"Reunion" | |
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Runaways episode | |
Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 1 |
Directed by | Brett Morgen |
Written by | |
Cinematography by | Ramsey Nickell |
Editing by | Jeff Granzow |
Original air date | November 21, 2017 |
Running time | 53 minutes |
Guest appearances | |
| |
"Reunion" is the pilot and first episode of the American television series Runaways , based on Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films and other television series of the franchise. The pilot was written by series creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, with Brett Morgen directing.
Rhenzy Feliz, Lyrica Okano, Virginia Gardner, Ariela Barer, Gregg Sulkin, and Allegra Acosta star as the Runaways, with Angel Parker, Ryan Sands, Annie Wersching, Kip Pardue, Ever Carradine, James Marsters, Brigid Brannagh, Kevin Weisman, Brittany Ishibashi, and James Yaegashi starring as their parents, the Pride. A pilot for a series based on the Runaways was ordered in August 2016, with Schwartz and Savage attached. The cast was announced in February 2017, with filming beginning later that month in Los Angeles and ending in March. Morgen focused on differentiating between the gritty world of the Runaways and the more stylistic world of the Pride.
"Reunion" was released for streaming on Hulu on November 21, 2017, and made its broadcast debut on Freeform on August 2, 2018.
A young woman named Destiny Gonzalez arrives in Los Angeles and is offered a safe place to live by a woman on behalf of the Church of Gibborim. Six months later, Alex Wilder is suffering from isolation due to having not spoken to his friends in two years due to an incident involving the death of one of his friend's sister, Amy. His parents, Geoffrey and Catherine, try to bond with him, but he pushes them away. Nico Minoru, a goth, is forbidden to enter Amy's room by her strict mother Tina, while her father Robert tries to console her. Chase Stein, an athlete who possess a hidden intellect, is berated by his father, Victor, due to getting a C in Spanish while his mother, Janet, looks on. Karolina Dean is the daughter of Church of Gibborim founder Leslie Dean whose husband, Frank, is a former A-list actor who feels suppressed by the church. Sarcastic social justice warrior Gert Yorkes and her adoptive sister Molly Hernandez are dropped off at school by vegan biologists Dale and Stacey Yorkes.
At school, Alex decides to invite his former friends over to his house so they can bond again, but they all either ignore or flat out refuse due to their differing opinions and personalities. Karolina is teased by the other classmates who call her brainwashed due to her connection to the church, but manages to find solace in Nico who ignores Alex when he asks her directly to come hang out. Chase attempts to get his Spanish teacher to give him another shot at raising his grade. When he refuses, Gert offers to tutor Chase instead. He agrees only to accept an invitation to a house party. At dance tryouts, Molly begins to suffer from stomach cramps and goes to the nurse's office thinking it is puberty, only to learn that she has super strength. Despite this, Alex had his mom order six pizzas which he now feels he will have to eat himself.
While filming a commercial for the church, Karolina meets Destiny who is a fully committed member of the church. Impressed with her independence, Karolina asks her what it is like to rebel. Leslie in the meantime has a badly scarred man with a gas mask hidden in an office of the church. She soon joins the other members of the Pride, consisting of all the kids parents (minus Frank), at the Wilder's residence for a "meeting". Nico heads out to the beach and builds a bonfire in an attempt to perform a spirit summoning, presumably so she can contact her sister. The ritual fails and she tosses her journal into the fire. Gert heads to Timely Coffee to tutor Chase, but slowly realizes that he is not coming. Molly arrives home and tests her super strength on the family van, but tires out afterwards and sleeps.
Chase arrives at the party, but begins to feel out of place. Karolina arrives too and is given a pill that will "free" her. She removes her Gibborim bracelet for the first time (she claims that she can't remember ever taking it off) and begins to glow rainbow colors only to pass out. Members of Chase's lacrosse team take her unconscious body and prepare to rape her, but Chase arrives and rescues her. Karolina asks that she not be left alone and that they go "anywhere, but home". She tosses away the pill that she was given earlier. Gert texts Molly to feed the animals in the basement. When she spots what looks like a dinosaur she panics and calls Gert to take her away. Chase, Gert, Molly, Karolina and Nico arrive at Alex's house and the six confront each other's current behavior as well as Amy's unexpected death (the incident that broke them up). Bored by the conversation, Chase suggests going into Geoffrey's study to sample his liquor. The group are surprised to find that their parents are not in there. Alex discovers a lever that opens a secret passageway. The group venture down and discover their parents in red robes forcing Destiny into a glowing coffin. Molly tries to snap a photo on her phone that seems to alert the parents, but the children flee before they can be spotted.
Marvel's Runaways was announced in August 2016, from Marvel Television, ABC Signature Studios, and Fake Empire, with the streaming service Hulu ordering a pilot episode and scripts for a full season. Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage had been developing the series with Marvel for a year before this announcement, and were set to write the pilot and showrun the series. [1] [2] Brett Morgen revealed in May 2017 that he had directed the episode, [3] which was later revealed to be titled "Reunion". [4]
Morgen, a documentary filmmaker who has "no interest in directing episodic television" but is interested in creating pilots that establish series, had worked with Hulu on a pilot called When the Streetlights Go On in 2016. Though that pilot was not picked up to series due to budgetary concerns, Hulu was impressed with Morgen's work and recommended him to Marvel Television's Jeph Loeb for the Runaways pilot. After watching When the Streetlights Go On, Loeb immediately called Morgen to offer him the Runaways job. [5]
Schwartz was a fan of the Runaways comic for some time, and introduced it to Savage, saying, "When you're a teenager, everything feels like life and death, and the stakes in this story—really felt like that." Loeb described the series as The O.C. of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), [6] which Schwartz said meant "treating the problems of teenagers as if they are adults" and having the series "feel true and authentic to the teenage experience, even in this heightened context". [7] The pilot tells a story from the Runaways' perspective, with the next episode then showing the same story from their parents'—the Pride—perspective. [8]
In February 2017, Marvel announced the casting of the Runaways, with Rhenzy Feliz as Alex Wilder, Lyrica Okano as Nico Minoru, Virginia Gardner as Karolina Dean, Ariela Barer as Gert Yorkes, Gregg Sulkin as Chase Stein, and Allegra Acosta as Molly Hernandez. [9] Shortly after, Marvel announced the casting of the Pride, with Ryan Sands as Geoffrey Wilder, Angel Parker as Catherine Wilder, Brittany Ishibashi as Tina Minoru, James Yaegashi as Robert Minoru, Kevin Weisman as Dale Yorkes, Brigid Brannagh as Stacey Yorkes, Annie Wersching as Leslie Dean, Kip Pardue as Frank Dean, James Marsters as Victor Stein, and Ever Carradine as Janet Stein. [10]
Guest starring in the episode are Mark Adair-Rios as Walter, Danielle Campbell as Eiffel, Zayne Emory as Brandon, Timothy Granaderos as Lucas, Dinora Walcott as nurse, Nicole Wolf as Destiny, Jose Joey Abril as little creeper, Cesar A. Garcia as big creeper, Soraya Kelly as parishioner, Pat Lentz as Aura, Heather Alt as Francis, Archana Rajan as Megan, Matthew Salisbury as Lyft driver, Ric Sarabia as decrepit figure, Evan Seidlitz as Furry Bear, Robert van Guelpen as customer, and Amy Waller as Lisbeth. [11]
Filming on the episode began by February 10, 2017, [12] in Los Angeles, [13] under the working title Rugrats, [14] and concluded on March 3. [15] Morgen described himself as "not a Marvel guy", but found directing the episode to be an interesting challenge. He said, "It wasn't a stretch for me to figure out that they wanted me to bring a level of authenticity to the show, and to bring a certain sense of grit and cinematic gravitas." Morgen was given free rein by Marvel and Hulu to establish the look of the series, and looked to differentiate between the world of the Runaways and that of the Pride; Morgen used more hand-held techniques for the Runaways to give them "edge and grit", while he tried to create "something to toy with, stylistically and visually" for the parents that could be explored more by the series moving forward. [5]
Cast members and Schwartz and Savage appeared at New York Comic Con 2017 to promote the series, [16] where "Reunion" was screened. [17] The series had its red carpet premiere at the Regency Bruin Theatre in Westwood, Los Angeles on November 16, 2017. [18]
"Reunion" premiered on Hulu in the United States on November 21, 2017. [19] [4] It was broadcast on Showcase in Canada, on November 22, [20] and on Syfy in the United Kingdom on April 18, 2018. [21] It made its broadcast debut in the United States on Freeform on August 2, 2018, following the airing of the first-season finale of Cloak & Dagger ; the airing was part of Freeform's ongoing marketing partnership with Hulu. [22] The airing received 231,000 live viewers. [23]
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 86% approval rating for the first season, based on 81 reviews, with an average rating of 7.85/10. The website's consensus reads, "Earnest, fun, and more balanced than its source material, Runaways finds strong footing in an over-saturated genre." [24] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 68 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [25]
Brian K. Vaughan, who created the characters for the comics, "did a little consulting early in the process" but felt the series "found the ideal 'foster parents' in Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage... [who] lovingly adapted [the comics] into a stylish drama that feels like contemporary Los Angeles." He also praised the cast, crew and writers working on the series, and felt the pilot looked "like an Adrian Alphona comic", the artist who worked with Vaughan when he created the characters. [26]
Runaways is a superhero comic book series published by Marvel Comics. The series features a group of teenagers who discover that their parents are part of an evil crime organization known as "the Pride". Created by Brian Vaughan and Adrian Alphona, the series debuted in July 2003 as part of Marvel Comics' "Tsunami" imprint. The series was canceled in September 2004 at issue #18, but due to high numbers of trade collection sales, Marvel revived the series in February 2005.
Pride, is a supervillain team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The characters are depicted as a criminal organization that controlled the Los Angeles area of the Marvel Universe. They are the parents and the initial and most prominent foes the Runaways have faced and are the team's greatest enemy to date. The Pride consists of six married couples who are secretly supervillains. They possess a wide range of abilities, skills, and resources. Each member of The Pride has their own unique powers or expertise, often related to their criminal or mystical backgrounds. The mafia-controlling Wilders, the time-traveling Yorkeses, the telepathic mutant Hayeses, the alien invader Deans, the mad scientist Steins, and the dark wizard Minorus.
Nico Minoru, briefly known as Sister Grimm, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created in 2003 by writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Adrian Alphona, the character debuted in Runaways #1. Like every member of the original Runaways, Nico is the daughter of the super-powered villains calling themselves "the Pride"; in her case, she is the daughter of dark wizards. Upon finding out, Nico runs away with the rest of the runaways but later discovers that she inherited her parents' magical aptitude. Whenever Nico bleeds, a powerful staff emerges from her chest, called the Staff of One, allowing Nico to bend magic.
Molly Hayes is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character debuted in the award-winning series Runaways. Like every member of the original Runaways, she is the daughter of evil villains with special abilities; after the other older Runaways learn more about themselves, they raid Molly's home to find out her mutant abilities had already manifested. Often called "Mol" for short, Molly is the youngest Runaway and her innocence often serves as humor in the series, but she has demonstrated great insight at critical moments.
Gertrude Yorkes, is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She was created by author Brian K. Vaughan and artist Adrian Alphona, and debuted in Runaways #1 with most of the other main characters. Like every member of the original Runaways, she is the daughter of evil villains with special abilities; in Gert's case, time-travellers. Gertrude, often called "Gert" for short, is often regarded as the most "book-smart" of the Runaways yet also the most sarcastic and cynical. She has socialist leanings and is ethnically Jewish but spiritually agnostic. Gert is known for her sarcastic one-liners, glasses, and purple-dyed hair. She stands at a rough height of 5'1" and weighs 125 lb (57 kg).
Karolina Dean is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Adrian Alphona, Karolina Dean first appeared in Runaways #1. Dean belongs to the extraterrestrial species known as Majesdanians, and possesses solar-based energy powers. She is a member of the Runaways, a group that seeks to stop the Pride, a team of supervillains. She has also been known under the codenames Lucy in the Sky and Princess Justice at various points in her history.
Victor Chase Stein is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by author Brian K. Vaughan and artist Adrian Alphona, and debuted in Runaways #1 with most of the other main characters. Along with every member of the original Runaways, he is the child of evil villains with special abilities—in Chase's case, mad scientists. Chase tends to be viewed as the "wild card" in the series due to his shifting roles within the group. Chase, 18 years old, is the eldest of the Runaways. Chase possesses a signature set of gauntlets called Fistigons and later shares a psychic and empathic link with the Deinonychus Old Lace, granting Chase the ability to command the dinosaur.
Victor Mancha, also known as Victorious, is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character appeared in the award-winning series Runaways. Like the original Runaways, Victor has a supervillain for a parent; his is the classic Avengers villain Ultron, an evil robot bent on world domination. Victor, however, is a cyborg, with human flesh and natural tissue cloned from his human mother which completely conceals his metal parts and circuitry.
Alex Wilder is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is introduced in the series Runaways.
Geoffrey Wilder is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character has appeared primarily in the series Runaways. Geoffrey is the leader of the Pride, a supervillain crime ring in Los Angeles. He is the father of Alex Wilder.
Xavin is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is commonly depicted in association with the Runaways. Xavin is gender-fluid with seemingly no preference in which pronouns are used for them. They were created by author Brian K. Vaughan and artist Adrian Alphona, and debuted in Runaways #7. In the publications, Xavin is a Super-Skrull in training. Although Alphona was the series' artist at the time, artist Takeshi Miyazawa first drew the character on print. When Xavin first appeared to the Runaways, they took on the form of a black male, but changed into a black female just for the sake of Karolina Dean, a lesbian whom they were to marry. Xavin is often seen as a male, simply to be "intimidating". Xavin, often called "Xav" for short, is known for their obtuse and warlike personality. They had originally found it hard to fit in with the Runaways due in part to Xavin's constant gender switching and unfamiliarity with Earth values and norms though through proving their loyalty to the group found acceptance. Xavin is the child of the Skrull Prince De'zean.
Klara Prast is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character appeared in the series Runaways. When the time-displaced Runaways landed in 1907, they meet twelve-year-old Klara, a girl of German descent who had to live to serve her abusive middle-aged husband. Klara's ability is to control or "talk to" plants. Her name is a play on the word chloroplast, relating to her plant powers. When her family discovered her powers, they married her off to someone moving to America, where she ran into the Runaways in 1907, who later brought her back to the present with them. Klara is roughly Molly's age, has jet-black hair twisted in a braid, and gray eyes.
Old Lace is a super-powered fictional dinosaur character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
"Pride & Joy" is a six-issue story arc from the comic book series Runaways, published in issues one through six in 2003 by Marvel Comics' imprint Tsunami, which was created to attract young readers. It was written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Adrian Alphona. While it was initially intended to be a six-part miniseries, the popularity of "Pride & Joy" and new ideas from writer Vaughan allowed Runaways to grow into a regular monthly Marvel title. "Pride & Joy" has subsequently won several comics awards, including the 2006 Harvey Award for Best Continuing or Limited Series.
"Dead Wrong" is a story arc of the Marvel Comics' award-winning comic series, Runaways. The story arc features the first appearance of the creative team of Terry Moore and Humberto Ramos. The arc is composed of the first six issues of the series' third volume.
Marvel Television was an American television production company responsible for live-action and animated television shows and direct-to-DVD series based on characters from Marvel Comics. Marvel Television was formed as a division of Marvel Entertainment in June 2010, with producer Jeph Loeb serving as its executive vice president and head of television to produce shows for Marvel. The division was based at affiliate ABC Studios' location, and collaborated with the broadcast network ABC, streaming services Netflix and Hulu, and cable channel Freeform to release many of their series as a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise, a shared universe created by the film studio Marvel Studios. Animated series from Marvel Television were produced through Marvel Animation, and the division also collaborated with 20th Century Fox to produce shows based on the X-Men franchise such as Legion and The Gifted.
Marvel's Runaways, or simply Runaways, is an American television series created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage for the streaming service Hulu, based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the other television series of the franchise and acknowledging the continuity of the franchise's films. The series is produced by ABC Signature Studios, Marvel Television and Fake Empire, with Schwartz and Savage serving as showrunners.
Ariela Barer is an American actress, best known for playing the role of Gert Yorkes in the Hulu original series Runaways.
Marvel's young adult television series are two interconnected American television series in the young adult genre, based on characters that appear in publications by Marvel Comics. Produced by Marvel Television and ABC Signature Studios, they are set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and acknowledge the continuity of the franchise's films and other television series.