Who's ready for a party?
The next episode of Marvel’s Runaways — entitled “Metamorphosis” for some obvious symbolic reasons — kicks off with another flashback.
Julian McMahon’s character — aka the former crusty guy (don’t plan on us ever letting that go) — is finally given a name: Jonah. He’s meeting with Geoffrey and Catherine, right after Geoffrey has been let out of prison, in the murder basement.
Since Geoffrey and Jonah are now business partners, Jonah is giving the Wilder’s a gift: the entire house. They’re extremely grateful, but Jonah reassures them is all for a purpose: the basement is going to be put to good use, and they’re going to be doing things down there that they don’t want the neighbors to here.
We then cut to the very first PRIDE sacrifice meeting, where no one really knows how to act. In fact, most of them are pretty timid about the whole thing and make the extra effort to treat it as a joke. It’s all fun and games, that is, until the victim is placed inside Victor’s box and is seemingly killed and the realization of what they just did sets in.
This moment is also significant for two other reasons: One, we see Molly’s true parents for the first time, confirming they were at once members of PRIDE. Two, Victor and Leslie finally explain what this black box is — a device that converts matter into pure energy, that energy then being absorbed by a human body. That human body absorbing the energy, obviously, belongs to Jonah.
So now we know that, for whatever reason, PRIDE is working to protect Jonah and keep him alive. We also know that he’s helped PRIDE to make sure this is possible, as he’s given them all numerous gifts along the way. In fact, he’s given so many gifts that backing out of the PRIDE commitment now would be impossible. They’re all seemingly stuck in this cult for a long, long time to come.
Cut back to the present day. The PRIDE has a big, important gala at Wizard’s headquarters coming up, which all the Runaways are also invited to attend. Jonah knows this and wants to come, hoping to finally get the chance to meet his daughter. Leslie is still unsure about all this, but at this point, there’s no changing Jonah’s mind.
The Runaways, meanwhile, start forming a plan for how to approach the gala. Alex wants Nico’s help in hacking to her mother’s computer that night, but their conversation is interrupted when Tina enters Nico’s room and tells her “Training begins now.” She then begins teaching her daughter how to use the Staff as One, the pair bonding as they do.
Eventually, however, they all do unite and figure out what they’re going to. They’ll all show up together (Chase picking up Karolina on the way, much to Gert’s dissatisfaction) and find a way to break into the upstairs offices during the party. Then they’ll find the evidence they need to incriminate their parents and release it for the whole world to see. What could possibly go wrong?
Victor isn’t having as good of a day. After spending some time with Chase repairing the Fistigons (the two are still getting along well, for the time being) he starts tapping on his computer. It’s then revealed that he’s been paying on his wife, and happens to be listening right at the time she’s meeting up with Robert. All his suspicions about her having an affair have now been confirmed.
Before the party, Nico and Karolina meet up to get ready. Everything is going normally, when there’s an oddly intimate moment that happens. Karolina starts to say something, admitting that she’s been living a lie for a long time and is ready to accept her true self, right before she’s interrupted by Gert and Molly. Seems like Alex isn’t the only one interested in Nico, as Karolina has a crush of her own.
Now they’re all on the way to the party. After getting the obligatory Stan Lee cameo out of the way, seen as the limo driver, they enter dressed to impress.
After an argument between Gert and Karolina about their sexuality and who likes who, the group splits up to go through with their mission. Gert is in charge of flirting with a security guard who just so happens to be reading Metamorphosis while Alex and Nico head up to the server room. They don’t have much luck inside there, so they instead head to Tina’s office to try and hack into her desktop.
Karolina, however, is pretty fed up about the whole Gert encounter, so she grabs a bottle of vodka and heads up to the roof. Chase can’t leave her alone for thirty seconds though, so he follows her up there too and tries to comfort her.
But Karolina isn’t in any mood to be comforted, and she goes off once again about how her entire life is a lie. It’s at that moment when she leans a little too far over the ledge and falls off — only to have her bracelet torn off, learning that her powers give her the ability to fly. Both of them are astonished and as Karolina returns to safety, Chase steals a kiss (which she’s really not all that into) — which Molly just so happens to see.
Back at the actual party, things are just as complicated. Frank and Jonah shared an awkward interaction, as just seeing Jonah seemed to trigger some kind of repressed memory of Frank’s that he still can’t totally recall. Meanwhile, Molly is constantly berating Catherine for answers about her parents, worried that Catherine will be brought to jail before she gets to information she wants.
Catherine quickly picks up on this, however, and realizes something is coming up. She then begins to reconsider whether Molly is as innocent as she initially thought. Maybe she did see something that night…
That’s when the speeches begin and the night really goes wrong. The PRIDE takes the stage to talk about their achievements and gratitude when Victor — anger boiling as another headache sets in — decides to take the microphone and tell the audience that his wife has been sleeping with Robert. Luckily for Victor, he doesn’t have to deal with the immediate repercussions of this, as he promptly passes out upon finishing. Still, talk about a party killer.
Victor is brought away by the other PRIDE members, as Jonah’s help is enlisted to heal him — because apparently Jonah has the power to do literally anything and can cure brain cancer. Sure enough, Victor is brought back to full health, and not just that either: he’s in an oddly remarkable un-Victor-like good mood, and is ready to completely forgive his wife’s adultery.
Upon the announcement, Tina heads up to her office to shed some tears over Robert. She walks right past Gert and luckily never notices Alex and Nico hiding under the desk either. Nico does witness her mother’s breakdown, though, creating even more of a growing sympathy between the two.
Eventually, all the Runaways come back down to the party to reunite. Alex says he’s got the data and will work on decrypting it, as they all discuss the other events that took place tonight.
Jonah isn’t finished though — he still REALLY wants to meet Karolina. And, to his credit, he does. Karolina doesn’t know who he is though or why this man suddenly is so interested in her, she thinks he just comes off as really, really creepy. Luckily, Frank steps back in to intervene and the two share another awkward encounter before walking away.
Catherine also takes a moment to confront Molly, who stupidly admits “I didn’t see a thing,” which is practically a death sentence when dealing with the PRIDE. Stacey arrives just in the nick of time to rescue her though, and we end with another cliffhanger as Catherine tells her husband that she thinks Molly actually did see something and now needs to be dealt with.
With episode six now under the belt, meaning the first season of Runaways is now over half-way done, there’s no telling where we’re going next. Let us know in the comments below what you think will happen in the next episode. Be sure to watch Marvel’s Runaways on Hulu later today, and check out some of our other Runaways recaps in the meantime.