I remember hearing about this show a couple of years ago as being worth my time, and took particular note of Elliot Page (then Ellen) being in the show. Then I watched the trailer...

When I want to watch a superhero show, I look for 5 things. 1) The inventiveness of the plot; 2) How dynamic the characters are written; 3) The writing overall; 4) The acting; 5) Special effects. Thus, there will be 6 paragraphs coming up addressing each area, and a conclusion. Keep in mind, this is only for season 1.

The Plot As with any decent show, there are going to be multiple overarching plots. In this case, there are two which are primary. The first is the family dynamic in which they have to come back together and deal with what drove them apart. The second is the reason they were brought back together. Both are quite clichéd. There is a subplot to the second reason which is interesting, and I'll address that a bit more in The Acting section. But overall, this was nothing I had not seen before. And the climax was clear to me by end episode 3, if sometime during episode 2.

Dynamic Characters?

This is a superhero movie, but the kids are adopted and the family is dysfunctional. It is a nice set up, and one with a lot of potential. But the biological parents are never brought up, and they are never even discussed apart from a function of origin. This is a huge miss, and really takes away from the internal turmoil that the characters should have to work through. Yes, that is a lot to deal with in terms of writing, but it would have been nice to see it even touched on, or even have some greater depth for one or two characters, while the others could be for upcoming seasons. Sadly, it was not.

The Overall Writing To this point, my tone is probably pretty clear. That is not unjust, but it also is incomplete. The idea is neat, though an obvious similarity to Heroes, Season 1, can be drawn. That is probably one of the most inventive superhero shows in the recent past (though Heroes is a unique, The Umbrella Academy already has material). The Umbrella Academy is a bit of a darker version of Heroes, and there are plenty of misses and clichés. Yet there are ideas and moments which are fun. Number Five and his "girlfriend" are a fun and strange aspect, yet endearing. Klaus is also fun, and the things about his which were invented were almost as if a writer had direct knowledge of that/those behaviors. I also enjoyed the philosophical banter between Hazen and Cha-Cha, though as the season progressed, it became more clichéd. Still, enjoyable moments.

The Acting Here is where I am going to be most critical and most praiseworthy. On the positive side, Robert Sheehan as Klaus was really fun to watch. Though some of the clichéd situations were there, Sheehan was a joy to watch with the material he was given, and some of the odder moments the character had, he played that well (the first time he is tied up is funny). I also thoroughly enjoyed Mary J. Blige as Cha-Cha. She could have played that as a straight soldier, but there is a subtlety in some of her looks, a physical stutter here and there which really adds to the character. I also liked the way Emmy Raver-Lampman as Allison did with what little she had to work with. On the other end...oh how I thought that John Magaro as Leonard was bad. He was stale and it felt like his lines were forced. And then there is Elliot Page. Watching him (as he is now correctly identified) was like hearing fingernails on a chalkboard. And I say that as a fan of his from Hard Candy, Juno, and Inception (I even liked him in Whip It).

Special Effects This section is here only because it is a superhero show. This is not X-men or the Marvel Universe, or Lord of the Rings, or any of those movies. This is more akin to the aforementioned Heroes, The 4400, The Watchmen (2019) and to a lesser extent Fringe. Special effects are not needed as a major part of the show, yet are present. If they had been done poorly, it would be noticed. But they are not, so it is unimportant.

Conclusion While there is tremendous potential, the good does not make up for the bad. This is a show that is filled with clichés in both dialogue and plot. The idealistic realization that was supposed to arrive for the climax was obvious as late as episode 3. I almost stopped watching after episode 7, then episode 8, but told myself that I should watch it through to see if there were any surprised. One small surprise, but it was part of a side plot and nothing that made me go "Wow!" I will not watch seasons 2 or 3, or any further beyond that if they continue. Another way of saying this is that it was a bad Percy Jackson movie when it had the potential to one of the standouts in the Marvel Universe.

Recommendations and warnings: As I always do...I recommend skipping it (though I'm very temped to say watch it for Robert Sheehan and Mary J. Blidge only). For parents, there is drug use, both actual and inferred. And one scene of bondage and a couple references to that bondage - it is not 50 Shades of Gray, but it is not subtle, so I would say 16 and over.

Rating this a 4. But that is for season 1 only. Appearantly subsequent seasons are better, but I'm not interest enough to find out.