I recall feeling very strongly about Marvel’s Runaways show on Hulu during its first season. In a market saturated with superhero shows, I felt like Runaways really stood out from the crowd and was something special and unique. After all, a concept of teenagers finding out that their parents are villains was really fresh, and so I just felt like it was a really strong show. I think the biggest shame about season 2 of the show is that I no longer feel that strongly about it. Don’t get me wrong, I still LOVE this show, but if I’m being honest it did blend in with other superhero shows I’ve been watching.

Season 2 truly embraces the title of the show and features our protagonists as actual runaways now. They’re on the run from the law after their parents framed them, and so they’re now hiding out in secrecy while their parents are trying to hunt them down. This winds up getting mixed in with the fact that the kids and the parents now both have a common enemy: Jonah. Both factions are trying to take him down for their own reasons, and so some of the dynamics are a bit different this time around. Season 2 continues the story in an engaging way, but there aren’t really as many twists and big moments that grab you the way they do in the first season.

I think the biggest way that season 2 manages to have an interesting story is in its character relationships. I found this to be the biggest strength of the first season, and so luckily this aspect of the show is as strong as ever. Some of the kids start to have some mixed feelings about their parents and their current situation, and so the group dynamic winds up getting strained. Because of this, I’d argue that the main conflict of season 2 is within the group of kids, as they struggle to get along because of their differences. It’s the more grounded approach, as we dig into the psyches of each and play around with what makes them tick. Interestingly enough, this also winds up getting paralleled in the group of parents. Now that they’re no longer working for Jonah, some of them have mixed feelings about their intentions of what they’re trying to do, and so this leads to some in-group fights. I really appreciated in season 1 how much depth the parents are given, since they’re not all one-dimensional, evil people. Some of them are definitely worse than others, and so it’s fun to see these personalities continue to play out throughout all of the new developments.

I think my biggest problem in season 2 just winded up being that it isn’t consistently engaging throughout the whole season. I felt like season 1 grabbed me and held me there for its entire duration, but season 2 goes through a bit more ebbs and flows. This season is a bit longer than the first, running at 13 episodes instead of 10. I hate to say it, but it might have benefited from being 10 episodes again. I found that the season started slow, got really interesting towards the middle, receded again a bit after a crucial turning point mid-season, and then got amazing in its last few episodes again. Don’t get me wrong, when season 2 brings its A-game it’s probably even better than season 1, but there are also times where it dips below the quality I wanted from it.

At the end of the day, I think this is still a really great show though. I’d actually be furious if there wasn’t a third season, because the season ends on such an interesting cliffhanger that I’d be angry if we didn’t get a resolution. Fundamentally, I think the show’s strongest trait is still its character dynamics. I remember how what really impressed me in season 1 is that the show took characters that were walking stereotypes and winded up subverting them to make them really interesting, and so I found myself still really attached to them (except for Molly, she still sucks). These characters are taken in interesting directions in season 2, and so at the end of the day this is still a really fun ride. I can’t recommend season 2 quite as strongly as I did season 1, but I still think it’s a great show for anyone looking for a unique take on the superhero genre.

4/5