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CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
28
Mixed:
25
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews
ColliderJul 27, 2020
Season 2 Review:
After an intriguing but somewhat spotty debut in 2019, all signs point to series creator Steve Blackman and the rest of the Umbrella Academy team taking critiques on board to make a second season with a tighter story, cleaner execution, stronger performances, and even better world-building. ... A season of television even more must-see than its predecessor.
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ColliderFeb 1, 2019
Aug 3, 2020
Season 2 Review:
All that time spent on extreme exposition pays off in a flashier, more entertaining, tighter second chapter. Season one of Umbrella Academy set the board, and season two plays the game. There’s a lot more zapping and superpower-ing in season two, which should appease comic book fans who want to see superheroes do that kind of thing. But it also swings for something way more emotionally resonant.
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Jul 27, 2020
Season 2 Review:
The best thing that can be said about season two, then, is that it is that same show [as season one] but good. Not perfect, certainly, but if Sir Reginald Hargreeves has made any of his terrible lessons abundantly clear, it’s that people will continue to improve if you repeatedly tell them that they’re bad and you don’t love them.
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The TelegraphAug 8, 2024
Season 4 Review:
All these balls are juggled with lunatic enthusiasm. The tone can be all over the place: comedic one moment, bleak the next. However, The Umbrella Academy has real affection for its lovable weirdos (in contrast to The Boys, which invites you to hate all the characters). As the story builds to a moving final twist, it is revealed that the show’s true superpower is its humanity.
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Radio TimesJun 17, 2022
Season 3 Review:
Generally speaking, these characters are interesting enough that the audience can just have fun hanging out with them, but it does lose its way every so often. Still, once The Umbrella Academy dives into the meat-and-bones of the Kugelblitz (and beyond), it kicks things into overdrive with a stunning cosmic conclusion.
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Feb 14, 2019
Season 1 Review:
It has flaws and excesses, but the series, whose first season is available on Friday, nonetheless lands in the sweet spot between comedy and drama, and between a plot-and-action-driven narrative and character exploration. ... By the time Mary J. Blige and Cameron Britton (he was serial killer Edmund Kemper on “Mindhunter”) show up as time-traveling assassins named Cha-Cha and Hazel, respectively, I was fully onboard, at least for this one season.
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Aug 14, 2020
Season 2 Review:
The violence factor is as high as the candy-colored production values, Kate Walsh returns as the dripping-evil top villain, and Ritu Arya adds snap as a sharp-talking wild card. Race and LGBTQ issues provide ballast, but for the most part “The Umbrella Academy” is just inspired bloody silliness the second time around.
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Feb 14, 2019
Season 1 Review:
The Umbrella Academy isn’t so much a puzzle that needs to be solved as a long wait for a series of explanations. At least it’s an entertaining wait. Blackman’s approach is less surreal than Way’s writing, but the density of the world-building isn’t lost. The isolated moments are often brilliant.
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Feb 13, 2019
Season 1 Review:
The story is a little too Dark Phoenix, and the series’ pacing can be maddening. But you have to love an action-packed finale that rips from a kid’s birthday party at a bowling alley (little Kenny is never getting over that one) to a concert hall on the cusp of the apocalypse. The climax is an ending and a beginning. Umbrella Academy is just getting started.
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Jul 30, 2020
Season 2 Review:
Half-baked historical consideration aside, in season two The Umbrella Academy benefits from a more honed idea of itself, both structurally and stylistically. The intrigue begins to compellingly coalesce around episode four, and many of its visual tableaux are lushly articulated bits of pop art. ... It shouldn’t work—but The Umbrella Academy barrels along fast enough that all its disparate pieces mostly stay together.
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Jun 15, 2022
Season 3 Review:
Perhaps eight episodes would have been more effective in creating a tightly coiled season with more streamlined stories and less meandering between major story turns. In the end, it feels like a very densely plotted season that doesn’t mind sacrificing the potency of emotional moments trying to pay everything off.
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