Not ready to spill all of the details of her life, Ruby calls for a moratorium on personal questions. Still lust, history, and a contained space are working against them. Little details begin to sneak out; We learn that Billy is some sort of self-help guru and that maybe he’s hiding following a public meltdown. Meanwhile, Ruby seems to be lying about her career. Later, when Billy sneakily looks at her phone, we see her husband (Mad Man’s Rich Sommer) and kids. Clearly, both of these people had reasons to want to escape their lives, and we’ve got plenty of episodes left to learn why.
The premiere does an excellent job of letting Weaver and Gleeson’s performances and chemistry carry the episode. Fans of Netflix’s Unbelievable know that Weaver is a special talent. It’s nice to see her working in something that shows off her range. We see Ruby toggle between excitement, arousal, panic, confidence, and regret all in 30 minutes, making her feel already lived-in. Gleeson is great as well, playing Billy with just the right number of cracks in his confident persona. The episode itself heightens the energy that they’re giving off by shooting this spontaneous, romantic fantasy like a Hitchcockian thriller. It’s a great tone and hopefully one that the show can sustain.
The only complaint I have about the episode is about the plot hinging on “no cell service” in 2020 like that’s a thing that commonly happens, but that’s a small nitpick. With the wrong leads, Run may not have made much of an impression. With these two? I’m eager to see more. Especially with everyone stuck inside at the moment, watching these two dash across country sounds like a dream.