Umbrella Academy is back at it again, but this time they’ll be saving the world in a different decade: The 1960s.

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Umbrella Academy season 2 released last Friday July 31, continuing the show’s enthralling story line. The first season premiered last year on February 15, 2019. Creators Steve Blackman and Jeremy Slater adapted this show based off of Gerard Ba’s 2008 comics. The show’s top notch execution makes it enjoyable for both the original comic fans, as well as those who are new to the story. 

Warning: Minor spoilers ahead!

Summary

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Umbrella Academy left off with the gang using Five’s (Aidan Gallagher) time travel powers to escape the apocalypse brought upon by Vanya (Ellen Page). This cliffhanger left fans begging for more. Season 2 picked right back up from that cliffhanger and showed where each character ended up from that time travelling portal. 

One by one everyone pops up in Dallas during the 1960s. Without the company of each other, they must learn to adapt and create a new life for themselves. Diego (David Castaneda) ends up in a mental hospital. Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) is married and a political activist. Luther (Tom Hopper) spends his time using his strength to win fights. Vanya finds new life with a family on a farm. And Klaus (Robert Sheehan) hilariously creates a cult by convincing people he’s a prophet. After living these new lives for a couple years, they must all come together to save the world once again.

Commentary

Soundtrack

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The soundtrack of this show is fantastic. The show used each song deliberately to create some of the most creative and engaging scenes I’ve seen in a while. Many of the fight scenes brilliantly use very atypical song choices. Cool upbeat songs contrasted with these action packed fights, creating a unique and enjoyable experience. For example, “Everybody” by the Backstreet Boys played while Allison fought intruders in her home. This was a pretty creative way to engage viewers, and it definitely worked. Each song that came up in the show continued to pleasantly surprise me and had me humming along.

Social Movements

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Umbrella Academy sheds light on the social injustice set in the 1960s, and incorporated it into the character’s lives. Allison’s activism in racial equality shows the important relations between racism in the 1960s to the racism that is still present today. Scenes of police brutality and segregation are strongly present in this season, in order to accurately depict the history of struggles for the black community.

“We knew that even though we’re a heightened-reality show, if we were going to go to the ’60s, we weren’t going to glaze over racial injustice,” said Blackman. 

The show also touched on the blatant homophobia that was present during the 1960s. Vanya and Klaus experienced both verbal and physical assault based on their sexualities. I had a feeling this show would bring important portrayals of the LGBTQ community with Ellen Page already being such a big activist.

Cinematography

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The great cinematography in this show, thanks to Craig Wrobleski, helped to beautifully execute each scene. Wrobleski has previously worked on series you might recognize such as Fargo and Legion. He uses so many different filming techniques during Umbrella Academy such as panning, close up angles, far away still shots, and shaky moving shots that make you feel like you’re right there with the characters. Not a scene went by that wasn’t carefully thought out. Thank you Wrobleski, for making this show so visually stunning. 

Conclusion

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Umbrella Academy has now become one of my favorite superhero stories. The show remained consistently captivating, from beginning to end. Feelings of danger, fear, love, and humor all take place during this new season. I’d highly recommend this show to anyone, even to those of you who aren’t typically big on superheroes. I won’t give any spoilers, but you can expect the ending to have yet another cliffhanger that you definitely won’t see coming. 

Have you watched the second season? What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter @geekgalsco! 

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Featured image credit: Netflix