The Umbrella Academy - Season 2
netflixThe Umbrella Academy (created by Steve Blackman) is both a vision of what NETFLIX could be, and a reminder of everything that holds it back. What starts as an intriguing vehicle for time travel shenanigans and dark superhero wish fulfillment, slowly devolves into the same tired mistakes that NETFLIX always makes. The immensely popular platform’s core issue can be succinctly described as such: too many episodes, and not enough story. And though the show’s second season certainly throws all it can into the kitchen sink by the end, it cannot escape these pacing issues.
In its second season, the show picks up where it left off, and finds the superpowered and dysfunctional Hargreeves siblings stranded in Dallas, Texas in the year 1963. Though all of them have settled into normal lives in their new timeline, they soon learn that a new doomsday threat is imminent and must band together to save the world one last time. From there, the series launches itself into a humdrum retread of the first season, with similar dramatic beats and dropped story threads that ultimately amount to nothing of consequence.
This show has a lot going for it: distinct and unique character concepts, dark and mysterious backstories, and an expanding world that always adds to the overall absurdity in constructive ways. It’s stylish, weird, complicated, and visually stunning. Where it fails is in assembling something equally compelling out of these disparate and creative parts. The characters themselves have boundless story potential, but the show chooses to relegate them to soap opera-tier filler scenes and storylines that ultimately fizzle into the abyss.
The series carries the external sheen of a deeply idiosyncratic and psychedelic experience, but the show’s visual aesthetic, dialogue, and core themes often do little to represent that. Beneath the surface, it’s just another dull and bloated NETFLIX project that could have been shortened by at least an episode or two. Each episode simulates the appearance of “story” with superfluous scenes of characters talking about their problems and fails to properly engage with its troubling and complex subject matter. The main problem with both seasons of this show is pacing; it leaves little on the cutting room floor and wastes precious time on narrative threads that have no resolution. Then, once the show reaches its finale, it throws every possible story thread and action beat it can think of at the screen, without taking the time to develop any one thing, and becomes muddled and rushed. This season tightens things up just a little bit, but still falls victim to the same problems that plagued the first season.
The world and the lore of the show are so multi-faceted and intriguing, and each character brings something different to the table in terms of story potential. Unfortunately, not every character has a defined personality or arc, and the show mistakes backstory for character development. The actors are doing a serviceable job of creating something for the audience to connect to within their respective characters (special shoutout to Aidan Gallagher and Robert Sheehan), but the writing is doing them very few favors. Overall, The Umbrella Academy’s second season transforms what could have been an exciting and immersive spectacle into a disjointed and uneven disappointment.
