The Umbrella Academy Season 1 (2019) Review

So season 2 of The Umbrella Academy is set to hit Netflix on Friday and for some reason I never got around to watch it when it came out so I have watched the first season now and here is my review for it. The premise of the show sees a group of former child superheroes have to reunite to attempt to stop the apocalypse. 

Main Character

Ellen Page plays Vanya and I was on the fence over her performance, but I ended up liking it. No spoilers here, but she is a more human and normal character here and that at times makes her seem quite boring compared to the rest of the cast but when I thought about it the character worked for me. Tom Hopper plays Luther and I liked him too, he is just good in his role, he is pretty charming and a good character, there are some things you learn about him that make him more interesting but it does take some time to get there. 

Supporting Characters

Young actor Aidan Gallagher plays a character simply known as Number 5 and I don't want to go into too much detail as his character is easily the most interesting and unique about this show but he is fantastic here. Robert Sheehan as Klaus as well is a really interesting character, he is easily the most bizarre character here but I thought compared to everybody else here the dynamic worked well. The characters of Diego and Allison are also well done though I didn't find them as interesting as the other characters mentioned above. 

Story

The story is really good here, this family is so interesting to watch and seeing the different skill sets adds a lot to the characters. Basically imagine the younger members of The X-Men grown up and damaged because Charles Xavier is a bad person and it works incredibly well. Though there were a few story elements I thought didn't work as well. There are two hitmen played by Mary J Blige and Cameron Britton who were both great here, it is just it felt like their story could have been over much earlier then it is and it just ends up dragging out too much. Also there are some things that aren't explained at all and are a bit confusing and I would have liked to see more flashbacks of the crew as a team, but the ending to this season is amazing and one of the best season finale's you will see. 

Script

The script is also really good here, there is your family drama but it works and the humour is actually funny here. I think this show thrives because of the wildly different personalities involved in the family and how the actors bounce off of each other. 

Style

The style is fantastic, the action scenes are all really cleverly done and well choreographed especially in hand to hand combat. The soundtrack is also a real highlight rising the action scenes above and beyond what they should be, the 10 episodes felt the right length too and were paced out pretty well.

Overall

Overall, I loved the first season of The Umbrella Academy, it is an interesting and unique show that I would say should be enjoyed by everybody and I am really excited for season 2.

Rating - 9/10