'Marvel's Runaways' Season 3 Episode 2 review: Janet takes a heartbreaking decision as Nico and the others rush to the rescue
Escapes have to be dramatic, especially if they're from a royal family of aliens using your bodies as hosts. In the second episode of 'Marvel's Runaways', the remaining Runaways pull out all the stops to rescue Chase (Gregg Sulkin), Janet (Ever Carradine) and Karolina (Virginia Gardner) from Jonah and his family.
Nico (Lyrica Okano) and Alex (Rhenzy Feliz) struggle to hunt out the formula to release the three of them from the pods, while Gert's mother Stacey (Brigid Brannagh, who has managed to momentarily break free of the Magistrate wife's possession runs to Gert (Ariela Barer) in a bid to explain how to rescue the rest. However, the wife returns just before Stacey is able to be of any actual help. Old Lace, their bio-genetically controlled dinosaur saves the day by knocking her out, giving Gert enough time to run to the rest. While others are battling every possible to rescue them, Chase, Janet and Karolina aren't sitting idle. They realize that even if they can't break out of the pods, they can at least exit the Algorithm. It's just like dreams, they discover. Janet finally gets to yell at the pancake-making Victor and reveals some uncomfortable truths about their marriage. Yet, at the end of the episode, Janet sacrifices herself to save Chase and Karolina, but not before a bittersweet conversation with her son.
Chase apologizes to the rest of the Runaways, who are still smarting about his betrayal. Yet, with grudging acceptance, he is taken back into the fold.
This episode had a lot of factors that worked in its favor --- it was entertaining, it had heartwrenching emotional moments and it had a lot of action sequences. The character of Xavin is a gift to the show, and her deadpan conversations with Molly are always good fun to watch, especially when Molly tries to whine too much. But the best scene with Xavin is when she tries to figure out the sorcery of cars.
Nico's fight sequences with Jonah were the highlight of the episode, Janet and Chase's conversation following closely behind. It was an unexpected ending. Keeping to its wild and eccentric flavor, the episode moved fast.
The question is, is this the end of Jonah?
'The Runaways' streams on Hulu on December 13.
