Hello everyone! Welcome to yet another TV Tuesday! This week I’m going to be talking all about season two of The Umbrella Academy.

After the first season ends on an apocalypse the second picks up with each of our characters spread out between 3 years, 1960-1963. Each of them rebuilds their life after being thrust into this new world.

Luther starts fighting, keeping a low profile; Klaus starts a cult… how very like Klaus; Vanya doesn’t remember anything from her past life and when she gets hit by a car she’s brought in to live with a new family on a farm; Diego ends up in an insane asylum; Alison becomes a civil rights activist.

And then Five shows up to try and bring them all together, because apparently in six days the world is going to end… again.

Their mission is to stop JFK from being assassinated because apparently it’s their father who may be behind it.

Once Five gets them all back together, not everyone is on board to see their father.

This season has been so good. Not only is the music super on point yet again, I honestly think I like it better than last season, but just the characters are strong than they were in the previous season and seeing the representation of queer and Black people in this season has been done well.

I like that because they went back to the 1960s they didn’t gloss over how Black people were treated, they dove right in and showed it how it was. It was heartbreaking to watch, but important to understand. It also felt like a parallel to our world today because even though it’s not as bad as it was then, it’s still horrible the way people think that Black lives don’t matter.

Alison is using her 2019 knowledge to try and make a difference, while at the same time she doesn’t want to use her power because who knows what that could do to the future. But she gets caught using her power and her husband can’t understand what she said to the cop to get him to go away and he basically thinks she’s on the cop’s side. But when she decides to tell him the truth, and the whole truth, he gets a little frightened by her power. I do love that he still loves her no matter where she came from or what she can do.

I also like how they explored the queer rep in the 1960s because that was heavily frowned upon and Klaus, oh Klaus, tries to talk to the love of his life… 1) before they even met and 2) before the guy knew he was gay that he loved him and that goes sour… fast. With only 6 days left until the end of the world, Klaus just wanted him to know.

Then there’s Vanya; she ends up falling for her friend, Sissy. Once Vanya finds out she has siblings and that she was the one who created the mess they were in she needs Sissy to know she loves her and that she wants to run away with her… but Sissy isn’t willing to leave her husband. This totally destroys Vanya.

Diego, oh my Diego. I don’t know what it is with him but I have the biggest crush on him this season… he’s still the broody wants to fight everyone guy… but he’s got a bigger heart and my god the hair and beard… 😍. He escapes the asylum with one of the inmates, Lila. The two of them make a very cute couple and you can tell he really likes her and as the season progresses we start to see how much she starts to fall for him more than he for her… I think it’s actually really cute. … but I had my suspicions… at first when I saw her with The Handler I figured they were working together… not that she was her mother. Interesting.

Obviously not her real mother, but adoptive daughter, who she uses as her sidekick. After being demoted on her case with the Umbrella Academy she’s off to do the work herself.

It’s also really interesting to see Mr. Hargreeves in the past with all his experiments, and to see Pogo as a baby and their mother as a real person and not this automaton that they grew up with. When Diego sees her and goes “Mom” I thought that was funny; obviously she has no idea who this man is.

When they all meet their father in the past, he doesn’t believe that he adopted children because he hates children, but when he finds out they have powers, well that intrigues him. But it isn’t enough to help them get back to 2019… so Five must make a deal with the devil, almost literally.

He goes to the Handler, which side note here, I feel like we didn’t get a good sense of who the commission was last season, sure we had Hazel and Cha Cha who worked for the commission, but it wasn’t really clear what they did and who they [I use this term lightly] protect.

This season we see that the commission ensure the timeline stays on track and nothing deviates from it… but I can tell you right now there have been many deviations to the timeline.

When Five does her dirty work and kills people from the commission who would stop her from being the Queen Bee, she in return gives him a suitcase portal to take them back to 2019, the catch, they have 90 minutes.

Now Five must get the team together so they can all go back together. Well, that’s easier said than done.

The only two who show up are Luther and Klaus. Diego gets kidnapped and drugged by Lila as she wants him to be part of the commission; Vanya gets arrested because they think she’s a Russian spy and Alison gets attacked by these Swedish guys… who by the way, I still have no idea what their true purpose was. The Handler wanted them to kill for her but they’ve been hella unsuccessful as two of the three brothers die.

Now Five needs to come up with another solution. This kid is so determined, and I love how he’s the one who keeps their family together, he’s the glue and I love him.

He decides he needs to go and meet his 1963 version of himself, steal the suitcase portal so they can time travel out. Again, this is easier said than done because once you get close to yourself there are all these symptoms that happen, sweating, itching, irrational anger and Luther has to be the buffer between them. Aw poor Luther, he’s such a gentle soul, and honestly I don’t think the person for the job, but he did okay… although he could never tell who to believe as young and old Five kept telling Luther to kill the other.

By accident the portal opens and young Five is able to shove old Five back to 2019.

I love how this brought elements back from the first season, like the whole portal from the first episode when everything starts and we see Five come back as a kid; it’s interesting to be on the other side and see how that happened… only this time, the older version of Five goes back, which totally sets the timeline off, or you know, you would think.

Meanwhile, speaking of setting off the timeline, Vanya gets arrested and while arrested she begins to use her powers to start this vortex that may become a bomb to blow up… again. What I don’t understand is the connection she has to Sissy’s son. He is autistic but he’s really warmed up to Vanya and when Vanya gets taken away and she uses her powers, he feels it too. Is the boy a part of Vanya?

What stops Vanya from combusting is Ben. Oh how I’ve loved Ben this season. We didn’t get much of him last season, but he really shined in this one. We all know he died as a kid, but as been living with Klaus for years. This season he got to experience inhabiting Klaus’s body and being a person again.

I think my favourite moment of his was when he’s in Klaus’s body and he has to leave the cult and since Klaus’s cult is built on song lyrics that haven’t been written yet in the 1960s Ben shouts “Oh my god, we’re back again, brothers, sisters everybody sing” the beginning lyrics to Everybody by the Backstreet Boys was hilarious!

Anyways, Ben visits Vanya in her mind and he realizes as he’s there that his purpose, the reason he’s stuck around with Klaus all these years was for this moment, to help Vanya so that she doesn’t go off like a bomb. He does such a good job with her, he’s kind and gentle and when his work has been completed he begins to fade. I was sad to see Ben go; I really hope they can fit him into a plot next season (I don’t officially know that there will be another season, but I seriously hope and pray there is one.)

Vanya doesn’t explode, but Diego is still on his mission. The whole reason he was in the asylum in the beginning was because he kept telling anyone who would listen, JFK was going to be assassinated and no one believes him. When he escapes the commission training he finds out all he needs about when it’s going to happen. He already knows his father is behind it, but when everything is said and done… it’s not his father.

I think in the beginning it was going to be Mr. Hargreeves, but when his future children show up and start messing around and filling ideas in their mother’s head, things begin to change and he doesn’t want to be a part of it anymore.

When Mr. Hargreeve meets with his men he can’t believe they went ahead with it anyways… then he’s going to leave, but instead what looks like a fight is about to ensue, but he pulls a mask off to reveal he’s an alien. I remember this plot from the comics, but ehhh I don’t know how I feel about it in the show. Maybe if they dive deeper into in the next season (again if there is one) I’d like more of a backstory on how this fits into everything because right now it feels mega random.

That season finale! So much to unpack.

So now that the explosion was defused, the president dead, they still need to figure a way home. But first Vanya knows that something is wrong with Harlan; I completely forgot that she used her power to save him, so this explains why he’s connected to Vanya.

Only Vanya can get through to him, but guess who shows up… the Handler and Lila. It’s a showdown, them versus the Umbrella Academy. What we learn very quickly is that Lila can mirror all of their powers. At first I really hated her for that, but then when they realize she’s one of them, just misguided, I felt bad for her.

Lila is pissed at Five because he killed her parents, or well he was ordered to kill them, but guess who gave that order… The Handler. She wanted them dead because she knew of Lila’s powers and she wanted Lila because all she wants is power.

Diego has a beautiful heart to heart with Lila about being one of them when the Handler comes and shoots them all, killing them, but leaving Five wounded. Then the Swedish guy comes and shoots The Handler… I literally screamed “The Swedish guy back with a purpose” when he showed up. But I was like, this can’t be the end of it, they can’t all die. But then Five time travels to right before they all get shot, he’s able to push her out of the way and the Swedish guy still comes through and kills her… it couldn’t be more perfect! Then Lila takes the briefcase and escapes to the future.

We later find out that any of the briefcases from the commission will take them back home. Vanya wants Sissy and Harlan to come with her, but Sissy still says no because she doesn’t want to put Harlan through anything more.

So now Harlan is one of them.

They finally make it back to 2019… but things are different… as I thought they would be.

First off, their father is still alive, but he knew they would be back, and there’s a new crew in town… the Sparrow Academy… and Ben is their leader, he’s no longer dead. OH MY GOSH! I need the new season!

I definitely loved this season so much more than the first. I don’t think I’ve wanted to be a part of this family more than I have this season. They are so dysfunctional, but the love they have for one another is so heartwarming. Plus, I love time travel so it was just so much fun to watch.