by Jake Bourgeois, Contributing Writer
After nearly two years — and quite the season two cliffhanger — everyone’s favorite superpowered family with daddy issues has returned to once again attempt to save the world from another apocalypse — obviously, bigger and badder than the last.
As usual, if you’re reading this, I’m assuming you’re all caught up. You’ve been warned.
As teased when we last saw the Umbrella crew, we found ourselves in a new version of the present than we’d experienced in season one. They found themselves intruders in their own home, having been replaced with the Sparrow Academy, which included a very alive Ben. The show dives right back in where it left us off with the Umbrella Academy squaring off with their alternates. Though initially thinking they might get a break from saving the world, the Umbrella Academy soon find out that is definitely not the case and to succeed, they’ll need to try to come together with the team who replaced them.
Coming into the third season, one of the big storylines surrounding the season was how Elliot Page’s transition would be integrated into the show. As Vanya reveals he’s really Viktor, I found the topic to be handled well. Each of Viktor’s family members have a response that feels right for their characters and respectful to who Viktor is. It quickly becomes just another accepted aspect of the show.
What’s always been a highlight of the show is just how the dysfunctional family that is the Umbrella Academy interact with each other. Each member is so unique and so distinctive in their personality that it almost doesn’t matter who each member is paired off with for the various episodes; there’s always something interesting going on. Even on their own, everyone has a different favorite of the crew. I’ve always been partial to Five’s (Aidan Gallagher) acerbic wit, but in rewatching the premiere with family, my mother couldn’t take her eyes off Klaus (Robert Sheehan) (who’s admittedly a fun background watch). I also found that I particularly enjoyed Luther’s (Tom Hopper) brand of humor this season.
Even outside of the core crew, Lila (Ritu Arya), a returning character from last season, is back and once again a delight when she’s added to the academy mix.
While there’s plenty of humor, the show has always had some great emotional moments over the course of the first two seasons, and this season is no exception. For the most part, when the show goes for emotion, it works — and, excitingly, it does so while putting the emotional onus of the show in a different place. While the character of Vanya carried a big emotional load throughout the first two seasons, season three finds that it’s Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) struggling with the butterfly effect of the new present. Particularly with her set of powers, an unbalanced Allison was an interesting thing to explore and I found her struggle to be a powerful one.
It was also nice to not have an apocalyptic scenario that didn’t put everything on Victor’s shoulders for a third straight season. The reason behind this season’s apocalyptic threat, the Kugelblitz, continued to raise the stakes for me in a way that made sense.
With that being said, the season is disappointingly uneven. With how well the show works when it’s humming, it makes the moments that fall flat even more noticeable. While the return of Lila was a joy, the return of another character introduced in season two did not sit as well with me. I’ll keep who it is vague, for spoiler reasons, but they are crucial to a deadly plot point that occurs prior to the Umbrella Academy coming back into the timeline picture. The twist was one of a couple that did not work for me, and that character is also part of a moment that I think is supposed to pack a more emotional punch than it did. It’s so poorly executed that I didn’t even realize the full extent of what had happened until it was literally spoken aloud.
Another returning character I found myself not connecting with was the always ornery patriarch, Sir Reginald (Colm Feore). He was involved in a big, extraterrestrial reveal at the end of the prior season, which I felt was largely left hanging for season three. Even when it was touched on, the moments didn’t land. I largely didn’t vibe with many of the aspects of Reginald’s storyline, and the twists there largely correlated with the twists I found didn’t work for me.
But the most disappointing aspect of the show has to be the Sparrow Academy. Leaving us with the cliffhanger of a rival academy and a living Ben, presented a fun opportunity. However, the Ben we get five seconds of in season two is essentially the Ben that’s carried over the course of the whole season. Despite some cool powers (bird vision, spitting psychedelic venom), none of the Sparrows get enough development to make you really care. Meaning a cool opportunity for expansion leaves you just waiting until we can get back to the characters we know and love.
Technically, this third season is a bit of a mixed bag. As the brainchild of musician and graphic novel co-creator Gerard Way, the way the show uses music has always been top-class. The “I Think We’re Alone Now” scene from the first season is still iconic and worth watching occasionally. It may be topped in the opening scene of this season. A Footloose-inspired scene may be the pinnacle of this show’s sonic genius. Are some of the song choices perhaps a little too on the nose? Perhaps, but generally I get a kick out of them. Though the visuals I think have generally been wonky at times, I found I noticed it more this season. While I don’t know if COVID impacted things, some of the green screen utilized this season is truly jarring. Even the umbrellas (and sparrows for this season) that are always shoehorned into the opening credit drop seemed to be a little lackluster.
I know that was me going on for a bit on my annoyances, but it really was a case of what the show did badly sticking out like a sore thumb when compared to the vast majority of the season that I found to be the show’s usual brand of entertaining. Despite its noticeable warts, it remains a worthwhile binge — and a rarity for me recently, in the fact that it stuck to its normal episode length for its usual 10 episode run.
If you’ve enjoyed the show up to season three, there’s plenty of entertainment (and a nice wrinkle teased at the end) to keep you coming back for a potential fourth.
Score: 7/10
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