The Umbrella Academy has become a fan favourite show due to its quirky characters and action-packed adventures. Now, they are back for a third season, which has some highs and unfortunately some lows as well.
In this latest instalment, each episode is full of a lot of fun moments that you won’t forget. The entire season starts off strong, but in the middle, it struggles to keep going. This then causes the middle of the season to be a struggle to watch, as you want to make it through and get back to a point where the season picks back up again.
We start off, with the Hargreaves arriving in an alternate version of the present-day following their time in Dallas in the 60s. The family discovers they have been replaced, due to them confronting their father in 1963 in the previous season. That confrontation has meant that the tutu has been changed. Their father decided to adopt a different set of super-powered children who then formed the Sparrow Academy.
This new season picks up right where the second season finished. In addition to that, there is now a black hole or Kugelblitz in the basement of their old home, which now belongs to the Sparrows. The Sparrows were heavily hinted at in the last season. Yet when we come face to face with them this season, we don’t get a chance to get to know them on a deeper level. They remain quite one-dimensional.
Alongside that, any new characters we meet we struggle to form a connection with them. Also, Any time that is spent with the Sparrows, it feels as if we are just waiting until we get to be back with the original family, the Hargreeves.
Now that the cast has grown so much bigger, there are a lot more characters to deal with. However, that means we don't get to spend much time with all of them to understand them. It also means that there is constantly a lot going on and sometimes it is too much. This causes real pacing issues and moments that should hold a lot of emotional weight are moved on far too quickly.
The original Hargreeves family all have their own motives in this season. They are all still feeling the effects of leaving 1963. In particular, Alison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), is dealing with a lot of trauma and grief that she carries on throughout the seasons. It's nice with all the fast action in this third season, that there is time for Alison and her grief which isn’t overlooked.
It is also great to see how well Viktor (Elliot Page) is doing this season. He has really grown in confidence after coming out as a trans man. This subject was handled really well and felt very natural. At no point did it feel forced, and it was nice to see how all the other characters responded. Which were all very supportive. Now that Viktor has accepted who he is, he can move on and he really comes into his own in this season, which was a joy to watch.
While the lack of Klaus (Robert Sheehan) and Ben (Justin H. Min) is definitely felt in this season. After Ben decided to leave the earthly plane last season, Ben’s presence is still felt, with Min returning as an alternate version of Ben, but the duo made a great double act Now Klaus feels unfocused for the majority of the season as he doesn't have his moral compass anymore.
This third season lacks a lot of focus and direction. It seems to spend too much time on the plot than the characters involved. The start of the season is strong, then it struggles to keep the momentum. In the final three episodes, the momentum picks up once again. The Umbrella Academy is at its strongest when it takes a closer look at this family as it did with season 2. However, this time round they have spent more time on the action and explaining time and space in complicated ways rather than looking at the characters.
A fourth season is on its way, we can only hope that they will follow the pattern of the first couple of seasons that focused on the characters more than the plot. Hence, this third season was good, but not as strong as past seasons. It was a lot of fun, and had some great moments, like the dance battles. It's just a shame that the whole season could keep up the strong momentum that was at the start and at the end.
Performance | 4/5 |
Enjoyment | 3.6/5 |
Overall Rating | 3.8/5 |