Umbrella Academy Season 2
Created by Steve Blackman
Based on The Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá
Developed by Jeremy Slater
Starring Ellen Page, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, Mary J. Blige, Cameron Britton, John Magaro, Adam Godley, Colm Feore, Justin H. Min, Ritu Arya, Yusuf Gatewood, Marin Ireland, Kate Walsh
Composer(s) Jeff Russo, Perrine Virgile
When I learned the second season of Umbrella Academy was nigh, I figured a rewatch of season one was in order. I remembered it as being strange, often ridiculous, but a hell of a lot of fun, and sure enough, it’s still strange, ridiculous, and a hell of a lot of fun. With the plot twists and general weirdness being less of a distraction, I noticed that the acting was better than I remembered (Ellen Page in particular, who was much more nuanced than I realized the first time), but the plot holes were more numerous and more noticeable. Time travel tales are hard to write, and Robert Heinlein is the only author I can think of who wrote a yarn with perfect logical symmetry. (—All You Zombies—). So both good and bad were accentuated, but over all, still a hell of a lot of fun. (I’m rewatching Amazon’s The Boys since they have a second season next month, and Umbrella Academy is much more sedate and calming. But you know…Garth Ennis. Harlan Ellison on steroids. And whiskey.)
The gang found themselves in a bit of a pickle at the end of season one, and got time-trucked out of there, ending up at various points of time in Dallas between 1961 and November 15th, 1963. As you may have guessed, the assassination of JFK plays a significant role in all of this. The end of the world is also a major feature (the nearly unanimous response of the family members is “What? Again? But we already saved it once!”—a statement that isn’t entirely accurate. There’s also the Handler, who survived getting shot in the forehead, and the Commission, and a reptilian alien. Also: a pert Texas housewife lesbian, an autistic kid who serves as a major plot complication, homicidal Swedish ice cream truck drivers, and a guy with a goldfish in a bowl for a head. The goldfish does not end well. Oh, and there’s Cigarette Man from the X Files putting in cameos at odd points.
If you take your TV dramas seriously, this probably isn’t for you. If you’re the sort who wrote in to comic book publishers pointing out discrepancies for a noprize, this will either drive you nuts or give you endless nerdgasms, depending on how or if you matured.
The acting is still good, the characters, despite being about the most fucked-up people you could hope to encounter, are still engaging, and the plot, despite the genial lunacy, is still gripping.
And yes, it’s still a tremendous amount of fun, and worth watching.
Now on Netflix.