Summary
“Lord of Lies” finally reveals who is harboring the psychopathic alien imposter, and we lose a major character.
This recap of Marvel’s Runaways Season 3, Episode 3, “Lord of Lies”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
We open “Lord of Lies” with a flashback to Amy’s funeral two years ago, where all of Pride and their children — with the notable exception of Alex — are in attendance. Catherine and Geoffrey, genuinely worried about their son, argue over their involvement, so we get to see how, despite their relentlessly evil child-sacrificing, they were never all that keen to participate. In the present day, Catherine wakes up in prison, perhaps feeling as if she has finally atoned for what she has done over the years.
In Marvel’s Runaways Season 3, Episode 3, she wants her husband to find Alex so he can see her before she’s transferred. She has something that will, apparently, make him come running the moment he hears it, despite having landed her in prison in the first place. This is a classic Runaways device so we just know that Alex will fall for it, but we’ll deal with that later.
Back at the Hostel in Marvel’s Runaways Season 3, Episode 3, everyone is worried about Nico potentially being the alien brother. The easiest way to find out would be to use the X-ray goggles, but of course, they’ve been stolen from Alex’s bag.
Not-Victor has a new lease of life, in the meantime, since Not-Tina has fed him the poor sap delivery driver from Grub Mates (they really do feed people!). But that isn’t to say the Runaways themselves aren’t finding some common ground. Gert and Chase are able to be a bit more civil, while Nico and Karolina kiss as the former becomes consumed by her powers again. If the alien brother is inside her, is anyone going to ask the awkward question about incest at this point? They’re half-siblings. Anyway, “Lord of Lies” spares some time for more awkward interactions between Molly and Xavin; the former is trying to teach the latter how to relax. “Have safe and comforting night illusions, Molly.” Quite.
Nico, conflicted, has another dreamy chat with Morgan and tries to burn the Staff of One, while Leslie talks with her mother and eventually returns to the Hostel with the X-ray goggles, now broken, which she found outside. Alex’s new idea is to use tech from the inhibitors, which he’s able to trace back to the Minoru residence.
Geoffrey goes to Tamar looking for Alex and calls him from her phone. He passes on the message from Catherine: “15373251”. Almost immediately, Alex tells Chase that he’s going to see his mother. Have these kids learned nothing?
At Casa Minoru, the kids find what they need. Nico sees a photo of Morgan with Tina and speaks to Robert, after which he turns into a crow and the picture upstairs morphs back to a regular wedding photo. We cut to Robert in the hospital, where he has some kind of attack as the crow watches from outside.
Alex does indeed go to see Catherine in Marvel’s Runaways Season 3, Episode 3. The code was his hacking IP address, which she essentially blackmails him with, so the conversation doesn’t go well. Speaking of which, the aliens aren’t getting along too swimmingly either. Not-Tina is still acting like a maniac and attempting to build the portal device that’ll transport the aliens off-world, but it still isn’t working and the debate about who’ll be leaving persists.
In prison, Catherine gets ambushed. Told that “Tamar says hello”, she’s stabbed multiple times and killed. The kids, using the inhibitors, determine that none of them is housing the psychopathic alien brother, leaving only Alex and Leslie as potential suspects. We see the former wake the latter up, telling her something terrible has happened. By the time the others arrive back at the Hostel, they’re gone. Chase goes over the video recorded by his hidden cameras, which captured Alex slyly smiling when being told about his mother’s death. We then see him interact with Leslie’s baby in-utero. He’s the alien.
Marvel’s Runaways Season 3, Episode 3 ends with Alex calling Not-Victor, his father, telling him he has something he wants.
