Reunion (Runaways)
"Reunion" | |
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Runaways episode | |
Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 1 |
Directed by | Brett Morgen |
Written by | |
Produced by |
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Cinematography by | Ramsey Nickell |
Editing by | Jeff Granzow |
Original air date | November 21, 2017 |
Running time | 53 minutes |
Guest appearances | |
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"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.
Plot
A young woman named
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.
Production
Development
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]
Writing
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]
Casting
In February 2017, Marvel announced the casting of the Runaways, with
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
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]
Marketing
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]
Release
"Reunion" premiered on Hulu in the United States on November 21, 2017.
Reception
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]
References
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (August 17, 2016). "Hulu Orders 'Marvel's Runaways' Series From Josh Schwartz & Stephanie Savage". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
- ^ Wagmeister, Elizabeth (August 17, 2016). "'Marvel's Runaways' Coming to Hulu from 'Gossip Girl' Creators". Variety. Archived from the original on October 21, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
- ^ Morgen, Brett [@brettmorgen] (May 4, 2017). "I recently directed this pilot for Marvel and Hulu. Congrats to the awesome cast and crew!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on July 27, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2017 – via Twitter.
- ^ a b "Marvel's Runaways – Episode Descriptions". Hulu Press. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
- ^ a b Radish, Christina (October 22, 2017). "Director Brett Morgen on 'Jane' and Directing the Pilot of Marvel's 'Runaways'". Collider. Archived from the original on October 23, 2017. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
- ^ D'Allessandro, Anthony (July 27, 2017). "How Marvel's Hulu Series 'Runaways' Is A Response To Trump America – TCA". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 28, 2017. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
- ^ Fowler, Matt (August 1, 2017). "Marvel's Runaways Is The O.C. Of The MCU". IGN. Archived from the original on August 1, 2017. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
- ^ Goldberg, Lesley (July 27, 2017). "Hulu's 'Runaways' "Lives in the Same World" as Other Marvel Fare". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 28, 2017. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
- Marvel.com. Archivedfrom the original on February 3, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
- Marvel.com. Archivedfrom the original on February 11, 2017. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
- ^ Schwartz, Josh; Savage, Stephanie (November 21, 2017). "Reunion". Runaways. Season 1. Episode 1. Hulu.
- ^ Marsters, James [@JamesMastersOf] (February 10, 2017). "Here's the sitch. I'm filming Marvel's 'Runaways'! Set photos are strictly forbidden, but I snuck this pic of the carpet in my trailer..." (Tweet). Archived from the original on February 11, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2017 – via Twitter.
- ^ Kincaid, Rhiannon (January 7, 2017). "Working Titles For Black Panther, Runaways, and Cloak & Dagger Revealed". MCUExchange. Archived from the original on January 9, 2017. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
- ComicBook.com. Archivedfrom the original on January 9, 2017. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
- ^ Marsters, James [@JamesMastersOf] (March 3, 2017). "We're finishing filming on Marvel's Runaways. Great cast, great crew...tight social media security! No beans will be spilled on this deal!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 3, 2017. Retrieved March 3, 2017 – via Twitter.
- ^ Ching, Albert (September 5, 2017). "Marvel TV Brings Agents of SHIELD, Punisher and Runaways to NYCC". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on September 6, 2017. Retrieved September 5, 2017.
- ^ Prudom, Laura (October 7, 2017). "'Marvel's Runaways' is the teen superhero drama we've been waiting for". Mashable. Archived from the original on October 11, 2017. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
- ^ "Marvel's Runaways cast attend LA premiere of new Hulu show". Firstpost. November 18, 2017. Archived from the original on November 20, 2017. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
- ^ Evans, Greg (July 20, 2017). "Hulu Sets Fall Premieres: Slate Includes 'Mindy Project', 'Marvel's Runaways'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 23, 2017. Retrieved July 20, 2017.
- ^ Couto, Anthony (November 20, 2017). "Marvel's Runaways: How to Watch In Canada". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on November 21, 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
- ^ Mitchell, Bea (March 19, 2018). "Marvel's Runaways FINALLY has a UK broadcaster – and here's when you can see it". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on April 1, 2018. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ Ramos, Dino-Ray (July 28, 2018). "'Marvel's Runaways' Set To Make Broadcast Debut On Freeform". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 2018-07-29. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
- ^ Metcalf, Mitch (August 3, 2018). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Thursday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 8.2.2018". Showbuzz Daily. Archived from the original on August 4, 2018. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
- Fandango. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
- ^ Renaud, Jeffrey (May 31, 2017). "Interview: BKV Brings Saga Out West for 'Fun-Filled' Arc, The Coffin". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on June 3, 2017. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
External links
- Official website
- "Reunion" at IMDb