Welcome everyone to the long-awaited return of the One Hour Impression series. For those of you that have missed it previously, this series is where I pick a new or popular tv show either streaming or non-streaming and give my impressions on the first hour of the show, which is normally two or three episodes of the show.
In this week’s One Hour Impression, I’m looking at the Netflix show The Umbrella Academy, based on the comic book series of the same name created and written by Gerard Way and illustrated by Gabriel Ba. In case you haven’t seen the show or read the comic, the basic premise of the show is that at noon one fateful day in October 1989, forty-three women around the world give birth simultaneously apropos of nothing.
The resulting children from these freaky miracle births are tracked down by the eccentric billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves who offers to buy the children from their mothers. Only seven of the children end up being adopted by the billionaire who turns them into his own superhero team called The Umbrella Academy.
The children are named by Hargreeves with numbers instead of names, however their robot mother (yes, there’s a robot mother named Grace) gives them names; Luther (number 1), Diego (number 2), Allison (number 3), Klaus (number 4), the eponymous Five, Ben (number 6) and Vanya (number 7).
Only six of the children are given missions and sent out into the world while Vanya is excluded and secluded from the rest of the family, the reason given by Hargreeves is that she has no powers of her own.
Spoiler alert for the show if you haven’t seen it and don’t want it spoiled for you but c’mon. You’re clicking on an article about the third season of a Netflix show that premiered back in 2019. If you haven’t seen it by now, I hardly think I’m going to change your mind. Anyway, the spoiler alert is now complete so here we go with the rest of the article.
The first season picks up with the funeral of Hargreeves and the first time all the surviving children of Hargreeves have come together in years and it’s fair to say their paths have diverged from teen superheroes. Luther has returned from the moon after four years, Diego is a vigilante, Allison is a famous actress, Klaus is hooked on drugs, Five is lost in time presumed dead, Ben is actually dead, and Vanya is just there I guess.
The gloomy mood is worsened by the reappearance of Five from a dystopian future hellscape, trapped in his younger body and announcing that the end of the world is upon them, and they are the only ones that can stop it. Before he can relay any more information, he is chased off by the timekeeper organization, The Commission, and its agents Hazel and Cha-Cha.
The season centres around the reunited siblings trying to learn more about their estranged adoptive father. One of the things they do learn is that Hargreeves was right to keep Vanya blind to her powers as throughout the season her powers begin to grow exponentially out of control until she’s on the verge of ending the world. The siblings decide to use Five’s powers to jump back in time to try and prevent the end of the world.
Season two sees the siblings scattered across Dallas in the early 1960s. Five arrives on 25 November 1963, minutes from nuclear armageddon resulting from the failed assassination of JFK but Hazel manages to send Five back ten days in time before he himself is gunned down by Commission agents. Being hunted by Swedish assassins, he manages to find his siblings and band together to save the world from this second apocalypse.
In typical Hargreeves family tradition, shit goes sideways and the family has to jump back to 2019 in the hope that everything will work itself out…
Considering they appear back in their family home now filled with imposters calling themselves The Sparrow Academy, it’s fair to say everything didn’t work itself out. What a way to end that season, bam! A cliffhanger ending just in time for the next season.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. These guys have done saving the world and prevented the assassination of JFK only to become the shooter on the grassy knoll to get home… how can they possibly top it this season?
Yep, season three starts off in the best way. It’s the power of Kevin Bacon, ladies and gentlemen. Not only is this whole scene just a joy to watch, but it also serves as a great way to introduce us to the Sparrow Academy with all their freaky powers like gravity manipulation, spitting hallucinogenic saliva and whatever the fuck that goddamn cosmic cube gets up to over there.
You also get a little insight into all the Sparrows and how they differ from the Umbrellas. For one, they are much more effective as a fighting force. Of course, it probably helps that they seem to have received better training for a longer period. The fact they also didn’t split off to do their own thing also couldn’t have hurt. Anyway, the Umbrellas get trounced spectacularly in the course of one Kenny Loggins power ballad and have to find someplace to lick their wounds.
Now, you might be a bit disappointed that this season’s just going to be a Sparrow Umbrella royal rumble battle royale type situation. For those of you that were expecting something more in the vein of the cataclysmic world-ending events then you’re in luck!
Turns out that messing around with time travel is incredibly complex and dangerous, who knew? The Umbrellas’ appearance and subsequent disappearance in 1963 had a few unforeseen consequences and now the entire universe is going to be obliterated by a black hole that no one has any idea how to stop or even if they can stop it.
If the first episode is anything to go by, this season of Umbrella Academy is bound to be its best yet full of timey wimey shenanigans, kick-ass music and hopefully the Hargreeves on both sides can finally find some peace after this is all over. Can we be that optimistic?
Have you seen season 3 of Umbrella Academy? How do you rate season 3 compared to the rest of the series? Let me know down below.
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-Rohan
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