The Umbrella Academy- Superheroes With Daddy Issues
“Everything about our family is insane. Always has been” - Five The Umbrella academy
The Umbrella academy attempts to define superhero in a different sense from what we used to see on screen. While quite a few of superheros and hero typically rising from literal zero to hero stories, in this series the superheroes are of unknown origin. They just spawned on earth, was birthed normally like a human being and somehow they were born with extraordinary abilities. Their fate on earth was typical to any of superhero plot line, to save the world from the doomsday. But what did they have to sacrifice? how did they eventually save the world? That makes up the whole plot of The Umbrella academy that lasts for 4 Season.
Written by Brazilian comic artist, Gabriel Ba, The Umbrella academy was brought into the screenby several producers and is available on Netflix. The first season of this series came out almost 6 years ago with season 1 having 10 episodes to it. One intriguing progression of the series is basically one of its main character who started the series as Vanya and later in series changed their name to Victor. It also aligns to its real life actor, whose transition from Ellen page to Elliot Page.
The goldfish that made me check out the series
Though the shows has came out quite a few years by now, I just bothered to check it because I was so intrigued with a character whose head is an aquarium of goldfish atop of a human body. It was shown to me and I thought at first the whole show would revolve around him. The saddest part is that I only saw him later in the series and his name is apparently A.J Carmichael, who was the head of Temps Comission, which apparently is responsible to oversee and manage the space-time. This goldfish characters only appears a tiny portion throughout the series.
Time travel that wraps the storyline
This series has a unique universe that also focuses on time travel. The plot is moving back and forth that you have to be very careful during watching it. During the first season, I even got confused of some of it and wondered why there’s even talking monkey, called Pogo. Then, I also found out the mother was a programmed robot whose duty is to be a motherly figure for the adopted superpower children.
Honestly, the whole academy reminds me of the school from X-men which was led by Charles Xavier. I don’t know if there’s relevancy but this Umbrella academy is basically the messed up version of that academy. As much as it also aims to train these special children, the seven of the children, a lot of them grew up with daddy issues. It’s as if they wanted to get the approval of their Father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves which apparently isn’t really human after all.
In one of the series there’s even comedic take on the cabal and the lizard people. At first Hargreeves was accused of being in the “shadow government” who plot to assassinate Kennedy. Later in that season, we’re shown that there was a mask that covered the true face of Hargreeves. I find that really funny as the were also remarks about it scattered throughout the series of that season.
Characters that just makes you feel some kinda way
Honestly, given how the story unfolds, I definitely love and hate the progression of the characters and its characterization. One person in particular is definitely Vanya(Elliot Page) who managed to get into my nerves. His acting was really good that it really test my patience even as a viewer. The thing is, Vanya, who later changed into Victor was the most powerful of them all. With their ability he can even caused the world’s ending. But as a whole, I love that each characters slowly realized their shortcomings and working together as a family. In the end, they finally grew up and resolved their issues.
Five, the anchor
One character that seems to be the anchor of them all is called Five. Throughout the first and second season, it was shown that he’s just 13 years old boy with short-temper in a uniform of the umbrella academy. Five was also the key throughout the series as he was the one that was able to do time-traveling helping the rest of the siblings solve the mystery of a doomsday. He is the character that really balances out everything and help pierce the story together.
Although I deem some parts of the story to be fairly politically motivated and some think it’s just part of another Hollywood propaganda, I try not to focus on that too much. I do fairly notice that but if you’re casual viewer, you probably won’t. While I am sure many of you have watched this series, if you haven’t it’s worth giving it a try despite how Hollywood series are so tiring with its political correctness . Regardless of the buzz surrounding the series, the overall plot, characters and the universe are intriguing to follow. This is one of my first American series that I’ve watched after a while that I felt like I didn’t waste time on.
screenshot based on trailers
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. |
This is a beautiful show with some nice learning about human nature which is reflected through the fictions depiction of the characters...
What apparent to me was the daddy issues haha and siblings rivalry.
Yes, the daddy was a non human character playing human role. It is very interesting even in the comics...
We really enjoyed all the Umbrella series. I thought it very cleverly done, even thought hard to follow at times.
Considering the time travel, it indeed was challenging to follow. Sometimes I paused and rewind and then I got the AHA moment. It's unfortunate they scrap the possibility of season 5 although who knows, in the future they might pick it up again.
One of my favourites! And I liked Five the most, as he was the most sensible for most of the time. If you factor out Delores, of course. 😂
hahahaha at first I thought there would be another one like five that survived it, turns out it's just a half mannequin doll.
Many people have recommended me to watch this series and honestly I still can't make up my mind, because of that same thing you comment almost at the end of your post about “political correctness” and Netflix knows a lot about that. However I may give it a chance to see how it goes, since I really like superhero series and movies.
Very inspiring explaining you made here! Academy of superheroes sounds very inviting! The aspects you mentioned sounds very inviting. But sadly (or should I be happy?) I don't have Netflix. But I love to get inspired by your description. Inspiration is why I look in posts like yours.
Well done!
Hive a great day!
I enjoyed the first two seasons despite the lack of originality, but the characters are very good, all are very well developed and that story about the end of the world, time travel, plot twits, which for me who did not read at any time the comic book, worked very well and although I had a disconnect with the last two which I have not seen and without giving importance to the criticism of the last season, I'll see them soon anyway.
@macchiata, you're rewarding 3 replies from this discussion thread.