SUPER SIX

It’s tricky to pull off a TV series with an ensemble cast. Every character needs a story, and yet the group has to come together. That’s where Marvel’s Runaways, now on Amazon Prime, falters.

Based on a popular comic by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona,

Runaways is the story of six friends who discover that their parents share a nefarious secret: They collect homeless teens and kill them in a sacrificial rite intended to bring their corpse-like leader, Jonah, back to life.

In episode five, a flashback reveals that Jonah (Julian McMahon) is a prophet of God who is capable of limitless evil. He has kept the heroes’ parents in thrall with rich rewards—demanding that they help him in his crimes. By the time they realise that their children are in danger, it is too late.

In Marvel’s universe, the teens have superpowers. Karolina can fly in her glowing rainbow avatar and is the only one who can fight her father. Nico has control over her mother’s staff, an ancient wizarding device that can read her mind. Chase has created his own superpower—Fistigons—a pair of powerful gloves. Molly has acquired supernatural strength from some unidentified rock samples in her parents’ lab. Gert has a pet dinosaur that obeys her commands. Alex is really smart. And his video game junkie mind is cool enough to acquire video proof of the human sacrifices.

Unfortunately, the show never seems to come together. Its not-so-noir treatment of teen life is welcome after a series of serious teen dramas like 13 Reasons Why and The End of the F***ing World. However, weak acting and a disjointed script ensure that it never approaches its too obvious inspirations: Stranger Things and Jessica Jones.