The Umbrella Academy: Season Two

WARNING!!! SPOILERS AHEAD

After more than a year of anticipation, the second season of The Umbrella Academy has finally made it’s debut! If you’re anything like me, you binge watched the show in one day and now have another painful and lengthy wait for the third season. However, while we wait, let’s unpack all that we were given in The Umbrella Academy’s second season.

The second season begins where the first season left off and unluckily for the characters that is the end of the world. In an attempt to run from the 2019 apocalypse, Five tries to time travel for the first time with his family. We see the seven siblings land in the same alleyway, however, it is across the span of a few years in the 1960’s. When Five makes his appearance In the alley he comes to find that the siblings cause yet another apocalypse and is sent on a journey to find the rest of the academy kids as well as decode how to stop the apocalypse... again.

Each one of the siblings in forced to readjust to life in the 1960’s. For Allison this means marrying, but more importantly, becoming an activist for black people’s rights. Allison is subject to racism within the first moments we see her land in the 60’s which is the catalyst behind her work this season. I was impressed with the writers choice to recognize racism both in the past and present, but furthermore, giving a social commentary on what has been happening in 2020 throughout the pandemic concerning the black rights movement. Arguably the best aspect of the show is it’s diverse cast, making the protest scenes feel more authentic and eerily reminiscent of the racism that still exists.

We also see a diverse representation of sexuality and LGBTQ+ characters, with Vanya and Klaus. Vanya begins the season with amnesia and is taken in by a small rural family. She acts as a nanny to a young boy with a mental disability and is given a female love interest! In the first season, Vanya was with Harold, who turned out to be a villain. Many fans and myself commented on the fact that Vanya’s character came across as a lesbian and so I love that the writers listened to the fans and gave her a romantic relationship with a women for the second season. The love interest, Sissy, is married to a man and their relationship explores the heartbreaking struggle, specifically of women in the LGBTQ community in the 1960’s when deviating from heterosexuality faced more discrimination than it does today. Some of the struggles displayed can resonant with both straight and LGBTQ women both then and now which is unfortunate, but I’m thrilled that these more mature themes were addressed this season as the writers are using their platform not only for enetertainment, but for representation.

Klaus seeks out his “true love” from the first season, Dave and tries to keep him from going to war. Since Dave hasn’t met Klaus in that time line yet he is startled and gets into an altercation with Klaus which leads to his relapse. While I liked Klaus trying to help Dave I was disappointed that the writers chose not to explore that relationship further. However, Klaus’s character is still as lovable as ever as we see him accidentally start a cult. But, when Klaus does reunite with the family I loved seeing the bonding hat took place between him, Allison, and Vanya in the salon.

Diego finds himself in a mental hospital and meets a patient Lila whom he escapes with. I loved seeing the side of Diego that is, dare I say, in love. While at the end Lila grows a weird attached to Diego I loved their dynamic and how Lila is both strong and independent, but not emotionally unavailable like most of the strong women we see in film. I think it’s awesome that Diego is a ‘manly’ character and sticks to his morals, but not afraid to sacrifice and show genuine love, like he did when hugging Ben for the first time as Klaus.

Ben’’s arc is short and sweet, but all the same I love his relationship with Klaus. This season he possesses Klaus’s body so that he can talk to a girl he has a crush on from Klaus’s cult. While the interaction doesn’t last long it’s fun and adorable to see him having physical control in the world again and seeing Diego. I won’t lie, when Ben goes to bring Vanya out of her trance in the interrogation room I cried and then I cried again when Vanya told Klaus what Ben asked her to tell him before he officially went to the other side.

While Luther annoyed me in the first season he was slightly more likeable in the second season and I credit this to his relationship with Diego. In the first season Luther feuded greatly with Diego for being the leader of the team. However, we get to see these two support and work together this season, and their duo is not completely terrible. His neediness with Allison is more tame this season, which affected my view of Luther as well.

Five‘s sarcasm and wit Was just as good as it was in the first season. However, I additionally loved his determination in this season. Five can come off as cocky and egotistical, but I believe he loves his family and has their backs. This season he warns and backs Diego when it comes to Lila while trying to unit the team and bring them together to stop the apocalypse. He even gets in some bonding time with Luther when he confronts his past self to get the time travelling briefcase. Watching Five interact with his older yet technically younger self is one of the highlights of the season for me.

As much as I adore the show, there were times when the plot legged and became a bit dry. For example, it seems five is the only one working to stop the apocalypse while each character had their own goals for this season. This concept worked really well in the first season, but I felt where they explored the characters the plot suffered in turn. Although, the diverse characters are really what carry and make the show so unique which is why I wasn’t entirely put off by the plot. In fact, plot wise, I think end of the show introduced some cliffhangers that makes the prospect of a third season so much more exciting and I can’t wait to see what they do.

The soundtrack in the first season was one of the best I’d ever heard for a show. Living up to the first season was a hard task, and they almost did it. The first episode was remisincent of the first season’s vibe, where each song felt like a character in each scene. I loved the rendition of “crazy”, but it was the renditions of Billie Ellish’s “bad guy” and Adele’s “Hello” that made me question what they were trying to achieve.

However, an aspect of the show which majorly improved was the cinematography. I found even the epic fight scene in the first episode was done with more depth than most of the first season. More scenes that looked amazing were vanya’s field scene, Vanya saving Sizzy’s son, and Vanya’s violin scene.

Ultimately, the second season had it’s pros and cons, but the character’s are well worth the wait.