By Sarah Brill, Science and Technology Editor
Season two of “The Umbrella Academy” aired on July 31, 2020, following its season one debut in 2019. Having previously left off with Vanya (Ellen Page) destroying the world, and Five (Aidan Gallagher), Vanya’s brother, zapping himself and his siblings into space, the siblings of the Umbrella Academy are left scattered through Texas on different timelines. Klaus (Robert Sheehan) lands in 1960 and becomes a cult leader, with his ghost brother, Ben (Justin Min) tagging along. Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) lands in the same alleyway in 1961 and becomes a civil rights advocate. Luther lands in 1962 (Tom Hopper) and takes up boxing under the contract of Jack Ruby (John Kapelos). Diego (David Castañeda) lands in 1963 and is admitted to a mental hospital. Vanya also lands in 1963, and after being hit by a car and losing her memory, lives on a farm and is a caretaker for Harlan (Justin Paul Kelly), a child who is implied to be on the Autism spectrum, and is involved in a then-controversial affair with the mother of Harlan, Sissy (Marin Ireland).
Five lands last on November 25, 1963 in another doomsday. He sees his siblings once again, fighting to save the world, and, against all odds, they end up dying again. Before being engulfed by flames, Hazel (Cameron Britton) appears out of nowhere and transports Five out of that timeline to 10 days prior.
The siblings are all finally in the same timeline, and they eventually find each other. When they are united, they are once again told by Five that the end of the world is coming.
After hearing about doomsday part two, Vanya heads back to the farm and tells Sissy that she may be returning to 2019. Harlan has a meltdown at the prospect of losing Vanya, runs away, and drowns in a nearby lake. Now Vanya, with her magic sparkly eyes to rival Aang’s “Avatar State” (Avatar the Last Airbender 2005), lifts the water out from the lake, finds Harlan, and breathes life back into his body. Unbeknownst to her at the time, she breathed some of her powers into him. Shortly after this event, Vanya tries to flee the farm with Sissy and a recovered Harlan. However, after a tip from Sissy’s husband, Carl (Stephan Bogaert), the local police attempt to stop them, but Vanya incapacitates them with her powers. Soon after, she is taken into custody by the FBI and interrogated. Vanya’s siblings find out that she is going to be the cause of this doomsday, just as she was for the 2019 doomsday, and they head over to FBI headquarters to stop her. Ben, who was immune to Vanya’s great powers, enters Vanya’s body to stop her from destroying the building. He succeeds but ends up losing his ghost spirit in the process.
Back on the farm, Harlan is having an identical glowing eyes situation and ends up killing his father by telekinetically reversing the trajectory of a bullet Carl initially shot at Harlan. The siblings arrive just in time to calm him down and fight an army of commission assassins including Lila (Ritu Arya), who was a “friend” to Diego and a superhuman like the Hargreeves siblings, whose power is mimicking other powers. The sibling’s fight with Lila was arduous and ended with them all being shot by The Handler (Kate Walsh), adoptive mother to Lila and Commission head. Five, however, was not fatally shot, and he time travels back by a minute and prevents his siblings deaths. After the whole ordeal, Five is granted permission to take a commission time-travel briefcase and transport himself and his siblings back to 2020.
Upon arrival at the Umbrella Academy, the siblings find out that they are not alone, and did not return to the same timeline as they left, leaving the audience on a cliffhanger.
This season of “The Umbrella Academy” lives up to TV standards and does an eloquent job in creating a show that combines the childhood nostalgia of superheroes and special powers with adult themes. All-in-all, this season of “The Umbrella Academy” is a Netflix must-watch and should immediately be added to your watch-list.