by Miller C. Lashbrook
WOW. In true genre content fashion, the sophomore outing for Umbrella Academy seems to top it self over and over. Klaus has the perfect line to sum up season 2 when he says, “is it just me or did we all get sexier in the last three years?” Spoilers ahead.
The best way to go through this review will be to break down the season by its characters. I am going to begin with the character that I thought had some of the most growth from season, Diego. In the first season I felt like Diego did not have much to do, and compared to his sibling’s power sets, his are the least visually interesting. This season they not only begin to hint at Magneto type powers for Diego, but actor David Castañeda was given a gift of plot line that has places to go and ties in to 5’s time travel shenanigans.
Allison and Vanya were both given small, but I think important stories for their development. Vanya was given the opportunity to grow without worrying about her past, so once she faced it she could truly reach her potential. Allison’s story seems unattached to the main plot but it gave her a chance to show a very important story in today’s political climate. The nugget of gold here is Allison realizing that she can use her power to enact change for the good.
5 and Luther shared a lot of moments in this season and I think that we really got to see both of them grow, even if Luther did spend most of the season moping. Based on where things end with them going back at end it seems like we have resolved most of 5’s struggles with his story coming full circle.
Klaus, still one of the brightest parts of the show, had me laughing so much. Just we thought that he had helped Ben to move on, the ending shows us that we have not seen the last of him. Klaus’ main story line is the push and pull between the external struggle of his cult leader life and his internal struggle (shown to the audience through ghost-Ben). Ben also had a fantastic arc with his day in Klaus’s body. His sacrifice to save Vanya in episode 9 felt truly earned.
Overall I think this season took what worked best in season 1 and plussed it, though I was sad to see Cha-Cha and Hazel go. The end of the season leaves a fantastic set up for a third season that could come. 5/5 Twinkles ✨
Pop Culture Fae 