It has been exactly one month since the season two premiere of Netflix’s “The Umbrella Academy” and to say the least, it was immaculate. The imagery, plot and music blended well to create a realistic experience that was both nostalgic and somewhat relatable.
Season one introduced viewers to seven adopted siblings with extraordinary powers that come together over the death of their father in order to properly put him to rest. This leads to a restoration of relationships and, ultimately, the end of the world. Number Five (Aidan Gallagher), returns in an unexpected flash during the funeral after traveling through time to warn his siblings of the apocalypse soon to come a few days later. As they work together to fight against doomsday, they realize one of them will be the cause of the world’s fall.
This most recent season showed as though it would be a rerun of the previous, but with different faces and in a way, it was. The biggest difference was the setting, in 1960s Dallas, during the civil rights era. All seven siblings were accidentally scattered along the timeline of 1960-1963 after Number Five transported them all at the last minute from the destruction of the world in 2019 caused by their sister, Vanya Hargreeves (Ellen Page). Unfortunately, this time the story had changed from what they intended. Instead of saving the world before it ended in 2019, the world was now ending in 10 days, and again only Number Five knew.
A noticeable and particular theme of the show was the humanization of each character. In season one, Vanya was cast as the odd one out or even the enemy, while her brothers and sister were only “doing what they were told.” In this season, we get to see some personal dysfunction that each character has to confront in order to move forward with themselves and others around them. Not only that, but we learn about a topic that was missed in season one, the others.
In season one we learn that 43 women all gave birth to children on the same day, but we only know seven of those children. According to the last episode of season two, there are more, and they are still alive. Though, and oddly enough, one of them is working with the enemy, The Handler (Kate Walsh), in an effort to kill Number Five, in order to continue the timeline as it is expected to go.
While the show may have been very frustrating with the constant cliffhangers and near deaths, it succeeded greatly with exits such as the final passing of their dead brother, Ben (Justin H. Min), and Klaus (Robert Sheehan) finally accepting a previous love that could not be saved. It was heartbreaking but satisfying to see the characters grow, especially Klaus, a drunkard. Not only did he aid in saving his sister from a powerful frenzy that nearly killed him and the world, again, but he began learning responsibility and what it actually meant to give unconditional love.
Season two escalated an already powerful story and made it even more attractive with many updated aspects, especially the music. It is obvious the writers learned from any mistakes in the previous season and this time it was definitely what we were looking for. With two illuminating seasons done, season three is sure to be more fire.