The Umbrella Academy

So it’s been a while since my last post. So much for spending this time at home writing more. Honestly since the craziness began, it’s been difficult at times and I haven’t felt as inspired to write as I normally do. I did plan on another album review a few weeks ago, but the album release was postponed until next month. Look for that in the coming weeks. However, I didn’t want another month to go by without making at least one post and the second season release of one of my favorite series on Netflix made for some perfect timing.

During my flight to Coachella last year, I began watching a Netflix series about a family of superheroes based on the comic book series of the same name created and written by My Chemical Romance front man Gerard Way. The series is called The Umbrella Academy. Since watching the entire first season last spring, I’ve been anticipating season two. It filmed last year and was scheduled to debut this summer. Thankfully, even with the world wide crisis of 2020, it’s still coming out on time aka TOMORROW! You could actually say the second season of the series debuts at midnight tonight. I can’t wait to watch!

The story of The Umbrella Academy begins on October 1, 1989 when 43 women around the world gave birth simultaneously despite not showing any signs of pregnancy until labor. Seven of these children were adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves, a very wealthy man, and turned into a team of superheroes called The Umbrella Academy. Each of the children are named as numbers by Hargreeves, but received regular names from their robot mother.

The series begins in present time and shows the current lives of the Hargreeves children, but routinely flashes backwards (and forwards because time travel is a part of the series) to tell the story of how the superheroes came to be. The story also develops to where the Hargreeves are headed, which seems to be certain doom. Without revealing any major spoilers, the first season ends with the apocalypse and the season that begins tonight should pick up with the Hargreeves going back in time to find out a way to stop the apocalypse from happening.

The Umbrella Academy is packed with an all-star cast of Tom Hopper as Number One/Luther, David Castañeda as Number Two/Diego, Emmy Raver-Lampman as Number Three/Allison, Robert Sheehan as Number Four/Klaus, Aidan Gallagher as Number Five, Justin H. Min as Number Six/Ben, and Ellen Page as Number Seven/Vanya. The cast also includes Mary J. Blige, Cameron Britton, Kate Walsh, and Colm Feore among others. The series was created for Netflix by Steve Blackman and developed by Jeremy Slater. Gerard Way is also one of the executive producers of the series.

I’ve always been a fan of Sci-Fi/Fantasy films and television series involving superheroes and super powers from Marvel films to Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers so when I saw this series on Netflix before I left for Coachella last year, it was a no-brainer to download the first few episodes to watch. I watched every episode I downloaded on my way to California and downloaded the rest for my trip home, again watching each one. It’s kind of a bummer that I don’t have a flight to be on to binge watch the new season this time around, but I’m glad to have the free time to do it anyway. I went in blindly to season one, not knowing anything about the series aside from the fact that it looked pretty cool. The same is true for season two. I haven’t read any previews nor do I know what to expect. I’m just overall excited to watch the Hargreeves in action again after becoming a huge fan of The Umbrella Academy. I feel like I haven’t been hyped on many Netflix/TV series in a while except this one so if that says anything to how much I think you should check this show out, then take my word for it right now and check this show out. If you’re still sitting around with not much to do like I am, it’s worth a watch. Even if you’re busy, make some time this month because it’s sure to be an action packed second season.

So again….tonight! Midnight! Season 2 of The Umbrella Academy! Catch you on the stream!

She’s Our Friend And She’s Crazy

Last summer, Netflix released a series that transported viewers back to the 1980’s as part of a sci-fi drama set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana. The series, Stranger Things, was an immediate hit and rightfully so. The attention to cinematic detail and inspired story line is an ode to 80’s horror and science fiction films. Today Netflix released the second season of the Emmy-winning series.

The setting of Stranger Things begins when a young boy, Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), disappears through supernatural means to another dimension, “The Upside Down”, and follows the journey of the Will’s friends’ and mother Joyce’s (Winona Ryder) quest to find him again. Will’s friends, Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), also receive help in finding him from a mysterious girl they encounter with psychokinetic abilities who goes by the name, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown). The cast also includes David Harbour as police chief Jim Hopper, Cara Buono as Mike’s mother Karen Wheeler, Natalia Dyer as Mike’s sister Nancy Wheeler, Charlie Heaton as Will’s brother Jonathan Byers, Joe Keery as Nancy’s boyfriend Steve Harrington, Shannon Purser as Nancy’s best friend Barbara “Barb” Holland, and Matthew Modine as scientist Martin Brenner. The series was created by twin brothers, Matt and Ross Duffer, known professionally as “The Duffer Brothers”.

When creating the series, The Duffers used influences from other science fiction and horror films as well as from Stephen King novels. In fact the name “Stranger Things” was similar to the name of King’s novel “Needful Things”. The brothers also used influence from King’s novel “Firestarter” for the name as well. While filming the series, it was the Duffers’ intention to pay homage to as many 1980’s films as they could by creating similarities to the films like using every day objects and turning them into supernatural means of communication (the Christmas lights), using similar film shots, and using a Leica lens and 6K Red Scarlet Dragon (80’s film equipment) to shoot. The head of props also used eBay, flea markets, and estate sales to find as many 1980’s artifacts as possible to use for props for the series. Almost all of the props were authentic, aside from some pieces, like the Dungeons & Dragons books, that needed to be replicated for the show.

I began hearing about the show some time in late August-September of 2016, but I didn’t watch it for another 3 months. I started watching it in mid-December. I wasn’t sure if I’d be into it, but I decided to give it a chance because there was a lot of hype surrounding the series. It definitely hooked me, although I wouldn’t claim to be a super fan. I still don’t understand the hype over, “Barb” (to be honest, not even The Duffer Brothers anticipated that). The series is entertaining though and highly reminiscent of 80’s films. Honestly, it really isn’t something I’d normally watch, but I like the fact that the kids in the series play leading roles. I think that’s what attracted me to it, if anything. I like a good coming of age story. This definitely isn’t coming of age, but I attributed the kids as leads to that.

As I mentioned, the second season of Stranger Things, titled Stranger Things 2, released today on Netflix. The second season begins close to a year after the first season began as it approaches the anniversary of Will’s disappearance. The characters are still dealing with the aftermath of what went down a year ago. The new season also sees some new faces join the cast with Sadie Sink as new girl Max, Dacre Montgomery as Max’s older stepbrother Billy, Sean Astin as Joyce’s new boyfriend Bob Newby, and Paul Reiser as Department of Energy executive Owens. I began watching it this morning. I’ve already watched the first two episodes. I love a good binge, but I’m going to try to savor these 9 episodes as much as I can, which is why I took a break to write this blog post. If you’re reading this, I guess you’re probably taking a break too, but if you’re not and you’re now interested in the series, log on to your Netflix account and give the acclaimed series Stranger Things a chance, mouth-breather.