The Umbrella Academy Season 1 recap: Super ambitious or super absurd?

The Positives

Number Five plotline

One of the best aspects of the season was following the journey of Number Five and his obsession to save the world from destruction. By far his character has the most interesting arc of all which expands the universe into some interesting world-building time travel elements.

The kid who plays him (Adam Gallagher) is actually quite excellent portraying a teenager who is 58 years old in mind but not in body. And there’s also an extremely funny love affair involving him and the mannequin Delores.

A lot of the plot surrounding Five reminded me of John Wick where an organization exists right in front of us that are working to keep order. Only here, it’s an organization that aims to keep a timeline on its rightful course among people who aim to change it. The leader of this organization known as “The Handler” is expertly played by Kate Walsh who brings a Matrix-style vibe to the role channeling a cross-blend of a femme fatale and “The Architect” in one character.

Hazel and Cha-Cha steal the show

The show has two characters that work for “The Handler” that were sent to terminate Number Five for leaving his post. At first, these characters felt somewhat distracting to the main story but as time went on in the season, they grew on me big time. Especially, the character of Hazel played by Cameron Britton who is best known for his breakout role in Netflix’s Mindhunters as Edmund Kemper. Here, he is less creepy and actually overly charming as he finds a loving relationship with an older doughnut shop owner named Agnes. Their relationship is so strange but it becomes incredibly heartwarming as the show pushes to the finish.

Mary J. Blige plays his partner Cha-Cha, who is all business and no pleasure. Between both of them, Cha-Cha is the more ruthless one and does not show mercy to the people she is assigned. Hazel is opposite possessing more empathy and trying to find something more as the end of civilization looms.

I never got to see her work on the other Netflix show Mudbound but Blige is actually quite good here as a physical force of nature. It’s honestly impressive considering she got her start as a brilliant singer/songwriter.

Strong evolution of character

Another great quality about this show is that superpowers are used to convey either character emotion and/or growth. It’s rare to see it done this effectively and makes one understand the maturity of character through powers.

The biggest example of this is Klaus, the drug-addicted brother who needs to avoid being sober in order not to see dead spirits. At times, the character can be extremely obnoxious but as the show goes on, there’s an interesting exploration of his sobriety and how it makes one grow stronger as they come off drugs. This is especially communicated well during the show’s climactic finale.

Major Spoilers ahead: We also get a sense of this through Vanya and her gifts which were being suppressed for years. One can draw strong parallels between her emotional journey in the show with realizing her extraordinary gifts and that of mental illness and anxiety.

A tremendous second half

The show has an extremely rocky start–not counting episode 1– but once it kicks into the halfway point of the season, it becomes a smooth rollercoaster of an experience. Part of this seems like the first half struggled to find either a voice or something for us to latch onto emotionally. It also does not help that the first half of the season felt like it kept getting interrupted by uneven writing and out-of-place humor.

That said, after episode 5, it seems like writer Jeremy Slater and the other people involved creatively figured out the show’s strengths and rose to the challenge. For a series with such a mixed bag of a beginning, season 1 sticks the landing quite smoothly and leaves with a cliffhanger that should leave viewers dying for more.

Final Thoughts

Overall, The Umbrella Academy is a mixed bag of absurd ideas and ambitious intentions. Does the ambition outweigh its messy structure? Absolutely. The show has trouble finding its voice at first but once it does it becomes incredibly compelling. One thing is for sure, for all its missteps and failures, this is a show that is not afraid of taking risks or being different. In no way, would The Umbrella Academy be made into a film without someone looking at all these strange creative choices and choosing the safest alternatives. For that alone, it’s worth giving a chance because we do not see this level of bravery often.

All episodes of The Umbrella Academy Season 1 are now streaming on Netflix.