Umbrella Academy Season 2 Review: A Second Try With Stronger Heroes

The apocalypse is coming in a matter of days, and the dysfunctional, superpowered, and adopted siblings of The Umbrella Academy may be the only ones capable of stopping it. That’s the plot of the first season of the Netflix show based on The umbrella academy, a comic series by My Chemical Romance leader Gerard Way and artist Gabriel Bá. Surprise: is also the plot of the second season, which opens on July 31.

“Again?” perpetually intoxicated Klaus (Robert Sheehan of Misfits) asks when his time traveling brother Five (Aidan Gallagher) explains the pending doomsday. However, although the threat and many of the rhythms of the story are familiar, a new setting and a lighter tone keep the second season of The umbrella academy of feeling like a retread.

[[[[Ed. Note: The following review of Umbrella Academy season 2 contains significant spoilers for season 1.]

The story begins right after the end of Season 1, with Five transporting his family to the past to prevent them from being killed along with the rest of humanity by a fragment of the moon that is hurtling towards Earth. Unfortunately, Five’s time travel skills have never been impeccable – he previously was trapped in a post-apocalyptic future for decades, only to return to 2019 in the body of a boy, and this time, he leaves his siblings individually in Dallas between the 1960s and 1963s. That misstep somehow alters the timeline for a nuclear war, and Five only has a week to reunite his family and figure out how to do things right.

Photo: Christos Kalohordis / Netflix

Time heals all wounds and, in this case, being displaced in time helps to reestablish much of the animus among the characters who reached a critical point at the end of season 1, while simultaneously solidifying which parts of their dynamics never will change. Left on their own devices for months or years, the brothers trace their own paths, playing as a tour of a chapter in a textbook in the 1960s.

Klaus effectively begins the hippie movement early by founding a cult whose philosophy is based on the lyrics of pop songs that have yet to be written. “Don’t go chasing waterfalls. Please stay with the rivers and lakes you are used to, ”he says to an amazed follower. Batman wannabe Diego (David Castañeda) commits to a mental asylum for harassing Lee Harvey Oswald, while strongman Luther (Tom Hopper) works as a gorilla for Jack Ruby, the nightclub owner who killed Oswald afterwards of murdering John F. Kennedy.

However, the women in the group have the most powerful bows. Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) has a jarring fit, unable to speak or use her mind control powers for an entire year after her sister Vanya (Ellen Page of Juno and Start) cut her throat at the end of season 1. Confused and seeking help, Allison enters a restaurant and is greeted by a “Only for Whites” sign, then a group of white men chase her around town until she finds a sanctuary in a beauty salon for black women that functions as a meeting place for civil rights activists.

Photo: Christos Kalohordis / Netflix

When the time-traveling superhero show Legends of tomorrow stranded one of his black characters in 1958, he overlooked the racism he would have experienced. The umbrella academy Showrunner Steve Blackman and his writers take a more honest look at the period through a heartbreaking depiction of police brutally attacking peaceful protesters by organizing a sit-in at the same restaurant. The fact that the footage is so depressingly similar to the filmed video of the security forces responding to the recent Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 also helps to remove the idea that American society has made significant progress in fighting racism in the last 60 years.

Vanya, who tried to kill her siblings and exploded the moon after learning that her father Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore) suppressed her sonic powers and made her an outcast in her own family, gets a full reset, thanks to a convenient case of total amnesia. As cliche as that plot device is, Page finally gives some hints to a character who spent the entire first season depressed or blinded by anger. It is extremely delightful to see his excitement in discovering that he has a family, and to see his brothers welcome him without holding much grudge. “I don’t remember what I did, but I’m sorry, if that means anything,” Vanya says to Diego as he threatens with a knife. “Yes,” he replies, before accepting her as a confidant whom he can turn to for advice on how to handle his feelings for a girl he met in the madhouse.

While the time-scattered environment gives writers and characters plenty of opportunities to explore, this season’s supporting cast is decidedly a step back. Disputing time killers Hazel (Cameron Britton) and Cha-Cha (Mary J. Blige) have been replaced by a trio of largely dumb Swedes who must be intimidating, but simply feel like generic thugs. The Handler (Kate Walsh), the former boss of Five in a Kafkaesque bureaucracy that ensures the story plays out as it should, somehow survived the head shots in Season 1. While she is destined to be a great villain. In Season 2, he feels like a cartoon inspired by Cruella de Vil rather than a real threat.

Image: Netflix

Those weak villains give members of The Umbrella Academy room to face the most destructive force in their lives: their own adoptive father. Reginald died before the first episode of season 1, but the brothers find a younger version of him in Dallas and suspect that it could be related to the pending crisis. While he will not adopt them for decades, Reginald continues to prove himself as capable of taking advantage of their deepest insecurities, while somehow allowing them to attack each other rather than him.

The brothers’ perpetually sharp and quick jokes remain the heart and soul of the show. The soft ribs take on a deeply surreal hue due to the absurd things the family has been through together, such as when Vanya confesses that she might be in love with the farm wife he is staying with, and her brothers are grateful that don’t be in love with her. A serial killer again. The characters were almost always in each other’s throats in the first season, so the coolest relationship they forge after reuniting in the past is refreshing.

The show also continues to have a phenomenal soundtrack, bringing charm and lightness to the entire series. He is particularly powerful in scenes like the one where Klaus, Vanya, and Allison end a sad session by dancing together for “Twistin ‘the Night Away.” It’s a throwback to a similar scene in the first season, which shows the brothers dancing separately. That sequence was filmed in a more impressive way, but this version is more fun, because the chemistry between the actors is very powerful.

There is very little that is really original in the second season of The umbrella academyBut familiarity works well for a show about family. Despite the high stakes and superpowers, the show is fundamentally about how people who know each other better than anyone can join or separate. Given a second chance to save the world and others, all they can do is try to do better.

The 10 episodes of The umbrella academy It will be available to stream on Netflix on July 31.