It should be a known fact that I have little to no self-control and finished the second season of The Umbrella Academy the day it came out. Was the show perfect? No. But did it make me forget all my problems and be completely invested in this chaotic gang for about 10 hours or so? You bet your ass it did.
I don’t remember much of the first season, only that I liked it enough to look forward to the second one. I did write a post on it but it’s pretty old and the further back you go on this blog the worse my writing is so please, be kind. I vividly remember the soundtrack being beyond awesome and that still holds up for this season; fight scenes with rock music in the background just hit different, pun intended. I know it’s only been a few hours but I would very much like another season (or two).
The newest addition to this hopefully ongoing series follows the aftermath of Five’s time jump with the rest of the gang. Each sibling lands in Dallas between 1960 and 1963 and gets on with their separate lives until Five arrives and brings the band back together because the world is ending yet again. This time around things are slightly more lighthearted and there’s a healthy amount of comedic undertones that keep you engrossed and encourages you to keep hitting that “next episode” button. It takes true mastery to balance a good storyline with healthy contributions from each genre and deliver it with some kick-ass cinematography. It’s a common trope in many forms of media and not everyone can pull it off but these guys knocked it out of the park. The fact that I was willing to ignore everyone and their grandmother to watch this show without interruptions should tell you just how much I appreciated it. Check out the trailer below (spoilers after the cut):
I loved the big sibling energy that radiated from this season. The fact that they’re consistent at each other’s throats but instantly switch to ride or die mode just makes their whole dynamic much more real and enjoyable. Every time a sibling reunited with each other my serotonin levels skyrocketed, which I really appreciated because they’ve been hitting some all-time lows lately. Allison and Klaus had the best one because they were actually happy to see each other whereas Luther was ready to throw hands with Five and shoot Vanya, so that wasn’t ideal. Klaus and Allison seeing Vanya again warmed my heart too, mostly because Ellen Page is so small that when she gets hugged you barely see her.
I’m a sucker for group efforts so whenever they worked together or had supportive moments where they stood up for each other I was crying (because my heart hurt from smiling too much and my eyes were tired from staring at the screen for so long). The car scene where Vanya is sitting there thinking she’s going to have to work alone (again) and she’s visibly sad but Klaus jumps in and the rest of the gang follow? That shit made my heart glow. I know it’s strange because collectively we’ve known these characters for less than 24 hours (both seasons included) but they bring across such strong feelings within me and as someone who has been dead inside for a few months now, I’m quite grateful for it.
There were so many moments in this season where I laughed out loud, it mostly had to do with Luther and Diego being complete dumbasses or Klaus and Ben bickering their hearts out. To say that they were wildly entertaining would be an understatement. The öga for öga scene, in particular, had me giggling like a middle schooler- which is not a phrase I use lightly. It literally showed how all seven of them share maybe three brain cells and not one of them was passed on to Luther and Diego. Not to throw the lads under a bus but I don’t even speak Swedish and I had a vague idea what it meant and while it wasn’t entirely accurate, it didn’t include threatening old ladies.
I didn’t want to miss anyone so I figured I would say something about each of the siblings and other supporting characters. No, I haven’t written about R*ginal Hargreeves because he’s a cold-blooded simpleton with a superiority complex that went out of his way to make his kids miserable and even caused Diego’s stutter to come back. If he doesn’t die a very painful death in the next season I would be very sad.
Luther – It made so much sense for Luther to be in a fight club, of course, where else could he have been? Season two Luther was much more amicable and I even found myself siding with him more often than once. I was happy to see his character development when it came to Vanya and how he apologized to her, even after finding out that she lost her memories because he acknowledged that he could have handled the situation better. I was also beyond thrilled to see that he stopped talking about the moon.
Diego – I would not only like to thank god but also David Castañeda for Diego’s hair this season. You may or may not know this about me but long hair is 100% my weakness, ask any wrestler ever. Diego bringing up the Kennedy assassination every 10 minutes was much more fun than seeing Luther cry about the moon for the entirety of the first season; I may be biased but who’s counting. A lot of my sympathy fell towards him this season and I liked how they handled his character even though I seriously think he deserved more. I also liked him and Lila together but I’m glad they didn’t spend much time exploring it because clearly more interesting things were happening.
Allison – Admittedly, I wasn’t Allison’s biggest supporter in the first season. Her relationship with Luther really rubbed the both of them the wrong way for me, but Klaus making fun of it while they were day drinking helped ease that (still not an advocate of their love, and never will be). Allison being a driving force during the Civil Rights Movement and organizing the sit-ins without using her powers spoke volumes to me. The fact that she felt like she worked hard and earned everything she got meant a lot because she was having trouble not using her powers in 2019 (or 2019 adjacent). I liked that they proved that she’s capable of a lot of things outside of her powers. Side note: it was so strange to see Yusuf Gatewood (Raymond Chestnut) be an actual human after seeing him play a very convincing witch on The Originals.
Klaus – Of course, our chaotic little man Klaus unintentionally formed a cult and preached song lyrics to his followers. Legendary behavior. Klaus is literally my favorite sibling, his crack head energy is something I would love to be around. You can dispute what I’m about to say but I definitely feel like Klaus is the most caring and supportive sibling out of the lot and while he may not be 100% reliable, he will always show up and that’s worth something. That being said, I wish they could have explored his powers a little more this season. I mean, they showed the opening scene where he used an army of the dead to help fight the war but nothing close to that happened in the episodes that followed, which was a bit of a letdown. I loved the one-liners and his vibe but I would have loved so much more.
Five – Sometimes I forget that this is a full-blown adult in the body of a child because of the way he looks but he opens his mouth and puts everyone in their place and you’re like ah. There he is. Five was a great source of action this season (he was in the last season too but I can’t remember much of it). The scene in which he straight up destroyed the Board of The Commission was amazing. I know he said he didn’t enjoy doing that but I beg to differ. You don’t become the most prolific assassin in the world without getting a taste for it, just saying. Five was also a good source of sarcasm and classic burns and every time he roasted a sibling my lifespan extended.
Ben – I was so happy to see more Ben this time around. Him being able to possess Klaus was a pleasant surprise. I never understood why Klaus never told the siblings Ben was around but seeing him interact with Diego and Vanya was so beautiful. The scene where he walks barefoot on the dirt and just feels everything after being a ghost for so long was so beautiful. Seeing him sacrifice himself to save Vanya was the most heartbreaking cinematic moment I’ve seen in a good while. I cried like an actual baby when he asked her to hold him as he left. That part not only tugged at my heartstrings but it ripped them out and slam dunked it. Will I ever emotionally recover? We’re yet to find out.
Vanya – Eternally grateful to Elliot Page for playing such an unconvincing straight girl to the point where the writers were like, you know what? Have a girlfriend. I loved her and Sissy together. I wish we had more footage on how Vanya learned to control her powers and by that I mean I wish the season was longer and gave us more context but the end product wasn’t so bad. I loved that the siblings were nicer to her this time around and to see her so happy and lighthearted. She deserved it.
Lila – I started having my suspicions about her when she started fighting like a fully trained Avenger while escaping the institution (which Diego didn’t question for a second). To have her be The Handler’s daughter (not really) was a good touch but I didn’t even remotely see that plot twist coming. At first, I thought she just had Vanya’s powers but when she rumored Allison all my brain cells simultaneously exploded. To say I was shaken to the core would be an understatement. That was so clever and literally kept me on my toes. To have a surprise in the last episode and leave the audience wanting more is a world-class move and if I don’t get seasons three, four, and five someone will never hear the end of it.
The Handler – Can we take a minute to appreciate her striking wardrobe? She was serving straight-up looks while being a complete snake in the process. Let the record show while her character was despicable, I’ve been in love with Kate Walsh since Grey’s Anatomy and she has my whole heart.
In conclusion, I love this show and this season really raised my expectations. I’d also like to give a small shout out to Herb and Elliot who were the unsung heroes of this season. I’m sorry for adding too may gifs, there were just so many brilliant moments on this show and it was hard not to include at least some of them. I know it doesn’t seem like it but much restraint was shown on my behalf. I’m also sorry this post dragged on for a bit but it’s the first time in a long time that I was excited about something so much that I wanted to write about it. I’m looking for inspiration wherever I can find it and it just so happens I found some in this season. Bless. As always, I hope you guys are staying safe. Sending love and positive vibes your way. TL;DR: The Umbrella Academy was great and I need a new season asap.
Title image source: Netflix.
Wrestling and Other Things 