Umbrella Academy Season 3 Review

Please beware, this review does contain spoilers.

Overview

I’ll be honest. When the season 3 trailer first initially dropped, I couldn’t have cared less if I tried. Season 2 was great but it wasn’t anything to get me excited by any means. The show came out, and I knew because I had invested the time into seasons 1 and 2 that I will need to just watch it anyway. I was in the middle of another Gotham run and had Halo on the cards as well. Once I finished Gotham, it was between Halo and this. I only chose this because I had Netflix open at the time.

After 10 episodes, I’m truly blown away. Season 3 was honestly the best season yet.

The show focused on the team going to 1989 when the world is different from what the Umbrellas know. We’re met with the Sparrow Academy, an identical version to the Umbrella Academy but where the Father instead chooses different children to adopt as a result of their altercations in the 1960s in Dallas.

Obviously, as per usual, things aren’t what they seem. There’s a new impeding apocalypse set to tear the world apart, which results in the Umbrella’s coming together yet again in a dysfunctional way in order to stop it.

As with all things time travel, it can become confusing. This is something the show did well. It essentially explained what was going on when it could. This leads into the next part that the story didn’t drag out when it never needed to. We’ll look at Viktor in the characters section as this is something as well we really need to talk about.

If you’ve watched seasons 1 and 2, or haven’t watched the show at all and are on the fence. Give it a watch. I can’t express how fantastic season 3 is. Even down to the action aspect, there’s constant action all the way through. Whether that’s the Umbrellas standing against the Sparrows in a dance-off, or them actually fighting each other, or together in the finale, there’s plenty to dig your teeth into. You will be entertained throughout as there aren’t many parts of the series that I found boring.

Characters

I want to start this by talking about Viktor, played by Elliot Page. I am honestly blown away at how well the show did the transition from Vanya to Viktor. We know Elliot has already made his own transition in his personal life, so the show doing this for him was fantastic. What I liked more was by the end of the season, I actually forgot Vanya was even a thing. The transition just happened. Viktor went for a haircut and told the family about his feelings in regards to this and they all just accepted it. The story then moved on with Viktor at the forefront. It never kept going on about it to make a point. It there was, it was entertaining, moving, it happened and it moved on. Bravo to everyone involved who made this aspect of the story so good. Not to mention Viktor was one of the standouts this season. I really enjoyed seeing him be there, making decisions with/for the family, and being great at it.

Let’s take a look at the other characters, I want to rate each character out of 10 during the season by using a table. There are a number of characters to look at so I really want to rate each individual character in regards to how they were utilized, how entertaining they were, and more.

I want to discuss some of the Sparrows in the table above. As you can see I rated some of them very low including Alphonso, Jayme, and Christopher. I’ll give a quick brief reason for each. Alphonso didn’t do a lot and died quickly. Jayme, I had to Google her name. Christopher was a cube that did next to nothing.

I do want to discuss the elephant in the room that’s had a bad wrap this season which is Allison. Before I watched the show, I was told Allison was unbearable and they were right. She only got a 3 due to how the season started and how it ended for her, plus saving the team in the finale. The sexual assault on Luther, the constant push on Viktor, and the undying need for attention became truly ridiculous. If season 4 happens, Allison really needs to redeem herself.

Diego and Lila were brilliant together. Stan, their fake son was hilarious throughout as well, especially the moment he goes sprinting into the battle with a Molotov until Diego tells him off. Luther and Sloane were written perfectly together. Ben was annoying but did serve his purpose as a different Ben. Fei did what she needed to do and nothing more, nothing less. I also liked Harlan’s character and how they wrote him going from a child to an old man. I do also understand why Allison killed him.

The villain of the show is essentially Sir Reginald Hargreeves. You don’t actually know he’s the villain until the later part of the season but the twists and turns when it comes to him were done very well. It became unpredictable, more so at first when you think he’s trying to help until he kills Luther. He is trying to sacrifice the team until Allison kills him but it seems to be in vain when he’s standing in a tower at the very end which is what we know as his deceased wife. From the beginning of the show, Sir Hargreeves has done very well and this season was no different.

Five is also one of the standouts as well as he always is. He’s always level-headed with a plan. His wit, sarcasm, and need to push forward are always a great touch. It’s weird though, Aidan Gallagher who plays Five is only 18 years old, but his mannerisms and the way he portrays his characters suit Five perfectly. We all know Five is actually an old man in what he calls, a pubescent body.

All in all, despite a few characters kind of just being there or being straight-up annoying, the writers did very well in this section.

Standout Character

You were probably wondering why I never mentioned one particular character above except in the table. That’s because he belongs here. This was a tough one to call considering how many standouts there were but Klaus was just amazing this season. He always has the ability to make you laugh considering how stupid yet clever he really is. I do also love the fact we kind of got his powers leveled up. He’s immortal, something Sir Hargreeves actually brought out of him. He can also bring people from the afterlife into the real world and also have people in the afterlife with him. A truly brilliant character. I loved the actor in Misfits and it’s not really that different from what we have in this show.

Favourite Episode

Episode 8’s Wedding at the End of the World was my favorite episode, more so because of how wholesome it really was. The wedding between Luther and Sloane was beautifully done and seeing everyone come together made everything that seemed so dysfunctional no longer that. I absolutely loved this episode.

Worst Episode

It’s difficult to pick out the worst episode but if I had to put a stamp on it then I would say the second episode. It’s not to say the episode is bad per se, but it’s more due to the fact we were still figuring out what the season was going to entail. Despite even that, the episode was still fantastic.

Our Overall Rating 9.6/10

A very good season for Umbrella Academy. This puts it on par with The Boys when it comes to a superhero show that isn’t DC or Marvel. This truly was a rating I was never expecting to put on the Umbrella Academy.

Does It Deserve Another Season?

It does. We’re still yet to have the show greenlit for a fourth season, however, we do know that Steve Blackman has said that if the show is renewed it will be the final season. I do agree with this. I think Umbrella Academy definitely deserves one more season and then it should end there. After all, there’s only so far this show can really go.

Availability

Umbrella Academy is available exclusively on Netflix. You can view more by going here. Please note that Netflix no longer offers a free trial of its service.

Season Trailer