Stars: 2/5
Netflix’s newest superhero series, “The Umbrella Academy”, based on the Dark Horse Comics series written by former “My Chemical Romance” lead vocalist Gerard Way, is very different from Marvel adaptations like “Jessica Jones” and “Luke Cage.”
On Oct. 1, 1989, 43 women around the world give birth. The women have nothing in common other than the fact they were not pregnant at the beginning of the day. Eccentric millionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore) decides to adopt as many of the exceptional children as he can. He succeeds in adopting seven.
The children grow up training as superheroes and learning how to control their powers at the newly founded Umbrella Academy in the Hargreeves home. They think of Hargreeves as a father, but he is cold toward them. Hargreeves also alienates Number 7/Vanya/The White Violin (Ellen Page) because she fails to show any powers. The children are cared for by a cyborg (Jordan Claire Robbins) they consider their mother, who looks after and names them.
Eventually, all the children leave the home. They lead separate lives until they are brought back together by the death of their father. On the day of the funeral, the missing Number 5/The Boy (Aidan Gallagher) returns looking like a child despite his siblings being thirty. He reveals he time-traveled to the future but was stuck there. Unbeknownst to his siblings, Number 5 returns to prevent the apocalypse happening in eight days.
The show features an ensemble cast led by Ellen Page. Page formerly played Kitty “Shadowcat” Pryde in the “X-men” film adaptations. Mary J. Blige plays the ruthless assassin Cha-Cha who is hunting down Number 5. Working alongside Cha-Cha is Hazel (Cameron Britton). Britton is unrecognizable in the role of the not-so-ruthless assassin from his role as Ed Kemper in “Mindhunter.”
Tom Hopper brings the reserved Number 1/Luther/Spaceboy to life while Number 4/Klaus/The Séance (Robert Sheehan) provides much of the comic relief with his unrestrained personality and shameless search for drug money.
Surprisingly, the actor who by far steals the show is Gallagher, despite this being only his eighth acting credit. He plays the role of an old man stuck in a child’s body impressively, and most importantly, believably. At times when the show dragged on — and it dragged — I was excited to see what kind of shenanigans he would get into. Unlike most of his siblings, Number 5 has no qualms about using his powers.
All superheroes must have tragic pasts to shape them into the morally upright people they become when they embrace their identities. However, the Hargreeves children’s childhood was borderline abusive. They were deprived of any affection and normal interaction with other children their own age. Vanya was almost entirely excluded from the family, her only friends seem to be her violin and Pogo (Adam Godley), the talking chimp who was Hargreeves’ assistant.
For anyone who hasn’t read the comics, it become apparent immediately that Number 5 is not telling the truth about his disappearance, and Hargreeves lied to Vanya. Vanya is told constantly, through flashbacks and in present time, that she is ordinary. Then, she takes mysterious pills every time something even remotely conflictive happens. This is highlighted for a reason and it foreshadows a big part of what’s ahead.
The story may be original but the foreshadowing makes the ending too predictable.
