The Umbrella Academy Season 2 Review

The Umbrella Academy (2019-)
Season 2 - 10 episodes (2020 July 31) Watch The Umbrella Academy on Netflix
Created by: Jeremy Slater, Steve Blackman
Starring: Ellen Page, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, Mary J. Blige, Cameron Britton, Adam Godley, Colm Feore
Rated: TV-MA

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Plot
A disbanded and dysfunctional family of superheroes reunite after their adoptive father, who trained them to save the world, dies.

Verdict

This show is so much fun. While this season is a lot like the first in that it's siblings arguing while trying to stop the apocalypse again, this seasons changes the formula enough for it to feel fresh. There's less character development and more action in this season, but we already know the characters. The show has great style and the soundtrack completely works, even when it's songs I never would have imagined using. The irreverent tone and flawed super heroes provide a solid story while not blending in with all the other super hero properties.

Watch it.

Review

I really enjoyed Season 1. Season 2 feels a lot like a sequel. The plot is mostly the same with the group trying to stop another apocalypse. There is less focus on backstory and flashbacks to fill out the characters because we already know them now.

Welcome to 1963.

This season introduces time travel. It's easy to fall into a trope with time travel, especially when the characters end up in 1963. Diego wants to save JFK, but his siblings deride his idea because they must stop the apocalypse. With so many stories devoted to stopping the assassination, I appreciate that this show writes it off as a silly idea noting that the world is so much bigger than that.

Season 1 dismantled what super heroes are. Kids trained to be heroes grow up to be emotionally stunted with a distorted view of the world. That's one of my favorite parts of season 1, and while this season doesn't delve into that, the character's emotional states are still a big part of season 2.

The Umbrella Academy: Klaus, Ben Luther, Vanya, Diego and Allison.

Despite the similarities to season 1, the plot is nearly the same with an apocalypse, assassin's and the commission tasked with preserving the timeline, this show is still a lot of fun. This season doesn't feel like do-over of the first season. The music is great, just a bit over the top like the tone of the show. This loves to set fight scenes to music, and even when it isn't a song I would have picked it works well like Backstreet Boys.

While not a major character, I still really like this member of the commission.

The tone of this show and it's subversion of super heroes is a welcome change to the Marvel Machine. This show wraps up the season 2 plot and provides a hint of what's to come in season 3. With streaming, shows can't leave us with an open ended cliffhanger. The wait for the next season is too long and there are too many shows to fill that void and help you forget. Great show.