Runaways: Season 1/ Episode 4 "Fifteen" - Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

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As it becomes clear no parent is innocent, Dale and Stacey find themselves getting into hot water.

Previous Recap: Episode 3 “Destiny”

Network
Hulu
Director(s)	Ramsey Nickell
Writer(s)	Tamara Becher-Wilkinson
Characters Introduced
Flores	Alex Fernandez
Kincaid	Devan Chandler Long
Brandon	Zayne Emory
Lucas	Timothy Granaderos

Inside Man: Nico, Alex, Tina, Gert, Karolina

Just when you started to have some sympathy for Tina, since her marriage is falling apart, then we learn she is covering up her daughter’s suicide. Even knocked out Nico to keep her from calling an ambulance. But now with Nico knowing about Destiny’s death as well as the cover up dealing with her sister? She wants to go to the cops and asks Alex for support. Something he doesn’t originally give, but later on reneges.

However, with Nico seeing Detective Flores, who seems to be a dirty cop for PRIDE, they end up aborting the mission. But, thanks to Gert and Karolina, Alex gets his hands onto an encrypted e-folder of Leslie’s of all the runaways she, or her people, have picked up. Perhaps explaining all the disappearances over the last 15 years – of which there seems to be one a year.

But no sooner than Nico tells this to Karolina about Alex’s discover does he get kidnapped

School Drama: Karolina, Chase

Brandon and Lucas, the two boys who tried to rape Karolina and got their behinds whooped by Chase, yeah – there is still no peace on the lacrosse team thanks to that. Especially since a rib was injured. But, as clearly shown, Chase has a thing for Karolina and while they may not be official, he isn’t going to just let someone hurt his girl. And yeah, his teammates may have gotten injured, but why would he apologize over that?

Well, thanks to there being no reconciliation, and Chase getting into another fight with them, Karolina bears the weight of the issue. A sordid rumor spreads in which it is believed she hooked up with Brandon and Lucas, thus making Chase jealous, and causing this whole mess. One which, honestly, Chase gets so tired of he quits lacrosse and then decides to just go hang out with Karolina. Leading to them both revealing something. He reveals to her what almost went down and she reveals her ability to glow and Chase’s mind becomes officially blown!

The Truth About PRIDE: Gert, Tina, Stacey, Dale, Leslie, Robert, Victor

Luckily for Stacey and Dale, their theropod dinosaur is found right in the house. Which, for some reason, still listens to Gert. Maybe meaning she has a superpower dealing with taming wild animals? Got to be something right? Either way, the dinosaur being found doesn’t make up for the fact Dale and Stacey skipped a PRIDE meeting to look for it. Which leads to Tina visiting and basically threatening them. For one, she knows about the Hernandez’s ranch they long planned to run away to. Also. thanks to a man named Kincaid, she also knows they have been sending money out there. So she reasserts the idea you don’t just leave PRIDE and perhaps if you try, you end up like the Hernandez family.

But it isn’t just Tina showing her dark side. After his screw up with Destiny, Victor is tasked with getting a new sacrifice and Tina offers up Robert to help. Unfortunately for them though, the homeless man they try to take can fight and the cops come. Thus connecting Nico and Alex’s storyline to theirs as Nico spots her father before being able to give a testimony.

And all of this weighs heavy on Leslie. For her poor father is growing colder and weaker to the point she has to use the power she has, the same as Karolina, to keep him warm.

Question(s) Left Unanswered

So who started PRIDE exactly and what does the acronym mean?

Highlights

Alex and Nico

The only thing which consistently demands your attention is Nico and Alex. Their relationship is cute, doesn’t have that vibe Karolina and Chase has of your usual two Abercrombie models, and there is some real chemistry there. I mean, just them holding hands, not kissing or anything like that, gets you a bit giddy.

On The Fence

What Is The Reason To Invest Here?

Hulu is a very odd network. It doesn’t necessarily adhere to some specific brand and its original content is a little bit all over the place. To the point, it almost seems like the three main investors, Disney, Comcast, and Fox, dump what wouldn’t work on their established networks here. Now, as seen with The Handmaid Tale, which could easily be on HBO or FX, there are exceptions. However, as noted in the premiere, there is this vibe of this being a show from the less newsworthy days of FreeForm, when it was ABC Family.

The reason I say that is, while acknowledging the writers and cast are still getting comfortable, there is a lot of corniness here that is hard to deal with at times. Like this love triangle that has the potential to go nowhere between Gert, Chase, and Karolina. Gert is made to be that weird ugly duckling with a good personality trying to come between these two model types. Then there is Molly, who while I still adore the child, just like she is kind of the outsider of her adopted family, she is the outsider on this show.

And then there are the parents. As we got to know Alex’s family, see the things his father was into, learn he almost got put away for murder, things picked up. Especially with us learning, Catherine was not above injecting Molly with a truth serum to get some answers. Then with Tina and Robert, they lost a child, have marital issues, like Chase’s parents, and we got some interesting drama adultery. The same goes for Leslie’s family and their cult-like religion. Frank’s fall from grace may not have been exciting, but it had potential. Especially as we learned the various ways he has been used and abused by his wife’s religion.

On top of that, we have this thing which has to be Leslie’s father. But despite all these potentially interesting things, something about the acting just makes it all feel so flat and lifeless. And again, with time maybe things could get better. The show did have a bit of a spike before, but now there comes the fear that the reason why three episodes were released at once wasn’t to build interest but to compensate for the wane that comes in.

Runaways: Season 1/ Episode 4 “Fifteen” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)