Marvel’s Runaways season 3 episode 3 review: “Lord of the Lies”

As season 3 continues, the Runaways try to zero in on the traitor in their midst. Elsewhere, another parent tragically falls.

The third episode of Marvel’s Runaways season 3 opens with a heartbreaking flashback to the funeral of Nico’s sister Amy from two years ago. Nico is understandably distraught, while the rest of the team (except Alex) sit together behind her in support. Elsewhere, Alex’s parents, Catherine and Geoffrey, leave the funeral feeling worried that what happened to Amy will happen to their son.

This moment shines light on the reluctancy of the Wilders participating in the Pride ritual of sacrifices. We see Catherine waking up from this memory in jail, seemingly content to be there to atone for the sins of her past. Despite being the reason she’s in jail to begin with, Catherine begs Geoffrey to find Alex and get him to see her before she gets transferred to her long-term facility.

At the hostel, everyone is worried that Nico might be the infected by the alien brother. Everyone tries to ease the tension in the room, even Xavin offering Nico “pressurized cream sugar.” One of the quickest ways to find out is to use the x-ray goggles, but someone has taken them from Alex’s bag.

A conflicted Nico tries to burn the Staff of One after another mind-bending talk with Morgan Le Fay, as Leslie arrives back at the hostel following a heart-to-heart with her own mother. Leslie brings in the x-ray goggles, which she says she found outside, but are now broken. This causes suspicion among the team concerning whether or not Leslie or her baby have been infected.

Meanwhile, Geoffrey seeks out Tamar’s help in contacting Alex. He passes along the message from Catherine, which turns out to be an ip address. Almost immediately, Alex tells the others he has to go see his mother.

The kids raid the Minorus’ house in hopes of finding more of the alien inhibitors for Chase to cannibalize into some offensive tech for the team to use. As they go to leave, Nico sees an old photograph of her mother and Morgan together and is confronted by her father in the stairway. After briefly talking, the team leaves and Robert turns into a crow and flies away, while the picture upstairs changes back to a normal wedding photo.

Alex shows up to visit his mother in jail, in which it’s explained that the ip address is the one that Alex uses to hack, which she essentially blackmails him with. So, we’re off to a great start. Needless to say the conversation doesn’t go well, and Alex’s parting words to his mother are “Go to hell!”

Later that day, Catherine is ambushed by hired killers in the jail that tell her “Tamar says hello,” before stabbing her to death. Using the modified inhibitors, the team is able to determine that none of them are infected, so it has to be either Alex or Leslie. We then change to the hostel, where Alex wakes up Leslie, telling her something terrible has happened.

By the time the rest of the team get back, both people are gone without a trace. Chase reviews the video recorded by his hidden cameras, which captured Alex smiling when his father tells him about his mother dying over the phone. In another shot, we see Alex standing over a the sleeping Leslie as he places his hand over her stomach and both start to glow, signaling Alex being the infected member of the team.

How did you like this episode? Were you surprised it was Alex? Let us know in the comments section below.