Review: Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy

Synopsis

On one day in 1989, 43 infants are inexplicably born to random, unconnected women who showed no signs of pregnancy the day before. Seven are adopted by billionaire industrialist Sir Reginald Hargreeves, who creates the Umbrella Academy and prepares his “children” to save the world. In their teenage years, though, the family fractures and the team disbands. Fast forward to the present time, when the six surviving members of the clan reunite upon the news of Hargreeves’ passing. They work together to solve a mystery surrounding their father’s death, but divergent personalities and abilities again pull the estranged family apart, and a global apocalypse is another imminent threat. The series is based on a collection of comics and graphic novels created and written by My Chemical Romance lead singer Gerard Way.

Review: Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy

I originally got into the show when a friend told me to check it out. While I am a reader, I have never been a huge comic person, but a show based on it…and it’s the guy that made Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge? My millennial heart was sold. I think if I recall my initial reactions (I watched as they released) that season one and two were headed in the correct and upward direction, three was a fall off for me somewhat, but four did come back for a somewhat satisfying ending. It had flaws, but I wanted more and I got it. 

As a show that I do hold dear, but I do know is awfully strange, I usually don’t suggest it very often. As I had been considering a rewatch, and had the opportunity to introduce it to someone new, I figured it was the perfect time. We’ll see how my thoughts on it as a whole stack up. And as always, I try to avoid most outright spoilers…but this is nothing new, so just be forewarned. 

After becoming a fan, I did grab a nice boxset of the comic volumes, but so far I have only gotten to 1, Apocalypse Suite. I enjoyed it, but it lacked a lot of the character work that I think makes the show so successful. I do intent to read the others, but time has gotten away from me as usual. 

Season 1

8.5/10

As stated above, this starts off and is a truly strange experience. Eccentric and oddball endearing at the same time though. This strikes me as almost a precursor to The Boys (although the shows aired the same year) as it’s a deviation from superpowers in the somewhat formulaic MCU sense. While Stranger Things, in my eyes, did something similar in a sci-fi sense, these shows were doing it with actual superheroes. I love this show’s angle of being human in every sense and struggle as everyone else, with just added gifts. Kind of like the early X-Men movies, but this focuses more on the humanity and drama. 

I also like the randomness of their powers. It felt like possible mutations or mishaps as there was nothing about them that were similar: Luther is super strong, Diego is a martial artist and can control knives, Allison can rumor people to do anything she says, Klaus can commune with the dead, Five can teleport and kind of time travel, Ben can cast and control octopus-like tentacles from his body with immense strength, and well…Vanya plays the violin. It’s also not about being perfect or strong enough or uplifting. Yes, the season has an air of hope and continued trying, but these guys are definitely fuck ups. An adoptive father that treats you like an experiment, literally naming you a number, and never letting you feel like you’re good enough will do that to you though. The show dives deeply into family drama and shared trauma. If you’ve ever questioned your worth, especially at the abuse of a parent, this might be right up your alley (or a trigger).

After Five makes it home (after 45 years) he just so happens to do so right before the apocalypse. There ain’t no rest for the wicked. As someone that has experienced it first hand, and seen the fate of his family, he will stop at absolutely nothing to stop it from happening. This opens the door for some comedic and interesting scenes, as his family has trouble digesting the idea of the world ending, or even outright not caring. This really takes a broken group and forces saving the world onto their backs. 

While Five was lost in time he was recruited into a group that pretty much “protects the sacred timeline” a la the TVA or even DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. Except instead of righting wrongs, pruning timelines, or fixing people and obstacles, Five is a straight up assassin. Of course this is between DC LoT airing and Loki though, so you can decide how you feel about it as a plot line…it’s also in the comic though, which is of course much older. 

This brings me to the most important highlight of this rewatch and review. To wax poetic about the casting and performance of Aiden Gallagher. Did you know he was a Nickelodeon kid? That show ended just before this one began. Not that they can’t be good actors or anything, but to go from one to the other blows my mind. To be able to nail that mature, cocky, infuriated behavior, all while being a 58 year old man trapped in a 13 year olds body—while also actually being a kid. And he truly nails it. I thought he was a perfect cast after reading the first volume too. His line delivery feels nuanced beyond his years. 

I do feel like the overall performance level was solid too. As a family drama there is a lot of lost tempers and emotion. Robert Sheehan for example, is Irish, yet has an incredibly convincing American accent. He’s also doing some of the most emotional work, which is almost like an accent inside an accent. And he’s not the only one that was doing an accent. I love Pogo and I think his CGI still holds up. Hazel and Cha-Cha are great inclusions…I mean Mary J. Blige? Come on! Just really great all around, I seriously don’t have much in terms of complaints. 

The buildup with Vanya and the ever evolving drama was well done, I was hooked a second time. While I did notice that the finale is kind of a non-resolution, a non-win, it still holds weight in what I think is a great season 2 follow up. 

Season 2

8.5/10

So to avoid the apocalypse, Five decides to attempt to jump them all back in time in the hopes that they’ll get another go at saving the world. This results in them all being dropped into different times in the early 60’s. 

As a reset, a refresh, I think this works. The characters are brought together in S1 when their father dies. We know they all have lives and pasts on their own after they separated, however we’ve never really seen them exist in a way that carried its own weight. This allows for that step back where they all get established through necessity and not just each other. Luther is a fighter and bouncer for a Mafia guy, Diego is in an asylum after he continues to try to be a hero, Allison finds community and a husband in the civil rights movement, Klaus, naturally, becomes the figurehead of a hippy cult, and Vanya, having lost her memory, is living on a farm with a kind family. 

I remember particularly enjoying this season on the first watch because it finally felt like a setting that was in an actual time period. While I love the first season, there is this sort of blend between old and new, technology and the old timey house, not quite fully modern but not steampunk either, where it didn’t at the very least feel like our 2019. I feel the same way about the comic, it has an otherworldly feel. So this one was a time period that followed the “rules.” Unfortunately for Allison, the only black member of this group, this ensures she has one hell of a rough season. I am glad that they didn’t shy away from it though, and that they drove character development through how strong and persevering she is. 

As the season unfolds, with secrets and deceptions abounding, they do eventually start to find each other. Five, while powering everyone else’s time jump, has once again seen the coming apocalypse. They may have saved the world in 2019, but only because they brought the catalyst back with them. So while some were lost in time for months, Five has arrived in only days…aka, he is still Aiden Gallagher and age appropriate, which is great for fans. 

Yet again, Five is an integral part of the season, driving the plot forcefully forward. He’s witty, and the performance carries weight that I still think is nuanced beyond his years. The rest of the cast brings the heat too, as the bickering and emotions continue to be at the absolute max. The new cast members, like Lila, Sissy, and Harlan, add new layers of complexity and some devious twists too. 

Five must wrangle them all back together, putting his own humanity and soul at stake, to ensure the world doesn’t get ended by The Umbrella Academy a second time. I like how Vanya’s memory loss takes away the years of trauma, allowing her to reconnect with her family, and also now her powers, without losing control. The climax is pretty wild and entertaining, however even on a rewatch I’m still a bit confused by the scene with Diego stopping all the bullets. I thought his power was with knives, but I guess it’s “projectiles” if you consider a knife also a projectile?? Although even volume 1 of the comic doesn’t really shed much light on his powers either. 

The twist with the Handler, and Five learning to tweak his time jumps was a solid end.

Season 3

7/10

Season 3 is where things start to dip a bit tor me…or everyone I guess, as ratings/viewership took a dive, which is why they got a “fourth and final” renewal (I am assuming a bit, I suppose). I think the revolving door apocalypses just kind of got to be too much, and too samey. On a rewatch I noticed this less, or maybe liked it more, but there are still downsides. 

As the cliffhanger in 2 showed us, the decisions, and perhaps overreaches, of the team in the past are now coming back to haunt them. Due to how they carried themselves, and humiliated themselves, Reginald has lived his life since meeting them knowing he had to change his future-past decisions. In enters a different 7 adopted, and enter The Sparrow Academy. This twist in itself is good. Ben, though present in the 60s (but also dead), is the only child in both groups, but this Ben is snarky, cocky, and super manipulative. The Sparrows are everything the Umbrellas are not: competent, successful, truly heroes. And they HATE each other. An initial fight proves just how outmatched the Umbrellas are. 

Forced to flee, they must take refuge in the Hotel Obsidian. A place known for its discretion, it’s naturally a favorite haunt of Klaus’. While recuperating, and while Five is apparently retired, their dear old mom is beginning to worship a floating, fiery orb in the basement of what used to be their childhood home, and people around the city begin to disappear in what is called the Kugelblitz crisis.

While there are multiple fights in this season, the more singular location makes the focus much more on the characters (if that’s even possible). Diego and Lila are in this tense romantic-ish battle, Allison is grieving the loss of her husband, Vanya, now Viktor, has to grieve the loss of Sissy and Harlan, and Luther, rather than being sad, is falling for the enemy. This season has them tackling of lot of the hurt and harm they’ve all caused each other, rather than just their shared trauma. This season also kind of introduces Elliot Page’s transition, and with a single “does anybody have a problem with that,” ultimately moves on. I enjoyed this. Vanya is with a man in season 1 and a woman in season 2, and this allows for another awakening for the character as well as a seamless stage for Elliot. If you take personal issues with that, that’s on you. 

Lila, who ages the most throughout this show but doesn’t show it, drops a child on Diego’s doorstep, saying it’s been years for her while only days for him. Just “sorry, you’re a dad now.” While ultimately this has its own fateful twist, I might suggest watching this show just to see Ritu Arya blonde, on its own, you are welcome. This allows Diego some much needed character development though as he struggles with his altered reality, and how he is in many aspects, the least mature/headstrong. 

Overall, one of the bits that loses me the most in this third season is the mirror-light-tunnel to an alternate dimension. While the show is always weird, this just kind of didn’t work for me, even a second time. The randomness also feels like a change in tone with its samurai hotel-protectors that kind of remind me of the stone beasts from the Power Rangers movie? Also this features a scene where Lila says she’s actually mimicking the others’ powers, which in retrospect does make sense, but I don’t think that’s really explained in S2. I think I just thought she was like a super amped up version of all of them. Even with all of them working together, they still are a band of screw ups and failures. Partly why we love them, but the game is getting a tad stale maybe? It’s also perhaps my least favorite finale, and with its powerless cliffhanger, and everyone parting ways, I wonder if they thought there wouldn’t be a season 4? 

{although this below is one hell of an opener no matter what you think of the season…}

Seaon 4

7.5/10

This final season sees our first ever time jump! While it’s not explicitly said in season 3, the first and second are only a matter of days in terms of Five’s time travel. I would assume 3 only tacks on a couple more. So after the team ends up in this altered reality, without powers, and having to start fresh once again, they move on and live that way for 6 years. 

But you guessed it! That allows for Five to remain as Aiden Gallagher. As the show aired from 2019-2024, he obviously grew a ton, as teens that age tend to do. Now 6 years later, he’s still the young-old man of the group, just somewhere around 19-21 ish (it’s not really said) although publicly drinking may help that out, but he is the kind of cocky that could probably pull that off underage without getting questioned. Without powers, he has become a CIA agent, still protecting the world, just now with a handgun and paperwork. 

The loss of powers makes this one feel more refreshing than the last, even though in another sense, the season as a whole feels like a tacked on experience rather than a continuous arc. The time gone also makes it feel like relearning the characters, as their lives have changed so much. Luther, living at their condemned old home, is a stripper, his body now muscular, but not ape in appearance. Diego and Lila have started a family, one a delivery driver, the other a stay at home mom. Allison is an actor like before, however a struggling one, landing mostly commercials. Klaus, no longer immortal, has become a sober germ- and agoraphobe. Ben, the soul survivor of the late Sparrow Academy, has become a white collar crypto criminal. Viktor, has moved to Canada, rarely visiting, and opened a bar there. None of them could be called “normal” but there is a sense that they are attempting to maintain. 

Elliot Page is further along in his transition, and as such has taken on a more masculine role in the show. I have seen complaints of this, and how it turned Vanya/Viktor into a kind of “tough guy,” but I think this is more so a progression of the character finally living in their own skin. At the start, they’re put down and emotionally abused for years by their father, not to mention literally drugged for years. Season 2 has a loss of memory, forcing a complete rediscovery of self, and then 3 introduces the transition. This time, Viktor has been himself for over 6 years, and when powers are reintroduced, well he was always the strongest. I think regardless of gender, the character is built up to be someone that wouldn’t take shit from anyone. Again, if you take issue, I cannot and will not help you. 

The addition of Gene and Jean (played by Nick Offerman & Megan Mullally) is the eclectic duo the show needed. Aided (kind of) by none other than David Cross, the show takes on a kind of un-reality. The timeline, created by the wishes of Reginald and Allison, should not exist. As such, things are sort of bleeding together. I feel like this was a topical choice, again a la the MCU’s multiverse or even Assassin’s Creed the Bleed, where past, present, and even alternate-being collide, but it’s also the Mandela Effect, which is a real world phenomenon (albeit along the lines of a conspiracy theory). This sort of un-reality really started in earnest in season 3, with them driving cars with steering wheels on the wrong side and technology, like old timey TVs, hinting at a meshing of the timelines. 

Good old new-Ben, continuously described as an asshole, has decided to enforce the reemergence of powers on everyone. Even though they agreed they didn’t want them. This reintroduction of Marigold into their systems is another show refresh, as they all resume their powers, but with tweaks to how they work and what they can do. Really, only Luther seems to be cursed with his original powers of mass strength and ape appearance…although the bulletproof-ness may be new? Diego is just a more powerful controller of projectiles, Allison no longer has to say “I Heard a Rumor” to enforce her will, Klaus can also now fly(?), Five’s Blink only seems to bring him to a subway station that can traverse timelines/realities, Ben’s tentacles now come out everywhere and don’t always go away, Viktor can now project his power in direct bursts, and Lila can still mimic powers but can also shoot green lasers from her eyes. While the changes are mild, they are showcased really well with slight color changes in the effects. 

At one point, Five and Lila end up taking a train in the magical-timeline subway station. They go too far while trying to figure it out, and end up trapped, searching stop by stop for years. Finally, they grow tired, stopping to recuperate in a timeline that felt safe. During that time, with all the uncertainty and loneliness, an (I guess) romantic relationship, one hinged on survival, begins. I didn’t love this, as cheating is a 100% heinous no-no to me, and it feels like all the Diego and Lila strife is just to add justification for this, which is wrong, but this is really well done at the same time. I do think that there is the enemy hater-lover type thing going on—I wouldn’t say that there’s ever like a sexual tension between them, as they seem more likely to murder each other than anything (similar to her and her actual husband), but I guess the seeds are kind of there still. Even so, I feel like within only TWO episodes, the writers have created a love story that trumps everyone else’s in the series. There’s tenderness and necessity, and Five is the tortured loser of it all. 

The final season introduces the idea of “the cleanse,” a coming together of the magical substances, Durango and Marigold. The set up finally aims to show fans what really happened to Ben all those years ago. It also serves as a way out, in the sense that this cleanse will reset the timeline to the way it was always meant to be. That just happens to mean the erasure of The Umbrella Academy. The end of the end. The end of the beginning.  As we know from the Five in season 3 that created the Commission, the advice is this, “don’t stop the apocalypse.” I wouldn’t say I absolutely loved this season, or the way it ended, but I think they did well with the choices they made. And I do like that it is a definitive end. So many shows fizzle out and get left hanging, and at least this one officially concluded. I can accept that. 

Overall

Overall this is a series that packs a hell of a punch. An incredibly deep and human storyline that just so happens to feature “superheroes.” An insanely original show that does something no one else is willing to try. I keep thinking about it since finishing, actually picking the comic series back up. Just something to keep me going as I miss the characters.

For me, this is still at around an 8 overall. A masterclass in character work.