The best “Only on Netflix” content yet?
Sure at the time I had seen it advertised at the top of my Netflix app, an algorithm trying to entice me to watch it. And chatting with a work friend at the time, she was sharing Netflix recommendations with me and she had also raved about The Umbrella Academy. However in my mind I had already decided, “nup, it’s just not for me”.
My hesitation were: we’re not into hour long dramas, we’re not fans of the comic book superhero genre, and I usually watch stuff with my wife and she’s even a lesser fan of those for-mentioned genres- so if she didn’t want to watch it, then by association I wasn’t going to watch it either.
But now fast-forward 18 months, and we’re living in a neo-Covid landscape, I’m working from home and now I’ve got my new routine i.e. where I down tools for an hour at lunchtime and I hop onto the spin-bike and watch something that my wife otherwise wouldn’t be into. And 2 weeks ago, out of curiosity I gave The Umbrella Academy a go. And OMG! How freakin’ good is it!?
There were around 3 nights straight, as soon as my wife returned home from work I’d corner her and re-count scene by scene what had transpired from that days’ episode of The Umbrella Academy. My account’s so vivid and detailed that she could experience the series vicariously through me (of course according to me).
And one night I simply asked her, “Hey, do you want to watch an episode with me? As I was finding it hard to wait until the next day to watch the next instalment. But true to form, her answer was “Nup”.
But one morning on the weekend, I had timed my morning spin-cycle perfectly- just as she emerged to have breakfast, I kick-started an episode, so with a captured audience I forced her to watch it with me. Moohaaha. And I managed to get her hooked, line and sinker-ed as well! ….. Ok, full disclosure, she wasn’t hooked immediately but we eventually got there in the end.
My wife watched episode 5 that morning during breakfast, and the next episode which I managed to get her to watch without manipulation nor coercion was episode 7, then 8 and 9 soon followed. And then we hit pause on the brink of episode 10, so we could go back right to the beginning so she could watch from the very start for herself. And although I had to watch those eps a second time, I could honestly say that the Academy was so good, that I didn’t mind, I can almost watch it for a third time if need be.
All I can say is that The Umbrella Academy season 1 has to go down in my books as the best ever “Only on Netflix” show I’ve seen thus far! And I’ve seen a fair few things in the past 5 years that we’ve had the streaming service.
It’s the storyline, it’s the cast, it’s the acting, it’s the special effects, it’s the soundtrack, and it’s the simple fact that a TV series shouldn’t be this good! The Umbrella Academy has taken the once low budget and humble TV show to the next level, where it felt more like a 10 hour motion picture than just a production for the small screen. One word, simply BRILLIANT!
And for those who have not seen it, nor read-up on it. I’ll go back in time to the beginning of this post (where I’d usually provide a synopsis) and tell you now…….
The Umbrella Academy is a 10 episode science fiction superhero drama, based on the Dark Horse comic book of the same name. The main characters of the series are 6 adopted brothers and sisters who all possess super-human abilities, taken in by an eccentric Billionaire who trains them to become a crime-fighting force called The Umbrella Academy. The story takes place in modern day USA (2019), although the setting and the tech (or lack thereof)looks more like the 1950s, where the siblings have to band together to stop the end of the world as we know it. Naturally, one of the sibling’s had witnessed the apocalypse after he jumped too far forward into the future with his super-human abilities and found himself in a post-apocalyptic world- which he then tries for decades to return home, so that he could warn his family, identify the cause of the apocalypse and stop it.
The series uses flashbacks to great effect to fill in the historic gaps of their family’s background (by this stage all the siblings are grown adults); and although the series is quite violent in nature, however the intensity of the scenes are off-set by playing cheery pop-songs during the fight sequences (sometimes incongruous to the action) but to great affect.
From my opinion, the Audio describe is next-level good, so that when I was watching it on my own at first I totally kept up with the actions and the visuals. And one particular aspect which I liked about season one, was that there were never any wasted scenes- each scene had its purpose to progress forward the story and timeline (which can’t be said for Season 2…….).
All in all, although it’s probably not everyone’s cup of tea, due to being a superhero drama and its gratuitous violence (as we sure weren’t either), but The Umbrella Academy is soo good that it might just change your mind.
To start watching The Umbrella Academy season 1 right now, click HERE!
A review of season 2 will follow shortly.
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