The beauty of ‘family’ in The Umbrella Academy
When The Umbrella Academy premieres its Season 2 on Netflix on July 31, viewers will find the story’s protagonists — the dysfunctional superhero Hargreeves siblings — escaping the global apocalypse and time-jumping back to the ‘60s.
As they end up separately in and around Dallas, Texas over a three-year period starting 1960, thinking none of the siblings have survived, each goes on to start on a new slate and new life. Luther, with his superstrength, joins underground boxing rings. Diego, who doesn’t miss targets of whatever he throws, gets locked up for his “delusions” of wanting to save JFK from being assassinated. Allison lives a simpler but purposeful life as an active participant in the Civil Rights Movement but without using her power to control minds. Klaus, who can summon dead spirits, becomes a cult leader while struggling in his “co-dependent” relationship with his dead brother Ben. Vanya, the most powerful of them all who instigated the apocalypse in Season 1, is now searching for answers to her real identity after losing her memory.
Five, who is responsible for bringing his family to where they are in Season 2, is the last to land. And when he does, it’s right smack into another doomsday, which turns out to be the consequence of his family’s actions. Racing against time, he tries to track down his siblings and to reunite them in hopes of saving the world.
Along the way, they encounter their father, alive and well, and attempt to resolve some of their serious daddy issues. The wealthy Sir Reginald Hargreeves had adopted them as babies and subjected them to his iron-fisted superhero training at The Umbrella Academy.
Amid the series’ signature irreverence, humor and high-octane action is the heart-tugging reunion of the estranged siblings in Season 2. This was one of the topics during the virtual roundtable The STAR and other media recently had with stars Ellen Page (who plays Vanya) and Emmy Raver-Lampman (Allison) via Zoom. Below are excerpts from the interview.
On the important message about family one can get from the series and the development of their characters:
Ellen: “You know, one thing that I find beautiful in terms of like Vanya’s experience and what she gets from our family is actually tremendous compassion and empathy, you know, as we see the depth of her repressed emotions and trauma, experiences led to causing quite an issue, you know, obviously she did something horrible and horrific to Alison, she blew up the moon.
“And in the second season, you see a very different Vanya. She’s lighter she’s released so much of that (repression). And what I think is so beautiful, is the kindness she receives, the compassion she receives, the empathy she receives, and then that becomes a huge part of our healing journey.
“And I think that’s a big, you know, ideal part of family, or one’s found family. That’s something that I think is the quite beautiful element of the idea of family in the show.
“Obviously, as a child, she was treated awful by everyone, her father and the kids as well and encouraged to be treated badly to repress her power, and who she is. So I think, yeah, it absolutely means the world to me and, you know, it was. When Ben and Vanya during their, you know, her acid trip, she’s breaking down and when he says, you’re not alone at the table anymore, you know, and I think that was so moving, playing that character. An example of how much they show up for her and it is very much life changing for her.”
Emmy: “It’s, you know, the empathy of this family and the way they all knew each other, it’s undeniable they are better together. I do think Allison loves this new, very stripped-down, simple life, and I think she is looking in the mirror and loving herself for the first time.
“But I do think, slowly throughout the season, we start to see her kind of come back to the older version of herself, that does see and understand where she really fits in and that it’s easy to be around her family. There’s that undeniable, like kinetic attraction to all of them that brings them all together because of the situation in which they were born and the fact that they have powers. And, you know, to them there’s nobody else like them and I think that kind of understanding is kind of this tether that (Allison) can’t ever permanently cut off.
“And so I think, she kind of has to always take the gamble and take the risk with her family as opposed to living a life without them because, you know, I think, the other side of that loss is that they all jump and leave her. And so I think that that might be a greater loss for her.”
On where they hoped the Hargreeves family would time jump if given the choice:
Emmy: “I feel like, they could, knowing what they know now, go back to their childhood. That could right a lot of, like, unconscious wrongs. Including Vanya and more. You know, they are the ones with the power that their dad is exploiting. I think they forget that. And so, I think, having the power, having the knowledge that they have now in their 30s, I think maybe to go back to when they were kids, to make better choices that they are aware of.
“I think a lot of the mistakes of their childhood were influenced by their father and they didn’t have opinions on the matter and I think they would all go back and change a lot of that, too, so that…. I think Vanya wouldn’t have blown up the moon. I think she wouldn’t have sliced my neck open, or I don’t think Klaus would be as wounded and have so many demons to drink away. And I think, you know, Luther’s profound father issues. There’s just like a lot of the damage that is done to the adult. The adults that they are could be fixed if they have the knowledge that they have now and go back and try to kind of rewrite, reroute some of the paths that they took as kids, and decisions that they made as kids. Oh yeah, maybe Ben will be alive (laughs).”
On getting reunited with the rest of the cast:
Ellen: “We have a blast together. We have so much fun. And I feel like we just really gel together as a unit. And in the first season, of course, we’re all just being introduced to one another and developing those sorts of friendships and various dynamics. And we’ve got to, you know, explore that for the second season.”
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