The Runaways Virginia Gardner Comments On Karolina's Sexual Assault

The Runaways premiere takes a serious turn when Karolina is almost raped at a party. Chase senses something is wrong when she sees her dragged away by his lacrosse teammates. He goes upstairs to investigate and finds Karolina passed out, with her pants undone, on top of a ratty old mattress on the floor next to a broken mirror. He proceeds to beat the living shit out of his classmates and carries Karolina to safety.

When this scene was shown at New York Comic Con the audience cheered, but the positive response from viewers when Chase saved the day shouldn’t take away from the message The Runaways is hoping to send. The scene serves as a reminder of the ongoing dangers of sexual assault, explains the woman portraying Karolina onscreen.

“I think it’s causing awareness for something that needs to be talked about right now,” Virginia Gardner told Player.One at NYCC. “It’s dark, obviously, but I do think it’s a scary thing that does happen that we need to be raising awareness of and looking out for each other. It was really cool to see the audience reaction when Chase comes and saves the day, to see everyone cheer.”

Seen as the straight-edged religious girl at school who doesn’t get out much, Karolina takes off her Church of Gibborim bracelet when she watches two girls make out at the party. Unbeknownst to her, the bracelet suppresses her alien powers. The resulting burst of energy makes her unconscious, prompting two scumbag jocks to take advantage of her. While she knows Chase protected her from something that night, she doesn’t find out exactly what happened until three episodes later. These circumstances made the assault scene feel even worse.

The next discussion of the assault doesn’t happen until episode 4. The lacrosse team members approach Chase during lunch period where they ask him apologize get over it, because “shit happens when you’re wasted.” Chase wasn’t having it, pointing out how disgusting it is that they can’t admit what they were planning on doing to Karolina. The way the stereotypical mean girl at school treats Karolina is also disgusting. She basically blames the victim for putting herself in that position and ruining the school’s chance at lacrosse championships.

The lacrosse coach ends up finding out there’s a reft in the team, and right before their big game, tells Chase whatever the issue is, it can’t be worth risking a win. But Chase decides he can’t be part of the cover-up, quits the team, and goes to talk to Karolina, who is obviously distraught by the incident at school but tries her best to hold it together.

This is a show with more women than men, so it makes sense to explore such a relevant issue. Every woman is vulnerable to a situation like this, regardless of religion, appearance or sexuality. Now more than ever, it’s clear men need to step up and combat rape culture. While it's sad the Runaways has made Karolina's experience largely about a man instead of focusing on her anguish, Chase’s willingness to take responsibility and not sweep the assault under the rug is certainly something we need to see more of onscreen and in real life.