The Umbrella Academy Review: Welcome to the ’60s (Season 2 Episodes 1-3)

After months of anticipation, The Umbrella Academy is finally back for a second season. Honestly, the excitement level is well worth the wait. 

At the end of Season 1, Five convinced all the Hargreeves siblings to travel with him through time in order to fix Vanya and prevent the apocalypse in 2019. Little did they know, they would all drop out in different years leading up to the Kennedy Assassination in 1963. 

This element of the story actually makes the continuation of their story that much more compelling. If all the siblings had stayed together, their journeys wouldn’t have created as much conflict as the first episodes show.

By dropping Klaus — and by extension Ben — in 1960 the show gives him just enough time to fully embrace the 1960’s before the whole team is reunited in 1963. Surprising no-one, he becomes a cult leader.

That little minor detail is probably the funniest element of The Umbrella Academy Season 2 Episode 3, “The Swedish Job.” Watching Klaus use Ben to convince a group of people that he is able to float and defy the laws of gravity is somehow satisfying.

All last season audiences watched as Klaus floundered and struggled to really come into his own and embrace all of his abilities. His relationship with their deceased brother struggled right along with him, but now it seems that the relationship is once again strained. 

Maybe it is because, after 3 years of doing Klaus’ bidding, Ben is completely done and over it. Or maybe there is something deeper involved. Either way, I can’t wait to see how this relationship continues to evolve and change as this season progresses. 

I can definitely foresee Ben being Klaus’ “Jiminy Cricket” as they move along toward stopping this new apocalypse Five is dropped down into. After all, it is Ben who warns Klaus, when he goes into the hardware store in search of Dave, that he needs to be prepared for disappointment.

While it is great to see Klaus happy and excited about the man he fell in love with during Season 1, it is also a stark reminder that Klaus is not fully aware of the world he lands into — in fact, none of them really are.

In today’s climate the timing of these episodes, especially “The Swedish Job,” is very relevant and should be heeded like a cautionary tale. Allison participating in a 1963 sit-in demonstrates that the struggles of black Americans back then isn’t much different from today and that we really haven’t evolved as far as we’d like.

This version of Allison is definitely much easier on the nerves — unlike the Season 1 version — because she is more aware of everything she could lose. The only sad thing for fans about this timeline is that, once again, Allison and Luther are prevented from being together by superficial walls.

Both of them spent some time in the ’60s thinking the other is no longer alive, but they both still have emotional walls up that is going to prevent them from truly being honest with one another about their feelings and desires.

If Allison can’t even be honest with her husband, Ray, about her family, what makes us think she is going to be honest about her abilities?

Allison as a civil rights activist is probably the best version of her because she refuses to use her powers and instead uses her voice and passion to make real changes. That is better than any mystical powers any day — though we can’t deny it’s awesome that the one time she does use them it’s to protect those she loves from the violent police officers.

The other person who has really become a better version of themselves is Vanya. Now that she has lost all memory she has of who she is, the whole of her identity can be rewritten for good instead of evil. 

So, instead of only harnessing her powers when she is angry and upset, Vanya can now harness them whenever she concentrates hard enough. That will definitely wield the best results for her — and it does.

Case in point, The Swedes from the Commission corner her in a cornfield and Vanya is able to temporarily disable them through harnessing her power to protect her new friends Harlon and Sissy. 

Watching Vanya with Sissy gives my heart a reset from all the heartbreak I watched her go through in Season 1. Finally, Vanya is getting the appreciation and love that she deserves — and it’s from a family of her choosing who don’t have any ulterior motives for her.

That is the exact type of environment Vanya needs for a full factory reset of her character build-up. In fact, it’s kind of disappointing to me that Five took it upon himself to tell her all the distressing things about her past.

Sure, she asks him, but part of me wishes it had stayed in the past. Especially, after witnessing her in The Umbrella Academy Season 2 Episode 2, “The Frankel Footage,” take care of her newfound family with an earnestness we’ve never gotten to see before.

This version of Vanya is more balanced and hopeful — she has no reason to doubt herself or the reliability of those around her. In short, the ’60s allow Vanya to flourish and blossom into the person Reginald Hargreeves always hoped she could be.

Even Diego, who is deemed “crazy” in the 1960s because he tries to warn people of the impending assassination, is still a more stable version of himself. Season 2 is Diego’s time to shine as a physical fighter — and also really highlights just how inept he is at strategy.

He is a fair match to The Swedes in hand to hand combat which are some of the best-choreographed scenes of the whole show. We know just how skilled Diego is as a fighter, but being thrust into 1963 really allows him to shine because that form of fighting is more common than using guns and such.

Even his connection with Lila — fellow psych ward inmate — brings out the best in him. She makes him a better person — even though that final scene of “The Swedish Job” has us questioning her loyalties entirely.

If they are all their best selves, then Five is arguably the worst version of himself in this universe. Or maybe 1963 just allows what has always been under the surface with him really come out full force. 

Either way, Five is almost unbearably annoying and self-righteous. He doesn’t actually care to find his siblings because he loves them — rather he wants to prevent another apocalypse. 

Season 2 manages to really highlight the fact that all along Five hasn’t had any redeeming qualities about him. But, what is made even more abundantly clear than ever before is that Five is probably the most like their father out of any of them.

Five constantly believes that he is all-knowing and that he is superior to everyone. Without the looming threat of the 2019 apocalypse and dumped into the 1960s, Five’s personality traits come to the forefront.

It’s most likely that what makes him so obnoxiously self-righteous is more evident in the ’60s because in a way that decade was a simpler time and contains fewer elements to distract us away from him. Also, from the beginning, he is the character of focus as he tries to reunite them all in another attempt at preventing yet another doomsday.

Basically, we don’t need him to be the focus of the story because he majorly detracts from the enjoyability of the show. There are many times throughout where his voice needs to be tuned out in order to prevent a full turn off from the story at hand.

While these character assessments and evaluations of the first few episodes are stellar, nothing beats out the sound editing. The element of allowing music to set the scene is what separates the good shows from the great ones. 

From the very first scene of The Umbrella Academy Season 2 Episode 1, “Right Back Where We Started,” when Right Back Where We Started From plays as each member is dropped in a different year, we are made aware that it doesn’t fool around. This song sets up the new vibe of this season while also establishing that they are in a whole new decade. 

Then the version of Crazy that they use later on the same episode is a very slowed down version of the Gnarls Barkley original and adds to the hopeless scene of Diego being restrained in solitary at the psych hospital. It sets the tone that this world may think Diego is crazy, but that isn’t going to stop him from accomplishing what he’s determined to do — save the president and the world.

Ultimately, the musical moments of this show really drive the emotional elements of each story along. We connect more strongly to these characters because of sound editing and music.

If these first three episodes are anything to go on Season 2 is a major step up from Season 1 and continues to get our hearts pumping with every turn.

Stray Thoughts:

• Discovering that they are in the same timeline as a younger version of their father is going to be very interesting as the season progresses.
• BABY POGO! (that is all)
• Klaus should be completely sober more often — he can literally take over the world with his charisma when he is.
• Vanya and Sissy is my latest ship. There I said it! I want them to find happiness together.
• Young Dave gives me super hardcore Steve Rogers vibes.
• Hazel and Agnes got 20 wonderful years together — please tell me why this minor detail had me sobbing my heart out.
• How about that reveal that The Handler is alive AND demoted AND has a daughter?

What did you think of these episodes of The Umbrella Academy? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Umbrella Academy is now available for streaming on Netflix.

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First Look at The Umbrella Academy Season 2