the umbrella academy on netflix season 2 total discussion including spoilers!!!

Stuntdog and I were discussing UA season 2 earlier today so I figure it's time for discussion and analysis and a total free-for-all on the show.

Don't read if you don't want to be spoiled.

I enjoyed the show very much. However just as with season 1 some parts were better than others. It's true with most things.

What worked best:

1. Five. Five. Five. Five. Five.

The character is inspired. And the kid actor should be working everywhere (once and if he can). Five is the central character of the entire show. He not only keeps the engine running he is the engine.

2. The Klaus and Ben dynamic.

There is no Ben without Klaus, but in a way there is no Klaus without Ben. Evenso, both characters had some absolutely heartbreaking moments throughout the story. Klaus tries to relive and save a fleeting (well in an expansive time-dimensional sense) love from his past while Ben is all about the experience of being as alive as he possibly can.

3. Alysson's story.

In season 1 I found Alysson a little dull. In season 2 though she had one of the best story lines. There was always regret for her in using the power that she had, and in season 2 she not only felt this way much of time, but she also so her new life as an opportunity for a clean slate: to rely more on her inner strength and on others. Of course that tension finally broke her. But in a very successful way.

4. Vanya's amnesia.

It might have made sense and was even obvious, but memory plays a big part in everyone's life, and if you're the reason the previous timeline was destroyed (I guess) why would you want to remember it anyway? I was with Vanya (in this aspect of her story) from beginning to end.

5. The Handler

Always a delight. She has some of the best lines in the show. And her obsession for power and willingness to do anything to gain it (all) are absolutely delicious.

6. The Ikea Mafia.

This trio of Nordic assassins are evil incarnate. Right out of icy cold horror movies. Plus they have a certain comedic charm. I was happy every time they were on the screen. Of course the hottest one died first. Sad.

7, The Black experience.

That was a very tense story. The lunch counter sit in was terrifying. Plus I appreciated the discussion of tactics. Very interesting. Also the strength of the women. Hidden or otherwise. Symbolically of course Allyson's inability to speak when she appeared in this (to her) strange time zone was absolutely perfect. Her marriage was strong. But that element didn't work as well for me towards the end. The white mob and segregationists in this story were particularly strong. Unlike elsewhere.

8. Grace and Pogo

Here we have two origin stories of season 1 characters. Grace is a strong woman who stands up to an even stiffer Reginald than we found in season one. Pogo here was only a chimp whose transformation to an ape-human hybrid was only hinted at and that was fine. What was absolutely heartbreaking was Pogo in space. He was completely afraid. And was a pawn of human dominance. He needs to lead the next Planet of the Apes revolution.

9. The Music

From the opening song when the time travelers landed in the strangest of strange lands. Songs throughout the show fit the mood of the moment.

10. Fishbowl Head.

So funny. So weird. But in the end just another power hungry bureaucrat trying to regain his status. A good supporting character that was more than a desktop prop.

11. the weird time travel element specifically.

This part still puzzles me. And triggers my obsessive need to figure things out. And that's what I want from a story like this. A better Reginald story though would have helped here.

Things that worked okay.

1 The Handler's "daughter"

I liked her much of the time (though not all of the time) and was something of a mystery which I guess played okay though the actress rose above the formulaic denouement. She had some good lines. And was the better half of her primary dynamic but was the weaker half of her surprise dynamic.

2. Harlan.

He was important as a symbolic mirror to Vanya who was in herself a social outcast. But his personhood wasn't explored very well outside of his plot importance. We needed more of him just being himself. And if his mother was a widow, we might have gotten that. The kid actor was good though.  

3. 60's Reginald.

He was okay. His reveal was interesting. But his story also confused me. He was a total ass-hole. I preferred season 1 Reginald by far. But his purpose in season 2 was important to the story.

4. Elliott

He was fine as one of those Whovian civilian one-episode-only supporting players. At least he got a little backstory. And his scene with Five was especially good. I wish though the character had a little more solidity. That he helped even more with adventures. In the end he was dispatched by the Ikea Mafia. He was the sacrifice.

5. the general structural plot.

Here I think some of the characters and their moments were better than the connective plot: the second saving of the world. Characters need goals. But the smaller more personal goals worked better than the story arc. The Kennedy story was an element of the plot of course. Its strength though was hit and miss, depending on which character was dealing with the assassination as a moral or time travel equation. Five was better, while Diego was not.


Things that were not quite so good:

1 Vanya's lesbian relationship.

The romantic element was fine. But what weighed the story of it down was its ironic conventionality. What should have been emotionally deeper was way stuck in a the grindiest of narrative cliches. What would have worked better would have been no husband at all but Vanya's lover hidden away on her farm living with her own ghostly remnants of a cisgender male society. The tension should have come from her primarily. As it was she was more a less a prop between Vanya's growing enlightenment and a white male dominance that was, in this instance, not interesting at all.

2 Luther

I'm sorry. He's just not interesting. He's best when he's a supporting player in other characters' moments. Visiting the Chestnut home for instance. It didn't help that the Jack Ruby story was duller than he was.

3 Diego

So disappointing. One of the strongest characters of season 1 was reduced to a sad and boring mess. He started off well. With some cool knife throwing. And I liked the very first glimmer of his obsession about saving Kennedy. But the whole insane asylum was dreary dull. And his look was wrong. After his escape he should have reclaimed his former swagger---at least in terms of his appearance. Allyson and he basically switched places in terms of being dynamic characters.





that's all for now. tell me what you thought of the show.

Your analysis made me curious about what happens to Five.

Five carried the show for me, I skipped through some of the other character's scenes. There were too many logic and continuity errors. Alot of the choices and actions of the characters and extras were very unrealistic and illogical.

Diego, by far the worse character. One minute he's clever, determined and righteous - the next he's dumb, insecure and useless.

Not really sure the point of Luther, I am guessing he is supposed to be the comic relief.

For me it all Five. Everyone else was varying degrees of second place.

The show should make the actor a star. I'd watch him in anything.

I've done some skipping through in certain shows that I otherwise liked. When I sense protracted sophomoric conversation about characters' feeling I run for the Hollywood Hills. I did this a couple of times during Vanya and her lesbian lover because it was though I could already sense what words I've heard a million times elsewhere were coming.

The story is based on graphic novels which I've skimmed through but not studied because they're a little maddening. The structure of the show seems crazy like a graphic novel and I forgive some of that. But I was occasionally puzzled and not in a good way.

Diego: a tragedy in writing. His season one is superior.

Luther: made duller still. He has absolutely no solitary purpose. And hardly any good lines.

The thing I found mist crazy is that when 5 told them that he could get them all back home, they were all very tepid about it, at best. Diego on a mission to save Kennedy; stupid. Luther pit fighting for Jack Ruby: stupid. Five fighting with his older self: really fucking stupid. Let alone the attempted humor with the whatever disease you get from meeting yourself. The concept was okay but the execution was making me cringe.

I could go on complaining but in general I really liked it. I didn't care about it's flaws so much because the whole thing is flawed to begin with. As far as I'm concerned, they are in a whole other weird universe. So I accept it as is.

LOL we all complained about it but watched through it, so it must of been somewhat good.

Oh it's very good. However, hide your magnifying glass.

I really enjoyed season 2.