The Umbrella Academy season 2, episode 1 review: Right Back Where We Started

The Umbrella Academy returns for a second season and the first episode follows up on the previous finale’s apocalyptic ending. Warning: spoilers will follow.

After over a year and a half of waiting, it’s finally here. The second season of The Umbrella Academy has arrived. It was last year in February that Steve Blackman (no, not the wrestler) with the help of executive producer Gerard Way (yes, that Gerard Way) brought to life the Dark Horse Comics original about a dysfunctional family of superheroes investigating the murder of their adopted father.

Well, as we learned last season, that murder was actually a suicide crafted to bring these estranged siblings together so that they could stop the end of the world. Which, as we saw in the finale, they inadvertently ended up causing when an energy blast from Vanya struck the moon, sending an asteroid sized chunk into the planet Earth. But Five had the bright idea of sending the team back in team to stop the apocalypse before it even begins.

But as most plans involving this team, this one goes awry.

What’s Elliott’s Deal?

The whole team jumps – or, rather, falls – at different points in time in the early 60’s. Falling back in time much later than everyone else, Five finds himself landing in Nov. 15, 1963, 10 days before the next apocalypse. He’s only able to catch himself up to speed and find his siblings with the help of Elliott, who is obsessed with aliens.

This could just end up being used as a quick way for Five to find Diego and co., but I expect Elliott to be a recurring character. In fact, judging by how season 1 played out (particularly with Leonard’s character), I feel like someone as seemingly insignificant and in the background as Elliott could wind up playing a major factor into the apocalypse somehow. Keep your eyes on him while bingeing.

The Ghostly Adventures of Ben and Klaus

The chemistry between Robert Sheehan and Justin H. Min winds up stealing the show this episode. Sheehan’s consistent performance as Klaus made him the clear standout from last season, but now he gets to bounce off of Min more often now that the latter’s role has been upped from recurring character to a part of the main cast.

The promotion not only allows Ben more time to shine, but seeing Klaus and Ben get increasingly fed up with each other after spending three years together since 1960 makes for some fun comic relief, particularly during a memorable bar scene. If they keep it up, their banter may become one of the season’s biggest highlights.

Operation: Save President Kennedy

Diego falls into a Sept. 1 night in 1963, where his hero complex compels him to take the opportunity to prevent the murder of President John F. Kennedy two months before it’s destined to happen.

Unsurprisingly, skulking outside of a then-innocent Lee Harvey Oswald’s home lands Diego into a psych ward, of which he’s already spent 75 days in by the time Five finds him.

More from TV

• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episodes 1 and 2 review: Aftermath
• The 9 best (and 8 worst) Arrowverse characters
• 10 things nobody wants to admit about The Walking Dead
• Harley Quinn renewed for a fifth season on Max (and it’s well-deserved)
• The Walking Dead: Every TWD spinoff show coming in 2024 and beyond

This is actually a refreshing development for Diego, but already feels like a missed opportunity. Seeing Diego come to grips with his new surroundings whilst being psychoanalyzed could have created some great story fodder for at least a few episodes before he actually needed to join his siblings to save the world.

Season 1 left Diego more or less aimless, apart from evading the police and mourning Detective Patch’s death of course. Giving Diego the physical representation (i.e. a padded room) for his internal isolation this time around would’ve given us a deeper dive into his psyche and character development. Something to show us there’s something more to Diego than his hero complex whilst giving David Castañeda an actual arc to work with.

It’s disappointing to see that he’s already escaped by the end of the episode. On the bright side, there’s at least some intrigue surrounding his reluctant partner in crime, Lila (played by Ritu Arya in a so far entertaining turn) but we could’ve gotten so much more if the show ran with this psych ward plot for a little longer.

Luther Doesn’t Care

Speaking of potential, one storyline that offers more questions than answers is Luther’s, who we learn fell into 1962. In a year’s time, he seems to be working in an underground fight club working for a Mr. Ruby. We don’t know enough about Mr. Ruby just yet, but I’m already seeing parallels in my head between Ruby and Mr. Hargreaves.

There’s a lot of info that still needs to be revealed on what happened to Luther over the course of a year, but the intrigue comes in him refusing to help Five’s quest to stop a new apocalypse in the episode’s closing.

The man who spent the entirety of season 1 leaping into action in the name of all that’s righteous suddenly doesn’t care. That willingness to act made Luther the de facto leader of the group and without him onboard, there may be no Umbrella Academy reunion.

Understanding how Luther went from The Umbrella Academy’s golden boy to some rugged, unmotivated prizefighter is going to be a crucial arc for season 2 that, hopefully, does not end up as much a missed opportunity as the Diego plot point.

Every episode of The Umbrella Academy can be streamed on Netflix. What did you think of the second season opener of The Umbrella Academy? Tell us in the comments below!