The Umbrella Academy - A breath of Fresh Air for Superhero Television
Recently, we've hit a gold mine of superhero Television, with adaptations of lesser-known weirder comics being successes constantly, with ‘Preacher', ‘Titans', ‘Happy!’, ‘Doom Patrol' and countless upcoming weird shows we are in the golden age of Comic Book TV. Gerard Way's quirky and peculiar comic series ‘The Umbrella Academy' was the last adaptation I'd expect to be as entertaining as it is. Take an X-Men concept, then add a compelling time travel story, with a stellar cast and amazing visual style and soundtrack and you get an incredibly memorable series of Television.
If I wrote down the plot of this show I'd look insane, it's quite an accomplishment to write such an incredibly absurd plot that requires a lot of believability to pull any audience attention. The opening sequence introduces the origin portion of the narrative, where the show isn't afraid to alienate its audience whilst it introduces its first daring concept and sets the tone for the show’s constant unpredictable narrative. I admire shows that stick to a pace, managing to move fluently between episodes whilst still managing to make each episode feel individual and not monotonous. There is somewhat of a frustrating air of mystery that the show struggles to balance, the ticking clock of the narrative can be summed up with a question that is stretched out to ten episodes, but I actually think this works in the shows favour as you constantly try and work out the answer and connect the dots. Luckily there is compelling character work, fantastic visual set pieces and some incredible narrative reveals that keeps that enticing mystery worth it.
With a show like this, the cast needs to be undeniably strong or it can be seen as overwhelmingly unenthused. The stand out performance is the incredible Robert Sheehan as Klaus and I have a feeling that this performance could launch his career. Klaus manages to create the archetypal character of a stoner into a complex and unique portrayal of drug addiction that blends a supernatural aspect in seamlessly. I've never been the biggest fan of Ellen Page, but she is really great in this show, her character is a little predictable but throughout the whole series her arc is believably sympathetic with an incredible show of her skill in the finale. Tom Hopper as Luther displays a lot of range with his admittedly controversial character, some of the motivations are a bit lazy and unclear but Hopper tries his best with making the ridiculousness of his character. Emmy Raver-Lampman and David Castaneda are two characters that are incredibly developed at a much slower pace but have really compelling side plots that don’t really get enough attention, but their performances are incredibly emotionally driven. And then we come to the formidable Aidan Gallagher as the enigmatic Number Five, Teen actors are often quite distracting in an adult-dominated show, but Gallagher somehow uses the subtext of his character in an amazingly unique performance. There is also a slur of fascinating side characters, from time travelling assassins to monkey butlers to eccentric billionaires that fill out this peculiar and bizarre world.
The visual style keeps each and every episode fresh and exciting, blending grounded and violent fight scenes with bizarre and exciting cinematography demonstrates the value of identity in television. From the opening episode, the show establishes its visual vocabulary and then manages to create so many different and exciting visual ideas in every episode. There’s a stylistic black and white sequence in an episode that surprised me so much that I can't wait for another season of exciting and daring visual storytelling. The soundtrack has been talked about endlessly, but it deserves the praise as there are so many sequences utilising some iconic songs, even utilising these songs diegetically to make some hilariously entertaining sequences.
It's by no means a perfectly crafted season of television, it occasionally falls apart plot-wise and has a lot to pay up too for a second season but I thoroughly enjoyed every episode and moment of this crazily unique show. It’s set of characters are fascinatingly endearing and I think the world that is created is just so entertaining and enticing that I can't wait to see where it goes.