, Pride is a group of wealthy philanthropists raising money for charity, but the kids catch them in the middle of committing a ritualistic murder one night. The premise sounds perfect for a teen show - there's a diverse cast of characters, tie-ins to the the Marvel cinematic universe, and several big honking genre metaphors for growing up and the generational divide. However, the particulars of the plotting also offer some challenges.

First off, there are more than a dozen major characters to keep track of immediately. Brainy Alex Wilder (Rhenzy Feliz) is the son of former crime boss Geoffrey (Ryan Sands) and high-powered lawyer Catherine (Angel Parker). Goth-girl Nico Minoru (Lyrica Okano) is the daughter of tech gurus Tina and Robert (Brittany Ishibashi, James Yaegashi). Popular jock Chase Stein (Gregg Sulkin) is the son of famous inventor and innovator Victor Stein (James Marsters) and his wife Janet (Ever Carradine). Karolina Dean (Virginia Gardner) is devoted to the Scientology-like Church of Gibborim, run by her mother Leslie (Annie Wersching) and actor father Frank (Kip Pardue). Finally Riot grrrl Gert Yorkes (Ariela Barer) and her adopted younger sister Molly Hernandez (Allegra Acosta) are the daughters of eccentric scientists Stacey and Dale Yorkes (Brigid Brannagh, Kevin Weisman).

The comic focused on the kids, but to generate enough material for multiple seasons of a television show, the "Runaways" creators have chosen to spend just as much time exploring the parents, who are reportedly much more nuanced and complicated than their original versions. This also allows the series to be structured more like a mystery show, with the history of Pride being revealed little by little at a very leisurely pace, and multiple new subplots in play. After the ten-episode first season, it feels like the series is just getting started, with very little resolved and several of the bigger revelations being held back for future seasons. The writing is pretty good on an episode by episode basis, though the kids are noticeably more well-rounded and relatable than any of the adult characters. Their smart, occasionally sarcastic attitudes help keep them very watchable. I like that they poke fun at themselves and point out when they stumble over old cliches.

Where "Runaways" runs into some trouble is the performances. The kids are all relative newcomers, with varying levels of talent, and the parents aren't all that much better. There are a couple of big moments that don't land right at all, and are a stark reminder that it's harder to play these kinds of melodramatic, over-the-top, comic book roles than it looks. Rhenzy Feliz and Ariela Barer are the standouts as Alex and Gert, who manage to come across as fairly normal kids despite their constantly ridiculous circumstances. The show is much better when it's about the thorny interpersonal dynamics of the parents and kids than it is whenever the superpowers and magic heirlooms come out.

And I should caution that the show is very much a comic book fantasy, and introduces a lot of these elements quickly. After a fairly restrained first episode, we're plunged into a world where magic, mutant powers, time travel, aliens, and mad science all co-exist. And though the show does its best to downplay a lot of the most outlandish business, and nobody ever actually uses terms like "mutant" or "alien," it still causes a fair bit of tonal whiplash when the kids are dealing with serious issues like domestic violence and grief one minute, and then discovering a dinosaur in the basement the next.

At least "Runaways" has enough of a budget that the dinosaur looks pretty good. The production values are high and existing fans should be happy to find that the show's creators took many of its visuals straight from the comics. Despite the plotting deviations, there's every indication that the show was made by people who love this property, and took pains to ensure that it was brought to the small screen with some fidelity. This is not the best version of a "Runaways" show that could exist, but it's still pretty strong, and plenty entertaining.

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