Season two of the Netflix series “Umbrella Academy” dropped over summer break and it delivers an equal amount of entertainment that was present in season one. The series truly captures the chaotic relationships of family, but heightens the drama with superpowers and the problematic season arc of traveling back in time.
“Umbrella Academy” follows a dysfunctional line of seven superhero children, adopted by a famous billionaire, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, played by Colm Feore. The children had an intense upbringing with more than questionable parenting tactics from their adoptive father to reach their full power potentials. Children one through six are pushed in these ways. Number Seven, Vanya Hargreeves, appears to be ordinary and is set apart from the other children. Even though the “Umbrella Academy” children are a mess they are portrayed with love between family members sort of trying to cast aside their differences and be a family again despite their supersized family history and trauma.
Season two of “Umbrella Academy” follows this ensemble time traveling back in time around the 1960’s. The only problem is the siblings have all appeared in different years in Dallas, Texas. Everyone, except number Five, is unsure of where they’re siblings are in this new timeline when they arrive in their respective years. Five has the “benefit” of being the last one to arrive on the timeline. Unfortunately, number Five arrives and he comes to see that his siblings in this new timeline have somehow brought about a premature apocalypse. Five is lucky enough to find a way to travel back 10 days before when he first arrives from when the premature end of the world is going to happen.
The structure of this season can be somewhat fragmented due to the obvious implications of time travel, but since Five is the only family member who understands time travel he is constantly explaining it to his siblings. This helps keep a level of continuity along with clearly defined moments of flashbacks, flash forwards, and then what is considered to be the main timeline or rather “the present.” It sounds daunting, but rest assured Five will always be stressing the importance of the current timeline, how it came to be, and why they must save it.
Overall the show is incredibly funny mixing realism of family personalities clashing while balancing the very serious and impending drama of the world ending. There is plenty of action and frightening scenes as well. Fair warning that it is a bit of a dense show and it takes a lot of time to watch. Additionally, the show is incredibly dark due to the stark nature of the characters’ upbringing.
