This show was just released on netflix and I have already binged the entire thing, and liked it more than I expected.
I love this show because it's about a weird, messed up family of super heroes. I've never been a huge fan of super hero shows or movies, but this one was less serious and had comedic elements. I often forgot they had powers and they just seemed like an everyday dysfunctional family, fighting about everyday problems. But then you're reminded one guy lived on the moon for 4 years, or that number 5 is actually a grown man stuck in his younger body.
My favourite characters were Klaus and Five. Klaus was funny and dramatic and everyone overlooks him because he's an addict, but he wasn't as useless as they thought. Like Vanya, I'd say Klaus was also neglected and pushed to the side of the group, and hell, when he gets taken, tortured and goes back in time to fight in a war and lose someone he loves, no one really cares. His power of talking to the dead was pretty neat and we get to see him have a relationship with their dead brother, Ben. Then there's Five, who seemed very bored and uninterested in everything and considered himself smarter than the rest, even though he looked the youngest and was still wearing a school uniform.
I didn't understand Allison and Luther's relationship, they were crushing on each other as kids and they have some tension between them when they're older, even though Allison had a kid with another man. Don't know what happened to them, where this tension came from, and even though they were adopted they were raised together as siblings so the whole thing was weird and cringey. Even if they weren't siblings, there was not much depth here and when they were having a moment I just wanted it to be over.
Diego was a well rounded character, clearly angry at the world and his past but loved his 'mom' and wanted to help people. His anger usually drives him to do good, but he can also be irrational because of it. The best scene was him beating up Hazel and Five nonchalantly telling him to stop.
Vanya was a really interesting character in my opinion. She had an isolated childhood and was always left out of training and missions, which we later find out was because her powers were strong and she couldn't control them. I thought older and younger her were too different, where younger her would have no emotions and wore a blank face, but older she had a good range of them, especially after going off her meds. Her childhood really messed her up and while she did get crazy and destructive at the end, she's not all bad.
That's why I really love the ending to this show. They don't kill her, or talk her out of it with reason. She does destroy the world. But they still love her and Five brings them back in time so they can start over and avoid this ending. It shows them as their younger selves. A new beginning for them, and for Vanya, where her powers won't be ignored and she won't be neglected.
It's a happy ending for the season, but not in a conventional way, and I love that. I'd love to see where it goes from there.
Someone (I forget who, probably Klaus) mentions that as kids Vanya would get upset if a bug got stepped on. She was not born evil or angry, she was actually quite empathetic. This really empathizes how our childhoods affect us and how there is good and bad in each of us. Imagine how different Vanya would be if she were included in The Umbrella Academy and grew up the same way as her siblings, and with her siblings. They were raised to help people, she was raised to sit back and watch them help people. When she is destroying the Academy near the end, she looks into her siblings bedrooms and has flashbacks of them telling her to leave them alone. Those are her memories of her family. Being raised different wouldn't have just prevented the whole causing-the-end-of-the-world thing, but it would have stopped her from being so lonely and victimized. Maybe even stopping her from writing the book.
While none of this erases the bad things Vanya did at the end, it does have a lot to say about the way we treat people. No one deserves to feel like that. Allison mentioned this when she was talking about her daughter and saying she would not want her treated the way they treated Vanya as kids. They didn't realize at the time what they were doing to her, but Allison wanted to make up for it when she did.
There were also a few cute family moments, like Luther locking Vanya up and Klaus was trying to say she doesn't deserve that, she just discovered her power and she's probably scared. Then Allison tries to get her out even though she was still recovering from Vanya cutting her throat and almost killing her. They did want to be there for her even though they were scared and confused.
Some other notable moments were when Ben punched Klaus in the face and they were both confused and excited, totally forgetting the fact he just got punched in the face. Or Klaus pretending to be Five's dad when they went to find out about the fake eye. Okay, I guess all the sweet family moments included Klaus. Probably why I love him so much!