Thoughts 💭 on The Umbrella Academy Season 3 so far:
Took a break in mid of ep3 to gather my thoughts.
Impression of this season is a bit of a mixed bag. I feel like they’re introducing too many material and having trouble keeping up with all of them while the old stuff that they had are barely or halfheartedly addressed.
My biggest hangups are Grace, Marcus, the Sloane x Luther thing,and just the wasted potential of the Sparrows in general and ofc Ben. Still I love how thematically consistent the show is with their themes.
(Now, like I said, I haven’t finished the series so I might change my mind on of these by the end. And my opinions are very subjective, aight👌)
Grace. Why did they do that to her? No clue. Is the weirdness on brand? Yes. Do I have to like it? No. Why?
Wasted potential. She could’ve been a source of tension between the two families. Addressing how the Sparrows treat her and why, and maybe having some existential discussions with each other and maybe a source of internal conflict regarding their concept of family and in the end, the umbrellas affirming that she may be a robot but she’s still their mother regardless of who their birth parents are (well I hope since I haven’t finished the season yet but my expectations are kinda low now).
Marcus. I think the creators deemed him too competent to stay in the long run tbh, which is hilarious but also annoying on how they don’t know how to address it. They better bring him back.
If he stayed, he would’ve made a good anti-villain/hero and might provide a good challenge for the umbrellas that aren’t the Commission OR some good internal conflict between the sparrows if he decided to side w the ☂ wc would then put them in the outsider’s perspective of how much fuckery the Hargreeves operate with (no matter how altered and played w totally new characters). An awareness and acknowledgment that this may have been them in another timeline, shinier and better fighters maybe, but still the issues they all have would still be there.
And maybe them realizing that they don’t want any other family besides each other cause they’re enough. “We’re gonna discover smth that would make us feel shittier than we already are but I would still want to discover that with you” kind of take (a sentiment learned from Everything Everywhere All at Once wc is climbing to be one of my most fave films ever).
The Sloane x Luther thing.
Ugh. Sighs. They have good chemistry- it’s ok- just sighs
Incestuous or not, it still feels forced and just another material added to the pile that won’t be resolve satisfactorily by the narrative. They have so much material they could focus on. In fact, I think they could take away all the romance parts and focus on just the family, their family hijinks, healing, maybe making long term friends along the way would honestly be more satisfying. Is it a Hollywood thing or Steve wanting to direct a romantic movie in the future idek
The Sparrows. They are Awesome, I Love Them, and I hope they were fleshed out more. Their Dickheadedness can remain as it is. I enjoy it. Look how they made a bitch out of Reginald! I can’t be more happier. Let them be the Academy of Mean Girls 💋
Still. I wanna see more of their inner-workings and see them act as foils/parallels to the Umbrellas istg that would be so much more fun. I’m looking forward to seeing more of them as the series goes on. I love Fei, she has this very steady and determined aura to her and you can see her ambition but you can also see that she and most of her siblings don’t think they have anything beyond the lives they were molded into which they reinforced all the way to adulthood. Sloane wants to get out of that mindset, Jayne and Alphonso are indifferent to it, and I think Christopher does it because he thinks it’s cool and his fam does it tbh
Ben. Yo, this man is such a hot mess and so mean I would occasionally clutch my hand to my heart as I feel it shatter because he is the biggest case of how the parenting affects these children. We got two Bens for comparison and suffice to say Reginald is terrible and both sets of children deserve better. I hope they focus on that.
I wish their grief was shown more. I feel like Klaus and Allison are the only ones heading to that Heavy Angsty territory this season (don’t get me wrong I love it).
Still, like I said thematically wise their incredibly consistent which I appreciate. Five and Klaus bonding was GOLDEN.
Honestly with the additions we have this season I really want to see more of Allison and Diego dynamic (what a wonderful knife-twisting that would make), more of Allison and Five (I love how softly he talks with her being very considerate w her grief but also YO THATS NOT ENOUGH he had more scenes w Lila rip), Viktor and Allison future conflict ayyy I can smell it happening
Klaus, Allison, and Viktor bonding over lost loves in the 60s, Klaus and the fam reminiscing about Ben. Them listening to Klaus’ stories of tHEIR Ben’s antics. Viktor and Klaus bonding bcoz UM HELLO?? Why are the queerest people of this family not bonding that’s a freakin crime in storytelling istg.
Well, I shall calm myself down.
Deep breaths for my fellows who feel the same. Remember canon is a sandbox Fanfiction can play in.
