'Marvel's Runaways' Episode 9 Review: 'The Broken Circle' sees the Pride team up with Runaways to save the world
Spoiler alert for Season 3 Episode 9 of 'Marvel's Runaways'
Coming in an episode early, the final confrontation between Morgan Le Fay (Elizabeth Hurley) and the Runaways has arrived. The Runaways are not alone, as the Pride has now fully turned away from villainy to help their kids save the world. It’s the ultimate family bonding experience!
Recently broken free of Morgan’s enchantment around his neck, Geoffrey Wilder (Ryan Sands) summons the rest of the Pride to discuss the idea of protecting their kids instead of playing sidekick to the Runaways’ battle against a world-ending threat. With their villainous history being made more irrelevant than redeemed, the Pride sets about fighting Morgan on their own. Rescuing Molly (Allegra Acosta) from Morgan’s coven ends up being an unintentionally hilarious affair, thanks to a strange magic technicality that states that witches can’t stop chanting once they’ve started. The sheer ridiculousness of Geoffry Wilder simply picking up Molly from inside the coven’s circle as Morgan looks on, helplessly chanting, drains the situation of all stakes.
The stakes ramp right back up again, though, as the witches apparently didn’t need a complete sacrifice from Molly, as a boost from her powers was enough to weaken the barrier between the real world and the Dark Realm. Morgan Le Fay is at the height of her Marvel comics villainy, using the Darkhold to bring the Dark Realm to Earth and creating a world where dark magic rules.
The Pride turns up at the Hostel to meet up with their kids and discuss the prevention of the Apocalypse. Morgan still needs the Staff of One before her plan can come to fruition, so in the quiet moments of preparation, the show crams in as many character moments as it can before the end. Some moments work, some feel rushed, but this shows just how far these characters have come. Molly, especially, seems to have really grown into herself in the background of the show as she tells Gert (Ariela Barer) how much she loves being a superhero.
When the time comes, Morgan does what she does best in another spectacular entrance. It’s the best part of the final battle, in all honesty, as her villain speech that precedes the Runaways’ feigned submission falls flat. While Karolina does have one great moment of defending Nico from the brunt of Morgan’s shadowy power, there isn’t really much of a battle. Morgan is too powerful a character, and much of the work of taking her out is done in the background, by Janet Stein (Ever Carradine) and Tina Minoru (Brittany Ishibashi) . Ultimately, it’s trickery from Gert that does Morgan in. It’s another flat monologue that’s an admittedly clever distraction from Gert pouring a circle of salt around Morgan, binding her magic in. Morgan Le Fay goes out with more of a whimper than a bang.
It should be Gert’s most triumphant moment — one of her lectures actually managed to save the world — but there’s no time for celebration, as one of Morgan’s attacks threw Gert against the sharp end of a broken chandelier. Between Geoffry and Gert, random impalements are apparently a bigger threat than Morgan ever was.
Gert’s death feels like its comes out of nowhere, especially considering that she was walking around fine for a while after receiving her fatal blow. It’s the one aspect of the comics that it would have been better for the show to have not replicated. Morgan’s defeat feels just as sudden, and between the two, there’s an awkwardness to what should feel like a season finale despite there being an episode left to end the series off with. While it's a fun episode overall, the uneasy ending puts a lot of pressure on the final episode to provide a satisfying conclusion to the season, and the series as a whole.