Umbrella Academy season 3 review: the ultimate test of the Hargreeves family

The third season of The Umbrella AcademyThe Hargreeves brothers must work together to rescue the world from certain doom. Do you sound familiar? You should because this is also the summary for seasons 1 and 2. The Umbrella Academy.

But that’s not necessarily a bug. Sometimes, resetting plots and settings ad infinitum can be frustrating — and certainly there are moments in this season of The Umbrella Academy that feel like something that’s happened before. Steve Blackman is a showrunner and introduces new characters and plots to the mix. This is both shockingly and startlingly similar, so it’s a lot of information to absorb. The Hargreeves and their unhappiness are the true story. This season will depend on your enjoyment of stories about people who make bad decisions, even when they face certain death.

[Ed. note: This review contains some mild setup spoilers for the third season of The Umbrella Academy.]

Image by Netflix

This season kicks off with the Hargreeves siblings finally back in 2019 — except, due to their shenanigans in 1963, it’s a different version of 2019 than they know. Reginald Hargreeves made the biggest difference. It is notAdopt them as your children. He instead chose seven super-powered children who were born October 1, 1989. They’re now an elite team of crime fighters known as the Sparrow Academy.

Although most members of Umbrella Academy seem resigned to their fate in this bizarre timeline at first, they quickly realize their existence in it seems has triggered something else. Neue There is an apocalypse in the future. Luther (Tom Hopper), Diego (David Castañeda), Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), Klaus (Robert Sheehan), Five (Aidan Gallagher), and Viktor (Elliot Page) must work together with a whole new set of dysfunctional Hargreeves siblings to put a stop to the end of the world.

Its core is The Umbrella Academy is a tragedy — the seven siblings trapped in their patterns, unable to break free of them due to their own fundamental flaws. The set dressing might change, but it’s still the Hargreeves siblings dealing with their own trauma and making terrible choices. For those wanting the Hargreeves siblings to finally learn, grow, and succeed at stopping the apocalypse, the bad news is that this season will feel long, drawn-out, and like it’s echoing many of the same arguments and disagreements.

Photo: Christos Kalohoridis/Netflix

It doesn’t help that the pacing of this season feels a little strange, with the last three episodes especially disjointed, almost as if they’re from a completely separate season entirely. The bigger mysteries revealed in the later episodes could do with more buildup initially, but then again, there is so much groundwork to lay with the new timeline, the new characters, and everyone’s shifting motives. Last season benefited from the audience already being familiar enough with the characters that tossing them into a new setting ended up nicely developing them — because, yes, of course Klaus started a cult and Allison is at the forefront of the civil rights movement and Diego got tossed into a psychiatric hospital.

Some plot elements are given more attention this time, which makes it feel very uneven. The main driving force for the last three episodes, particularly, doesn’t get much buildup till it suddenly becomes the most important thing in the universe. Other important plot threads are also gathered and put to rest quickly without too much fanfare. Despite these unbalanced plot elements, the Hargreeves family remains at center stage.

So with a whole new cast of characters this season and more lore (not to mention a whole new 50 years or so affected by the Umbrellas’ 1963 antics), there’s a whole lot of moving parts. But for those invested in dysfunctional family members that are both each other’s saving grace and ultimate downfall, the addition of a family unit who just might be more powerful (and certainly better at the whole teamwork thing) provides a fun contrast for the Umbrella Hargreeves to play against.

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All three seasons are united by a common thread. The Umbrella AcademyThe Hargreeves brothers and their all-consuming fuckery. In the first season, everyone was at each other’s throats more or less; in the second, after being scattered across different points of the 1960s, they ended up finding comfort and joy in their reunions. This season is a bit of both — after messing up yet again, tensions are high, and the presence of another (seemingly better) family also exacerbates it all. Still, since they’re the only people who can relate, they find some sense of solidarity in one another as the end of the world looms (again).

There may be moments when it is possible to go further. Allison and Diego — the only two siblings who are people of color — confiding in each other about being trapped in the 1960s, for instance, could lend itself to some deeper interrogation, instead of just being an excuse for Allison to harden. But while the characters perpetually bicker, it’s different from the frosty animosity in season 1. We’ve seen them get along this time, and we know that deep down they do love each other — it’s just after a lifetime of being pit against one another and subjected to brutal training routines, they’re still processing all that trauma. Even if they try to make things better, it’s still possible for them to repeat the same mistakes or fall into the same routines. Although it can be frustrating, this is what makes sense. The Hargreeves siblings might grow as individuals, but they’re ultimately trapped in a prison of their own design, shackled to one another and dragged down by whoever their weakest link may be.

Image by Netflix

Although the Sparrows are initially a complex group of characters, eventually they fit into established patterns. It helps that the two families have a shared point: Ben, who in the Umbrella Academy universe was a sweet boy who died tragically (and whose ghost stuck around with Klaus in previous seasons); in the Sparrow Academy, he’s the cutthroat, cocky Number Two of the family. The Sparrows provide an interesting contrast to the Umbrellas, a family that seems like it gets along on the surface, but in reality can’t stand each other. Toss in Diego’s unhinged kinda-ex, Lila (Ritu Arya), who catapults herself right into the mix of things, as well as this timeline’s version of the Hargreeves patriarch, and this season is almost at carrying capacity for just how many characters and dynamics it can juggle. Once it’s all woven together with the individual groups budding out, it can be quite enjoyable.

Season of The Umbrella AcademyIs it a Lots. It has so many. And yet, it’s also the same as it’s always been. It may have new characters, new locations, and an upcoming world-ending disaster, but it’s still a story about siblings who are incredibly good to each other and love one another more than anything.

It comes down to this: The Umbrella Academy always delivers. Because the Hargreeves sisters keep fiddling up, the reason why the world is ending keeps changing. This is the third time it’s happened and as the show continues to be successful, it’s likely they will fail way more than they succeed. This is frustrating but also deliciously satisfying. People who are drawn to the cycles of tragedies repeated and familial love, as both a source for strength and weakness, will find it empowering. The Umbrella Academy cOntinues is as addictive to viewers as Hargreeves’ family.

Third seasonUmbrella AcademyNetflix will release the movie on June 22.