Post — Aaron Ngo

Major Spoilers are included in this season review. Please read with caution.

Hello, everyone! To prepare myself—and yourselves—for the season 2 drop on July 31, 2020, I decided to rewatch the first season and write this review. On July 14, 2020, I hit the play button on Netflix and didn’t stop watching until July 16. From what I remembered last year on 2019, I didn’t have the best time with this show. I think I judged it too harshly due to my love for DC’s Doom Patrol, which came out at the same time. Both shows used self-aware humor in order to tell something vastly different with the overdone superhero genre. However, my second time viewing this show hit my brain different. I definitely wasn’t giving this show enough credit last year.

The first episode delivered a lot of exposition in order to introduce the audience to seven superpowered siblings—Luther (Tom Hopper), Diego (David Castañeda), Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), Klaus (Robert Sheehan), Five (Aidan Gallagher), Ben (Justin H. Min), and Vanya (Ellen Page)—while also explaining why they were estranged as adults in present day. They were also numbered in order of usefulness according to their adoptive father Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore). The first episode threw a lot of information about how Reginald bought these seven children as babies in order to raise them as a superhero team destined to save the world. The exposition was actually engaging and easy enough to follow due to how unique each character is.

Out of the seven main characters, Five was definitely my favorite. He is a sixty-year-old time-traveler who got stuck in the future and returned to the present trapped in the body of a child. He also witnessed the Apocalypse first-hand. Five’s return was the catalyst of the story, as he warned his siblings that the world would end in a couple days. Aidan Gallagher’s performance was so top-notch to the point that you would actually believe he was an cranky old man trapped in a child’s body.

The show’s structure was odd. While the plot was laying out clues and playing the mystery of how the Apocalypse came to be, I was more invested in how The Umbrella Academy team’s family dynamics worked and why they were fractured. Diego had an inferiority complex being number two to Luther’s number one, which made for a satisfying character story for the most part. Luther had super strength and ape DNA mixed into his upper body while Diego had the power to curve anything he throws.

Allison—with the ability to compel people by starting the command with “I heard a rumor…”—seemed fixated on fixing the mistakes regarding her relationships with Luther and Vanya, wanting to have fresh starts with them both. Vanya had no powers, the only ordinary one in the family. Klaus’ character was straight-up fun and bonkers who used drugs to escape his problems. Klaus has the power to speak with the dead.

The only downside was the pacing of the season. Halfway through the season, the story lost plot momentum due to many storylines playing out at once. The supporting characters—Diego’s friend Detective Patch (Ashley Madekwe) and Vanya’s boyfriend Leonard Peabody (John Magaro)—felt designed to move the plot rather than be actual people. Explaining that point would require me to spoil, so I won’t say anything more…

Overall, The Umbrella Academy was a fun ride. Watching for the second time helped me remember the characters, so I feel reinvested in the story as well. I would highly recommend this show for those who hadn’t seen it yet. The cliffhanger ending will finally be addressed in season two. Thanks for reading this season review, everyone! Let’s get ready for The Umbrella Academy’s season two coming soon!

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