Harlan Coben’s Run Away Recap ‘A Different Time’: Confronting the Past
- Jan 2
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 9
Run Away Episode 4
It was at university that Paige changed, and it was at university that Simon went to find answers on what happened to his daughter. All this time, he had blamed Aaron for turning Paige to drugs and ruining her life. But since he found out that it was Paige who sought Aaron out, not the other way around, he needed to reexamine what he knew.
Paige had two roommates at the university, Katie and Judy. He sought Katie first, who seemed very reluctant to talk to him. Katie told him Paige changed way before the drugs. She would not have had to seek out Aaron for the drugs; she was at a university campus, where drugs were easily accessible. Katie kept trying to get away from Simon’s questioning, but she did give a helpful date, January 13th, the day Paige borrowed her car so she could drive over to see Aaron.
Simon called Sam, who was home at the time getting underclothes for Ingrid, and asked him to search Paige’s room for a planner. Using the January 13th date as a reference, they went back a few weeks, trying to figure out what could have happened to Paige that changed her. Sam found the Family Tree Club and the initials PVB written repeatedly on Paige’s planner. PVB turned out to be Professor van de Beek, a biology professor at school whom a boy who watched Simon since he arrived on campus told him was the type to have a relationship with students.
The boy who told Simon about Professor van de Beek, who woke in him a deep anger so that he was ready to kill this professor (Elena repeatedly tried to talk him out of it) was the same boy who was attacked in a gym at the beginning of the episode. He was lifting weights when a masked man came in and hit him on the face, as Paige watched from not too far. A year later, and the scars were still visible on his face. If he knew that Paige watched his attack, or was involved in it, then he might have a motive for telling Simon about Professor van de Beek. But just because he was trying to start trouble, does not mean that he lied. Katie was later seen emailing Professor van de Beek, telling him Paige’s father knew about him, and the email bounced back. Professor van de Beek has been on sabbatical since spring term, the same time that Paige dropped out, after several visits to the professor's Family Tree Club. Where was he? Was he and Katie in a relationship, or were Katie’s feelings one-sided?
Simon realised that Katie was not exactly truthful to him because Judy approached him on campus. Katie had previously told him Judy had already gone home for term break. Judy told Simon that Katie and Paige had a huge fight, about what she did not know, but that Katie kicked Paige out afterwards. When they got back to the dorm room, Judy told Simon that Katie’s things were gone. She has left.
As devastating as it was to realise that his daughter has been struggling far longer than he knew, there was more bad news for Simon. DS Fagbenle was waiting for him in his house, and told him that on the night of Aaron’s murder, Ingrid was alone with Jay at his flat. The insinuation of an affair was right there. Simon knew that Ingrid and Jay went way back, before they met. He remembered what Katie said, that Paige mentioned there was trouble at home. At first he thought it was because he and Paige got into a fight before she left for university, when he accidentally saw her exchanging photos with a boy. But with DS Fagbenle‘s revelation, he started to wonder if Paige, his eldest child, was even his.
Yvonne told him Ingrid would never cheat, of course Paige was his. But as he held Ingrid’s hand at the hospital, he asked her, too. And the monitors started beeping as Ingrid flat lined.
Mrs. O’Hara, the woman Ash and Dee went to visit near the end of the third episode, was indeed their former foster mother. Whilst Dee smoothly lied about why they were there, Ash looked very uncomfortable. They weren’t just there to lay low after their last kill ended with a dead kid not on their list, Dee also insisted that Ash needed to be there.
It was a tale we have sadly seen before, an abusive foster mother who left scars on her wards. Ash, who thought he was the only one abused, did not want to kill Mrs O’Hara. But when Dee showed her scars, when Dee pointed out she could not lift her right arm any higher because of Mrs O’Hara’s abuse, he took the gun from Dee’s waistband and repeatedly shot her. It was a different time, Mrs. O’Hara had said, as though that excused the horrific violence she wrought somehow. Ash and Dee buried her near the playground where they spent at least part of their painful youth.
And what of Elena, and the investigations she juggled? She has figured out that the killings were somehow connected to the fact that the victims were both adopted. She also found the name Kevin Gano, Ash and Dee’s first victim. As for her more personal investigation, well, as she told Simon, Maria was her late husband Joel’s daughter. Her mother in law, Lou, knew, and never told her. So this was why she didn’t tell Lou what she was investigating. That begged the question, however, how come Lou didn’t figure it out? Lou tracked Elena on that night that she broke into Maria’s house. With her computer skills, it would not have taken much for her to find out who lived there, if she truly wanted to. Perhaps she did figure it out, and we’ll learn in a future episode?
In any case, Maria confronted Elena with the footage from her home security system, and told her she has already called the cops. Ex-cop Elena was arrested.
As it often was with the best mysteries, the answers laid in the past. Run Away is only eight episodes long, so it made sense to start delving into the past halfway through the season. So far, and despite the violence we have already seen, Run Away had this feel of a small town mystery where the stakes did not feel super high. That changed when Simon found out about the lecherous professor. He was a father with righteous fury, and the Shining Truth* save that man once he was found.
Rating: B+
Strays
🪷We still don’t have much information on what the Shining Truth was, except that it was some faith perhaps that Dee believed in.
🪷Damien has been interested in his family since his father died.
🪷Simon tried to break into Professor van de Beek’s office, but could not. It was then that the boy with a scarred face talked to him.
🪷Henry and Damien were both adopted through an agency called Hope and Growth.
🪷Ash stole several plates, including one that spelled out D3E DE3, which Dee loved, and also stole a new car for them.
🪷Was Cornelius watching Sam?
🪷The scarred boy deleted a photo of him kissing a girl from his phone.
Episode Title: A Different Time
Episode Writer: Charlotte Coben
Episode Director: Isher Sahota
Original Release Date: January 1, 2026