The Umbrella Academy Season 2 Review: 8 Ups & 2 Downs

3. The Sharp Character Development & World-Building

Juggling such a sizable ensemble is never easy, and while so many shows end up slowly transforming their characters into caricatures as they progress, The Umbrella Academy's second season has actually made them even more human.

This is particularly true for Klaus, who embarks on a major "spirit quest" over the course of the season, while the spectral family member Ben (Justin H. Min) gets a majorly expanded role, and perhaps most affectingly Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) has to deal with living as a black woman in the deeply intolerant cesspool of 1960s America.

Rather than use its time travel gimmickry for shallow nostalgia, a clear attempt is made to engage with social issues of the era and then use it to strengthen the depictions of the central heroes.