runaways season 3

Starring: Lyrica Okano, Rhenzy Feliz, Virginia Gardner, Ariela Barer, Allegra Acosta, Gregg Sulkin
Writer: Stephanie Savage, Josh Schwartz (created for television by), Tracy McMillan (Ep. 1, 7), Warren Hsu Leonard (Ep. 2, 8), Kirk A. Moore (Ep. 3, 9), Russ Cochrane (Ep. 4, 9), Quinton Peeples (Ep. 5, 10), Ashley Wigfield (Ep. 6), Kendall Rogers (Ep. 7)
Director: Larry Teng (Ep. 1), Philip John (Ep. 2), Allison Liddi-Brown (Ep. 3), Jeremy Webb (Ep. 4), Rob Hardy (Ep. 5), Vanessa Parise (Ep. 6), Katie Eastridge (Ep. 7), Jeff Woolnough (Ep. 8), Geeta Patel (Ep. 9), Ramsey Nickell (Ep. 10)
Studio: ABC Signature Studios, Marvel Television, Fake Empire Productions
Based on the Marvel’s Runaways comics

Today, I found one of my tweets from 2014 that read, “I hope Runaways gets a movie.” Well, 2014 me, you got a whole series. I’ve been a fan of the Runaways comics since I was 16. You can imagine my reaction when I heard that a TV series was happening. A TV series that ended up with three amazing seasons, nonetheless. Now, you can imagine how sad I am to see it end.

Anyway, you’re here for a review of the third (and final) season, so let’s get into that! Runaways S3 has been out for a while now, but I only recently got around to watching it. Binge-watching, to be exact. There’s no other way to watch this third season ,because every episode has a cliffhanger that leaves no room for hesitation about whether or not to watch the next episode right after.

Now, for everyone familiar with the comics, it’s no secret that the TV series is very different from the comics. The parents are less evil. Molly’s background story has been altered a lot. Karolina is a half-alien instead of a full-blood alien, and so on. But then again, lots of comic-based TV series are altered, and that’s okay. Luckily for me, a Runaways comic enthusiast, the third season has lots of references to the comics that made me cheer, and possibly worry the neighbors while doing so.

It’s not just the references that I noticed in Runaways S3. It’s also the characters themselves. This season, their character development brings them very close to their comic counterparts, both in abilities and personality. Not only that, but with the appearance of Tyrone and Tandy (aka Cloak and Dagger), and Morgan Le Fay, more and more nods are sent into the direction of Marvel comics.

runaways season 3

This third season has been one wild ride to watch. Where the first and second season focuses on one villain each (the parents in Season 1 and Jonah in Season 2), I’ve counted three different threats in this third season. Four, if you add the thing I won’t spoil, but was probably the biggest nod towards the comics. It may seem a little much for 10 episodes, and I must admit, it felt like that sometimes. It felt like they were trying to finish a storyline, start another one, and then realized they only had a few more episodes left to give everyone the right character development. But despite that, it kept me on the edge of my seat. When I wasn’t watching Runaways, I was thinking about it. And it still hasn’t left my mind either. Talk about leaving an impression.

I personally feel like Runaways S3 was the season where everything came together. This group of misfit teens became the ACTUAL Runaways. Sure, they were that group in the first two seasons, but it never felt that way. Not truly, anyway. But after watching the finale, I genuinely felt like I just watched the actual Runaways fade from my screen right before the credits started to roll. Like they stepped right out of the comic books and into my TV. And that’s how I think a comic adaption should be. It shouldn’t matter that there have been alterations that make the story deviate from its comic counterpart. The only thing that matters is that it feels right. And this third season did.