Trained from birth to be heroes, The Umbrella Academy now have the apocalypse on their hands (Picture: Netflix)

Every now and again there’s a TV show that surpasses the hype that it’s been given – and Umbrella Academy might just be this year’s example.

Based on the comic books by Gabriel Ba and My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way, the story follows seven children, who were all born with abilities and bought by millionaire Reginald Hargreaves.

Aiming to create his own superhero squad, Hargreaves puts them to work from childhood, putting them through tests to bring out their powers and sending them to save the city.

Fast forward twenty years and to his funeral, and the results of his efforts are anything but perfect.




With seven suddenly mysteriously down to five, the adopted family reunite for the first time in years after going their separate ways.

The Umbrella Academy have to reunite after the death of their ‘dad’ (Picture: Netflix)

Luther has been living on the moon, Klaus has been doing a hell of a lot of drugs, Allison is a movie star in the midst of a divorce, Diego has turned into his own form of vigilante and Vanya just plays violin all the time.

However, they’re forced to somehow overcome their differences when their missing brother Number Five suddenly reappears after being missing for decades – feeling in his 50s but still looking like a pre-teen (it’s a time-jumping thing).

Warning that the end of the world is only eight days away, the gang with the help of their monkey butler Pogo start to try and figure out just how to stop it before it’s too late.

However, overcoming their differences is easier said than done, and there’s a lot of bad blood that sits among them that they have to somehow ignore.

The premise is simple but each character’s relationships to each other and the complicated web it weaves makes this show a stand out. Each in their own way are haunted by their powers and don’t even particularly want them, and they ruin their lives more than saving others.

Robert Sheehan is the standout star of the series (Picture: Netflix)

Throw in two time-travelling assassins, played by Mary J Blige and Cameron Britton, and it’s a winning formula that will leave you stuck to your sofa for the whole ten episodes.

Particular kudos goes to Robert Sheehan, whose character Klaus is by far the most complex and gets put through the ringer and then some across the series run.

Ellen Page playing the shy and timid Vanya is also a stand out performance, especially when she begins to come out of her shell after years of feeling insubordinate to her faux-siblings.

Mary J Blige’s completely cold Cha-Cha is also a hell of a lot of fun to watch, but then again, most of the series is. It’s got a lot of dark undertones but somehow balances that with not taking itself too seriously extremely well.

Number Five’s return to his family home comes with a major warning (Picture: Netflix)

The soundtrack for the show will stick in your head for ages, and brings in an epic blend of pop and rock classics that shouldn’t fit the plot but somehow does it flawlessly.



Superheroes over the past few years have a habit of going down the dark and gritty road – The Umbrella Academy is the perfect antidote.

While the superpowers are a burden, and can be their downfall as much as their strength, the team know how to have fun with it, and the series as a whole never takes itself that seriously.

With Netflix’s Marvel shows dropping one-by-one, The Umbrella Academy couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time for the streaming service, and its nods to its comic-book counterparts make it perfect for well-established fans while not alienating the new ones.

Can Cha-Cha and Hazel fulfill their mission?(Picture: Netflix)

The family unit is amazing to watch, and the whole team, led by their Number One Tom Hopper, seem natural in each others presence as they re-establish where the others are in this day and time.

It’s clear that they have all been affected by their less-than-usual childhoods, but while they are all separate for some reason they can’t help but stand united when the time calls for it.

Which is useful, seeing as its the end of the world and all.

It should also be appreciated that the cast is incredibly diverse and shouldn’t be ignored, which you don’t realise is refreshing to see until you see it.

Thanks to the adoptive background it makes little to no difference to them, and it’s never really acknowledged in any major way, another thing that is incredibly rare. Normally there’s a massive cry of ‘look how diverse we are!’ as it happens. But with this series, they just…are. And they’re family, even if they do literally get within inches of killing each other at times.


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Overall this series will leaves you swept up in its fun and frolics and make you care enough about the characters to worry about their fate. It’s a rarity and I’m excited for season two, keeping all my fingers crossed that it gets there.

Basically, go and watch this show.

The Umbrella Academy is released on Netflix on 15 February.

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