Post by nombrecomun on Aug 14, 2024 23:52:03 GMT
Finished watching the last ep last night. An overall interesting yet inconsistent ride. I rewatched it all in preparation for the last season so it's relatively fresh in my memory. I haven't read the comics nor am I familiar with them so I have no comparison with the source material.
I lump this series overall into two groups: S1 and S2 in one group and the rest in the other.
S1 and 2 seem to be the more solid. S3 and S4 may have been victims of "pandemic entertainment"; cheap and quick turnarounds to keep something going.
SPOILERS!!!
Pros/Cons:
1. Klaus/The Seance/Number 4 is a hoot. Originally I dismissed him as comedy relief, which he still is, but his Vietnam time travel life shows more depth to him than just a junkie.
2. Five is another fantastic character. Much of the series really hinges around him and as a kid, the actor pulls it off quite well. And a surprising romantic turn in the last two eps of the last season. I rewatched that beginning of ep 5 again. The background song was a stroke of genius. It captured the mood perfectly.
3. Vanya/Viktor/Number 7. Probably the biggest star of the cast, Page plays the quiet mousy Vanya; someone who was told had no powers and was somewhat viewed as a nuisance by her family. By S3 Page transitioned(thus the different character names) to male and as the season started I was curious as to how or even if they were going to address this. Interestingly the character starts out as female(even though Page had already transitioned) and within the first couple of episodes she transitions on screen. It was a thing of beauty how simply and elegantly they handled this. Granted, the previous season opened the topic with her character having a relationship with a mom set in the past so it made this a natural step.
4. The rest of the family......eh. The only character I really didn't like was Allison/The Rumor/Number 3. It seemed like the writers didn't know what to do with her right from the start. Her only motivation throughout the four seasons is a desire to get back to her daughter(understandably)but somehow forgets her in S2 yet flares back up in the rest. The result is that we get an angry person. That's it. Not much nuance. I don't know what the character looks like in the comics but this was a horrible one-note performance.
5. I'm glad the last season resolves what happened to their brother Ben by showing us the storyline with alternate Ben.
One thing I noticed in S2 and 3 were more "two characters in a room" scenes. This series isn't the only one to employ this device as a cost cutting means. At least I'm assuming it's cost savings purposes. Most of these scenes revolve around some emotional issue typically a disagreement between the character and now they're bloviating about it. Rarely does it have anything to do with the plot. It just seems like filler. We've seen that out of recent Star Trek, Star Wars, Marvel, you name it. Seems to be par for the course in streaming.
I'm assuming this is the agreement between show producers and the network as to how many episodes they'll provide. Then we see a story that would take 4 episodes to tell stretch out to 10. Thankfully, The Umbrella Academy spared us of that in this last season with only six episodes. Still there was a lot of filler such as the story involving Number 1 and 2 in the CIA, Klaus used as a spiritual prostitute(?).
At least the show goes out in top form; the last two eps being the strongest of the season....probably season 3 as well.
Thoughts?
I lump this series overall into two groups: S1 and S2 in one group and the rest in the other.
S1 and 2 seem to be the more solid. S3 and S4 may have been victims of "pandemic entertainment"; cheap and quick turnarounds to keep something going.
SPOILERS!!!
Pros/Cons:
1. Klaus/The Seance/Number 4 is a hoot. Originally I dismissed him as comedy relief, which he still is, but his Vietnam time travel life shows more depth to him than just a junkie.
2. Five is another fantastic character. Much of the series really hinges around him and as a kid, the actor pulls it off quite well. And a surprising romantic turn in the last two eps of the last season. I rewatched that beginning of ep 5 again. The background song was a stroke of genius. It captured the mood perfectly.
3. Vanya/Viktor/Number 7. Probably the biggest star of the cast, Page plays the quiet mousy Vanya; someone who was told had no powers and was somewhat viewed as a nuisance by her family. By S3 Page transitioned(thus the different character names) to male and as the season started I was curious as to how or even if they were going to address this. Interestingly the character starts out as female(even though Page had already transitioned) and within the first couple of episodes she transitions on screen. It was a thing of beauty how simply and elegantly they handled this. Granted, the previous season opened the topic with her character having a relationship with a mom set in the past so it made this a natural step.
4. The rest of the family......eh. The only character I really didn't like was Allison/The Rumor/Number 3. It seemed like the writers didn't know what to do with her right from the start. Her only motivation throughout the four seasons is a desire to get back to her daughter(understandably)but somehow forgets her in S2 yet flares back up in the rest. The result is that we get an angry person. That's it. Not much nuance. I don't know what the character looks like in the comics but this was a horrible one-note performance.
5. I'm glad the last season resolves what happened to their brother Ben by showing us the storyline with alternate Ben.
One thing I noticed in S2 and 3 were more "two characters in a room" scenes. This series isn't the only one to employ this device as a cost cutting means. At least I'm assuming it's cost savings purposes. Most of these scenes revolve around some emotional issue typically a disagreement between the character and now they're bloviating about it. Rarely does it have anything to do with the plot. It just seems like filler. We've seen that out of recent Star Trek, Star Wars, Marvel, you name it. Seems to be par for the course in streaming.
I'm assuming this is the agreement between show producers and the network as to how many episodes they'll provide. Then we see a story that would take 4 episodes to tell stretch out to 10. Thankfully, The Umbrella Academy spared us of that in this last season with only six episodes. Still there was a lot of filler such as the story involving Number 1 and 2 in the CIA, Klaus used as a spiritual prostitute(?).
At least the show goes out in top form; the last two eps being the strongest of the season....probably season 3 as well.
Thoughts?
I am so sorry...