If there’s one thing that doesn’t help those teenage, angsty years, it’s finding out that your parents might a member of a cult that occasionally sacrifices people. What, exactly, does one do when finding that out?
“Destiny” — the third episode of Marvel’s Runaways — begins to answer that question, as we watch the teens struggle with this information. While Destiny is the name of the young woman that was put in the black box during the Pride’s ritual, there’s a different character who’s really at the center of this episode: Molly.
The episode begins with a flashback to ten years ago, at the funeral of Molly’s parents. All of the Pride members serve as pallbearers, suggesting that Molly’s parents were also likely tied to the church as well.
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This is confirmed at the reception, when Geoffrey questions Robert as to whether Tina was involved with their deaths, to which Robert assures him that she was not. Geoffrey doesn’t buy it, setting up the beginning of a conflict we’ll likely see play out later down the line, as he says “I wish I could believe you.”
However, it’s also then that we see Dale and Stacey Yorkes decide to step up and take in Molly as one of their own. After talking to a very young Molly, telling her that they “loved her mommy and daddy very much,” she agrees to come live with them and Gert.
Flash-forward to present day, and Molly isn’t so much living the normal life that she was promised. She’s continuing to discover her powers — some form of super strength, which only happens when her eyes light up — while trying to keep it a secret from everyone else.
Later that day, all the Runaways head to the beach to meet up and talk about what they should do next. Even after they endured, there’s still plenty of tension between the group as they still have to work out the kinds of what resembles their former friendship.
Karolina shows them all a text message she received from Destiny, which says she decided to take a last minute trip to London. Karolina is convinced it’s real, but the rest of them mostly — especially Nico — think it to be photoshop.
It’s Alex who comes up with the plan. He suggests they all do some investigating and “let cooler heads prevail. Hopefully in a couple hours we know that our parents are just weird and not killers.” Karolina says she’ll check in with her mom’s office to make sure Destiny is actually in London, Chase and Gert (who still is SO clearly into Chase) partner up to investigate Victor’s lab, Alex will look into the ceremony room and Nico will try to get her hands on her mom’s staff to see what it’s capable of. Molly also brings up the monster she saw in her parents basement, but no one really believes her that there’s a dinosaur locked away down there.
Cut to Victor, working in the lab. He hasn’t figured out what’s wrong with his black box yet, and is being haunted by images of Destiny — whom he had to kill with his bare hands after the deceive didn’t work. Janet comes in to try and calm him down, only to receive another lecture of how Victor is providing for the family and all that.
Over at Dale and Stacey’s office, Tina and Robert have made a surprise visit. They’ve come over to celebrate that Synnergy — their company — has been put on the cover of some American Medicine magazine. Surely, this will bring in all kinds of interesting offers and money, giving them the opportunity to take their company to the next level. What, exactly, they’ll do with that money is unclear as the mere idea of it already causes minor arguments and clashes, but it’ll likely be Pride related.
Gert and Chase find their opportunity to sneak into Victor’s basement and do so, Gert finding a pair of *extremely* effective x-ray goggles they decide to borrow. That’s when they stumble across the black box which, somewhat re-assuringly, is empty. Chase is ready to call it quits, but Gert insists that they go check out whatever Molly saw in the basement, even though it’s probably nothing.
The Wilders, meanwhile, have their own problems. Geoffrey found the hairpin and recognized it as Mollys. Catherine, however, is one the ready to take matters into her own hands. She takes out some type blue serum made by Synnergy — one that makes people forget things — and prepares to interrogate Molly.
Catherine “accidentally” stumbles across Molly in a cafe, and begins her questioning. It doesn’t take Molly long to realize the nature of Catherine’s questions and where it’s leading, so she excuses herself to the bathroom and, using her newly found powers, busts open the window and escapes.
However, Catherine isn’t far behind, and soon picks up Molly in her car. Molly says it was just dehydration, but it leads to a deeper conversation between the two of them about Molly’s parentage. Molly eventually admits to being in Geoffrey’s office, saying she was spying on them so that the rest of the Runaways could steal some liquor. Surprisingly, Catherine believes the story and choses not to go through with using the serum.
While all this is happening, Alex failed to get into his dad’s study as Geoffrey came home right at the worst possible time. That’s pretty much it for that storyline in this episode.
But then there’s Nico. She convinced her parents to take a date night — which isn’t going well by the way and, after they decide to call it an early night, it’s revealed that Robert is the one that Janet has been sleeping with — so she can look at the staff. She gets it out and accidentally activates it, making it impossibly begin to snow indoors.
Problem is, she can’t get it to stop. And when the house monitor system informs her that Tina is on the way home, Nico knows she’s in trouble. She calls Alex for help, and the two quickly clean up all the snow. In order to create some sort of explanation for Alex being here, Nico takes off her shirt and begins kissing Alex right as Tina enters their bedroom. She’s not happy about the whole thing, but she buys the alibi. Alex is sent home, but not before giving Nico a real kiss first.
Karolina didn’t have much luck on her end, unfortunately. After repeated missed calls to Destiny, she’s stopped by another one of her mom’s assistants. However, as she’s leaving, she sees a painting done by her grandfather — one that has striking similarities to the bright, colored lights Karolina saw when she took off her bracelet.
Finally, we head back to Gert and Chase, now in Dale and Stacey’s basement looking for the monster. After digging around for awhile, they do eventually come across the dinosaur Molly warned them about. And, of course, they accidentally let it out of cage. Now there’s a dinosaur out there, roaming the streets.
But that’s not our final, final cliff-hanger. Leslie goes in to check on the dying man with the breathing thing, only to realize he’s not getting better. She calls Tina, only to have her beliefs re-affirmed. Destiny’s body has washed ashore, and Victor is nowhere to be seen. Now they know the sacrifice didn’t work — which means they have to do it again.
The third episode of Runaways continues to develop the characters and deepen the mystery. While some criticize the slow for moving at too slow of a pace, the writers deserve credit for taking their time to work everything out in an appropriate manner. The dynamic between both the Runaways and the Pride is one that continues to be intriguing the more layers that are pulled back.
Check out new episodes of Marvel’s Runaways every Tuesday on Hulu, and read our latest Runaways recaps by clicking here.