Superhero Media: The Umbrella Academy - Season 1

Back when I first started to get seriously into comics, a friend loaned me the first volume of The Umbrella Academy, along with some other stuff, but I couldn't get into it and never bothered coming back for another look. When The Umbrella Academy Netflix programme started to get good reviews, I decided it couldn't hurt to give it a go, and was pretty pleased with the end result. Much of the driving narrative of The Umbrella Academy is around the family dynamic and the pressures that forced them apart years ago, with the more [super]heroic elements coming later as the situation escalates. Our story begins in October 1989, when 43 women around the world give birth at the same time, not that unusual, except that none of the women were pregnant at the start of the day. Eccentric adventurer, Reginald Hargreeves, adopts seven of these children and forms six of them into a super-team, the Umbrella Academy. Seventeen years later, Reginald dies mysteriously and the scattered, now-adult Academy come back together for the first time.

Much of the first season of The Umbrella Academy revolves around the mystery of Reginald's death and the return of 'Number 5', a family member able to travel through time and space, who has been lost in the post-apocalyptic future for decades, but returns in his younger body. The Academy has drifted apart and formed their own lives, but must come back together to combat the end of the world. I'll admit that it took about half of the season for me to really get engaged with the programme, because the characters have to grow and get over their own issues before they can come together and be heroes again. For a superhero programme, The Umbrella Academy is a little light on the action, but when it does ramp up, the fight scenes are pretty excellent, having a more visceral quality akin to Netflix Daredevil, but the alt-pop heavy soundtrack adds some levity to the proceedings. The pathos can be a bit heavy at times, but some clever casting and good character moments make the programme very engaging. 

Whilst I'm never the kind of person to insist that something is worth watching, but then withhold reasons for fear of "spoilers", I am somewhat inclined that way with The Umbrella Academy; there are some twists and reversals that would be better experienced without warning. That said, the programme is more 'adult' (in real emotional terms, rather than just sex and violence) than most superhero fare, with characters like Klaus and Diego having to undertake devastating personal journeys that change who they are to their cores. As I said above, The Umbrella Academy starts slow, but when it has built to a good level of engagement, it becomes something great. I'm glad that a second season was made, as I want to see where this series goes and what happens to the characters and the narrative now that all of the set-up is done and there are essentially no limits on what can happen. Well worth the watch if you haven't given it a go yet.