When the firsts season of The Umbrella Academy came out I binge-watched it in three days, when the second one came out I did it in one day. Season one left us with a huge cliff-hanger, only to lead to basically the same plot in season two, however, what made the latter more enjoyable is the faster-paced plot and the beautiful character development.
Luthor and Diego had their moments of growth, which made them not necessarily wiser, but more tolerable. Alison is finding her voice in social justice instead of mind control. Number Five is still Number Five, which is the best thing that could be done to his character. Klaus got sober but relapsed after he failed to change the future, he was poorly developed which is a curse popular characters suffer from since writers think they don’t need improvement. And finally, Vanya is happy, even if it didn’t last.
The plot overall feels repetitive, but the little details and subplots kept it from being boring. Stopping doomsday from happening while they are the cause of it all along should’ve been easier to figure it out. The restiveness of Vanya’s plot in Lila is weak, not because I saw it coming, but because her character felt rushed and two dimensional. I loved how they gave something to Diego to obsess over instead of Luthor this time, and it first his obsession with being a hero. One of my most anticipated reveals was the alien nature of Reginald Hargreeves, but this season left me with more questions and complicated plot lines. The belittlement and abuse of his adopted children are not really addressed as it should have been, I was really anticipating the siblings to go all-in on him but they were made a mockery yet again. Hopefully, we get to see more accountability next season.
The use of the Three Swedes was really well done, I love how they humanized them a little. They were no Hazel and Cha Cha, but they were alright. The real villain though, The Handler, is the one pulling the strings. Kate Walsh is magnificent in this role, which leads me to believe that despite her character's death, her role isn’t over yet. Ellen Page as Vanya is a delight, she got to show her acting skills this season. Aidan Gallagher is still delivering a scarcely dead-on performance of a 58 years old stuck in a 14 years old body. Robert Sheehan carries Klaus and the entire show despite not having a lot to contribute to the plot. Justin H. Min return as Ben was very delightful, I can’t wait to see his interaction with his siblings next season, even if it’s a different version of him. The rest of the cast didn’t do anything worth mentioning acting-wise, but their chemistry remained really great.
The Umbrella Academy is one of, if not the best original Netflix shows. Season two proves yet again that even starting with big problems like the end of the world isn’t too big to be done twice. It took franchises literally years to reach that stage, but this show did it twice now and it’s not slowing down. It’s the small stories and relationships of the heroes that truly drives the plot, and when it comes to character development, the limit does not exist.
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