'Marvel's Runaways' Episode 10 review: 'Cheat the Gallows' is a lively time-travel romp that bids a fun-filled farewell to the series
Spoilers ahead
If, for some reason, you are reading this review before watching the series finale, do yourself a favour: don't watch it yet. Not today, not later this week, not even in the upcoming year - just give it time, and watch it the way its creators obviously intended it to be watched; years after the series' cancellation. 'Cheat the Gallows' is a wonderful episode, but if it has one failing, it's that it tries to cash in on a nostalgia the 2017-released series barely had a chance to earn.
'Cheat the Gallows' starts three years to the day after the Runaways defeated Morgan Le Fay (Elizabeth Hurley) at the cost of their teammate, Gert (Ariela Barer), and it really feels like an episode that's meant to be watched three years later, as well. There's a sort of reunion vibe the episode gives off, as it shows what the Runaways have been upto in the years since. Molly (Allegra Acosta) is a cheerleader captain, Karolina (Virigina Gardener) is dating someone new and attending college (it's a nod to her comic-book counterpart's place in current continuity, down to her new girlfriend, Julie), Nico (Lyrica Okano) left the team to control her magic, Alex (Rhenzy Feliz) sports a soul patch and runs a tech company, while Chase (Gregg Sulkin)...Chase has been working on time travel.
Time travel is just what this episode is all about, as an evil Alex from the future has come back in time to take out the Runaways for reasons that are never quite clear, and don't quite matter enough to take away from how much sheer fun the episode has with its concept. It's up to Future Chase, wearing his best Doctor Who look (much to the disgruntlement of 3-Years-Later Alex), to stop Future Alex in his tracks. After his first failed confrontation with the team, Future Alex decides to go even further back in time to take out the Runaways, meaning the 3-Years-Later Runaways (time travel stories are a mess) are going back to high school.
It's a chance for the characters to look back at their high school selves and note how different they've all become. The emotional impact of seeing Gert again is somewhat lost by how fast-paced the episode has been following her death last episode - the show skipped over the grieving process so quickly that it's easy to forget Gert even died in the first place. Much of the episode's emotional impact is lost - seeing the characters' younger selves doesn't carry the emotional weight it ought to, considering that their first appearances weren't actually that long ago.
The humor is stellar, however. There are a lot of gags that the whole time travel experience brings out, especially in character interactions with their older and younger selves. The way the performances, costumes, hair and make-up manage to make the characters actually feel like they're all different ages is nothing short of brilliant, highlighted by a scene that contains three separate Alex Wilders who are all incredibly distinct from each other.
Once Future Alex has been captured, the team goes forward in time - but still in the past - to the day Gert died, in the hopes of saving her life. We see the events of the last episode play out as before, with extra scenes as seen from the background thrown in - it feels a little like watching the deleted scenes of Episode 9. Things don't go as planned, of course, and Future Chase ends up being the one to sacrifice his life to stop Morgan. Time neatly wraps itself up, as the 3-years-later Runaways are erased from existence, their timeline having been changed.
The Runaways of the present are confused, but they've faced stranger things. They get to celebrate a victory that leaves them all alive, and with a minor Easter Egg that teases Alex's dark future once again, the Runaways, well, run away, out the door and into whatever new future they can build for themselves.
With all the crossovers, Pride stories and aliens filling the season, it's nice that the series ends on an episode that focuses almost entirely on just the original Runaways team - in fact, doubling down on the characters with both past and future versions of them. The Runaways have run along quite a journey, and the final episode is a fitting tribute to that, celebrating the human moments that made the series such an enjoyable watch, right alongside the comic-book craziness that made it so weird. It's as good an ending as the series could have hoped for, and it's hard to imagine a better goodbye.
