Marvel's Runaways season 3 binge recap: Episodes 1-10

Warning: Spoilers ahead! Read on at your own risk as we recap Marvel’s Runaways season 3.

Welcome back for one last ride, fellow runaways! Ever since Marvel and Hulu announced that season 3 would be the last for this underrated comic book teen-drama gem, I’ve been dreading this day more than I was looking forward to it — because the sooner I finish watching the new seasons, the quicker it will all end. I feel like Marvel’s Runaways is really hitting its stride after the first two seasons set up the promise of just how big and wide-reaching the scope of this show can be. And season 3 looks like it could be the best yet, meaning it’s going out on a high note… and should have been renewed for at least two or three more seasons.

I’m still bitter about the cancelation, can you tell? But enough of that, let’s get to binge-watching the first six episodes of Marvel’s Runaways final season — and check back soon for final four episodes!

Episode 1: “Smoke and Mirrors”

We start off the season with my least favorite TV trope: a fantasy/nightmare sequence that we know not to be true, making the stakes nonexistent. I don’t feel the need to walk through it here, but the gorgeous wedding between Karolina and Nico is so perfect that it breaks my heart knowing it’s not real. Everything is happening in the heads of Chase, his mom Janet, and Karolina. Meanwhile, Nico has her own vision, but this one’s real — she’s in the Dark Dimension and meets Morgan le Fay for the first time. She promises to help Nico find Karolina, but Nico will soon find out that this is not someone to trust.

So, where is everyone actually at the start of this season in the real world? Chase, Janet, and Karolina are unconscious in Jonah’s basement. Jonah is inhabiting Victor’s body (who will now be referred to as “Victor” for my sanity), along with the Gib mother alien who is inhabiting Stacey (“Stacey”), and the Gib daughter alien who is inhabiting Tina (“Tina”). Alex’s parents have been arrested. Gert and Old Lace are being held at her dad Dale’s cabin, hiding from “Stacey.” And back at runaways HQ, the remaining teens, plus Karolina’s pregnant mom Leslie and Xavin, are left to pick up the pieces. They quickly realize the Magistrate’s family/Gib aliens have taken over their parents. Xavin reveals there is a fourth, the brother, who is the “darkest and most dangerous of them all.” Could he be in Nico, and that’s why she doesn’t remember the details of the attack? Or is that just side effects from the Dark Dimension?

Alien possession worries are put on hold for now as the more important mission comes into focus — finding and saving all the separated and missing runaways. And they agree that it’s “kill or be killed,” even though that means killing their own family members to save their friends. This is already shaping up to be the darkest season yet, and we’ve only just begun. Meanwhile, “Stacey” grills Karolina while inside the algorithm about her relationship to Jonah, and the truth about her parentage comes out as Karolina learns her dream wedding isn’t actually happening.

At the cabin, Gert convinces Dale to let her go with Old Lace, but first, he trains her on how to use Old Lace like a weapon to help her stay safe against Jonah. It’s like learning how to drive, psychic raptor style, and it’s awesome. Why hasn’t she been doing this the whole time?! Leslie starts experiencing pain from her pregnancy and gets freaked out by the sonogram when the baby’s eyes start glowing and look right at her (yikes). Alex’s mom Catherine decides to take the blame for the murder charges to save Geoffrey from spending life in prison.

And after Alex hacks into Pride security footage, where they see the moment that Nico sent the commandos to the Dark Dimension, she freaks out, thinking she’s the fourth Gib alien host. But they all storm the compound and insert themselves into the algorithm to save their friends (watching Nico realize that Karolina is seeing their dream wedding in her algorithm is so beautiful and sweet that I wish it lasted longer). Meanwhile, Xavin pretends to be Gert pretending to be the missing alien brother while Molly confronts “Stacey.” She uses strong emotions to bring the real Stacey out, but Stacey immediately runs away to try to find Gert and keep Molly away from the danger.

Episode 2: “The Great Escape”

Thanks to glitches in the algorithm, Chase and Janet figure out they can start to control their individual matrixes. Meanwhile, there’s trouble in alien paradise: “Stacey” wants to kill Karolina now that she knows she’s “Victor’s” daughter and “Victor” wants to leave “Stacey” behind when they leave Earth. “Tina” is caught in the middle, working with both against the other, and Alex and Nico witness the entire thing. It’s weird and incredibly hilarious.

While breaking through her Gib parasite’s mental hold on her, the real Stacey makes it to the cabin to try to tell Gert and Dale everything the aliens are planning. She gets a lot of information out before “Stacey” takes over once again, conveniently right before she can reveal the simple way to defeat them. Old Lace helps Gert and Dale knock “Stacey” out and they escape.

During the runaways’ rescue mission, Nico finds herself more and more swayed by the dark side of her staff. She hears Morgan le Fay persuading her to let the darkness in… and so she does. But she gets freaked out when the darkness starts spreading up her arm and drops her staff, which “Victor” then picks up and takes with him. Oops!

In the algorithm, Janet, Chase, and Karolina all figure out a way to reunite. While they try to escape it and get back into the real world, “Victor” begins to suffocate Chase’s body in the tube. Karolina uses her powers inside the algorithm to save Chase’s life, but almost gets ripped apart from the effort. Nico then tries to get her staff back from “Victor,” and it becomes a battle of wills until he ultimately shatters it. They then settle for a physical fight while Alex works to unlock the algorithm. Molly joins the fight, along with Gert, Old Lace, and Xavin, getting the upper hand and trapping Jonah with Gib inhibitor tech.

Janet sacrifices herself to become a part of the algorithm to allow Chase and Karolina enough time to escape. But weirdly they still have enough time for a calm, slow, emotional chat where she says goodbye. Karolina and Chase are finally freed in the real world while Janet vaporizes into the algorithm, giving us our first major fatality of the series. Chase doesn’t get even a hello hug from Gert, which is pretty cold, but at least all the runaways are back together! That really didn’t take long.

Episode 3: “Lord of Lies”

This episode starts off with a flashback to two years ago — Amy’s funeral. Seeing the young teens even younger is jarring — it shows just how much they’ve grown and how much Amy’s death affected them all. Alex’s mom suspects Jonah killed Amy and that it wasn’t suicide, and wants to quit Pride over it. Alex couldn’t even make it inside for the funeral because he blames himself for not being able to help Amy. In short, it’s all absolutely gutting.

In the present, at the runaways HQ hostel, Nico is trying to convince everyone she’s the fourth alien. It’s hilarious that Chase needs an explainer on who Xavin is, because “things do move fast around here.” I forgot he’s been away the entire time Xavin’s been here! There’s also still a lot of animosity between everyone, especially when the night vision goggles that can see who is hosting a Gib alien go missing, losing their only chance at figuring out who is possessed by the Gib son. No one wants anyone to go somewhere alone, and it gets intense as suspicion rises. But there’s a sweet scene where Old Lace and Chase bond after missing each other and Gert finally warms up enough to check on Chase after his mom’s “death” by algorithm. It’s a step forward! There’s also a sweet scene where Karolina assures Nico that she wants her as she is, but as they make out, Nico’s eyes turn black again and the staff starts shaking. She decides to get rid of the broken staff and meets Morgan in the Dark Dimension. She offers to be Nico’s mentor in the absence of her mom. But Nico still burns the staff in the real world, not realizing that it allows Morgan more access to the real world.

Leslie reaches out to her mom for help in finding a safe place to hide her and her unborn baby. She’s worried that this baby is different from Karolina. But her mom just leaves her with an old journal. Meanwhile, the Gib aliens learn about sarcasm and reveal they only have 36 hours to finish their portal so they can finally leave Earth, their ultimate goal.

Leslie returns to the hostel with Chase’s goggles, but they’re smashed. She says they were on the ground and she tripped over them, but that’s suspicious! The alien could be in Leslie (or in her unborn baby). Alex comes up with a plan to use the alien inhibitor tech to figure out who is affected by it. But Alex is distracted by his dad calling from Tamar’s phone with a message from his incarcerated mom. And Chase sets up hidden cameras in Leslie’s room to see if she’s the Gib son, and Gert agrees to keep his secret. Alex decides to see his mom instead of going with the rest of the runaways thanks to her cryptic message that turns out to be the IP address he uses for his hacking, meaning she has enough evidence to blackmail him. But she promises she just wanted to see him, and he responds by telling her to “go to hell” and walking out. She later is murdered in prison by other inmates, but it’s covered up to look like a suicide. That marks our second parent death this season, and we’re only three episodes in!

While the runaways go to Nico’s house to get the inhibitor tech, Nico spots a photo that shows Morgan with her mom. She then runs into her dad, who’s awake from his coma but walking with a cane. He tells her Morgan trained with her mom, but her mom refused to talk about it any further than that. But Robert turns out to be Morgan in disguise the entire time — the photo never existed, and the real Robert, still in a coma, starts to crash in the hospital. Meanwhile “Tina” figures out the portal only works if all four Gib aliens use it, so the hunt to find the son is heating up.

Using the inhibitor tech, Gert decides to test everyone in a crowded park so Xavin won’t murder whoever is possessed by the son. Karolina has a physical response to it because she’s half Gib, Xavin, Molly, Gert, Chase, and Nico are clean, meaning it’s Alex or Leslie (or the baby). But when they get back to the hostel, they’re both missing. Chase cues up the hidden camera video to see where they went, and it shows Alex smiling after getting the news about his mom’s death and saying “time to go.” He uses powers on Leslie’s baby, revealing that he’s been the son this whole time. He lies to Leslie saying the Magistrate found them and convinces her to leave with him. The episode ends with “Alex” calling “Victor” proposing a trade: his freedom for Leslie/her half-Gib baby.

Episode 4: “Rite of Thunder”

“Victor” agrees to the trade but things do not go as planned: Leslie’s water breaks. Meanwhile, the runaways are reeling from the “Alex” reveal, especially when Xavin tells them how cruel and sadistic the son is. They try to find any clues in the hostel signaling where “Alex” would be taking Leslie while Chase uses the inhibitor tech to make special anti-Gib weapons. And Nico gets a message from Morgan through a mirror, and she reaches out into the real world and touches Nico’s chest. Did she just give her back the staff?

“Alex” brings Leslie to Tamar’s house, but it turns out that Leslie doesn’t trust him, knowing something is off. She distracts him and gives a message to Tamar to give to Karolina. When Tamar takes her baby and leaves, “Alex” drops the act in front of Leslie. But Tamar stays and tries to knock out “Alex,” but he knocks her out instead. Thankfully, the runaways arrive in time before he can kill either of them. It ends up as a standoff between “Alex” and Nico as he threatens to jump into her or Karolina’s body instead. She lets him go, but without Leslie’s newborn baby girl. Xavin discovers the Gibs want to leave Earth but also a “scrub team” of elite alien soldiers will come through the portal to eliminate anyone who has come into contact with the Magistrate’s family after they leave, i.e. all of their lives are now in danger.

The runaways suit up with their new Gib-poisoning weapons to launch an attack on “Victor” and his family — but first, some of them have important relationship moments like Nico and Karolina sleeping together and Chase telling Gert he loves her (but she doesn’t respond, still angry about his betrayal last season). Elsewhere, Leslie has Xavin read an old Gib journal that reveals the prophecy Xavin has been loyal to is actually about the newborn baby Xavin is destined to love and raise — not for him to marry and love Karolina. But “Alex” steals the baby and reunites with his Gib family.

As the Gibs start to open the portal, the runaways arrive. The Gibs scatter and hide to draw them away from the portal, and Gert is the first to weaken one with her anti-Gib weapon. Xavin decides to take the baby through the portal to leave Earth and says goodbye to all the runaways. When the Gibs attack all at once, Karolina tries to hold them off but isn’t strong enough. Nico hears Morgan’s voice telling her to “let it all out” or else her friends will die. She pulls the staff out of her chest as her eyes go dark, and she speaks the spell Morgan whispers. The Gibs disappear — and Nico says they’re not dead but just “gone.” Meanwhile, Morgan finally gets free from the Dark Dimension thanks to Nico, and does a spell on Robert, waking him from his coma.

Smoke and Mirrors — Michael Desmond/Hulu

Episode 5: “Enter the Dreamland”

After the action of last episode, we thankfully get a reprieve as the runaways have an adventure in the nebulous Dark Dimension. They all wake up in the hostel but don’t remember how they got there, and it’s clearly not their real home since 1920s flappers are all around them. They theorize on what’s happening but finally get answers from the magician from all the posters found inside the real hostel. They learn that not only are they in the Dark Dimension but also that the Gibs were transported there too as their original selves, not the aliens who were possessing them.

The Dark Dimension materializes as everyone’s worst nightmares/memories/fears as they all get separated. Gert learns her mom erased her memory right around when her anxiety started, meaning she may have caused her brain injury when she was younger — it’s a brutal revelation. As the runaways start to reunite, they begin to forget who they are. Nico’s late sister Amy shows up as an emissary for Morgan le Fay — she was supposed to find and turn Nico in to her. But once she realizes they’re her family, she decides not to. Nico and Tina then work together to cast a spell and open a portal out of the Dark Dimension, but Amy stays behind. After the portal spits them out into the hostel in the real world, they’re shocked that their parents came back too. But the hostel still looks different — and they soon realize that they’ve been gone for six months, and Alex is still trapped in the Dark Dimension.

Episode 6: “Merry Meet Again”

Back in the real world, Nico tries to use the spell from Morgan again to get back to the Dark Dimension to save Alex but it won’t work. And we learn that Morgan has been using Wizard to take over the world by way of new cell phones that are making people crazy and violent. Gert meets a cute dude who is perfect for her and Chase gets jealous, so maybe there is still hope for their relationship. Karolina reunites with Leslie. Tina can’t find Robert and warns Nico that she can’t ask Morgan for help getting Alex back. Nico meets with Robert and realizes that Morgan is out and in a relationship with her dad. Chase accidentally cracks Gert’s phone and she freaks out, but when he takes a feather out of the battery, the phone disintegrates.

Meanwhile, Victor and Stacey go to an alien abductees anonymous meeting, and the entire thing is one big LOL. It might be my favorite scene of the show so far! But Victor is mocked for telling the truth about what happened to him. He also gets Janet to appear from the algorithm on a monitor, so she’s not really dead even though she’s gone from the real world. And we learn that Dale’s been living like he’s homeless in a Gib charity camp (and he smells).

Morgan visits Tamar, who’s been living with Alex’s dad — he’s helping with the baby and the house. She’s slowly but surely taking control over the Pride parents and they have no idea what’s happening. The runaways go to a party celebrating the Wizard phones going worldwide and Robert names Morgan the new CEO of Wizard. Outraged, Tina tries to attack her but security takes her away. Chase tells Gert that he loves her again but she says they should find people better suited to be with them than each other. Ouch. And there’s trouble in paradise for the other runaways relationship, as Nico and Karolina get into a fight about magic, with the latter saying she can’t go with Nico on this path to darkness. Nico voluntarily undergoes a ceremony led by Morgan and all her followers, where Morgan “releases” Nico from the “bindings” that have been keeping her from unleashing her full power, while the runaways come home to find Molly under the spell of her Wizard phone.

Episode 7: “Left-Hand Path”

The runaways destroy Molly’s phone to break her trance, while Nico wakes up surrounded by all the female coven members but without any memory of what happened after the ceremony (not a great sign!). Robert has Tina committed with Morgan’s followers preventing her from casting any spells but Nico ends up rescuing her. The runaways post a video online warning everyone about the dangers of the Wizard phones but Morgan erases all existence of it from the internet — however, Janet still finds it and confirms their theory that the phones are increasing violence. Tina runs into Robert and breaks the charm necklace that was putting him under Morgan’s spell and they kiss. Molly confronts Leslie about her past and shows her strength to the guy at the Gib camp she has a crush on — but it turns out that he’s been working with Morgan’s followers the entire time. They knock out the runaways.

Alex’s dad, who is being mind-controlled by Morgan, traps Victor and Stacey after they try to stop the phones from going into mass production. And to distract Morgan while Robert searches for her spell book, Nico asks her for proof that Alex is still alive in the Dark Dimension. She sees Alex being tortured and she breaks down, blaming herself for leaving him there. Robert finds Morgan’s spell book but she feels the moment when he touches it, immediately knowing that Nico betrayed her. She takes the book back and reveals she doesn’t have a soul and wants to take Nico from Tina. Morgan kills Robert — another parent bites the dust! This is really the deadliest season for the parents. At least Robert has a moment to say goodbye to Nico and Tina before he dies.

When Nico comes home to an empty hostel, she realizes the glasses that Robert gave her before he died recorded the spell he found in Morgan’s book. Nico uses it with the staff to try to get back to the Dark Dimension. But instead of doing what she intended, it actually summons Cloak and Dagger! Time for the moment we’ve all been waiting for: Marvel’s Runaways’ crossover episode with Cloak and Dagger.

Episode 8: “Devil’s Torture Chamber”

The long-awaiting Cloak and Dagger crossover was definitely worth the wait. Now I’m even more heartbroken that after this episode/season, we won’t see characters from either of these shows again on our TV screens. Ugh. The injustice of it all!

The episode picks up right after that incredible cliffhanger where Cloak aka Tyrone and Dagger aka Tandy show up in the hostel. Nico thinks Tandy and Tyrone are working with Morgan, since they’ve got magical abilities, so their dynamic starts off testy. But Tyrone explains he brought them here because he felt a disturbance. There’s a lot of exposition about Cloak and Dagger’s powers, origins, etc. But it also helps them all bond a little. Emphasis on little, though. Tyrone acts as peacekeeper and convinces Tandy to stay and help Nico, but I’m loving how they keep butting heads. They’re both incredibly strong personalities and it makes sense that they’d be battling for dominance. Then Janet appears on the computer via coding alerting Nico about how Victor, Stacey, Dale, Karolina, Gert, and Chase are being held captive by Morgan’s followers.

Tyrone shadow jumps Tandy and Nico into the room — “Wait, who are the new kids?” Chase wonders, again exposing just how much he’s the clueless punching bag this season which I’m just living for — and then he shadow jumps the parents (still tied up to chairs) to the Hollywood sign, since that’s the only place in Los Angeles the New Orleans transplant can think of. What a tourist! He then returns to take the teens back to the Dark Dimension to save Alex. Watching Tandy and Tyrone react to learning about all the runaways’ powers (and how they don’t work in the Dark Dimension) is hilarious. When they leave the hostel, they’re shocked to see it above ground — and they’re not all separated like the last trip here. But all of LA is on fire below them, which is definitely new.

In the Dark Dimension prison, Alex sees and talks to his dead mother about how the only way he’ll be set free is if he kills someone, and he’s been resisting all this time. Tyrone and Chase bond over being former high school athletes, which is crazy to think about how far they’ve both come since those simpler days. Gert gets attacked by a Dark Dimension demon, and Tyrone shadow jumps them away, but now the group is split. Tandy uses her powers to see Nico’s hopes to figure out if she can trust her, and she sees her dream of marrying Karolina. The group fights its way back together but the reason why they succeed is that Alex kills the Dark Dimension version of his mom to save them all, putting a dark mark on his soul. They all reunite and shadow jump back home — but Tandy sees Alex’s hopes before they do, and she’s shocked to see that his dream is to control all the runaways’ powers for himself. Is he still being possessed by the Gib son, or has he always harbored this dark desire about his friends? Meanwhile, Nico keeps Tandy’s light dagger she turned dark that killed a Dark Dimension soldier, hoping it can help her defeat Morgan.

Once they get back to the real world, Tandy and Tyrone decide to leave LA but with the hopeful thought that maybe the runaways will help them next time — that whole goodbye exchange hits so incredibly different in the wake of both series’ cancelations over the past few months. Clearly the groundwork was being laid for more crossover adventures in the future that now we’ll never get. Meanwhile, Morgan’s coven steals Molly and puts her under their spell. The runaways’ new mission? Save the dance team captain, save the world.

Episode 9: “The Broken Circle”

Thankfully we take a breather in the aftermath of the trip to the Dark Dimension at the start of this episode as Gert kisses Chase and Karolina and Nico argue. Alex’s dad Geoffrey breaks out of Morgan’s magical trance and wants to help Molly and the rest of the runaways. He links up with the remaining Pride parents to figure out a way to stop Morgan. They attack and take Molly while Morgan and her coven are deep in an incantation and can’t stop. But they already got the juice they needed from Molly to finish the spell.

Back at the hostel, the group of parents and teens work together to come up with a plan to stop Morgan and it’s wild to see the teens working with their parents instead of against them. My, how far we’ve come in three seasons! Gert and Molly talk about how Gert wants a normal life again but Molly doesn’t. Dale comes up with an idea to use Karolina’s DNA to make an inoculation against Morgan’s mind control “whispers.” Gert has to lock away Old Lace in case the injection affects her psychic connection, which would mean no one would be in control of the raptor. Can’t have an out of control dinosaur roaming around, now can we?

Tina finally tells Nico about her history with Morgan and how she was manipulated by her. Morgan wanted the staff back then and she still wants it now, hoping that by going through Nico, she’ll have a shot once more. Victor and Chase get an assist from computer Janet to disrupt the cellular network Morgan is using for the phones, cutting off her access to more power.

But then Morgan portals into the hostel. Nico throws her dark dagger into Morgan’s stomach, but it doesn’t hurt her. She absorbs it and it makes her stronger. She says she can’t be killed and offers the runaways a chance to submit to her. Alex kneels in front of Morgan, and soon the others join him, even Karolina. But Janet and Victor successfully take the cell towers offline, and it weakens Morgan. The runaways were only pretending to submit to distract and stall. Nico holds off Morgan while the others scatter. Karolina jumps in to counter the dark with her light.

Alex kills Morgan’s righthand woman to save some of the Pride parents, and Geoffrey is sad to see how his son has become a murderer. Like father like son! But when Morgan puts a spell on Karolina, Gert bravely stands up to her. She distracts Morgan long enough to make a circle of salt around her, trapping her inside. Tina then opens a portal to the Dark Dimension to send Morgan back through and it works. But Gert was fatally injured when Morgan threw her against a chandelier earlier in their standoff, and she dies in Chase’s arms. Thank Old Lace this wasn’t the finale, or else I would riot!

Episode 10: “Cheat the Gallows”

Here we go, time for the series finale. I’m not ready, but after the cliffhanger of Gert dying I could not have pressed play on episode 10 any faster!

The episode begins with Chase recording a data log for June 14, 2028. He’s older, scarred, desperate — he’s trying to make up for his mistakes from the past “and that includes what happened to her: Gert.” He opens a portal and disappears. We jump to the summer of 2022 and Karolina’s in a relationship with an unknown woman. It’s the three-year anniversary of Gert’s death. Molly’s a senior, back at their old high school, and she’s confident, happy, and loved by all her peers. She’s been living with Old Lace at the hostel with the 2022 version of Chase — he built himself a bunker/lab inside the hostel and shut himself away in it, working on something mysterious. Alex created his own company with his dad (now remarried), and is working with him. After going away somewhere mysterious for three years, Nico’s back, meditating, and controlling her powers without the staff — and she’s no longer goth! Alex shows up at her place and tries to shoot her, but she uses her powers to stop him. That’s when the future version of Chase shows up and helps her, telling her that version of Alex was an Alex from the future who is trying to kill her and the rest of the runaways. That’s right: it’s time travel, baby!

Nico and future Chase round up all the other 2022 versions of the runaways (minus 2022 Chase, because 2028 Chase can’t interact with him). Future Chase reveals that in the future, one of them will plant a bomb in future Alex’s office, trying to kill him, but he survives. Apparently, some of the runaways become their parents in the future and turn evil — but he won’t reveal who.

Meanwhile, future Alex is stopped by the runaways before he can kill Karolina. Future Alex time jumps away to the day before they all discovered their parents were evil in the basement, way back in the series premiere of Runaways. I am loving this nostalgia! Future Chase gives everyone their own watch to time jump together to follow him and stop him from killing any of them back in the past. They all have to split up to find and protect their past selves from whatever future Alex is planning. What a trip to see all of them at the very beginning of the show! They’ve changed so much. Molly and Chase also have heartbreaking moments when they see past Gert, reminding them of all they’ve lost. But it all gets screwed up when past Alex sees future Alex. Future Alex says that Chase is the real villain before Nico knocks them all out and wipes the memories of all the people in the past who witnessed any doppelganger weirdness. That’s a handy power when dealing with time travel shenanigans!

Okay, this is where things get complicated. Future Alex tells present Alex that murdering his mom was the beginning of him embracing his true nature. Future Chase sends present Alex back to avoid any more interactions with him or future Alex. Nico explains she went away for three years with no contact to master her powers so no one else would get hurt like Gert did. Future Chase reveals his plan is to save Gert but future Alex warns that all their present selves would disappear if they change anything, because it would create a new future timeline beginning at the point where Gert was supposed to die. But they all, including future Alex, time jump together to the night Gert died to do it anyway since saving her is more important than keeping their present existence intact.

Present Nico confronts past Nico to give her a pep talk and advice to stay with Karolina and not leave the runaways. Future Chase knocks out past Chase and takes the fistigons to save Gert from Morgan. Future Alex is definitely up to something secret in the hostel while all this is going down. Future Chase warns past Gert about her death and offers to step in for her to draw the salt circle around Morgan. He created an ankle device to spill the salt while he walks around Morgan so she doesn’t notice what he’s doing. It’s smart, and it works! But Morgan still attacks Gert and then kills future Chase, but he finishes the circle before he dies. Tina sends Morgan back to the Dark Dimension again and seals the gate shut forever. And the runaways (and myself) are relieved to see that Gert survived this confrontation with Morgan! But this time, it’s a mirror image of what happened to Gert as future Chase dies in her arms. Past Chase comes downstairs and they’re all shocked to see double of him. But then future Chase disappears along with their present selves, since they rewrote the future, leaving behind just their past selves, all alive.

All seems well with the runaways as they look forward to a future full of adventures together, but we’re left with a puzzling cliffhanger. Alex finds a note that future Alex left for him that says, “infiltrate Wilder Innovators, hide Mancha, and kill Nico.” What does all of that mean? Those who have read the comics have some idea but unfortunately, while we’ll never find out for sure onscreen, at least we can go on with our lives knowing that the runaways’ adventures do continue offscreen.

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