The Umbrella Academy

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Liked Umbrella Academy season 1, Hazel is my favorite character. Just finished watching the first episode of season 2 and stopped. Not liking the same old same old time travel save the world theme 2 seasons in a row. There's so much more open creatively they haven't touched upon. Like if almost 100 people were endowed with superpowers and the professor (or whatever the heck he is) could only adopt 7, then arent there 90 some other possibilities for storylines? Bah. Plus something else happened the first episode of season 2 I didn't like but won't spoil it.



The Adventure Starts Here!
Liked Umbrella Academy season 1, Hazel is my favorite character. Just finished watching the first episode of season 2 and stopped. Not liking the same old same old time travel save the world theme 2 seasons in a row. There's so much more open creatively they haven't touched upon. Like if almost 100 people were endowed with superpowers and the professor (or whatever the heck he is) could only adopt 7, then arent there 90 some other possibilities for storylines? Bah. Plus something else happened the first episode of season 2 I didn't like but won't spoil it.
I also made it through the first episode of season 2 last night, and I found myself putzing on Facebook on the other computer monitor by the halfway point. Just not feelin' the vibe, for some reason. Will give it another chance, but my main feeling was, "Meh."



We've gone on holiday by mistake
Liked Umbrella Academy season 1, Hazel is my favorite character. Just finished watching the first episode of season 2 and stopped. Not liking the same old same old time travel save the world theme 2 seasons in a row. There's so much more open creatively they haven't touched upon. Like if almost 100 people were endowed with superpowers and the professor (or whatever the heck he is) could only adopt 7, then arent there 90 some other possibilities for storylines? Bah. Plus something else happened the first episode of season 2 I didn't like but won't spoil it.
I'm thinking the rest of the 43 children are gonna be the villains at some point, at least some of them.
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I'm thinking the rest of the 43 children are gonna be the villains at some point, at least some of them.
Ok it was 50 then. I knew I was wrong on the exact figure.



We've gone on holiday by mistake
Ok it was 50 then. I knew I was wrong on the exact figure.
No I think it was 43 total, 7 of those 43 at Umbrella so 36 unknowns??



We've gone on holiday by mistake
The further I get into season 2 the more I'm sure they're failing like so many before them.

They've nailed the origin story (s1), now its time for the hard part, a pure story, and it feels like s1 all over again.



The Adventure Starts Here!
The further I get into season 2 the more I'm sure they're failing like so many before them.

They've nailed the origin story (s1), now its time for the hard part, a pure story, and it feels like s1 all over again.
You're not making me want to hurry to watch past the first episode of season 2, you know.



We've gone on holiday by mistake
WARNING: "." spoilers below
It's as I feared, same as the first, no consequences for anything with time travel.

They haven't learned the lessons of DC/Marvel either. They should have 7 evenly balanced like Marvel but we have 2 OP characters who can do just about anything.



Liked Umbrella Academy season 1, Hazel is my favorite character. Just finished watching the first episode of season 2 and stopped. Not liking the same old same old time travel save the world theme 2 seasons in a row. There's so much more open creatively they haven't touched upon. Like if almost 100 people were endowed with superpowers and the professor (or whatever the heck he is) could only adopt 7, then arent there 90 some other possibilities for storylines? Bah. Plus something else happened the first episode of season 2 I didn't like but won't spoil it.
You should know that the series
WARNING: spoilers below
addresses one of your major complaints here
.

I quite liked the second season. It gave several of the characters more room to breathe and I really liked that. Lila was a great addition as a new character.

Overall I enjoyed the theme of people trying to reinvent themselves, but coming up against internal or external conflict. I liked the way that it explored their conflicting feelings about their powers and the fact that when they're together they can't ignore their history and their powers. I liked the development of the family's history, and I felt like they managed a pretty good ending (ie there was closure but also room for another season).



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Bump for great justice. I forgot about these two points in the show that had me scratching my head. My details might be off on characters, but if you've recently watched all of season 2 then you might remember what I'm asking about. Hopefully you might also be able to clarify my confusion?

WARNING: "Don't read unless you've seen all of season 2" spoilers below
In the later episodes, we see the young family getting lectured by dad. Kids get frustrated at dad not acknowledging why they failed whatever mission it was (I'm loose on details, sorry) and most everyone leaves the yard. Klaus stays behind. With his back to Ben's ghost, he appears to be channeling a power in his hands. It reminds me of Vanya's "blue" glow. Ben speaks up (I think this was about not knowing if he should pass on or stay) and Klaus quickly stops to turn around. Ben does not see whatever Klaus was doing. What was Klaus doing? I assumed that was planting a seed that he has more powers than talking to the dead and it might play a role in the last episodes but nope. It makes sense that they needed to explain Klaus' guilt as an adult in convincing Ben to stay, so ok sure. But why reference the hands? What did I miss?

Second item involves Diego during, I believe, the farmyard fight near the end with the hundreds of Commission agents. Details are loose here too, but didn't Diego use telekinesis to block bullets a la Neo in the Matrix? Was it established he could do that? Seemed out of left field for me.

Both of these scenes happened relatively close to each other in the build to the final episodes and I took both as hints they these characters have more than they realize, to be revealed in the climax. Neither scene was revisited. Sure, maybe this is building for season 3, but the timing of them seemed very deliberate or very out of place, depending on how you read it. For me, they only confused me going no where. Why introduce this? Were these powers used in season 1? I can't remember!
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I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Just finished watching season 2 and distinctly underwhelmed. Where the first series was inventive, in the way it told the story as much as the content, this just felt smaller and repetitive. Plus far too many fight scenes where the characters conveniently forget they have powers.



I'm here for Five being exasperated with people and not much else.

I absolutely have to turn the plot-skeptic part of my brain watching this, because it's a hot mess in that regard. As others have noted, the powers are all over the place and people behave in genuinely ridiculous ways, and the stakes are often too steep (and the subject matter too dark) for the lighthearted tone the show obviously wants to have.

I'm not sure why people writing shows and movies like this don't spend more time thinking about the way superpowers break your ability to tell these stories, and work backwards from that a bit so people aren't constantly asking themselves what the "rules" of those powers are. It would seem like the very first thing you'd need to address after positing something like that. Instead we get homo ex machina, where things you'd never do as a storyteller with an outside power become totally fine as long as they come from inside the characters instead.



The Adventure Starts Here!
Okay, at least I came back to this thread and got confirmation that I still don't need to devote any time to season 2 beyond that first episode I waded through months ago.



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
E'rrr body just jump over to Happy! It's properly morbid, funny, and unapologetically dark and deranged. I don't mean a few dark jokes. This show is sick, but oh so great in how it holds itself together in spite of everything that should run every viewer away crying.





The Adventure Starts Here!
I assume you mean this:

https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/happy

E'rrr body just jump over to Happy! It's properly morbid, funny, and unapologetically dark and deranged. I don't mean a few dark jokes. This show is sick, but oh so great in how it holds itself together in spite of everything that should run every viewer away crying.