Umbrella Academy Season 3

 So, this show, the Umbrella Academy, is one that I cannot figure out how I feel about it. I find myself eagerly watching new seasons as they come out, and enjoying it and most of the characters, while I also find myself judging obvious needle drops or feeling it's not grounded enough while also enjoying its absurd and off-the-wall tone.

I suppose that I feel it's a show that is very close to being a truly great show, but just missing something I can't quite identify that needs to be fixed.

Season two of the show, which focused more on the characters and their interpersonal dynamics, seemed to work better than the first one, but I think this season is a little more dour, and suffers a bit from the back-and-forth of character rivalries.

After the second season saw the Umbrella Academy, marooned in 1960s Dallas (all arriving at different times, meaning that these siblings who were all born at the same moment are actually different ages) save the world by ensuring that the Kennedy Assassination goes off as it previously did, they arrived to find an alternate future in which their really shitty adoptive father (who is literally a space alien) has picked an entirely different batch of children to raise as superheroes, naming their group the Sparrow Academy - the only familiar face being Ben, who in this world is still alive.

Much of the conflict in the new season is the rivalry between our time-displaced Umbrella Academy and the new, seemingly more powerful and very corporate superheroes of the Sparrow Academy. This conflict... I honestly found it a bit tedious, and was not entirely sure why these two groups jump into such open hostility.

An early dance-battle between the two groups is precisely the kind of stylistic gambit that this show loves to do, even when (especially when?) it doesn't totally earn it (this at least has an explanation based in one of the Sparrow Academy members' superpowers).

This show loves "weird for the sake of weird," such as how one of the Sparrow Academy members is a floating cube named Christopher. The problem is that I could imagine a show that is a little cleverer doing a lot more with the weird elements of it.

The show is gorgeous as ever - the starring set this season is the Hotel Obsidian, another nexus of surreal mid-century aesthetics that this show (and I) love. Also, well-handled (at least from this straight cis dude's perspective - I'll be curious to see what my trans friends think of it) is Elliot Page's transition, along with his character, who is now Viktor. We're able to see how his time in Texas and relationship with Sissy opened new doors for him, while the struggles that have nothing to do with his gender identity evolve on their own paths.

With this timeline still having a living Reginald Hargreeves, there's a renewed opportunity to explore just what his, well, whole deal is. I don't really know to what extent that opportunity is taken advantage of.

Basically, I want this show to make a little more sense without sacrificing its whimsical potential. The style to substance ratio leans a little too far toward the former. But three seasons in, perhaps I need to just accept it for the show it is. And that is one that I'll happily binge when it comes out on Netflix... but mostly forget about between seasons.