Marvel’s Runaways Recap: There’s A Critique of Smartphones And Social Media Here Somewhere

By Jonathon Wilson
Published: December 13, 2019 (Last updated: February 12, 2024)
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Marvel's Runaways Season 3, Episode 6 recap: "Merry Meet Again"
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Summary

“Merry Meet Again” introduces a new technological threat as we learn what happened over the last six months.

This recap of Marvel’s Runaways Season 3, Episode 6, “Merry Meet Again”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.


Corvus, by Wizard — the new phone that comes with its own community. “Merry Meet Again” opens with an advert for it. This device is about to play a rather large part in the events of Marvel’s Runaways Season 3, Episode 6, and will largely define the rest of the third and final season, so forgive the obviousness with which it’s introduced.

Anyway, Nico has been trying to use the spell Morgan gave her to save Alex, but each attempt fails and summons a stuffed bird. The Hostel is full of them. Old Lace, having spent six months alone, has gone a bit feral. While Nico stays behind to practice and talk herself out of summoning Morgan for advice, the rest of the gang heads out for brunch and to see what they’ve missed in their half-year absence.

Standing in line for brunch at a typical hipster spot, Gert meets Max, a typical hipster, who’s handing out those Corvus phones. She immediately takes a shine to him thanks to his woke social justice posturing, which obviously annoys Chase. In a scene a little later, Max accidentally breaks the phone of a guy outside, and the randomer, presumably having failed to insure it, completely flips out and starts attacking Max, who has to be saved by the runaways.

“Merry Meet Again” reveals that Dale has been living in isolation, away from technology, but we’ll get the payoff to this a bit later. Meanwhile, Gert bonds with Max, and he adds her to his flock. At the Church of Gibborim, Molly sees a boy that she also takes a shine to. Sisters are doing it for themselves, it seems.

Nico goes to see Robert, who has been fully healed by Morgan, now in this world, which she reveals to Nico by pausing time at lunch and explaining it to her in detail. It’s obvious that whatever Morgan’s plan is it hinges on the phones, which people are becoming ludicrously attached to. Chase has to stop Gert from walking under a car while she’s using hers to message Max, and when it breaks she goes crazy at him.

A couple of funny scenes crop up in Marvel’s Runaways Season 3, Episode 6. Victor attends a support group for people who have had alien encounters, but when he reveals the full truth about his experiences, they think he’s lying and mocking them. Stacey is with them, which shows they’ve become close in the last six months, especially since Dale has sequestered himself away, although his so-called “isolation” is just in a tent on the grounds of the Church of Gibborim, where Molly confronts him about her parents being the ones to have chosen the sacrifices for Pride.

Examining Gert’s phone, Chase finds a crow feather in it, and the device promptly disintegrates. Using her magic, Nico messes with the feather, which reveals a brief glimpse of Alex in captivity.

When Morgan goes to see Tamar, we learn that Geoffrey has moved in with her — I guess he needed help getting over Catherine’s death.

To ask Morgan what’s up with the phones, the kids decide to attend a Wizard party, where Tina and Morgan have a bit of a spat over Morgan’s new ownership of the company and her relationship with Robert. At the same party, Gert tells Chase that they should perhaps look elsewhere for happiness — she’s rather confident that the young lad she met hours ago is the one for her. I don’t buy this at all.

Regardless, Gert let’s slip to Max about the feather Chase found in her phone, and they’re overheard by one of Morgan’s followers — coven? — who explains to Max that they put an enchantment on their sales staff so they didn’t become obsessed with the phones; they can’t, after all, let anybody know what they’re doing. Max gets his mind wiped afterward, thus proving that the explanation was purely for the audience’s benefit.

With all this going on, Nico becomes more obsessed than ever about finding out what Morgan is up to, so, against Karolina’s advice, she allows Morgan to perform a ceremony that will free her from the binds which keep her from tapping into her true power.

Marvel’s Runaways Season 3, Episode 6 ends with Gert, Chase and Karolina returning to the Hostel, where they find Molly possessed by one of the Corvus phones.

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