What the Heck is Umbrella Academy?

*This piece was a companion article to a video blog, which you can check out here.

The Umbrella Academy is a new series on Netflix, adapted from the Dark Horse comic books by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá. 

Yes, that Gerard Way. Towards the end of their glorious emo reign, the M.C.R. frontman began to write a comic book series about a dysfunctional family of ex-superheroes.

The thing I love about Umbrella Academy is that at its heart, it’s about a group of people who were told their entire childhood how special they were, and then they reached adulthood, and realized this was completely useless in the real world.

This is a character-based show, so let’s dive in. Who are the Umbrella Academy?

They are the seven adopted children of an eccentric billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves, who raised them as a team of heroes meant to save the world.

Number 1: Luther.

Luther is the shitty appointed leader of his siblings. He’s big. He’s bossy. He’s…hairy. Yeah, that’s pretty much it.

Number 2: Diego.

The brooding hot rebel. Diego has the ability to curve the trajectory of anything he throws. And he prefers to throw knives.

Number 3: Allison.

The rumor. Allison is a world-famous actress and she has the power to make people do what she wants by bending reality.

Number 4: Klaus.

The hot mess. Klaus has the ability to see the dead, and has spent the latter half of his life on drugs to avoid his powers.

Number 5:

Can travel through space and time, but he’s not very good at it. Five got stuck in the future for 45 years, and when he finally got back to the present, his body reverted to that of a thirteen-year-old, so he’s a 58-year-old man with the body of a thirteen year old.

Number 6:

Dead Cinnamon Roll.

Number 7: F*&% that Bi*^$

Seven is Vanya, and Vanya has the incredible ability to wallow in self-pity for days on end.

 

There’s also a helpful British ape and a robot.

 

In the first episode, they are brought back together after nine years when their adopted father dies. As they’re gathering for the funeral, Number Five—who up until this point has been missing since they were kids—falls through a temporal vortex and tells them the world is going to end in eight days.

And that’s it. That’s the show.

The cinematography and set design is gorgeous. The needle drops are amazing. It’s so much fun. Go watch it. It’s ten episodes, already renewed for a second season, and I binged the entire show in a day.