The Umbrella Academy
Cast & Key People
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Our Review
The dysFUNctional family superhero drama. X-Men if Professor X were an emotionally abusive billionaire who adopted seven special children, numbered them, and never loved them. Gerard Way’s comic adaptation follows the surviving siblings reuniting at Dad’s funeral: a time traveler stuck in a 58-year old body, a knife throwing vigilante, a movie star who can float, a heroin addicted séance, a dead brother possessing a mannequin, a gorilla bodied astronaut, and Vanya, the “ordinary” one whose power was hidden from her.
Season 1 is superb: the sibling venom feels lived in, the soundtrack needle drops are the best music supervision on TV, and the apocalypse mystery pays off with Vanya’s devastating turn. Season 2 (Dallas, 1963) is the beloved by fans. Seasons 3 and 4 get wobblier, but Elliot Page’s real life transition being written into the show with grace, Robert Sheehan’s Klaus as the show’s chaotic heart, and Aidan Gallagher’s razor sharp Number Five, a 58-year old assassin in a 13-year old body, keep it worth finishing.
Verdict: Watch it. The family drama under the superheroics is the real superpower.
