D*mmit Frank!
The penultimate episode of Marvel’s Runaways — “Doomsday” — sets up that moment we’ve all been waiting for: it looks like the kids are actually about to run away.
We start with a flashback, showing how Molly lost her parents — a fire. The kicker here, however, is that Molly herself was in the very same fire. By all accounts, she shouldn’t have survived either. Yet, somehow, she did — thanks to some “renewable energy source” that look like a bunch of glowing rocks.
Of course, this fire wasn’t just a coincidental accident either. We hear a phone call between Leslie and Tina, Leslie revealing herself to be the one who locked them inside and started it.
Back in the present day and all the kids are pretty mad at each other after Chase smashed Alex’s laptop and brought them back to square one. They all try to confide in other people — Karolina telling Frank about everything, with Frank saying he’ll try to come up with a plan to fix everything.
Things are still weird at school though. Everyone has heard about what happened to Victor and are offering Chase condolences about his conditions, and Nico and Alex aren’t doing all that great after the whole Amy thing. Gert is the one who tries to bring them all back together, giving them the team name of ‘Runaways’ for the very first time.
That’s when Molly shows up, out of the blue. She decided to sneak away from the house she was staying at and join back up with her friends. She still has the VCR tape too, so they all head to an old AV Club (after arguing about why an AV Club would still exist in 2018, as we were pretty curious about that too) to watch it.
The tape has a message from Molly’s parents, one that was filmed in case they died under mysterious circumstances. They basically tell them that the PRIDE is trying to dig up something that’s hidden underneath the city — something that should probably stay buried.
Now the group is convinced they need to act and act fast. They come up with a plan — a relatively simple plan that actually makes some bit of sense. They’ll tell their parents their headed to the school dance, only to sneak away to the construction site in which PRIDE is digging and put an end to it.
Speaking of the construction site, that’s where PRIDE has gathered during the day to hear an inspiring speech from their fearless leader, Jonah. And by inspiring speech I mean an intimidating one that promises a dark future. Most of the PRIDE members seem to feel the same way, as they all share uneasy looks and question the choices they’ve made as of late.
PRIDE members aren’t the only ones hanging around the construction site either. Outside, Darius is sitting in a car, waiting for a security guard he hired to tell him what’s going on. Unfortunately, Jonah fired all the guards so Darius still has no clue, but he’s getting closer and closer.
Now it’s time to get ready for the dance. Nico and Alex get ready together, despite still being angry about the whole phone situation. Everyone else shows up one by one, with Gert deciding to bring Old Lace along.
And, of course, there’s time for some romance before the mission begins. Gert and Chase finally end up hooking up after having a somewhat cheesy conversation about being noticed. The real surprise, however, is when Karolina and Nico head inside looking for them and Karolina plants a kiss on Nico. Nico is surprised, but definitely not offended by the action. Too bad Gert and Chase come busting out of a room with messed up hair right after it happens, and they all have to leave.
They head over to the construction site and begin digging around. The place is now controlled by the Church of Gibborim, so Karolina is able to get them in by telling them it’s for a school project. The guard calls Frank for confirmation, which he gives.
However, Frank isn’t the man we may have thought he was. During the school dance, Jonah called a PRIDE meeting. He knew what the Runaways were up to, and informs PRIDE of everything. And the reason he knew is because of, you guessed it, Frank.
Frank sold Karolina out and told Jonah everything. I mean, we knew Frank was always looking for some leadership type position and for a place to belong, but come on man. That’s your daughter.
Now, Jonah is getting to ready a full scale assault on the construction site, bringing the PRIDE along to watch.
Things at the construction site are going smoothly, meanwhile. They’re all using their various superpowers to try and stop the digging — which is done by throwing a giant truck down into the whole. Darius follows along, hiding in the shadows and waiting to see how the whole thing plays out.
That’s when Jonah and PRIDE shows up. The Runaways stand in battle formation, not hesitating for a second. They all reveal their superpowers, to the surprise of their parents (except Tina, who calls back the Staff of One from Nico).
Everyone gets ready to fight….which is right when the episode ends. In a show that seems to dwell in cliffhangers, this might just be one of the biggest ones to date.
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