Review: The Umbrella Academy
15th March 2019By Aaron Walker
The Umbrella Academy is a Netflix series adaptation of the American comic book series written by Gerard Way and illustrated by Gabriel Bá. The series has a large younger teen audience and has a warning at the beginning of every episode explaining why the show is rated at a 15. The first season aired on Netflix on February 15, 2019.
On the surface, The Umbrella Academy is a story about a dysfunctional family of superheroes who are trying to attempt to save the world after their missing brother comes back. It has received many positive reviews by critics for the acting from the cast and the amazing visuals: currently, the series has an average of 76% on rotten tomatoes and it states that 85% of the audience liked the show.
However, it has had some backlash for its tone and lack of progression with the plot – though I believe the pacing of the scenes were correct: the character development from each character was incredible.
During the first episode, we find out there were 43 unexpected births to superhuman children, all born on the same day. None of the mothers were pregnant beforehand. A billionaire, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, adopts 7 of these unusual babies and raises them to be part of a superhero team called The Umbrella Academy. The family members are quite relatable and can be very funny at times, alongside the dramatic upsetting moments.
The final episode, “The White Violin”, was an incredible episode that left us on a nerve wrecking cliff-hanger that we will hopefully see resolved in the second season. I also loved the episodes “Number Five” and “The Day That Wasn’t”, as it gives a deeper look into the characters and the plot begins to come together to explain why the apocalypse is occurring.
Overall The Umbrella Academy is a great Netflix series adaptation of the comics that I can’t wait to see more of.
I hope that the second season gives me as many feelings of excitement as the first one did.
