Marvel's 'Runaways' recap: 'Hostile'

The end is near (in more ways than one).

“Hostile” is the final episode in the first season of Marvel’s Runaways. Yes, even though we originally thought we were getting 13 episodes, it’s actually only 10 (don’t worry though, it has been renewed for a second season).

We left off with a huge cliffhanger. The Runaways had all taken to battle formations, facing PRIDE and Jonah while standing at the construction site. PRIDE (mainly Geoffrey) tells Jonah that he better not hurt their children, but that doesn’t stop him. Jonah takes off his bracelet and reveals that he glows too, and then begins firing beams at the Runaways.

The Runaways go tumbling to the ground, injured. Karolina offers to stay behind and fight so the rest of them can escape. Jonah and Karolina then shoot beams at each other all Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows style while everyone else runs off.

The rainbow fight between Karolina and Jonah releases an EMP that wipes out pretty much everything that the eye can see. It’s powerful enough for everyone else to find a place to hide, but Karolina passes out.

The rest of the Runaways stay and wait for the area to clear out. By morning, everyone is gone and their now wandering the streets of L.A. alone. Not sure what to do, they head out to the forrest around the Griffith Observatory and try to come up with a plan to get Karolina.

The PRIDE isn’t doing much better. They all gather, accusing each other of knowing of their kid’s superpowers and letting this whole mess with Jonah happen. However, they decide to try and come together — confessing all their past sins in the process. Leslie admits to the Hernandezes’ death and that she was the one who sent the warning text to Amy before Jonah got to her.

Their next move, they all agree, is to free Karolina. That’s no easy task, however, as Jonah brought her into the private mediation room where he was when he was all crusty. She’s even got the mask on too — meaning this can’t be good for Karolina’s fate. The only other person allowed in besides Jonah is Frank, as he’s been newly appointed as Jonah’s right-hand-man.

But the Runaways are also ready to act. After arguing about some typical teenage drama stuff (mainly the Gert and Chase hookup) and leaving Old Lace behind (a dinosaur isn’t exactly covert, ya know?), they head to the Church to try and free their friend.

They start by finding Vaughn — a Church of Gibborim protege — and tell him the truth about what’s really going on in this place. He doesn’t believe it, insisting that the Church is a safe place for all of those who need a home.

Which gives them the idea to go undercover as exactly that, runaways who need a home. Chase and Molly dress in ragged clothing, infiltrating the Church. Vaughn sees right through the disguise, but decides to help them instead of turning them in — declaring them as “special runaways.”

They find Karolina and break her out of the mask. While she’s weak, she recognizes her friends and they share a nice little reunion. However, while they’re leaving, they’re caught by two employees who then sets off security. Chase, Molly and Karolina dodge guards with help from the X-Ray goggles, but they also have to look out for Jonah wandering the halls.

Alex, who has been waiting outside with everyone else the whole time, decides he needs to steal a van from the Church in order to make a getaway. While doing so, he sees his parents — and quickly drops so they don’t see him. He overhears a conversation between them that they have to find Alex before Jonah does.

The rest of PRIDE has returned to the dig site. The Yorkes want to know precisely what they’ve been working on after all these years, as does Leslie. After doing some investigating, they learn that whatever is down there is alive. Alive and very, very dangerous. The Yorkes head back to the lab and, after investigating Jonah’s DNA once again, learn that it comes from the same place. Which means Jonah could destroy whatever this thing is. Now all they have to do is figure out how to do that.

But back to Alex. He knows he needs help escaping, so he calls up the only person he can think of — Darius. After all, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Darius agrees to help.

Another PRIDE meeting gives more backstory on how Jonah killed Amy and how he must be stopped. They, once again, agree Jonah must be stopped and begin to assemble a plan.

The Wilders, however, skip the meeting to come up with a plan of their own. A plan that is going to change everything.

That plan is revealed the next morning. The Runaways head to a bus station, hoping to get far away from Los Angeles. Luckily, Old Lace shows up again and Gert is determine not to lose her this time. But that’s not so important as they receive some terrible news right before getting on the bus.

A news report states that a “group of teenagers” — aka them — is involved with the death of Destiny (remember her? from episode one?) and now are on the right. That’s right, PRIDE is blaming the Runaways for the people they killed.

Now the Runaways are wanted criminals. Their photos are all over the news and they have to get out of there, fast. That means there’s no time on a bus. Instead, they just run. Run into an alley, the backstreets, to the unknown. They’ve never been so low.

A final easter-egg reveals another news report that L.A. is about to receive a huge earthquake, and we fade to black.

And with that, we end season one of Runaways. There’s a lot to unpack in this season, a lot we want to see happen going forward, but the kids finally ran away so consider us satisfied.

Tell us what you thought of the first season of Runaways in the comments below, and check out some of our other Runaways recaps by clicking here.