You Should Be Watching: The Umbrella Academy (Season 2)
Welcome back to the family! The Umbrella Academy has warped back into our lives with Season 2 on Netflix and the first ten minutes are some of the most bonkers TV I have seen. Spoilers for Season 1 but when we last left our… heroes? They were using Fives as an escape pod to abandon the apocalypse. As the new season starts the family is scattered and forced to not only find each other but somehow reconcile with all their troubles to once again try to save the world… and maybe succeed this time.
From the start you can feel a new confidence in the show and the actors. After the success of the first season not only does the tone know what it is but it is happy to push everything a little further. We may be in that golden age of the show where everything is still fresh and amplified but before it runs out of ideas. Much like the first season and other successful Netflix mainstays like Stranger Things very early on the show establishes the great mystery that will slowly be unraveling over the course of the show. This is Binge show 101. Whatever gets you to tell Netflix yes when it asks if you are still watching. The first season had that in spades and Season 2 baits you in very quickly in those first 10 minutes I mentioned above.
Without giving too much away the season beyond the mystery and style succeeds by placing the focus not on the great mystery but in the characters, how they view and experience both the predicament they find themselves in and the ticking clock their predicament presents. The odd freedom they all find in some small way by being away from the mansion and the confines of their previous life. There is a lot of gold to mine in genre TV and alt-history and Umbrella Academy Season 2 smashes both of those together. A little X-Men, a little Man in the High Castle with a dash of Watchmen. The good parts of Watchmen, not the the “head up it’s own ass” parts. It similarly tackles racism and equality this time in the 1960’s civil rights movement. It does so in a more personal way taking characters we empathize with then placing them in these unfair and brutal situations. It also does some very clever intricate things around the Kennedy Assassination and the Cold War on the Alt-history front. Obviously the show is based on a comic book but for TV it plays more like an anime series in how it is structured and the mystery unraveled. Perhaps that is why it resonates with me, I could easily see these scenes and characters being in anime form.
I mentioned an enhanced confidence in the actors performances and this is evident mainly in the performance of Luther played by Tom Hopper, part of it may just be where his character was last season but his performance in Season 2 is less stiff and more varied in his emotions. Fives played by Aiden Gallagher once again is the anchor of the show. The wise old vet trapped in the body of a teenager is the once constantly trying to keep the family together to stop the apocalypse but also has to deal with the fallout of his life of 45 years spent away from his family. Aiden who is only 16 does a terrific job portraying someone wise beyond his years and attempting to be above his families constant never ending drama.
As for style the show once again continues what was a great aspect of season 1. It’s slick and nuanced, it does draw so much attention to itself with how progressive and experimental it is. It picks its spots and doesn’t lean on camera trickery to be its gimmick. The show uses traditional camera angles and shots when necessary then when the plot calls for it does some unique and cool tricks, all at the service of the plot as opposed to building the plot around cool shots they thought up. It’s appreciated and makes them hit that much harder when they are used. For instance in Episode 4, Luther reunites with someone and as they embrace in one shot he is surrounded by people, we cut to a wide shot and the two embracing are the only ones in the shot. It’s very subtle and only lasts a few seconds. It’s possible some not truly paying attention could miss it entirely but it’s that subtly that in that moment those are the only two in the room that makes it mean something. They’re not screaming at you through the TV and ramming it down your throat *cough Watchmen *cough.
The Umbrella Academy Season 2 builds off what made Season 1 work while expanding in every way, but not just for the sake of “making it bigger”. There is a sense of swagger and confidence in what it’s doing that holds it up there in an ever growing world of genre TV. It is definitely worth checking out and catching up on Season 1 if you missed out. So put on some My Chemical Romance and pop some popcorn cause class is back in session.
