'Marvel's Runaways' Season Two Steps Up! A Review of the New Season and Look at What Season Three Will Bring

The first season ended on Marvel's Runaways, making the main characters fulfill their namesake and runaway from their evil parents, who form the organisation Pride. While the series is yet to premier on television, the entire series has been released online through the streaming service Hulu. The show picks right up where we left the young heroes on the run and trying to find answers to the many questions left with the team and the audience from season one. But the second season has made even bigger questions in the wake of the answers given, and now these questions have been answered.

One thing the show did handle well is how the teenagers were rushing their relationships. At the end of the first season, Niko and Karolina became an item, as did Gurt and Chase. Finding a new home together at the beginning of the new season, called the hostel. Here, both couples decided to room together, which seemed pretty fast considering it had only been a couple of days since both couples got together. The show did reflect how they moved too fast with both couples, making the teens step back and the four having separate rooms to work on being a new couple before acting married. But let us take a look at each character's progression in the newest season and where we will be heading for a third season.

Alex and Season Two

We see Alex breaking away from his group at the beginning of the season, almost due to the pressure he has placed on himself to make sure they are all safe and supported financially. This causes him to become allies with his father's old friend-turned-enemy and his family. He even starts seeing a young girl, Livvie, who he inadvertently pulls into the Runaways world, which results in the pair having to go their separate ways. But even with this, Alex does continue to reflect on the feelings he has for Niko and her relationship status with Karolina. His distance from the group results in Niko taking his place and becoming the leader of the group. But his character goes to some dark places during the season, including detaining his father and enjoying a more violent approach to problems, which is raising a few questions behind him for season three.

Molly and Season Two

Molly sees some good progression in making her mark as a woman instead of the child on the team. She has a small rebellious moment at the beginning by sneaking out of the hostel at night, donning a mask with cat ears and goes patrolling around the streets for deeds to perform. She also turns 15 during the season, which sees her undergo quinceañera—when a girl of Latin descent says goodbye to her childhood and becomes an adult. What you do have to love in the new series is how she actually sees she's become good at giving advice to her older friends and revels in the fact they go to her for help. But with her being one of the few to return to the hostel at the end of season two, is Molly about to step up even more and be a hero to rescue her imprisoned friends?

Gurt and Season Two

Gurt has a very important role in season two, but that is as a voice for those with conditions such as anxiety. Being a runaway, she left all her medication at home. We see her go through withdrawal and having to deal with her mental issues, which was portrayed brilliantly by Ariela. She lashes out at Chase multiple times and even uses his mother to get herself new meds, forcing him to see his mother. This backfires on her when she becomes sick along with her dinosaur Old Lace, and Chase takes her to her parents for treatment. When Chase decided to return home she essentially closes the door on their relationship, but how the season ends will result in her being unaware of the danger Chase is now. She was last seen in the trunk of her father's car with Old Lace being towed in a trailer away from the city by her father.

Chase and Season Two

Considering Chase is the jock in the team, we saw in season one how he is not a dumb jock. But this season shows a more insightful and tender Chase. During Gurt's anxiety problems he kept reminding himself that it was due to her being off her medication. Granted, he did get a pep talk at one point from Molly, but he did continue to support his girlfriend during her time of need. This is another reason why he got hurt when Gurt reached out to his mother over him when she needed more medication. But eventually, he decided to return home when his father contacted him and informed him that he was sick once again. This puts Chase back in the hands of Pride and his friends now distrustful of him. But the problems have gotten seriously bad for Chase, as now he is imprisoned and could be consumed by Pride, along with his mother.

Niko and Season Two

Niko is another runaway to step up in this season. When Alex is pulling away from the team, she becomes their new leader and is eager for them to learn to use their powers as a team. She becomes more skilful with the Staff of One, but does discover she cannot use the same spell twice. This causes her to become creative with how to use the staff. However, she starts tapping into something new and it appears the staff may now be taking control of Niko. Even her mother noted she had never seen the staff do what Niko was with it during a final confrontation with her parents in season two. What really tests her is when she landed the killing blow on Jonah, impaling him with her staff midway through the season. This puts a massive strain on her relationship with Karolina, and makes her deal with her true feelings. With Karolina's position by the end of the second season, Niko is likely to go to extremes further than before.

Karolina and Season Two

Karolina perhaps goes through more in this season than any other Runaway. At the end of the first season she accepted her sexuality and has not faltered in her new life. But her problems come from every other direction in season two. She firstly goes, in secret, to meet her father. This realistically needed to happen as she only just discovered she is half alien. She needed to find out who she was and it resulted in her finding out it was Jonah's ship at the bottom of the hole, and she had family within it. But when her father was killed by Niko, she needed time alone. During this time she discovered her mother had been taken to a brainwashing facility of the family church of Gibborim.

Not ready to lose her mother like she had her father, she goes to rescue her. This is when she meets her grandmother and more about her human side of her family past is revealed. She revealed herself to many of the church and is now their new messiah. She also discovers she is about to become a big sister, as her mother is pregnant again by Jonah. But the craziest part of her story this season was when Xavin appeared towards the end of the season. Appearing as a black woman, Xavin believes his fate is to marry Karolina. But as if it couldn't get stranger in her life, she discovers her father is still alive, now possessing a new host. With so much mystery and central themes still pointing to Karolina, she is going to be a major presence in season three for sure.

Jonah and Season Two

Jonah rose to be quite the threat in the first season, but by season two his nefarious plans are revealed. It was during his time training Karolina in the use of her powers, he took her to the hole and revealed his plans. He wanted to free his ship and family, regardless of the destructive effects it will have on Los Angeles. This cultivates into a final conflict between both the Runaways and Pride.

During the battle, Chase's parents succeed in destroying Jonah's ship before it can escape, and as mentioned earlier, Niko successfully kills Jonah and ends the threat. However, Jonah and his family did not perish. Being Gobborim, beings made of light, they could possess another and take control of them. Jonah possesses Chase's father, while his wife takes over Gurt and Molly's mother and his daughter possesses Niko's mother. When they all gathered, they did reveal that his son had not revealed himself yet and did suggest one of the kids may be his vessel. At the end of the season, he captures Karolina, Chase, and his mother, and asks his family which of them they should consume first to keep their bodies alive.

Pride and Season Two

The parents go through some changes this season, and even start to go places you never suspected. Chase's father is trapped in a simulator by Jonah and forced to realise the evils he had committed through his abusive ways, and his mother cracks a book of Jonah's, revealing vital secrets to bring Jonah's plans down. Niko's parents take a hard stance against their daughter and tell her not to come home if she takes the Staff of One. Karolina's mother begins to question her loyalty and past deeds for Jonah, while her stepfather becomes more dedicated to the church with aims to take it over. Alex's father goes to extreme lengths to get Alex back, including making a deal with his enemy who has formed an alliance with Alex, meanwhile his mother proves she is willing to kill and go to extreme lengths. Finally Gurt and Molly's parents splinter away from Pride in an attempt to discover what is down the hole and to find their kids.

But when Jonah is finally taken down, they disband Pride and all aim to bring their kids back home. All fail pretty quickly to either find their children or convince them to come home. This triggers them to come back together and agree that if they cannot convince the kids to come home one final time, that they will use force instead. This causes Chase's parents and Niko's father to design weapons to bring the kids in. Meanwhile, Karolina's mother is forced to the desert by her husband, who is now running the church, as she has decided to disband the church due to it being made from lies by Jonah. Here, it is revealed she is pregnant again by Jonah.

This makes Karolina, Niko, and Molly go to rescue her and Karolina reveals her powers, making the members of the church lock Karolina's stepfather into a conditioning box for trying to usurp the leadership of the church. They bring Karolina's mother back to the hostel, which Alex strongly objects to, but she admits she has nowhere else to go and is now a Runaway as well. At the series conclusion, the parents go after the kids with the weapons, and some showdowns happened between the parents and their children. Some of the parents succeed while some fail.

The Status of the Parents at the Show's Conclusion:

• Alex's Parents - Alex manages to get them arrested by using a firearm, and placing it in his dad's car, framing them when the police arrive on the scene.
• Niko's Parents - Her mother is possessed by Jonah's daughter, her father was badly wounded in a final fight against Niko.
• Chase's Parent - His father is possessed by Jonah who has both Chase and his mother imprisoned, along with Karolina.
• Gurt and Molly's Parents - Their mother is possessed by Jonah's wife, their father has Gurt and Old Lace, and they are heading away from Los Angeles.
• Karolina's Parents - Her mother is with the Runaways and her stepfather is imprisoned at the church's brainwashing facility.

The New Runaway of Season Two

While they did introduce Topher, a Runaway from the comics, he was short-lived in the show and had a very different origin. So we won't count that as a true new addition to the team. But another comic character that has been added is Xavin. He is a shape-shifter and believes his destiny is to be married to Karolina. He was captured by Jonah's family and forced to serve them. He survived the ship's destruction along with the family. This was when he saw Karolina shining while using her powers, and believes she is the one from a prophecy he believes.

This causes him to take on the appearance of a female, as he knows Karolina is attracted to women. He calls her his betrothed, much to her discomfort, and firmly believes they will be together. When he realises Karolina was under attack from the members of Pride, he did attempt to rescue her from Jonah. This failed, and has now concerned him as to what will happen to his betrothed, giving Niko competition for Karolina's affection in season three.

Some Thoughts for Season Three

Naturally, there are plenty of questions now that season two is finished. What will happen to Chase, his mother, and Karolina? What will happen to those possessed by Jonah's family? These questions will most likely be covered pretty quickly in season three. But one big question: Where is Jonah's son? The two Runaway's exhibiting strange behaviours by the end of season two are Niko and Alex.

Niko has been seeming under the control of the staff, but is it someone else surfacing and using the staff instead. Alex has revelled in the dark side and been seen enjoying power and domination, but unsure why—similar to how the parents were unsure of their actions as Jonah's family started to emerge. The bet here is on Alex being the missing family member. The character does turn on the team in the comics and joins Pride, eventually running his own version of the team. The character has also been separating from the team prior to Jonah's family taking possession of the new hosts. So his odd behaviour could go unnoticed for longer than Niko.

Who do you think is Jonah's son? Which of Jonah's prisoners will be feasted on by Jonah's family first?