Netflix’s “The Umbrella Academy” would like you to know that superheroes are just as messed up as you are. But, like, in a cool, hip way.
The series, based on comics written by Gerard Way from rock band My Chemical Romance, offers a quirky, dark take on a genre that already has plenty of them
The show (streaming Friday, ★★ out of four) follows a group of grown superheroes, and wonders just how much psychological and emotional damage growing up super might do to kids. Its quirky-cool tone is an attempt to subvert the genre (a lack of connection to the Marvel and DC Comics behemoths also helps), but it still finds a way to bring the story back to comic-book basics, because they’ve got to save the world, after all.
“Umbrella” is a trendy take on the genre that has sex, graphic violence, profanity and black comedy (Syfy’s “Deadly Class” and streaming service DC Universe’s “Doom Patrol,” also out Friday, are two more examples).
It's a team-up show but also a family story, like “The Incredibles” but with more drugs. The super-siblings of “Umbrella” are among unexplainable phenomenon of 42 women around the globe who became pregnant on the same day and gave birth instantly, although this wild, potentially humanity-changing event is never adequately revisited after an excellent and striking early scene.
More: Netflix's 'Umbrella Academy' rains on the TV superhero status quo
Seven of those kids are adopted by an old, eccentric rich old man, Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore), who coldly raises them, with the help of a robot mom and a chimpanzee butler, as a super team. As adults, they're estranged, each with a different relationship to their powers and their “father,” whose death reunites them.
The group includes super-strong (and super-large) Luther (Tom Hopper, “Black Sails”), an astronaut; mind-controlling Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), whose powers helped her become a movie star; medium Klaus (Robert Sheehan), who struggles with addiction; Vanya (Ellen Page), a shy violinist with no powers; Diego (David Castaneda), the only one who embraces the superhero call of duty; and Number Five (Aidan Gallagher), a potty-mouthed teleporter and time traveler who's an adult in a child’s body for some reason.
Moments of genius enliven the 10-episode “Umbrella,” especially in its first and late episodes. A scene in which the team dances to the same song in separate rooms is gorgeously shot and deeply emotional. For an unsubtle concept, “Umbrella” is at its best when it calms down.
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