One of Netflix’s newest series, “The Umbrella Academy” is a perfectly average sci-fi end-of-the-world superhero story. Centered around what essentially amounts to the X-Men if Charles Xavier was a narcissistic psychopath incapable of love, the show tells the story of seven dysfunctional superhumans who were adopted as infants by a man who wanted nothing more than to capitalize on their remarkable abilities. It makes ample use of flashbacks, but the majority of the story is told a number of years later when the adopted children have all grown up. It’s an admittedly interesting premise. I found the execution of the first episode left something to be desired, but the show has potential.
From an acting perspective, I was underwhelmed. Ellen Page, a personal favorite of mine, is the biggest name in the show, but even she is limited somewhat by her character, who doesn’t see much development in the first episode. Furthermore, most of her emotional scenes in that episode consist of Page talking at a CGI creation, which you can tell further limits her ability to react convincingly. The other actors all did their best, but none of them were able to convince me they were really feeling the emotions their characters supposedly were feeling. Aside from Page, Robert Sheehan gave the best performance, and only managed to do so because his role mostly involved acting crazy and tormented. No performance was bad, per se, and the acting certainly didn’t ruin the show for me. It just didn’t do it any favors, at least not in the first episode.
Story-wise, the show has me intrigued. The first episode teases the save-the-world plotline of the rest of the season and offers just enough information as to be mysterious. The show makes it clear that its main selling point is the hugely dysfunctional relationship between the former child-heroes and their late father, but it also assures audiences that there will be plenty of high-stakes action as well.
Speaking of action, the two action scenes in the first episode were not as well done as they could have been. They are both set to deceivingly upbeat music, which is usually a safe choice for action scenes, but neither one is very well-choreographed. Furthermore, I thought the scenes underutilized the superhumans’ abilities.
There are several stunning shots within the episode, and the cinematography is consistently beautiful throughout. Netflix may not be known for incredible scripts, but they sure are professional. The camerawork is high quality.
Overall, I’d say “The Umbrella Academy” is worth checking out. Nothing about the first episode was particularly fantastic, but nothing about it was bad either. The plot seems interesting, the premise promises plenty of emotional scenes in the future, and there’s enough mystery to keep you guessing about what happens next. The show is equal parts family drama and save-the-world superhero story, and that’s enough to convince me to give the rest of the season a try. Well, that and Ellen Page. This show is no “Juno” or “Tallulah” or even “Super,” but hopefully the later episodes give her character more development and allow her to stretch her very capable wings.
Keagan Miller is a psychology junior and columnist for The Battalion.