The Umbrella Academy Season 2 Review

"The Umbrella Academy" Season 2 is bigger and better in all aspects than its already great predecessor. This second serving was almost perfect as it was able to balance internal familial conflicts that we are all familiar with against the external conflicts that our characters had to face in 1960s America that is actually timely and relevant. Not only did it close old doors but opened new ones that builds up on its mythos, lore, and a perfect and smooth setup to a third season.

Saving themselves from the 2019 apocalypse, Five successfully pulls everyone out in time but in the process scatters the siblings in different time periods around Dallas, Texas. Worse, the siblings find themselves decades back in the 1960s. Some of the siblings, having been stuck in the past for years, have decided to move on and build their lives anew. Five is the last to land, finding himself in the middle of a nuclear doomsday, which turns out is a result of the group’s disruption of the timeline once again. Now, Five must find a way to reunite with his missing siblings, figure out what caused doomsday, put a stop to it, and return to the present timeline - making sure they prevent the apocalypse from happening twice.

Unlike its first season, the second season of "The Umbrella Academy" had an extreme focus and clarity with its narrative. Even with several subplots happening all at the same time, the story all came through by the time the final episode ended. Almost every question or conflict got answered and anything left out was simply a by-product of a setup for another season - even if it did dabbled heavily with the risky concept of time travel this season. Of course, like the first season, the highlight of the show would be the Hargreeves siblings which brought in the same humor and chemistry that we loved so much from the first season. But this time, each one had different external conflicts of their own that impact their decisions throughout the season. While these issues were heavily hinged on love, each one actually felt substantial and timely as it tackled modern issues on racism, LGBTQ, mental health, and even cults. On a basic level, it added so much more depth on the main dilemma that the Hargreeves siblings need to fix and move out of the current timeline as soon as possible. Another improvement this season was its production. There are some rough spots with its visual effects but we felt that this gave us a lot of action and fights each episode that kept things very exciting. Like before, the first few episodes were slow but the series improved dramatically as the fourth episode rolled around. With an amazing cast, top-notch visuals and soundtrack, and satisfying narrative, "The Umbrella Academy" found its groove in its second season. It definitely pushes the show as one of the heavy-hitters of Netflix in the future.

Rating: 4 and a half reels






Why you should watch it:
- the narrative was deep and satisfying and tackled timely and relevant issues
- the characterization was still amazing

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- the first few episodes started slowly