I wasn't planning to watch this series because it didn't seem like a high-quality show for me, and it reminded me of Doom Patrol, which is a show I watched a few months ago but since it wasn't very entertaining for me I decided to drop it after finishing season 1.
The decision to start watching Umbrella Academy was because a family member was interested in the show, and since there aren't many new movies coming out then I figured I could just give this series a try. Last night I finished season 1 and it was ok, it is just a little bit better than Doom Patrol, which I feel is like its main competitor. The Boys, on the other hand, is a completely different show so there is no comparison between the 2.
In Umbrella Academy, we have a bunch of young adults with different powers. When they were children, they were adopted by a strange man that raised them and trained them to harness their power. This old man was very strict and authoritarian so the adopted children have some resentment towards him. The reason why they decided to get together again as adults is similar to what happens in Doom Patrol, the old man is gone, apparently for good. Another similarity with Doom Patrol is that these siblings are misfits as well.
The powers I saw in season 1 were super strength, super aim when throwing knives, the ability to teleport not only in space but also in time, convincing people of a particular by whispering it to them, manifesting the dead ones, and another character has awesome powers but this would be a major spoiler so I won't mention it.
The series has a lot of extremely silly moments, in the first episode for example, ended with all the characters doing a super stupid dance. In another episode, a brother and a sister begin dancing as if they were a couple, one of the characters is extremely stupid and almost sissy-like. What I enjoyed the most was actually the final episodes because there were major events and a huge revelation that would change the dynamic between the siblings forever.
The main plot in the show is to stop the apocalypse itself, the reasons behind this end of the world scenario are unknown in the beginning, but the ultimate goal for these misfit siblings is to find a solution. There is also a group of people that are almost a mirror image of the Eternals from The End of Eternity fiction book from Asimov, I suspect the writers of this story had some inspiration from Asimov because the similarities cannot be a coincidence.
The ending was good enough so I think I will begin watching season 2 soon enough. If you are looking for a superhero show that is somehow original and slightly better than Doom Patrol then this one could be a good choice.
The best
- A good ending with an exciting new discovery.
The worst
- A lot of silliness throughout the episodes.
More information: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1312171/ Review: AAA In numbers: 7/10