“Entertaining from beginning to end. Prepare yourself for the shocking finale! A thrilling drama from executive producer Darren Star featuring Donnie Wahlberg as a successful lawyer who is wrongfully accused of murder and thus his entire family goes on the run, changing their identities and living their lives as a normal family with a big secret.”
DVD TITLE: RUNAWAY: THE COMPLETE SERIES
DURATION: 384 Minutes (9 episodes)
DVD INFORMATION: English Subtitled, French Dubbed & Subtitled, Spanish Dubbed & Subtitled. Audio: 5.1 Surround, Dolby Digital, Mono
COMPANY: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
RATED: NOT RATED
RELEASE DATE:Â March 24, 2009
Created by Chad Hodge
Executive Producer: Darren Star
Starring:
Donnie Wahlberg as Paul
Leslie Hope as Lilly
Dustin Milligan as Henry
Sarah Ramos as Hannah
Leah Cudmore as Amber
Kristen Hager as Kylie
Melanie Merkosky as Sam
Craig Olejnik as Jake Bennett
Susan Floyd as Gina Bennett
Karen LeBlanc as Agent Angela Huntley
Raoul Bhaneja as Agent Raj Rao
“RUNAWAY” was a thrilling series created by Chad Hodge and was executive produced by Darren Star (“Sex and the City”, “Beverly Hills 90210”, “Melrose Place”) that began airing on CW (when the network just began) and unfortunately, due to a bad time slot, didn’t receive good ratings. So, originally planned for 13-episodes, nine were filmed and only three aired in the US (while in Europe, all nine episodes were shown).
The series revolves around the Rader family. A family of five that has moved from town-to-town and changing their identities after Paul Rader (Donnie Wahlberg), a successful attorney wrongfully accused of the death of Erin Baxter, who worked at his law firm (and the series shows that the two are close). But the killer sends a package to his wife Lily (Leslie Hope) that their children Henry (Dustin Milligan), Hannah (Sarah Ramos) and Tommy (Nathan Gamble) will be next.
To protect the family, Paul and Lilly have moved from around as fugitives and settled in Iowa. Henry is a high school sophomore who is not too happy with his father and doesn’t even know if his father committed the crime or not. He is unhappy that he has to be separated from his girlfriend Kylie (who lives in Maryland) and does whatever he can to communicate with her. Henry must pretend that he is a twin of his sister Hannah despite being a few years older.
As for Hannah, she was a social outcast in Maryland but now in Iowa, she’s recreating her life. She starts to fall for her jock and neighbor, Brady.
As for Tommy, he is the youngest of the family and at 8-years-old, having to juggle identities and living another life is becoming difficult for him.
Meanwhile, US Marshall Agent Huntley and Agent Raj Rao are hot on the case to find them while the Rader family have to do what they can to survive and not be caught or arouse any suspicion.
The nine episodes are as follows:
- EPISODE 1 – RUNAWAY (PILOT) – Introduction to the Rader family and how the family ended up in Iowa and starting off their new life with their new identities.
- EPISODE 2 – IDENTITY CRISIS – Paul receives a text message that if he doesn’t stay far, his family will end up dead. Immediately Paul heads to Chicago to see who sent him the message and as for Hannah, she gets drunk and reveals her family’s secret.
- EPISODE 3 – MR. RADER GOES TO WASHINGTON – Paul finds a key which may hold answers to Erin’s murder and thus takes him to Washington to investigate. Meanwhile, with finances very difficult for the family, Lily takes a job at a hospital in order to steal asthma medicine for her young son Tommy.
- EPISODE 4 – HOMECOMING – Hannah and Brady continue to get closer but as a star athlete, he is in danger of not playing in the homecoming football game because of his bad grades. Hannah offers to help him by giving her old English paper to help him but immediately, Brady’s teacher is suspicious and accuses him of plagiarism.
- EPISODE 5 – FATHER FIGURE – Jake’s mother Gina tells Paul and Lily the truth, that she and Jake are living in Iowa using identities and are on the run from her abusive ex-husband. Meanwhile Henry and Jake are put into danger and Hannah and Amber try to crash a college frat party.
- EPISODE 6 – LIAR, LIAR - Henry goes to meet with his girlfriend Kylie secretly while she goes on a school trip in St. Louis behind his family’s back. Meanwhile, Hannah and Brady grow closer to each other. Paul find a lead and heads off to Chicago.
- EPISODE 7 – TURN, TURN, TURN – Paul and Lily are celebrating their anniversary and Henry has information that might help his father. Meanwhile, Hannah and Brady take their relationship to the next level but Hannah may be hurting her best friend in the process.
- EPISODE 8: THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME – A tornado hits the town of Bridgewater and Hannah gets stuck in a shed with the school’s outcast. Although Hannah is popular now, her life as an outcast previously shows that she’s not much different than the girl she just met. Meanwhile, an overturned school bus puts Tommy in danger.
- EPISODE 9: END GAME – Paul confronts Lloyd Cunningham about the murder of Erin Baxter. Henry starts to become attracted to a girl in highschool while Hannah faces the consequence for hurting her friend and is made to feel like an outcast again. Paul decides that it’s time to stop running away and then you realize at the end of who is the killer.
With only 9 episodes in the planned 13-episode series, the final five minutes of the series is just an enormous shock that literally, you just can’t believe what has transpired.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“RUNAWAY” is presented in 1:78:1 anamorphic widescreen. Overall, the picture quality is on part with many television dramatic series on DVD. No major grain problems though in low light conditions which is a good thing.
As for audio, audio is presented in Dolby Digital English 5.1 and the series is primarily dialogue-based.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
There are no special features but trailers. Both discs are included in two DVD cases and come in a cardboard slipcase.
“RUNAWAY” was definitely an interesting and enjoyable series. In one end, keeping the tradition of CW of making the series appealing to a younger demographic, the series on one end revolves around Henry and Hannah’s life in high school and teenage complications. Hannah moreso as a outcast trying to live a new life as a popular girl. While Henry tries to get used to being away from his girlfriend and getting used to his new friends (who tend to get themselves into trouble).
Then on the other side, you get the dramatic side of Paul searching for who killed Erin and who is threatening his family and Lily doing what she can to protect her family’s identity and trying to get the medication that her young son needs.
But with production cut so short at 9-episodes, I often wonder if creator Chad Hodge had a different plan of how the series would evolve and who would be the killer instead of the shocking ending series finale. Although, I won’t spoil the finale for you, I will say that Leslie Hope (who plays Lily Rader) has a way of being in two series with finale shockers, especially for her memorable performance for the Season 1 finale of “24”.
In the end, I am at least happy that CW gave the series the courtesy of ending it. Too many series that were canceled and make it to DVD sometimes has no conclusion. Just ends mid-way in the series with nothing. For me, it truly is disappointing to get into a series and then knowing there is no conclusion.
At least “RUNAWAY” does provide you with closure. Shocking ending but nevertheless, a sense of closure that I didn’t see coming.
Again, it’s a shame that series was cut short with three episodes in the US. Donnie Wahlberg did a good job and has since returned back to his muscical roots, now on tour with New Kids on the Block, Dustin Milligan (Henry) has went on to star on CW’s “90210” and the others have since went on to appear on other series.
But overall, “RUNAWAY” was an enjoyable thriller but I wonder, if given the opportunity to go longer, would creator Chad Hodge have ended the series differently. Nevertheless, if you enjoyed the few episodes that were aired on television, definitely give “RUNAWAY: THE COMPLETE SERIES” and prepare yourself for the final episode.