What makes The Umbrella Academy so thoroughly mediocre?

The Umbrella Academy, based on the comic book series of the same name, is Netflix’s latest addition to its collection of superhero shows and films. The series premise is certainly a departure from the usual tropes of cosmic radiation or lab experiments gone wrong. 43 children were born on the same day to mothers who had previously shown no signs of pregnancy: seven children, who begin to display strange powers, were subsequently adopted by eccentric adventurer Sir Roger Hargreeves. The series begins with them reuniting upon his death.

If there is one phrase to sum up the show, it is probably “hit or miss”. Some aspects show great promise; the soundtrack is generally successful in mood creation, whilst the visuals fit the dark and gloomy impending apocalypse feel. However, the cast and characters are a thoroughly mixed bag. Ellen Page does a good job of playing the awkward outcast who is left out of the group due to her lack of powers, but Tom Hopper’s attempts to portray the gruff but caring Luther are fairly wooden. Robert Sheehan does an excellent job as the scatterbrained drug addict who can communicate with the dead, but his character is written as over-the-top irritating and a bit too quirky. The rest of the performances are solid, but nothing to write home about.

The show relies heavily on overtly obvious foreshadowing and clumsy exposition

The limits of the characters’ superpowers are also never really explained or defined, and the team use their powers surprisingly little for a superhero show. One character can summon eldritch horrors to devour his enemies, another can teleport through time and space, while another has the extraordinary ability to throw knives around corners. Hopper’s character is supposed to have super strength but also loses a fist fight to a slightly overweight middle-aged man.

[Spoilers ahead]

In terms of plot, the show relies heavily on overtly obvious foreshadowing and clumsy exposition. In the first episode, Ellen Page and an intelligent monkey are talking (even though it’s never explained who he is, where he comes from, or why he is a monkey): the camera pans to the portrait of the missing Number Five, Page asks how long he’s been missing for, and the monkey replies that he has been missing for over 15 years. It does not come as a surprise when Number Five pops out of a portal 10 minutes later to explain that he accidentally got stuck in the future. Similarly, from the first scene where Page is made to sit out from super-powered activities and is told “there’s absolutely nothing special about you at all”, it is only a matter of time until she is revealed to have powers.

The series’ two secondary antagonists, who are time-travelling hitmen, are hyped up to be a highly competent force of nature…they just come across as worryingly incompetent

There’s never really a presence of a serious threat, and it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that the threatening apocalypse will never happen. The series’ two secondary antagonists, who are time-travelling hitmen, are hyped up to be a highly competent force of nature. However, they just come across as worryingly incompetent. Over the course of one episode, one of them fires at least a thousand shots without ever hitting anything. She also never reloads despite firing more bullets than the Germany army on D-Day, a small detail which is nonetheless immersion breaking.

Ultimately, The Umbrella Academy is still worth a watch if you have ten hours to spare, but has nothing that is particularly impressive or innovative. Indeed, it seems to be part of Netflix’s quantity over quality strategy, where it is pumping out large amounts of content in hopes that something is eventually a hit. The series has the unenviable quality of lasting a bit too long, yet somehow also feeling rushed.