Season One Talk: The Umbrella Academy

[blueray]

I kind of took her power as mind control but deeper then that. Like with Vanya when she told her "that there is nothing special about her" it was almost like Inception (no pun intended) as in she makes Vanya believe pretty deep down that she isn't special, which is why she said "you ruined my life". Because it wasn't just that she didn't have powers it was that she never believed in anything she did. She basically was just going through the motions but never had the motivation to say tryout for first chair. She was basically just there, and nobody noticed her.

[moonshine71]

On 3/23/2019 at 1:34 AM, Zuleikha said:

The way the show handles Luther/Allison continues to squick me out. They are brother and sister! The show needs to at least acknowledge how Flowers in the Attic the whole situation is rather than portraying it like a standard romantic relationship.

 

Didn't bother me at all. The children may have been taught to refer to each other as brother and sister, but they aren't related and the circumstances of their upbringing felt more like a boarding school than an actual family. If anything, I think it would have been strange if none of them developed romantic feelings towards the only members of the opposite sex they ever interacted with during their adolescence.

[peachmangosteen]

4 hours ago, moonshine71 said:

Didn't bother me at all. The children may have been taught to refer to each other as brother and sister, but they aren't related and the circumstances of their upbringing felt more like a boarding school than an actual family. If anything, I think it would have been strange if none of them developed romantic feelings towards the only members of the opposite sex they ever interacted with during their adolescence.

Yea, I kind of agree with this. It's ambiguous though, like a lot of things in the show really. They didn't spell it out that they weren't raised particularly as siblings, but they also didn't say they were raised that way. The fact that no one seems to think anything of Allison/Luther makes me think they just didn't necessarily see themselves as siblings. I just pray they don't have them all be biologically Reginald's, but since Allison/Luther seems to be something they're interested in I don't think they will.

ETA: This whole thing is why I wish we had been shown more of what their childhood was like. But that will probably come next season. If we get one. Ugh, come on Netflix!

Edited March 25, 2019 by peachmangosteen

[andipandi]

After putting Vanya in the box, they should have talked to her, via notes if nothing else. Assured her of their love etc. No one offered her the drug option. They definitely should have said: "By being out of control and killing people, you are just proving Dad right, that this power was too dangerous."

[tennisgurl]

On 3/25/2019 at 6:59 AM, peachmangosteen said:

ea, I kind of agree with this. It's ambiguous though, like a lot of things in the show really. They didn't spell it out that they weren't raised particularly as siblings, but they also didn't say they were raised that way.

Yeah, its all a bit ambiguous, made even more complicated by their...unconventional upbringing and later adult lives. With a bunch of kids going through puberty and growing up together, never seemed to have really interacted with anyone other than each other (I dont see Reginald arranging for play dates with other kids or letting them go out for the basketball team growing up) and are not actually biologically related, so I can see them developing crushes on each other. And everyone seems to know that Luther and Allison have a kind of flirty thing going on and no one seems to think its weird. HOWEVER, they also pretty consistently refer to each other as brothers and sisters, and Reginald as their father and Grace as their mom. And they all still have and use the same last name, and even Allison's daughter refers to them as her uncles and aunt, even if they presumably haven't met yet. So, its a kind of grey area. 

Of course, they all could be somehow biologically related, as we have no idea how any of them even came to be...

[iMonrey]

Quote

The children may have been taught to refer to each other as brother and sister, but they aren't related and the circumstances of their upbringing felt more like a boarding school than an actual family.

We don't actually know whether they are biologically related to one another. All their mothers became spontaneously pregnant with them at the same time and we don't know who sired them. It's a safe bet it was the same person, thing, God, whatever, so in all probability they are all half-siblings.

[HurricaneVal]

I like the attention to detail in the set decoration.  Like how they say the building they live in takes up the whole city block: "An entire square block. Forty-two bedrooms, 19 bathrooms, but no, not a single drop of coffee."  Then you look at it from the outside, it is all a bunch of different buildings and businesses, but when you look at it from the inside, you can see how it was made one big contiguous space by creating rough archways and openings in the brick and stone between the individual buildings.  It is certainly no genteel X-Mansion, and the Umbrella Academy is certainly no "Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters" either.

[MisterGlass]

Finished the series.  I don't have much more to add to what has already been said.  It had a ton of ideas but handled them in an oddly repetitive way. 

I am curious enough about the characters to tune in for the second season.  All of them were highly flawed, and I agree it would have been better to spend more time with the family and less with Hazel, Cha-cha, and the Handler.  Klaus was the most interesting, and I liked his interactions with Ben.  I did think it was interesting that with Five missing and Ben dead, Vanya was two digits removed from her other siblings.  It emphasized her distance.

I thought Reginald was from some steam punk future where the apocalypse was averted.

[cali1981]

I just finished the series last night.  It was weird, dark, inexplicable at times and I enjoyed the hell out of it.  The one thing that puzzles me was how did Vanya suppress all of those childhood memories?  Maybe they were so traumatic that she buried them deeply into her sub-consciousness. Perhaps Reginald with Pogo and Grace's help gave her mind altering meds because they knew how dangerous she could be out in the real world.  I was struck by the irony on how the apocalypse actually started.  Talk about best intentions back firing. The chunk of moon being a planet killer reminded me of the similar premise in Armageddon when Billy Bob Thornton is telling the president what would happen when the "size of Texas" asteroid hit the earth.

Like everyone, I'm hoping that there is a second season just to see what the show runners and writers come up with.

[Sakura12]

Umbrella Academy got renewed for season 2.

https://www.spoilertv.com/2019/03/the-umbrella-academy-renewed-for-2nd.html?m=1

[theatremouse]

8 hours ago, cali1981 said:

The one thing that puzzles me was how did Vanya suppress all of those childhood memories? 

I don't think she needed to suppress them. When Alison "rumored" her, the power of making Vanya think she was ordinary also made the memories go away because if they didn't she couldn't possibly think that. As soon as Alison did it, my understanding is, it made it so, so anything that had to adjust itself...did. So she insta-forgot, or something.

[peachmangosteen]

19 hours ago, Sakura12 said:

Umbrella Academy got renewed for season 2.

https://www.spoilertv.com/2019/03/the-umbrella-academy-renewed-for-2nd.html?m=1

YAY!

[WatchrTina]

Okay I know I'm late to this party (wow-- six pages already?) and I'm afraid to read the prior posts until I get through all the episodes because . . . spoilers.  But I just have to weigh in to share the scene I keep imagining in my head.  I just wish I could have been a fly on the wall when Tom Hopper was informed that he'd be wearing an ape-like prosthetic covering his arms and torso that would totally distort his silhouette, even when wearing his costume.  This is an actor who has been on the cover of Men's Health magazine with this shirt off for some VERY obvious reasons.  I mean let's be clear . . . the dude works out.  And yeah, we get to see that in the flashback portions (I just saw the episode where his transformation is depicted so a shirtless "before" shot was totally necessary and not at all gratuitous.)  But then they wrapped him up in hairy latex.  I just keep trying to imagine what Tom Hopper must have thought when *that* information bomb was dropped on him.

So . . . where do I sign the petition for more flashbacks to pre-transformation, shirtless Number One?

[WatchrTina]

GENERAL

I binged the whole season today and it was a great, fun, roller-coaster thrill-ride during which I laughed and hugged myself with glee repeatedly.  Also the music was AWESOME.  

That being said – WTF was that ending?  Talk about a cliff-hanger!  I would be FURIOUS were it not for one thing:  they had already hit the temporal re-set button once during the series, demonstrating that it CAN be done, so . . . okay I’ll allow it.  I’m on board for season 2. 

THE GOOD

Holy shit the music was fun.

Holy shit I was never sure WHERE they were gonna go with the plot and that’s terrific.

I LOVED the idea of the mansion, which began as a stately home and then Sir Reginald just kept buying up all the surrounding buildings on the whole city block and knocking holes through the walls to connect all the spaces.  His carelessness in not bothering to finish out those connections echoes the carelessness with which he treated those children.

This is a tiny thing but I was grateful for that one little flash where you saw that Luther doesn’t trust Pogo around injured and unconscious Allison – not after what was done to him while he was injured and unconscious.  Presumably it was done by Sir Reginald but obviously it was with Pogo’s cooperation.

THE BAD

We’re 10 episodes in and I still have no idea why one of the chimpanzees from “Planet of the Apes” (i.e.,  one that can TALK and keep secrets) is fulfilling the butler role at Chez Hargreeves.

All that machine-gun fire at the bowling alley and again at the theater and no one got shot? Seriously?  I mean I know SciFi/Fantasy requires a willful suspension of disbelief but come ON.

There were too many instances of important information being transmitted via written messages (hand-written notes, fortune cookies, those cosmic pneumatic tubes) in fonts that were too damn small.  I had to keep hopping up to get closer to the screen because I could not read them from the comfort of my recliner.  Most annoying.

THE UGLY

Isn’t the relationship between Allison and Luther kind of incest-adjacent?  I know they are not blood relations but they were raised as siblings.

Sigh. Okay I know Luther’s ape-like torso must be a key element of the comic book from which this movie sprang, but wrapping Tom Hopper’s magnificent physique in foam rubber, latex, and faux ape hair is just a tragedy.  Thank goodness we got to see his real body in at least one pre-transformation flash-back scene and they ditched the padding for the fantasy dance sequence.  But still, are we to understand that Sir Reginald had to use some of Pogo's blood to save Luther?  Why?  We still have no understanding of what Pogo is (why can he talk) so we can’t even construct a SciFi fan-wank to pretend to understand why his blood would save (but transform) Luther.

OTHER

That organization that keeps changing things sure looks an awful lot like the agents of a callous deity that enjoys fucking with people (basically the Greek gods writ SciFi.)  I think this show might offend some religious people.

There were SO many echoes of other SciFi shows that it began to be a bit jarring for me. Is that because there just are no new ideas left or do I just watch too much SciFi television?  Here are just a few of the parallels I spotted (in no particular order).

• Cha Cha & Hazel are right out of “Men in Black.”
• The opening scene of the last episode introduces us to the notion that Sir Reginald Hargreeves is an alien who came to earth after his home planet was evacuated in advance of a disaster . . . which is basically Superman’s origin story.
• Vanya reminds me of Drew Barrymore in Firestarter.
• Vanya reminds me of the back-story for Jean Grey (a.k.a “Dark Phoenix") in the X-men series.
• Ben reminds me of Doctor Octopus in one of the Spiderman movies.
• Ben reminds me the Patrick Swayze character in “Ghost” who is finally able to move a penny to prove he is there (though clearly Ben can move a whole lot more.)
• When the Umbrella Academy members actually fight crime in the flash-backs they sure remind me of the “Kingsmen” movies with Taron Egerton & Colin Firth (whose character is also fond of a well-made umbrella.)
• Agnes’ precarious position tied to a chair in danger of being dropped into a Jacuzzi sure reminded me of that scene from “Inception” involving a person, a chair, a rope, and a bathtub.
• Delores (the dummy) needs to be set up on blind date with “Wilson” (the soccer ball) from “Castaway.
• Will Smith in “I Am Legend” was -- like Five -- left all by himself in a post-apocalyptic world, where he developed an unhealthy relationship with a mannequin.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

What about all the OTHER children who were suddenly born to previously not-pregnant women on that day? Presumably they also are the result of the mass evacuation from Sir Reginald’s planet that we saw in the opening moments of episode 10.  There were many more, right?  What if one of THEM has apocalyptic powers like Vanya?  That seems like a pretty glaring plot hole.  Maybe Professor Xavier has rounded them up and brought them to the X-men Academy.

I must have glanced away from the screen and missed how Diego got out of that jail cell.  Did his buddy sneak him the key?

How EXACTLY would those two weapons that Hazel gave Five help clear Diego?  Wouldn’t the murder weapons turning up in Diego’s childhood home tend to INCRIMINATE him instead? (Especially after he escaped custody.) Of course in the end it doesn’t matter since the whole building was destroyed and the guns were buried.

If Vanya wrote a book that revealed all their secrets then doesn’t everyone know that Allison can force people to do her bidding with her voice?  Wouldn’t that tend to make her a social pariah rather than a movie star? Or was she already a movie star when the book came out (and is the book the reason she lost custody of her daughter?)

How did Ben die?  With powers like his that seems a surprising outcome for him.

On February 17, 2019 at 12:24 AM, DarlingClementine said:

Did anyone else keep thinking about Syndrome from The Incredibles after seeing Leonard's backstory? 

Yes!  Thank you!  I knew there was another parallel to another SciFi movie that I noted while I was watching.

Edited April 2, 2019 by WatchrTina

[AngelKitty]

7 hours ago, WatchrTina said:

We’re 10 episodes in and I still have no idea why one of the chimpanzees from “Planet of the Apes” (i.e.,  one that can TALK and keep secrets) is the fulfilling the butler role at Chez Hargreeves.

I kept wondering about that too. It's not like intelligent chimps or even robots are things everybody has.

7 hours ago, WatchrTina said:

What about all the OTHER children who were suddenly born to previously not-pregnant women on that day?

I know, right?!! Why would they even tell us there were 43 instant births but never mention anything about the others?

I find this problem with a lot of these comic book shows. I think some ideas look great in a comic book but when made into live action, just don't hold up. However, when that happens, I try not to think about the ridiculousness of it all and just go with the flow.

I hope we'll learn more details about Sir Reginald and all the unanswered questions, but I won't be surprised if we don't.

[AnimeMania]

54 minutes ago, AngelKitty said:

8 hours ago, WatchrTina said:

What about all the OTHER children who were suddenly born to previously not-pregnant women on that day?

I know, right?!! Why would they even tell us there were 43 instant births but never mention anything about the others?

I kinda wish that some of the problems they encountered in the story was caused by the other children, but then they would probably have to travel all over the world. Destroying the world could have waited until Season 2.

[SnoGirl]

Season Two Baby! And, spoiler alert:

Spoiler

Justin Min got bumped to series regular! We’re going to get more Ben next season too! I’m pumped because Ben and Klaus moments were my favorite moments of the season.

[Miles]

On episode six: Man what a tease. All that character development undone by timetravel. On the one hand it's ballsy, on the other it's just frustrating as hell. Not sure if I'm okay with this yet. I guess once is fine, but this better not become a trend in writing like that "X hours earlier" we got for years.

At least it didn't go back as far as I had feared previously, when that rewind started. I would have been furious had they reversed Klaus fighting in Vietnam and finding love for the first time.

Episode 8 was pretty much the definition of an idiot plot. Who acts like that after some revelation about something a four year old did? Nay, what her father made her do. Why does poor Ellen Page always get shitty scripts? I guess you could say she wwas on mood dulling medication for so long, she doesn't know how to control them, but still. You should maybe believe your sister when she says the guy you just met a few days ago is a murderer...

Edited April 3, 2019 by Miles

[snarktini]

I'm okay with the reset. It gives us a chance to answer the question: Could Vanya have been saved? If RH hadn't been a horrific "father". If Allison had explained things better. If Luther hadn't locked her up. If the siblings had overruled Luther. If they hadn't rushed her on stage. She did many horrible things, as a child and as an adult. Maybe that's just who she would always be, out of control, vengeful, self-centered, and she had to be neutralized. Or maybe not! 

Without a reset, we basically have Vanya the Villian up against her siblings and that's not that interesting to me. Even if they'd stopped the apocalypse then what's there for future seasons except fight after fight? Not seeing the point of that. Interesting that the apocalypse still happens, just differently. 

As many have said, Vanya was treated badly by RH but not necessarily worse than the others so that's not an excuse to be homicidal. OTOH, when Allison was watching the surveillance videos she noticed how the siblings behaved towards Vanya and said if anyone had treated her daughter the way she'd have gone ballistic. This may have been a lousy writing choice, telling instead of showing, but if Allison's observation can be trusted then maybe I have a little more sympathy for Vanya.

I really, really want to know the backstory of Reginald. At first glance it looked like alternate Steampunk timeline (Victorian + rockets) or post-apocalypse future, but can't reconcile "future" if literally everyone was wiped out in 2019. (Which, that's a whole other thing. How does everyone get wiped out and yet leave a hospitable environment for Five?) Being from another planet, either as an alien or returning from a human colony, makes more sense.  The firefly-magic release felt like he created the superpowered children. But that was like 70 years before they're born, so ? 

About all those extra kids...how could RH be so sure Leonard WASN'T special? (Reminded me of Syndrome going villainous due to rejection by Mr Incredible.) There were possibly more superpowered kids running around in the world. And not necessarily only born on that day, either. If magic kids are possible then more magic kids are possible. The best explanation I have for why he was able to buy 7 children is that none of them planned those kids, and they weren't even pregnant more than a few hours. I can see why those parents would be much more willing than usual to sell their kids. It's not really their kid. The fact that 40 kept them and they aren't all locked in up a science lab is the bigger mystery.

I think the numbers did mean rank order. No idea how that translated to the pram numbering or at what age that becomes set in stone, but they do seem ordered by priority/power -- Luther, Diego, Allison, Ben, Five, Klaus, Vanya. At the end, Diego challenges Luther's leadership and says if he wants to be/stay #1 then he needs to lead. Luther didn't have any obvious powers that I saw (I'm assuming strength) but he did seem to be treated as the "eldest". I had a hard time remembering they are exactly the same age!

[Enigma X]

In my mind the only way for the reset to work is that they retain some knowledge of the original outcome. Is that how it will be?

[snarktini]

58 minutes ago, Enigma X said:

In my mind the only way for the reset to work is that they retain some knowledge of the original outcome. Is that how it will be?

That's the impression I had, because they're going to time travel with Five. That's not a time reset, just transportation to another time when they can "fix her". I assume back in time, because we saw them de-age, but then there'd be two sets of Hargreaves, so...I dunno how it will work.

[festivus]

1 hour ago, snarktini said:

I think the numbers did mean rank order. No idea how that translated to the pram numbering or at what age that becomes set in stone, but they do seem ordered by priority/power -- Luther, Diego, Allison, Ben, Five, Klaus, Vanya.

It does seem like the kids saw them as rank order but you do have Klaus and Ben mixed up. The actual powers of the kids don't follow that rank at all as Vanya of course would be at the top probably followed by Allison, Five and Ben. Luther and Diego would be in the bottom power wise.

[Sakura12]

It could be the higher the number the more powerful they are. Meaning Luthor is the least powerful and Vanya the most which is true. 

[tennisgurl]

For awhile I've thought that the kids might be ranked backwards by power with Luther and Diego (super strength and super accuracy) at the bottom, and Vanya and Ben (potential world ruining telepathy, has eldritch horrors inside him) were at the top. Or maybe its nothing to do with powers at all, but how much he can control them/trust them to follow him. After all, he could never get Vanya to control her powers, while Luther stuck with his dad till the bitter end. Its actually kind of funny how the numbers kind of became their birth order, and how they fit into their family dynamics, as Luther, Diego, and Allison are all total older siblings, Klaus is an attention seeking middle kid, and Vanya is the baby. Five and Ben are less easy to pin down, but its sounds like Ben was also kind of their kid brother who they all loved/protected, and Five was also a bit of a middle kid before he went to the future. But, again, they're all literally the exact same age! Well, except for Five, because time travel.

I suspect that Reginald is some kind of alien who only looks like a human, and came to the Earth after his home planet was destroyed. Thats why he didnt seem to age, and why he seems to know so much about what is going on. And how much DOES he know anyway? Did he actually create the spontaneous pregnancies, or did he just find out and it was just a happy accident? In which case, I really hope that they give us some explanation as to how our main characters actually came to be, and why they are the way that they are. Are they genetically different than "normal" people, and thats why Luther could survive getting a monkey transplant, and they all have powers? Was it more aliens? Government experiment? Magic? Was it really just a fluke of nature, or are they supposed to serve some greater purpose?

[hoopznyo]

7 hours ago, Enigma X said:

In my mind the only way for the reset to work is that they retain some knowledge of the original outcome. Is that how it will be?

I'm going with the idea that as long as you're actively taking part in the time travel you will remember things. Like the way Five did when he returned, but none of the others remember the Apocalypse. I'm also leaving Vanya out of this equation because she was "overtaken" by her power -- so when they go back, she won't recall it.

It sort of bugged me that when Five returned he was wearing his older self clothes that didn't fit, but at the end when they reverted to their younger selves they were wearing their uniforms that fit perfectly and not their grown up clothes.

[MisterGlass]

I assumed when they were going back in time they were writing over the existing copies of themselves.  In one of his ramblings Five said something about projecting his mind back along one of the possible timelines where his body could be.  They would then create a parallel universe to the one that they came from.

Five always seems to move his body, even if it gets de-aged in the process, so I may have he wrong idea.  However, Ben is a spirit, and seems to be included in a the time travel.  Perhaps he will be alive again if he ends up in his younger body.

[IWantCandy71]

So I watched the first episode out of curiosity and boredom. I will say, the characters have more depth than the ones in most superhero movies. Considering that most of the characters in most superhero movies have the emotional depth of a shallow kiddie pool though, I'm not sure that's a ringing endorsement. The cast has chemistry together, but overall I wasn't all that impressed with the acting. I like Colm Feore (but I'm guessing he doesn't have much to do ?) and Ellen Page is an okay actress that I can enjoy in small doses (she seems to be the most important character though, which does not bode well for me because anything more than small doses and I can't stand her). I am mostly disappointed that the feather boa wearing male has to be gay. I realize it's based on a comic, and maybe that's part of his characterization in that. But why not do the unexpected thing and let the man just be a straight cross dresser? As it is, he, (and the rest of them if I'm being honest) are all predictable stereotypes. I guess a cross dresser is still a clichéd character in theory, but speaking for myself only, I'd find Klaus a lot more "compelling" as a straight guy who could fight the fiercest and best out of all of them, and in his down time likes to chill out in a pink bathrobe and bunny slippers. And yes I guess that idea is not original and  is clichéd as well, but it would be more entertaining for me. And what's the deal with his "ability" about talking to dead people, I'm not sure that's remotely helpful in a battle.  Can I just say that they should have spent more more on making Luther actually look bulked up like he has the upper body of an ape, rather than looking like the Michelin tire guy. And the idea of any siblings, adopted or otherwise, being together, is GROSS and nasty. No thank you. We don't need another version of Flowers in the Attic. Please and thank you.

[IWantCandy71]

On ‎3‎/‎23‎/‎2019 at 12:34 AM, Zuleikha said:

I finally finished. Most of you all felt a lot more sympathetic to Vanya than I did! I thought she ended up revealing herself to be a horrible, selfish, evil person. She simply did not care about the deaths and hurt she caused because she couldn't control her power and when she did control it, it was mostly to facilitate attacking people. 

Honestly, just based on the first show alone, they all strike me as self absorbed, and I think Klaus is the worst of them all.

And to the person above who mentioned Flowers in the Attic, sorry I didn't see your comment first, I would have just quoted and ditto'ed it. Those are the same exact vibes I get from just reading about it. I started reading that book and had to stop because it was just so......UGH.

[festivus]

Is it too early to speculate on the music for season 2? Because the music was like a character itself. Something by The Struts for Klaus. Maybe some Roxy Music for Luther and Allison (even though I know they're icky, the show seems determined to go there) To Turn You On, maybe? Some Duran Duran would be awesome but I prefer their 90's era songs like Come Undone. They need to work Get Ur Freak On in somehow. And some Cheap Trick. Anything but the most overplayed songs. Heaven Tonight would be awesome. Or Carnival Game. Oh and something by James Morrison. White dude that sounds like Stevie Wonder. Could get his songs a lot cheaper I'm sure.

Sorry, I just love shows that use music so well like this one did and I love to speculate on what they'll do in the future. Fargo was another show where the did so well using the music as a character of the show.

Edited April 6, 2019 by festivus

[SnoGirl]

I don’t think its too soon to talk Season Two at all! I hope they continue to have amazing music, I added so many good tunes to my playlist. 

Speaking of Season Two, Justin Min who plays Ben posted on his Instagram that the rest of his Umbrella Academy siblings were at the first table reading today. He wasn’t there (although he joked that he was) but promised to be there soon. I think he’s finishing shooting a movie in NYC. He’s posted about the book Eleanor and Park a couple of times-I wonder if they’re finally shooting that movie and he’s playing Park.

I follow almost all of the siblings on Instagram, so I hope to see some behind the scenes between them.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

7 hours ago, SnoGirl said:

I think he’s finishing shooting a movie in NYC. He’s posted about the book Eleanor and Park a couple of times-I wonder if they’re finally shooting that movie and he’s playing Park.

It was just announced a few weeks ago that Rainbow Rowell will be writing the screenplay so I doubt they're filming yet.

It looks like the movie he's currently filming is After Yang.

[SnoGirl]

On 6/14/2019 at 3:22 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

It was just announced a few weeks ago that Rainbow Rowell will be writing the screenplay so I doubt they're filming yet.

It looks like the movie he's currently filming is After Yang.

Good to know-he was the one posting about Eleanor and Park and I just didnt go look it up to see if that’s what he was doing.  Either way, he’s in now in Toronto where the rest of the Academy Siblings are.  Hoping for some good Insta stories.

[johntfs]

While I'd predicted it to some degree, I kind of hated how "Leonard's" story played out.  He was a character I wanted to grab by the throat and yell at.  Just tell him, "You fucking asshole.  Do you not understand that the means you're using (a relationship with Vanya) is so much better and more valuable than the end that you're seeking (revenge on the now dead father of the Umbrella Academy)?"

[Zanne]

I'm 3 pages into the comics and two of my key questions have been answered already. The set-up for the series fared better in the comics than in the televised version so far. But, to be fair, comics can be more exposition heavy, even if they use fewer words to share that information.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 3/11/2019 at 1:56 PM, chaifan said:

My biggest question, which no one else seems to have commented on, is just how did they figure out Allison's power?  It's one thing if she can influence simply by making a statement, but how exactly did they figure out her power is invoked with "I heard a rumor..."?  I mean, it's not exactly an ordinary phrase for a little kid, and she had it by age 4 (and those kids looked at least 6 years old, not 4). 

I completely agree with this.

On 3/11/2019 at 1:56 PM, chaifan said:

And I sort of get the other children more or less forgetting about Vanya's powers, if they were truly 4 when all that went down.  But they don't remember her killing 3 nannies?  I'd think that would have stuck.

They weren't present when she did it.  They had already eaten their oatmeal and were off practicing their skills.  They weren't told what had happened; just that they had a new nanny.  I'm a little surprised that Sir Reginald had them call Grace "mom", but maybe Pogo advised him that it would be good for them.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

Hazel was too soft-hearted to kill Cha Cha, but he really should have.  After all, she did try to kill him.

On 2/26/2019 at 9:50 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Leonard continues to get creepier with every episode. I couldn't see which Umbrella Academy figurine he stole, but I'm guessing this means that his nefarious scheme is personal. So did one of the kids kill his mom back in their crime fighting days? I remember he mentioned that she wasn't around.

She died in childbirth.  We saw her coding after Harold Jenkins was born.  I think we're supposed to assume that's what ruined his dad and made him abusive.

[Danny Franks]

I'm finally watching this show, after having it on my Netflix list since the day it came out and... god damn, it's good.

I really like all the Hargreeves kids, while also occasionally being infuriated by them. But these are some fucked up, dysfunctional kids and I'm sure Gerard Way got the idea for his comic by thinking 'what if Professor Xavier was even more of a passive-aggressive asshole?'

The tragedies that they have all experienced, the bitterness that exists between them - old rivalries, jealousy, rifts apparently created intentionally by their father - it's all really well done.

I think the show does a really good job of making it clear that none of these people are villains, nor are they heroes. They're just messed up people, dealing with their problems in a variety of less than healthy ways.

I always love Robert Sheehan and Ellen Page, but I'm really enjoying the rest of the cast too. Most of them aren't familiar to me, but they're all doing a really good job.

I do think there was a casting misstep with Leonard. He has the skeevy quality in spades, but charm? No. Chemistry with Ellen Page? Not a bit of it. The moment he turned up for his first violin lesson, he was immediately off and obviously a villain.

Hazel reminds me of Arby from Utopia - a blank, slightly melancholy but scary killer, with such an everyman face that you'd never remember him. Unlike Arby, he seems to be learning how to become a real person, through a shared love of food with Agnes.

[Quark]

I just finished this.

I thought the first few episodes were a bit slow, but the second half of the season was superb.

The music was so on point as well. Loved especially the Dancing in the Moonlight segment.

Love Klaus and all those time assassins.

Brilliant show. Looking forward to the next season.

[Chaos Theory]

On 3/26/2019 at 5:27 PM, andipandi said:

After putting Vanya in the box, they should have talked to her, via notes if nothing else. Assured her of their love etc. No one offered her the drug option. They definitely should have said: "By being out of control and killing people, you are just proving Dad right, that this power was too dangerous."

That has always been my point.  In one moment they proved every fear she had about them right.

Was Vanya out of control?   Hell yes.  But none of the siblings ever really considered her an equal.  Five explicitly sought her out because she wasn’t one of them.   There was a ton of things they could have done differently but they chose to treat Vanya like a stranger.  

[IWantCandy71]

No idea if anyone here who enjoys the show, is a fan of the Dark Horse Comic line that this show originated from. Or, as a fan of the show, if you've read the Umbrella Academy graphic novel. If you are a fan, I would recommend trying to seek out "A Study in Emerald", also a Dark Horse graphic novel, and one that would make an awesome limited run series of it's own on Netflix.

If you are familiar with Sherlock Holmes, you'll know right off the title is a play on "A Study in Scarlet". However, the graphic novel is based on a short story originally written by  Neil Gaiman. It isn't what you think it's going to be at all. I won't spoiler here, but I am going to post about it in the books thread. Of course, if you are intrigued and want to be spoiled, there is an accurate Wikipedia article on the short story. I was so impressed by the story, I am probably going to buy the graphic novel from Dark Horse. This from someone who isn't a horror/H.P Lovecraft fan at all.

Edited August 30, 2019 by IWantCandy71

[ribboninthesky1]

My take on Vanya was of the "psychopaths are born, not made" perspective.  Her violent reaction to the nannies as a child because she didn't want to eat her oatmeal solidified that for me.  Hargreeves' methods certainly exasperated things, but I also suspect Vanya would have been a problem regardless.      

[AncientNewbie]

On 3/3/2019 at 4:38 PM, Blue Plastic said:

Allison didn't seem to be doing anything about even scheduling the therapy she was supposed to get in order to be allowed visitation with her daughter.  She was always all, "I'm a PARENT!"  and "I have to get back to my DAUGHTER!" but not actually doing anything to improve that situation.

 

As a family law attorney, this was perhaps the most accurate piece of real life in this show. 

[phoenics]

On 2/18/2019 at 9:24 PM, hincandenza said:

Finished last night, echoing the general enjoyment, along with some of the gripes about character/dialogue/plot.  I'll be back for season 2, although I'm getting really tired of Netflix doing cliffhangers with their original shows/movies as if saying "If you don't get your friends to watch this and drive up the stats... you'll never know what happens next!".

Regarding the show mythos, some thoughts I wanted to offer:

The Commission: Was the Commission meant as an allegory for white supremacists/Confederacy and end-of-days evangelical types?  Their chosen home base and style- being able to live just about anywhere in time- is a stately compound in 1955, and they seem reeeally obsessed with keeping the "status quo", no matter who is hurt.  They're totally cool with the end of the world- even working toward it- because they know they survive the "rapture".  Plus, with the exception of Cha-cha, I think they're all white, whereas the Academy members are ethnically diverse.

The Apocalypse: The version of the apocalypse Vanya triggers in episode 10 is clearly different than what Five had originally experience; if the moon actually broke, the earth would be scoured of all life, excepting maybe on the ocean floors (the Neal Stephenson book "Seveneves" involves this). There would have been no rubble or wreckage for Five to wander about, much less for the Commission to have formed from its ashes to engage in time travel policing.  Assuming they're even from earth... 

Reginald Hargreeves: It's kind of glossed over, but didn't the show implicitly tell us that Reginald is an alien?!?  He has lived for what, a couple of hundred years building his fortune; he clearly can predict the future to some extent; he has hyper-advanced technology (sentient chimps and robots, etc); and that flashback shows he came from a planet that had a Krypton-like(?) mass launching of rockets, before arriving in 18th/19th century earth.

It would explain his atrocious parenting skills...

The Seven: Small comic source spoiler: my read on this is influenced by a wiki sentence implying the magical insta-births may be a fragmented Second Coming.  The 7 all think the numbering is based on importance and Reginald's favor, with Luther at the top... but really, the numbers clearly to escalate in power and importance.  Far from Luther being the favored, he was #1 because he was the weakest and least important. 

With somewhat generous stretching, I think you can map the seven Academy members to the seven seals of the apocalypse:

• Luther- Bow, crown; Conquest
• Powers are super strength and (allegedly) leadership.
• Diego- Great swords; War
• Represents fighting, battle
• Allison- Scales; Famine, wealth inequality
• Powers of manipulation, becomes wealthy and famous
• Klaus- Death
• Yeah, this one seems pretty clear. 🙂
• Five- Souls of martyrs; those persecuted throughout time, awaiting the rapture
• Powers are space and time travel; moved through time persecuting people.
• Ben- Darkness; the punishment of the wicked and redemption of the righteous
• A stretch, but he's "dead", and in touch with the Cthulhuan darkness.
• Vanya- Seven Trumpets (the wrath of god)
• She uses sound to destroy things.  She blows up the planet.  'Nuff said.
   

Anyway, thanks for indulging my musings.  🙂Interesting and entertaining show; I enjoyed watching it!

Well.

My mind's blown by this.  I never ever thought of this that way, but wow... very interesting take.

What about the others who were born on the same day?  Not all have powers... so it's technically more than 7?

I love, love LOVED this show.  I binged it in less than 24 hours.  I love every character - except Vanya.  I liked her at first but her hysterical behavior and vicious killing at the end turned me off.  When I thought she really killed Allison, I was ready to quit.  I loved every aspect of the show... all of it.  so soo good.

Klaus is my favorite, but honestly all of them (except Vanya) were amazing.

Really curious about where Hargreeves came from - another time?  Another dimension? That part confused me - what was up with the rockets, etc.. and the thing he released into the air?

I'm obsessed with this show and can't wait for S2.

 

[phoenics]

On 2/18/2019 at 11:25 PM, jmonique said:

Even though Vanya was obviously a psychopath, given how little response she had to tearing through nannies at 4, or slaughtering Leonard.

THIS.

It's why I can't really buy the whole "she was just a child, etc" part.  There wasn't anything we'd been shown that justified what she did there to those human nannies.  She killed them - they weren't severely injured - she killed them.  One she threw out of a 3 story window.

I actively wanted her dead by the end of the season - but that one moment where she smiled at Allison in the finale made me think maybe they could get through to her - but I still think she's a psychopath.

 

[phoenics]

On 2/21/2019 at 7:58 PM, theatremouse said:

When Vanya thought for 2 seconds her family had actually come to her performance, that's the moment they could've prevented the apocalypse, and of course fucked it up.

Her family might have fucked up the moment but that's kinda scary that Vanya goes supernova because she didn't get praised and lauded for being first chair and instead her family treated her like the threat she is.

She had just killed Pogo, Mama and destroyed the entire Academy, which apparently spanned blocks.  Who knows if others were killed or harmed in the process?

This just goes back to a lot of her envy and jealousy of her family.  She's not some innocent good hearted little flower.  Girlfriend was killing nannies at age 4 or 5 and looked PLEASED about it.  The fact that the end of the world hinged on her not throwing an emotional tantrum is just sad.

Bish is crazy and I'm still not over her slicing Allison's neck, lol.  

[phoenics]

On 3/3/2019 at 12:03 AM, pootlus said:

Same - I'm okay with Luthor/Allison but not if they're actually biological (half-) siblings.  I don't need to see Flowers in the Academy.

Agreed.

I also think that they were raised as soldiers and not siblings.  It's been noted throughout the thread that RH did not give them any love or fatherly attention, so it can be assumed that he never bothered pushing a sibling relationship on any of them.  Any of those closer (sibling or otherwise) connections they must have forged on their own volition. 

It's true that they called him dad and the robot mom, but it's not clear when they started calling them that.  

Given that, it's not out of the realm of possibility that instead of forming a brother/sister relationship, Luthor/Allison formed a romantic one instead.

[phoenics]

On 3/4/2019 at 12:08 AM, tennisgurl said:

 

I too want to know what happened to the other kids who didnt sell their babies to some creepy old guy. Are they superheroes? Super villains? Normal people? It might be fun if a bunch of them came together to become a super villain team, except they're all super great at everything and work together perfectly and all totally have their powers nailed down.

Leonard/Harold was apparently born on the same day, but it was never clear to me whether his mother had the insta-pregnancy or not.  Part of why his dad hated him so much and was so awful to him I thought was because he lived and she died, but also because she got insta-pregnant and it all happened so fast.

But he looked happy at first when he was holding the baby so maybe it was a natural pregnancy.

[phoenics]

On 3/5/2019 at 12:23 PM, Stardancer Supreme said:

I could handwave Vanya's dullness due to the fact that she was drugged damn near all her life.  If Season 2 starts with the siblings starting over with their current knowledge, Vanya should be a bit more alive.

Yeah, but she's still going to be played by Ellen Page, so ... not holding out much hope for a Vanya with spark tbh.

[TVSpectator]

8 minutes ago, phoenics said:

Leonard/Harold was apparently born on the same day, but it was never clear to me whether his mother had the insta-pregnancy or not.  Part of why his dad hated him so much and was so awful to him I thought was because he lived and she died, but also because she got insta-pregnant and it all happened so fast.

But he looked happy at first when he was holding the baby so maybe it was a natural pregnancy.

I think that it was established that Lenard/Harold wasn't a special kid but wanted to be one really bad. His dad did treat him like shit because his mother died, they were poor, and he wasn't special but a regular kid. 

[Chaos Theory]

This is the perfect show to discuss the concept of “born vs bred” when it comes to Vanya.  Was she just born bad?   Or with a caring father and siblings that treated her as an equal would she have grown out of whatever darker impulses she had.   All children are selfish brats.  Some more then others.    Compassion is actually a learned skill.   If you are denied it how are you ever supposed to learn it?   It might be interesting if all the other kids remember what Vanya did and some want to destroy her before she grows into her power while others want to try and save her.   Plus as Pogo who genuinely loved her and a father who feared her it makes an interesting study.