Yesterday night we finished watching season 1 of “The Umbrella Academy” on Netflix. It’s weird, every couple of months there is that one exclusive show that makes having a Netflix subscription so worth it; and “The Umbrella Academy” is definitely one of those.
The story revolves around a group of seven gifted adoptive children of an eccentric billionaire; each one of them with their own unique talent: One can teleport through space (and time), one can talk to the dead, and so on. As children they formed the so-called “Umbrella Academy” and helped solve crimes and did other superhero-stuff. The show, now, takes place about 20 years later. Everyone has their own life and problems but they all come together as they learn that their adoptive father has died. Soon they learn that they have a new task: To prevent the apocalypse… And all that while trying to evade a pair of time-traveling assassins.
When I first heard about this show, I somehow always confused it with something situated inside the Resident Evil universe, but was then pleasantly surprised when that not to be the case ;) In fact, every single episode was highly entertaining (more than all Resident Evil movies combined and then some) with tons of humor hidden between the problems the group has to face.
Perhaps my highlight is “Number 4” (aka. Klaus) who can talk to the dead people. His gift drove him nearly crazy and he found a way out by becoming a drug addict who basically lives from one shot to the next. His struggles to getting clean are always lightened up by his world-view which is in stark contrast to his siblings: Straight-forward yet extremely playful. In one scene, Klaus takes a bath with some 80s headphones and walks through the family mansion unaware that this siblings are currently in a firefight with two assassins from an agency of timeline-guardians.
This scene IMO reflects the whole first season quite well: A tragic story-line (or actually a couple of them) presented in a highly entertaining package. I cannot wait for season two, whenever this might happen!!!
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