dysfunctional families have never been so great

I've heard that in recent times, Netflix was not doing as well with its comic book adaptations. There have been many ups and downs with the Marvel shows, the majority of them having not maintained their original forces from season to season and currently yielding like a fly. No matter the recent wave of disappointment on the front of the movies, including Polar, Mads Mikkleson. How did Netflix manage to adapt The Umbrella Academy, the surrealist and offbeat comics of Dark Horse, written by Gerard Way and drawn by Gabriel Bá?

The original comics and the show have the same
no elevator: forty-three infants are inexplicably born randomly,
unconnected women who showed no signs of pregnancy the day before. Seven of
these kids are adopted by billionaire industrialist Sir Reginald
Hargreeves, who created The Umbrella Academy to prepare his "children" for a
mission to save the world.

Unfortunately, the best mouse plans and
Billionaire industrialists often go wrong. In adolescence, the family separates
the University Umbrella Academy is dissolved for good. Fast forward to
today, and the five surviving members, grown up, meet when they receive
the news of Hargreeves' death.

Regarding the "weird" adaptations, up to now The Umbrella
Academy has other adaptations to beat, hands down. Not only does it develop a lot
further on some concepts barely addressed in the comic strip, but the cast fully,
and deliciously, embodies their characters in a very realistic way. Each
former members of the Academy have time to breathe to develop their personality
stories. It was not easy to grow up with the Hargreeves, and each of
the team accumulated some problems during their course of rock up to
adulthood. Less than anything we did not give them a name (their "mother" robot did it
this), but rather numbered by Hargreeves in order of utility.

In the mix, we find Number One, a.k.a Spaceboy / Luther (Tom
Hopper), with the gift of super-strength. Hargreeves has raised it to be the
leader of the group, which in turn made Luther the last loyalist of the party.
family. Number two, the Kraken / Diego (David Castañeda), is a hard-headed vigilante with
infallible powers of throwing knives that offended Luther's position
his own way.

Number three, the rumor / Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampma) can manipulate reality into
beginning a sentence with "I heard a rumor …", a talent that brought Allison
fame, fortune and a lot of suffering. Number four, a.k.a. Session / Klaus
(Robert Sheehan) can speak with the dead, a traumatic superpower that he
removes with drugs and alcohol.

Number five (Aidan
Gallagher) did not win a name because he accidentally traveled back in time
future, and is missing – presumed dead. Thanks to timey-wimey
manipulations, number five manages to come back to the present but keeps
the appearance of the day he left as a child. Number six, the Horror / Ben
(Ethan Hwang), is really dead and appears regularly
only to Klaus.

Finally, number seven, Vanya (Ellen Page), is the only "normal" person in the family. Born without powers, Vanya grew up as the pariah of The Academy, with little or no influence on family issues. Calming, confident and taking medicine against anxiety, Vanya is comforted by her only talent: the violin.

So it's our dysfunctional family, our warts, our superpowers
and all. Told in a combination of flashbacks and current news, The
Umbrella Academy does not make prisoners with the way it launches this tumultuous
Russian mountains. The show does not dwell on unimportant issues, such as "how
do these children even come into existence? ". There is enough going on here as is, of
circumstances surrounding Hargreeves' death to murderers who travel back in time,
mysterious missing documents, family conflicts and, of course, an apocalypse
who needs to prevent.

Although death can normally bring out some skeletons
closet, it'll be a lot more interesting when this family has
superpowers. The show deals masterfully with these famous children as adults,
with dealing with all the problems and baggage that come from them
education, their talents and their strained relationships.

In many science fiction / fantasy and television movies
shows, there is a common trope known as "Mr. Exposure. "It's usually a
character in a role of "fish out of the water" who must have explained everything
himself, helping the screenplay to present his presentation in a slightly less
forced that of habit. Here, there is no such character. You are basically thrown into
the deep end when it's intrigue, but believe me, it's a good thing.

In a way, all we are, it is a bit guilty to see voyeurs in a separate family going through a dark and troubled time. We discover the secrets, tragedies and triumphs of the family as we go along, and most of the time (unless you've read the comics or are you simply really good to guess) we discover these things at the same time as the team. We learn from them as much as they learn from each other.

Dotted with family drama, there is
also a generous amount of action, with coordinated flashy fight scenes showing
out of the powers of the siblings, children and adults. These actions
the scenes are explosive, violent and generally accompanied by good music. Oh and
you dance a little, but I let you see it yourself.

The Umbrella Academy also has an unusual aesthetic,
a bit like our reality but not really. It's the little things that add up, or
do not add in some cases. This adds an extra flavor to the experience and is
something else to enjoy.

For some, the pace may be a little slow at first, but I have never been particularly interested in a slow start, especially if the principle is interesting from the start. This is certainly not slow and at the end of the first episode, I became hooked. We only touched episode 6 with the critics viewer and, when I finished watching the last episode, I was crazy. Not to the show, but to the fact that I now have to wait another two weeks to find out what's going on. For me, this means that the show receives a large seal of approval.

In my opinion The Umbrella Academy keeps getting better with each episode. More and more dramas are unveiled, more twists are revealed, more interesting characters are introduced and the apocalypse is getting closer and closer. Things happen as you go along, and the show has enough to keep you engaged all the way through. Much of this commitment comes from the leading players who occupy most of the time on the screen with nuanced and sincere performances.

The Umbrella Academy will be inaugurated on February 15, 2019.

Last update: February 1, 2019