UA is based on comic books of the same name, written by Gerard Arthur Way, (dob-4/9/77). He's also the lead vocalist/co-founder of My Chemical Romance. This renaissance man gits-around.

Not having read UA, I'm late to the family gathering. Storylines are still evolving in the UA-verse, though. GAW's mapped out the clan's future in all timelines. In 2020 Netflix announced their intention to produce 3 more seasons. YAYAH! Let's hope for no timeline shifts@ Netflix, so this'll comes to pass. GAW needs to isolate, Vanya style, & file the proper ppw w/The Commission to keep UA flowing. Season 3 has already wrapped up filming😁

Relax. Spoilers that follow are all revealed in the first couple episodes.

UA commences w/scattered women, & girls, around the globe, giving spontaneous birth, w/out having been pregnant moments prior. Why? How? Ask GAW. Anyway, the kids that were born have special skills=powers. I know - WoW, how original. We can agree that powered-people is a timeless fantasy. What kid hasn't dreamed of being able to fly, or of super strength, or the ability to change one's appearance at will- even invisibility? It never gets old as it's an exhilarating backdrop. The actual story is how human beings manage these remarkable circumstances.

The wealthy Mr. Reginald Hargreeves set out to adopt as many of the Oct. 1, 1989'ers as he could snag. He returned home w/ 7 bassinets, promptly handing them off to a governess. Eventually he introduced a governess named "Mother". Btw, there's 36 other "specials" out there that he didn't acquire. They largely remain canopied away from our sight. But they're out there.

GAW, through RH, assigned each child a name, number & nickname. As teens (perhaps earlier) he would take them through police barricades to diffuse crime scenes. They became celebrities w/ all the commercial trappings, as well as boosting RH's spreadsheets.

RH, we see, is peculiar. He's nothing like other 1%'s, & a thorny enigma to the kids. Not just shrewd, he also has a 1% brain. In his younger days he was running experiments, particularly on a chimp who transformed into Pogo. He developed robotics, w/ his assistant & love interest, Grace. For all that, the biggest problem w/ smart people is hubris: They think they know everything, when no one can. We don't know anything else about him, other than we are led to believe that he wants to save our world & he was a LOUSY father.

Bereft of social skills, RH referred to them by allocated number. Curiously, each child appears to be more powerful than the last. The unknown in the power progression, is #6, Ben. How he compares to the staggering power of 4&5 is shrouded from us, but all the others fit that way. (Does that hint at a Dune-style breeding program??) Conversely, the ones that have more power, seem to be less emotional (caring is different), w/ Vanya remaining a ?-mark burned thru that assertion). Regardless of power, if the children didn't comply in a way that satisfied RH, the penalties were severe. Too severe.

His only interest was honing their skills. He left the day-to-day care to the servant class. The owner of an umbrella factory, he inexplicably foisted the children to the elements w/no protection. Hargreeves inflicted severe & permanent damage on #1, (Spaceboy-Luther), #4 (The Séance-Klaus), & #7 (The White Violin-Vanya). Let's just say it's a relief to see #1 laugh, I don't recall #7 laughing, & #4 laughs too much. The others, by way of their own mistakes or their lack of proper oversight (or both), were stranded by Hargreeves w/no resources to survive. They were all Noctilucent Clouds (flimsy&empty) swirling in place, trapped & unequipped to drop down & join the fray.

#2 (The Kraken-Diego), shows signs of emotional trauma & insecurity. He is scrimmaging for relevance. Yet, he's an endearingly ballroom-dancing-I'm-the-man-here-hunny-ish lover&fighter. He protects.

#3 (The Rumor-Allison), has solidified a glamorous career, but she feels hollowed out. As her power compels people to do her bidding, she's never had to work for, or accomplish something, on her "own." She's powered through it all. Her marriage broke up over issues arising from her extra abilities & her husband has custody of their daughter, to her anguish.

#5 (The Boy), is one of the best characters anywhere, in any media ~ever~ w/near WOT's Mat Cathounish appeal. 5, perhaps, went through the most dire circumstances of all. You'll have to wait to experience the thrill of getting to know #him yourself: Currently he's missing, & has been for well over a decade. We do get a peek at what he's been up to: Solitary Agony is a start. If one pauses to reflect, words fall short as they are too abbreviated to convey the duration, the span, & the scope of his suffering. Sorta like that sentence.

We do see that #5 is comfortable w/who he is, & though likely if he met himself, he'd want to kill himself (he /knows/ that Mo*Fo), he has a donut-hole desire to reform. He's the one who drops the dime on the stages of time paradox: 1. Denial 2. Itching 3. Extreme thirst 4. Excessive gas 5. Acute paranoia 6. Uncontrolled perspiration 7. Homicidal rage. We'll see a demonstration. Like The Handler, to me, #5 is a real man, albeit a small&adorable one in shorts.

Pay attention to his talk w/RH at a bar one night. If a person crosses dimensions, dropping into a 6th decade, & does not look back to acknowledge their own responsibility for their decisions - ones that eventually led to the end of their world (or something feeling like it), that person is still infantile. The adage: 'The older I get, the less I know' is absolute.

Recess is over. Back to it.

#6 (The Horror-Ben), has passed away prior to the start of season 1. His spirit hangs out w/Klaus, so we get to meet Ben & feel his longing to be whole again.

#'s 2,3,4,&7 limp "home" for RH's funeral. (Technically, #6-Ben tagged along w/#4-Kkaus). While #1-Luther, having failed to launch, is still there, the others dread their return to the dismal halls of the 'family' mansion.

And that's how UA begins. They quickly learn after their return home, that an apocalypse is looming & it's destined to destroy the earth in toto. Gradually, over the rest of season 1, they come together to prevent earth's obliteration. They start to become the family they were meant to be. They get dazzling w/it.

UA is rounded out w/thrills, bada$$ fashion, mystery, love, fear, a chimp as a butler & moral center, loss, longing, spirits of all types - including drinks w/ umbrellas, a mannequin w/irresistible charm, disgusting racism+civil rights, a couple arrests, a smattering of necessary killin, heartbreaks, trips to the diner, robot 💞, courage, assassins, an a$$-h0le yet delightful mastermind, curious Swedish triplets, bird watching, horrifying simian experiments, breakthroughs, activism, the eville Temps Commission, a terrifying power, deductive reasoning, an adorable school uniform, Mary J Bilge as Cha-Cha- a hitman w/a conflicted partner, Hazel- (hello! That's a major bonus prize), the excitement of watching the academy hone & use their powers in the right way, a Goldfish Boss, & a frantic race against the clock to identify & alter the track of the utter destruction lurking around them.

Season 1 slays it, & season 2 is pure delight. We expect season 3 to be more of the same: Exemplary.

UA is a show that I've not only watched, but I've rewatched w/visitors. The characters, & necessarily by extension the actors, are fascinating. It's natural to long for them to experience relief from their emotional (in a couple cases, physical) torment. The soundtrack is boss, going from Tiffany to Butthole Surfers, bluegrass & classical, while the visuals charm our eyes, at times to the lyrics!

There's a miscellany of delightful elements in the UA-verse, such as tasty, yet viperish wit. The film craft is superb. For example, Ben scolds Klaus: "People aren't like scarves, that you can just try on&off!" As he's yakking, the camera closes in on the scarf-like loincloth Klaus is wearing - it's sweet juxtaposition.

The tone is usually witty, w/siblings spatting venom, only to be snarkily playful moments later, except #5. Everybody agrees that he's an a$$. YET, 5 is their protector & that's all he thinks about: Who's their daddy? The dialogue is skillful, never upsetting the balance of humor, sarcasm, acumen & mystery. It's a well oiled, smooth running factory for excellence. My tribe is in the fanfam.

Pain is ubiquitous. We all want to experience healing & we all long for loving & devoted kindred. We want to belong somewhere where our defects are accepted as a side-effect of life. We want to have the power to change things. Sure, this world can be beautiful, yet we all sense that it is grossly defective. Saving the world? How ultra voguish, + helping others = healing.

It's time for me to close the umbrella & prod y'all: Don't miss this masterwork. Just don't.

Besides, it has yet to answer the question: Are we burnin or buryin?

.~Quotes~.

~Everyone changes the world.

~Man's greatest flaw: The illusion of control.

~I liked that $hi+ muppet.

~You know, some say the best luck is too die at the right time. (5 to the cookie lady at the hotel).

~m0th3r f.v©kin fudge-nutter! (He shoulda just had a cookie).

~This is what u want; this is what u get. (Soundtrack)

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