Hey 3.5 readers.
BQB here.
I just watched the first episode of Umbrella Academy. If you’ve watched more, I’d thank you to not give away any spoilers. I will eventually return to this fine blog to discuss the first season.
My initial impression is its great. Before I saw it, I scoffed for a number of reasons.
- Anything with too many characters tends to be a mess. There’s like 7 main characters here plus supporting characters. Seems destined to be a pot of gumbo where everyone gets lost in the steam, but somehow, everyone gets their moment to shine.
- Movies about long established heroes are great. Movies about new superheroes tend to stink. I’ll give this show credit though. It is based on a Dark Horse Comic so perhaps if newer heroes have a chance to percolate in comics first, then they’ll shine on the screen.
- It reminded me of Watchmen, which everyone said was genius but I thought stunk. Again, a bunch of heroes you hadn’t heard of before, all thrown at us at once, each getting less than five minutes to show their power. Somehow that was lame but this looks good.
The plot thus far is that in 1989, 40 (I think that’s the number) children were born immaculately on one day. The mothers had not been pregnant previously. The kids just popped out unexpectedly.
An eccentric, reclusive billionaire with a penchant for collecting exotic things adopts 7 of these kids. He starts a school for superheroes in his house, training his new wards to use their powers.
His methods turn the kids into (mostly) powerful grownups. Some have gone on to do great things. Others flounder and fail. All blame their problems on their father’s cold, uncaring aloofness. The only source of love the children ever had was their father’s robot wife and monkey butler.
By the way, is there something wrong with me that I think it would be awesome to have a robot wife and monkey butler? Thus far, there has been little explanation as to how the robot wife and monkey butler came to be but I’ll keep my fingers crossed for more on that in future episodes. Ironically, in a series with 7 heroes, the robot wife and monkey butler pique my interest the most.
Not that the heroes are slouches. Overall, the first episode was cinematic. Lots of cool fights and special effects. Cinematic quality. Had this been laid out in a movie that I paid money to see, I would have walked away happy.
Netflix really upped their game here. I’ll reserve judgment until I’ve watched the first season but so far, I am impressed and willing to watch more.
STATUS; Shelf-worthy.
Bookshelf Battle 