Hi, thanks for clicking on this video. It’s going to feature spoilers so if you
have’t yet seen The Umbrella Academy on Netflix then please do, you won’t regret
it. The Umbrella Academy nails the fallout of
childhood trauma and dysfunctional family dynamics. If you are struggling with adulthood following
shit that happened when you were a kid or a teen, this show will make you feel seen
and also call you out. The story is set within an X-men style super
hero academy setting, and most of the characters have powers, but its real strength, in my
opinion, is using the super hero genre to offer a great study of how childhood abuse
can destroy families and impact the victims well into adulthood. Just be aware it features scenes of drug use,
self harm, discusses childhood trauma, and contains violence. I regard the show as essentially uplifting
and empowering, and is well balanced with music and humour, but it can be a tough watch
at times. This video essay isn’t going to be listening
the hundreds of reasons why I think this show is one of the best I’ve seen in years, and
possibly THE best at addressing these issues of broken family dynamics following trauma,
instead, I am going to focus on each of the main characters and talk about how they represent
real life responses to abuse, as well as common unhealthy mentalities that can follow a difficult
childhood. One more note here, I have not read the comics
and will not be referencing them here. This is purely based on the Netflix series
adapted Steve Blackman and Jeremy Slater for Netflix. The tv show is of course an adaption of the
comics created by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, So let’s jump into dysfunctional families,
the fallout of abuse, and reactions to trauma/ At the start of the series, The Umbrella Academy
have drifted apart and have only been drawn back together with the death of their adoptive
father. Their relationships are fractured, and the
first episode is aptly named ‘we only see each other at weddings and funerals’. As we later learn, this distance is not because
they hate each other, or because of the friction between certain members of the team. In my opinion, this dispersal of the family
represents how being together again in the childhood home reminds them of the trauma
they are desperate to escape. All but one of the team are attempting to
move on, and have dealt with their pain by breaking away from the family group. As admirable as this drive for independence
is, it’s clear this move from their family has left them all lonely and vulnerable. As the series progresses, the characters learn
that they can connect as a family group and accept their shared trauma, without that meaning
their father holds power over them. They attempt to ‘reclaim’ the family home,
a move that fails because of the exclusion of one sibling (something I will get to later). But it’s clear that for each of the siblings,
perhaps with the exception of Luther, The Umbrella Academy represents pain, alienation,
and lost childhood. That’s not to say Luther has not suffered
under that roof and at the hands of their father, in fact, he has suffered more than
most, but he is a character who is still in the early stages of acceptance, and as we
see during the series, he fights the notion that his father mistreated him for as long
as he can. So in spite of the amusing interactions, most
notably Klaus and Allison in Hargreeves’ study, what the first episode offers is differing
reactions to the death of the primary abuser. Luther shows respect and deference to their
father, as he did when he was alive. He still idolises him to some degree. He assembles the group to scatter his father’s
ashes, which fall pathetically to the ground, much to Luther’s embarrassment. It’s one of the many metaphors in the show
for Luther’s grand, heroic idea of his father not aligning with the real man. Diego is cynical, but shows up because he
seems to think he should, perhaps for the sake of protecting his mother, who he fears
will be implicated in their father’s death. He’s been investigating their father’s
death solo, which implies that despite him pretending not to care, he’s more emotionally
connected to his father and their home than he would like people to think. He tells Luther their father was ‘a sad
old man who kicked it in a big empty house, just like he deserved’, but as we learn
with Diego, his emotions are repressed, and he attempts to channel them through his vigilante
work and at the gym. When the group are gathered by Luther to discuss
where to scatter their father’s ashes, Diego sits away from his siblings, trying to distance
himself from the family, but unable to actually leave them. Allison seems the most calm and collected. She greets Vanya when she arrives, and appears
relatively unflustered. Allison represents a lack of reaction or emotion. Instead of having some epiphany or sense of
freedom, Allison feels exactly as she did before. Their father is dead, but their pasts have
not changed. She does react warmly towards her siblings
and Luther, (I struggle to define them as siblings for reasons I will explain later),
but the main vibe I personally got from Allison during the scattering of ashes was impatience. She laughs when Klaus jokes about the death
of their father, but seems detached. Mostly, she is a peacekeeper when the family
reunite, protecting Vanya from Diego’s anger, ironically playing an almost mother figure. This is ironic as she has lost custody of
her own child. Klaus, fresh out of rehab, appears delighted
by their father’s death, and seems to find the whole situation amusing. He makes constant jokes about their father’s
‘cold dead eyes’, mimics him, and suggests he’s playing tennis with Hitler. Klaus is clearly well aware of the abuse of
his father and the trauma of his childhood, but he isn’t resistant to connecting with
the others. A personality trait of Klaus is that he’s
charming, and so all except for Luther cannot help but like him. However, this dramatic excitement at their
father’s death could be an act. Klaus is an impulsive character, who appears
to change his feelings about his childhood often. He never attempts to excuse it, the way that
Luther does, but out of all the siblings, Klaus is the one who can go from calling their
joint childhood hell, to remembering funny stories about what they all got up to. Him stealing from his father to pay for drugs
is also symbolic. He believes his father owes them something,
and calls the stealing an advance on his inheritance. There’s a sense of rebellion to Klaus parading
about their seen father’s home with Allison’s skirt on, clutching alcohol and a cigarette. Klaus appears to be pushing for a reaction,
which of course, he won’t get. Finally Vanya deals with their father’s
death like she does everything else, quietly, unobtrusively, with acceptance. She asks Pogo if their father ever read the
book she wrote, still hoping that he might have displayed some act of care for her after
she left, but is disappointed to hear that he didn’t. Vanya enters the home as an outsider, like
a guest. She is the one sibling who is tentative, who
doesn’t own the space. Allison embracing her is a relief for Vanya,
but none of the other siblings need this approval from the others. She is mostly quiet, talks only when necessary,
and seems almost drowned out by the reactions and strong personalities of the others. Perhaps like Allison she feels numb, but with
Vanya there’s also a sense of disappointment. That she was never special to her father,
not even once. Now I’ve spoken about their reactions to
the death of their abusive father figure, I wanted to get on to talking about how each
member of the group have developed. I want to discuss their personalities and
how they each represent different ways in which childhood abuse can cause havoc for
an adult. I am going to discuss the team in number order. So let’s start with Luther, Number One. Luther is the last to come to terms with the
fact their father was abusive. He’s been conditioned to be loyal, to believe
his father only did what he did for their own good. Once the others had left, Luther was the only
one who stayed in the family home and continued to follow orders. He felt a duty towards his father, like showing
loyalty might finally win him some love or affection. Luther clearly believed and perhaps still
does believe, that love has to be earned, which is why he is frightened of breaking
rules or any kind of rebellion. This is why he reacts so strongly to Diego
making his own path, and to Klaus flouting any kind of social norms and being whoever
he chooses. Even after their father’s death, Luther
is fearful of letting him down. I believe Luther’s broad shoulders are a
metaphor for him having the weight of the world on them. He’s like Atlas, believing he has to hold
the sky up, or else it will fall. Luther hasn’t had a proper life. The others escaped the toxic environment in
different ways, but Luther knows nothing else. He hasn’t had friendships or relationships. He’s been isolated. Quite literally. Luther is the personification of loneliness. Luther is what happens when a small child
is given too much responsibility. He denies himself happiness because he was
praised for following orders and sacrificing. In the time after the others have left the
academy, Luther is sent on a mission on his own. He gets badly hurt and almost dies, so Sir
Reginald injects him with a serum that gives him the upper body of an ape. When Luther wakes up he is horrified. This element of body horror just brings home
the trust Luther has in his father, but the pain his father inflicts. While the viewer sees this as a metaphor for
how Reginald is destroying Luther’s development as his own person, Luther’s conflict remains
the same. He hates what he has been made, he’s ashamed,
but he still tells himself his father meant well. He was Number One. Which meant something? Didn’t it? Following the serum, Reginald sends Luther
on a mission to the moon where he remains for four years. Four years of isolation. Luther dutifully sends home samples, accepting
the hardships to help his father. He thinks nothing of abandoning the world,
his relationships, to please Sir Reginald. He believes that at the end of it all, his
father will recognise his hard work, and love him. Unfortunately, that love and acknowledgement
never happens. Once Reginald is dead, Luther finds all the
samples he sent home from the moon are unopened. His father never even looked at them. This is the moment One realises he’s wasted
his life trying to please a man who never even saw him as a person. It’s the start of another struggle for Luther
which I imagine will be explored for him in the next season. How can he be a leader, but without emulating
his father? How can he push aside the thought processes
his father conditioned him with? By the end of the season Luther still hasn’t
stopped making excuses for his father, but he does seem to understand that he was harmed
by him, just the same as the others. Having a character still be in the midst of
that struggle, one we presume all the others went through years ago, is effective as it
demonstrated quite how hard it is for a person to accept they were abused by someone they
love, that everything they once knew was a lie. Luther’s whole life and identity has been
tied to being a leader, to his identity as Number One. But when his father dies, his number, his
rank, counts for nothing. Luther’s powers are strength and endurance. To me, these powers offer a brilliant contradiction. Yes, Luther can endure the most, but forcing
this facade of strength has arguably made him the weakest of the group. He has the least personal identity and cannot
seem to think of himself as an individual. Luther has endured when he never should have
had to. As a viewer, I felt furious with Luther when
he locked Vanya up, despite the protests of the rest of the group, but in terms of his
character it makes perfect sense. Luther believes he is the one to make the
hard choices. He believes in sacrifice. And I think had Luther been the one to put
the group in danger, he would willingly have walked into that cell and locked the door. Luther does not see Vanya as his sister in
that moment. Just as throughout his life he’s not thought
of himself as a person. In my opinion, Luther exemplifies some elements
of toxic masculinity, (let me just define that term, as some people aren’t fond of
it. I am using it here to represent the pressures
and gender roles forced on men and boys). It’s important to note that in Luther’s
darker moments, it’s when he’s trying to live up to his father’s expectations,
not acting in a way that represents himself. Luther is actually kind and sensitive. We see that he’s shy and loving in personal
moments, but in order to be the ‘leader’ to be the one that asserts authority on behalf
of his father, he doesn’t listen to the others, he tries to make decisions for the
group (which end up harming them). In the scene where Vanya is locked away, Luther
works as a proxy for his father. He is repeating his mistakes and demonstrated
how fathers can pass on this toxicity to their sons. Sons who are just as harmed by this expectation
as their victims. One example I want to touch on here is Luther’s
relationship with Allison. Luther has loved Allison since they were teens,
but he’s never pursued it. The The mission, the work, has come first. And so Allison left him and married someone
else. Luther, however, never moved on. I have to be honest, Luther and Allison made
me feel icky at first, as I read the team as siblings, however as we went forward I
began to understand. These are kids who didn’t grow up as a family. They weren’t brought up as siblings. Part of their problem is that they were never
a family, they were a team, a school, an academy, hence the name. They never even had the luxury of identity
beyond their numbers. It is only later in that they themselves tried
to figure out wha they all meant to each other, which is something ongoing in the series. It’s very much about found family, trying
to salvage the good from the bad, working out how they can be there for each other in
a way that is cohesive, but nothing like the life they lived with their father. In the show, various characters refer to themselves
as brothers and sisters, but never Luther and Allison. I mean that’s an interesting study in itself. I’m not talking Game of Thrones here, but
if we’re talking actual incest look at Jaime and Cersei who only had each other and trusted
nobody else. Is there an element of that dynamic (but not
the actual incest here?). Maybe. These kids all have issues with trust and
outside relationships. Is this attachment between Luther and Allison
symbolic of Luther latching onto someone he believed would always be there for him. I think it demonstrates his inability to exist
outside of the family system. Now I’m going to move on to Diego. Number Two. Diego is cynical and bitter. He dresses in all black and a LOT of leather,
a Batman style vigilante, fighting injustice from the shadows. Diego couldn’t cope with simply being number
two and so escaped to live his own life. Diego is determined not to be a victim, perhaps
even more so than Luther. This hard persona is often betrayed by his
actions, and viewers see a side to Diego he is desperate to mask. Diego is sensitive and despite being dismissive
to Vanya early on, he’s actually pretty sensitive when it comes to his siblings, and
has moments where he goes out of his way to look out for them. This side of Diego comes out most prominently
when he’s with Klaus, who he seems to read as more vulnerable the others, and therefore
protects. This same instinct to protect who he regards
as the underdog is demonstrated in Diego’s closeness to his mother. He can go from sparring with Luther to being
soft and compassionate with Grace. Diego’s first scene is him saving a family
from armed robbers, which paints him as a defender of the helpless right off the bat. With regard to Diego’s initially dismissive
treatment of Vanya, I believe this is more because Diego fears being viewed as a victim,
and Vanya published a book which revealed the truth of their upbringing. Diego is determined not to be passive. He’s never being under the control of anyone
again, which is why he operates outside of the law. In contrast to Luther, Diego lashes out at
any and all authority figures. This is why his relationship with Detective
Patch is so tragic. He can’t let go of his mistrust of power
and authority, and this inability to do things ‘by the book’ drives them apart. My personal opinion is that Diego is the most
emotionally attuned and emotionally intelligent of the group. As a child, we see him struggle with a stammer,
which his mother, Grace, supports him through. So much of Diego’s anger, again in my opinion,
is not about his own mistreatment, but the mistreatment of his siblings, and especially
their mother. He is the only one who seems to consider her
perspective, and is able to put himself in her shoes. He appreciates her sacrifices and hates his
father for never giving her a bed to sleep in. Diego is convinced that despite being created
by their father, Grace evolved to love them over time. But is this true? The show offers no answers. Diego seems desperate to believe his mother
was separate from his father, not his creation at all, but in the end she defends him as
she was built. One of Diego’s biggest emotional moments
is having to shut her down as she is malfunctioning and he can’t bear for the others to vote
on it and take action, for Luther to make the decision.For me, seeing Diego stammer
again when Grace is destroyed along with the academy, is one of the most upsetting moments
of the series. Diego’s tragedy is that he was a powerless
child who is now desperate to prove he is under nobody’s control. In arguments with Luther, Diego is often portrayed
as being smarter and presenting good points, but he loses his temper too fast. When Patch is killed by Cha Cha, Diego vows
revenge, but ultimately, he can’t kill someone on Patch’s behalf. This encapsulates his whole personality. Diego presents himself as no nonsense, willing
to do what has to be done, but he’s sensitive, emotionally intelligent, empathetic, and ultimately
a good person. He lets Cha Cha go because he knows it’s
what Patch would have wanted. This ability to empathise is what differentiates
his approach from Luther, who tunes out emotions when it comes to missions. I just want to touch on Diego and Luther’s
relationship here. In differing ways, they feel a huge sense
of justice and responsibility. Their goals are similar, but Diego wants to
assert himself as an individual who won’t be controlled, and Luther wants to follow
orders and is happy to be Number One. Their conflict isn’t really about their
ideas, as in many ways they align. But Diego resents Luther being Number One,
along with pitying him for still believing their Dad’s lies. This could be because Diego sees his old self
in Luther, before he broke away. It does seem that hearing Luther parrot their
father, the perfect soldier, hurts Diego both for his brother’s sake, and on a personal
level. Diego struggles with viewing himself as a
victim, although he accepts their father was in the wrong. Seeing Luther personify the brainwashing of
Hargreeves could be too much. With Luther, he sees Diego asserting autonomy
as selfish. He misunderstands Diego’s cynicism as him
being a troublemaker, and mocks Diego’s attempts to take on the world on his own,
even though, really, that’s what Luther’s been doing too. I think these two could be a powerful pair
in the future if they learn to put aside their differences and try to understand one another. For all the sniping, there’s clearly love
there. Time for Number Three, Allison. Now to me Allison is a fascinating character,
because she was the golden child. Allison’s power is being able to use the
words ‘I heard a rumour’ to make anything she likes happen. She uses the power sparingly, because of the
consequences, but as a child it is implied she used it to get the best treatment from
her father. She didn’t get love, but she certainly got
away with more than the others. If you’re not familiar with the concept
of the golden child and scapegoat in abusive family dynamics then you might want to look
that up, because it can certainly be related to Allison and Vanya here. Allison was a child in a toxic environment
struggling to cope. And her father made her complicit in the abuse
of her sister Vanya. Allison’s story is of someone who feels
nothing in her life was real. What was her powers, and what was genuine? Do people actually like her, or is it her
power? This is why she loves Luther, because he understands
her power and accepts her as she is. Allison personifies imposter syndrome. She’s made herself a celebrity. She’s an actress in the public eye, but
people don’t know her. She’s an image. When she’s praised for her acting talents,
we don’t know if she’s genuinely gifted, or if again, it’s her power. I’m especially interested in Allison’s
relationship with Vanya because she undoubtedly loves her sister, but she doesn’t understand
her experience. In this instance, Allison comes at the issue
from a place of privilege. It takes her a while to fully understand what
Vanya’s being left out has done to her. At one point, Allison tells Vanya she has
nobody to blame for her life and decisions but herself. I believe Allison is projecting here, and
this betrays how Allison views her own life. It certainly says far more about Allison than
it does about Vanya, who has every right to hold their father accountable. Allison is a character that seems the most
‘normal’ of the group. She’s an adult with a career, and she appears
sorted, but she has major internal conflict. She’s full of guilt which can make her snap,
but she also experiences the shifting between blaming herself for everything, and blaming
their father. In reality, the truth is somewhere in the
middle. Allison is not to blame for anything that
happened in their childhood, but she’s right to want to make amends for the alienation
of Vanya during adulthood. Allison is an inspirational character who
constantly messes up, but tries to do better. Allison can be sharp and unkind. She snaps at Vanya, but later goes to find
her and apologise. With Allison you can really see the first
instinct being the one created by their father, and the second being the real her. Kind, a good sister, wanting to do what’s
right. Allison is a child that was made complicit
in the abuse of her sister. She is blameless in this, but it complicates
Vanya and Allison’s relationship immensely. A huge moment for me was when Allison, unable
to speak because of Vanya damaging her vocal chords, tried to get her out of the cell,
and wrote down that it was her fault. Allison sometimes needs a bit of time to think
on things, but she holds herself accountable every time. Despite them being the same age, Allison feels
very much like a big sister to Vanya, who looks out for her. In the series, we know that Allison has lost
custody of her daughter because her husband, Patrick, caught her using her power to make
their daughter fall asleep during a tantrum. Allison tortures herself over this and makes
no excuses. She loves her daughter more than anyone, but
with no example set, she doesn’t know how to be a parent. She doesn’t have enough faith in her own
parenting skills. This is a woman who is trying to break the
cycle and do better. Ironically, viewers can see she’s got all
the skills necessary to be a brilliant mother without her powers. She is a stabilising influence in the group,
and the one member of the team who refused to give up on Vanya, even though she arguably
had most reason to. Time for Number Four, Klaus, and cards on
the table, he’s my personal favourite. In some ways I views Klaus as an eternal child. He’s charming but irresponsible. He’s an addict who uses drink and drugs
to escape his trauma, and fears his own mind. In complete opposition to Luther and to some
extent Diego, Klaus’s reaction to their treatment by Hargreeves is to be his true
self unapologetically. In some ways, he makes his self expression
a performance, asserting his identity through clothing. Klaus’s ‘fuck you’ to his father, is
in doing what he wants, wearing what he wants, and being who he wants. There’s a lot to like abut Klaus, and a
lot of lessons viewers can learn from him. However, in some ways Klaus can take this
too far, because he lives purely in the moment. He’s not a character who plans ahead, instead,
he acts impulsively. He never has money to fund his drug habit,
and is constantly pawning items in order to get high. He can’t drive and tags along with his siblings
when he needs a lift (although he does drive an ice cream van at one point, which is made
all the more hilarious from knowing he isn’t a driver). Klaus’s power is that he sees and can communicate
with the dead. When he was a child, his father locked him
in a crypt to face this fear for hours at a time. This terrified Klaus and there are some really
horrific scenes of his fear in the show. To put that into a more real world context,
this is a kid with mental health issues or huge anxiety, who instead of being shown compassion
to help him with this, is being told to ‘face his fears’. Perhaps this is another example of toxic masculinity
here, something Klaus rejects with aplomb. Klaus is expected to deal with it, to bottle
those emotions, to ignore the fear. His cries for help result in nothing. Nobody comes to save him, but instead of this
making Klaus independent, as Hargreeves seems to intend, it traumatises Klaus into a state
of helplessness. He doesn’t trust himself to be able to cope
with life, hence the drugs. He lives one day at a time, just trying to
feel something. An example of Klaus being trapped in this
state of immaturity, is when he’s asked to attempt to communicate with his father
following his death. Klaus tries unsuccessfully to speak to Reginald,
but when he believes he has managed it (it’s actually Five arriving), Klaus’s look of
fear betrays him. He turns childlike, calling him ‘Daddy?’. It’s a blink or you’ll miss it moment,
but Klaus is intimidated. Something I quickly want to talk about here
is the queer coding surrounding Klaus, which is something that breaks the mould. . Forgive my tangent here but characters coded
like Klaus are usually the villains. Dramatic, flamboyant, playing with gender
roles. You see this in Disney films for example,
and in modern villains like Moriarty in Sherlock, or Raoul Silva from Skyfall. (I’m going to link a video by an amazing
Youtube called Rowan, who discusses the idea of queer coding in great depth). The fact this refusal to conform to gender
norms is usually given to villains is to make this feel other and dangerous. But in having Klaus, one of if not THE most
likeable character display these traits as part of a full personality, The Umbrella Academy
has done something brilliant. Klaus is LGBT, probably gay but we don’t
know for certain. He has a significant relationship with a man
which is a huge part of his plot and development through the series. He doesn’t face homophobia from his siblings
at all, maybe a bit of heteronormativity, but that’s it. The scene where Diego doesn’t flinch at
Klaus revealing he’s fallen in love with a man, and instead commends Dave for putting
up with Klaus’s weird shit is heartwarming. It’s refreshing to see Klaus’s sexuality
not used as an aspect to make him seem more wild and out there. In fact Klaus’s love for Dave is probably
the most ‘normal’ thing about him. His relationship with a man brings him stability,
it matures him, it makes him put someone else first. It drives his hero arc. But equally, it doesn’t derive him of his
self expression. Klaus is able to remain flamboyant and deny
gender roles, while showing real growth through his love for a man. This is speculation on my part, because I
think too much into it, but I imagine in terms of his relationship with Dave we have a flipped
dynamic. Klaus is used to being the sibling that isn’t
trusted. They treat him as a loveable burden at times. But here we have him dropping into Vietnam
in the 60s, a time when being gay would have been hugely dangerous and many people would
have been closeted for their own safety, especially in the military. He drops into Dave’s life, a soldier we
expect is having to keep his sexuality secret, and offers him truth. I like that in the flashback scenes to Klaus
and Dave, it’s actually Dave that appears to be trying to build the courage to confess
his feelings to an oblivious Klaus. Klaus has been able to positively influence
someone’s personal growth, and more importantly, he’s learned to put others before himself. Klaus is not an intentionally selfish character,
but though loving Dave, he’s driven to care for someone more than his own needs, his own
drugs. Klaus gets clean (with the help of Diego and
Ben) so that he can see Dave again. The power of the love between two men, the
purity of it, is enough to start Klaus’s journey to getting clean. When Klaus finally sees his father in a version
of the afterlife, Klaus pushes for a moment of recognition, for some hint that there’s
something good in their father, that he loved them. He asks his father about what he did to Luther,
and his father admits it was a mistake, but only because he shouldn’t have let Luther
find the unopened samples. This is Klaus’s moment. This is when he finally gives up. In some ways, it’s for Luther. Klaus isn’t even especially close to Luther,
but it’s seeing how their father can’t recognise the pain he’s caused him that
snaps Klaus. Klaus is now in a position to have known real
love, to be in a more stable family unit, or at least a family unit that is trying their
best, and he is able to leave this yearning for his father’s love behind. I look forward to Klaus’s journey next season,
as we suspect there is more to be discovered with regard to his powers, especially if he
can manage to get clean. A more selfless, sorted Klaus, is going to
be interesting to watch. Time for Number Five. The only sibling who has kept his number in
the place of a name. This does not seem to be because Five is particularly
attached to the name, more that he doesn’t care. There are bigger issues to him and the name
has no power over him either way. As a child, we see that Five is precocious. He’s fiercely intelligent, to the point
of arrogance, and because of this he ends up time travelling to the apocalypse, with
no ability to get back to the team. Five is by far the most independent of the
group. He literally learns survival skills, and can
easily exist on his own. In some ways, this demonstrates how in leaving
The Umbrella Academy, he was freed. Despite the traumatic experience, Five was
lost just young enough to lose any dependence on anyone but himself. Five is the team member who will get the job
done. Nothing phases him, However, along the way, Five has also lost
a lot of his empathy. We get the impression that despite thinking
himself superior to the others, he was close to them when he was a child. When he first time travels, he calls out for
Vanya and Ben. When he sees the bodies of his adult siblings,
he is horrified. Slowly, as he lives life on his own, barely
surviving, trying to figure out how to get back, Five loses his attachments to everyone
except one shop mannequin he names Delores, and keeps as a companion. In order to get home, Five accepts the offer
from The Commission to become an assassin in different time periods. A fully grown man now, he completes these
tasks, but all the time is figuring out the right equation to allow him to return home. He refuses to shoot President Kennedy (althouth
somebody else does) which shows he takes no pleasure in his work, and after a conversion
with Luther later on we realise Five has become desensitised to death and violence. As he views it, everyone will die in the apocalypse
anyway, so the deaths hardly matter. Five is no longer under the spell of their
father. Having lived a whole life, and then reverted
to his young body, he has the knowledge and life experience to realise his father is irrelevant
now. He seems frustrated by the way the rest of
the group are still impacted by his actions and can’t move on. In some ways, I believe Five represents an
older victim of abuse having thrown the past off. His life no longer revolves around their mistreatment. But this seems to come with age, and with
time. Number Six is Ben. Ben died as a child during a mission, and
it is implied that Ben dying was in part what made the team disperse in the first place. He now only appears to his brother Klaus,
who can talk to the dead. In a similar way to Five, Ben’s death has
actually spared him many of the problems of his siblings. The Ben that talks to Klaus is sensible, intelligent,
and reasonable. There is a sense of deep sadness and loss
to Ben. He clearly longs to be alive and tells Klaus
how painful it is to see him throwing away his life on drugs when Ben would do anything
to live his life again. In some ways, Ben represents the consequences
of abuse. It quite literally kills him. His whole future is destroyed, all his potential
lost. Ben is shown as a child to be studious, as
he reads at the dinner table. He seems to have a lot of promise. But the abuse he and the team suffered had
a casualty. As viewers we can see the true scale of this
loss, as we are able to witness the man Ben is now. He’s likeable, a good brother to Klaus,
and it’s frustrating and upsetting that he is unable to communicate with his siblings. Ben also represents a warning not to allow
one man’s abuse control the rest of your life. His sadness at what has become of Klaus is
all about lost potential. And that’s what Ben is essentially a metaphor
for. Lastly, but certainly not least, is Vanya. Number Seven. She is another of my personal favourites. Vanya is the child that’s left out of the
group. She has been told she has no powers when in
reality she’s the most powerful of all. She was told she was ill, as were the other
children, who were encouraged to leave her out. Vanya is the constant outsider. She’s always been told she’s not special,
not talented. She feels out of place wherever she goes,
even displaying unease in her own apartment. Her body language is closed off, she uses
small movements, and wears clothes that won’t draw attention to her. She apologises constantly, something that
Leonard or Harold points out. Vanya has been taught to apologise for existing,
for taking up space. Her response to abuse has been to believe
she is insignificant. At the start of the series, Vanya has published
a book about her traumatic childhood, talking about the strange experiences of The Umbrella
Academy. This has made her an outcast among the other
siblings. They at first view her as betraying them,
as a traitor, because she’s laying the truth bare. You can understand their perspectives, as
it’s their lives too, and some of them would rather people didn’t know about the trauma. Especially Diego, for example, who is trying
to reinvent himself, and hates that because of the book others might view him as a victim. But it’s the one time Vanya is bold enough
to assert herself, and in response she is alienated again. She is trying to create a life for herself
and is just about managing. Her only passion and joy in life is playing
violin, but despite her talent, she lacks the confidence to go for the first chair at
her orchestra. She teaches violin to kids from a small apartment
but she’s lonely. She is the Cinderella character of the series. The others get to go to the ball while she
is left out. In the scene where the team foil a bank heist,
Vanya is shown standing some distance away with her father, looking on. In some ways the others resent her for being
upset and feeling hard done by, because them being sent on missions and trained messed
them up in other ways, but they don’t understand her pain at being left out. All of them were abused, but differently. It takes them a while to really understand
what they have taken part in, what Reginald encouraged, and how worthless that has made
Vanya feel. Now Vanya bottles her emotions. Sir Reginald gave her pills and told her she
was ill, so her powers could never mature. Her sister Allison actually took part in the
brainwashing of Vanya to make her forget her powers, which wasn’t Allison’s fault. Vanya has to take her pills every time she
feels an emotion. She does it constantly in times of stress
on the show. This message isn’t anti medication, I should
add, it’s anti making someone think feeling powerful emotions is something that has to
be treated, to be toned down. What actually happens is Vanya ends up having
a full breakdown and loses control of her powers, causing the apocalypse. The years of built up pain bring about the
end of the world. Vanya is manipulated in the show because of
her trauma. She’s been made to feel unloveable and ordinary,
so the moment someone tells her she’s special, she forms an attachment and trusts him too
fast. When Allison tries to look out for her and
warn her, Vanya interprets the warning as her sister trying to stop her being happy. She trusts nobody but Leonard, and when he
is revealed to be using her, Vanya cannot cope. Vanya is the ticking time bomb of the series. The team spend the series trying to stop the
apocalypse, when in reality, including Vanya and making her feel loved is all they needed
to do. The team do all care about Vanya, but because
she feels like an outcast, Vanya can’t accept it. To her, she is simply a burden to them, the
one without powers, the black sheep of the family. It is Luther’s decision to replicate the
actions of his father and imprison Vanya, that ends the world. Because he doesn’t connect with her as his
sister, instead of as a weapon, the apocalypse happens. This message is made loud and clear by Vanya’s
reaction to seeing Allison turn up at her concert. Although she is consumed by her powers at
this point, when she sees her sister has come to see her play, Vanya smiles. It is probably the first genuine smile we
see from Vanya all series. It’s a heartbreaking moment, especially
when we know she is about to be ambushed without Allison’s knowledge. Vanya is one of the bravest characters in
the show. After hurting and potentially killing Vanya,
she still turns up at the academy to see if she’s okay. Despite the shame, knowing she might be hurt,
knowing she will be hated, she is brave enough to want to see Allison. Her love for her sister makes a usually timid
character brave. It’s a small but heroic moment that is painfully
ended by Luther squeezing her unconscious, in what she believes to be a hug. This act is a metaphor for Vanya. She cannot trust in the love of her siblings. The one time she believes she has acceptance,
it’s a trick. This is what drives her over the edge. I’ll wrap this up now. I hope you enjoyed this analysis of The Umbrella
Academy. This show has changed my life for the better
and I can honestly say it’s one of the best shows I have ever had the pleasure of watching. I have a paypal so if you fancy donating,
there’s a link in the description box. Thanks a lot for listening, and I’d love
to hear your own thoughts about this loveable but incredibly dysfunctional family in the
comments. Love you, bye! Xxx
