If You Don’t Say “Season 2 Of The Umbrella Academy Was Great Minus The Racism” I’m Judging You

This weekend I had the unfortunate pleasure of binge-watching, what was supposed to be, a great season of The Umbrella Academy.

Instead, I was hit over the head – multiple times I may add – with racism. Throw in a dash of homophobia, a sprinkle of suicide, and a lot of unnecessary violence on top of the racism and gee golly, you’ve managed to cook up yourself a very hard to watch Season of one of Netflix’s most popular series.

Now that I’ve suffered through it all, hopefully, so you don’t have to, here’s my full review of The Umbrella Academy Season 2.

The Umbrella Academy Season 2 Review

After binge-watching all 10 episodes this weekend, I still can’t figure it out. Was racism really needed?

Surely the writers could have picked a different era to accidentally drop into, right?

I mean, after all, they did write the damn story themselves no?

But alas, we must all be reminded of the racism we have faced, and are still currently facing! No good story could be written without it I’m sure. And yes, while The Umbrella Academy derives from a comic book, let the most recent book to movie failure aka Artemis Fowl remind us all that it’s extremely possible to rewrite a few things.

(Or all of it, if you really wanted to.)

So that excuse I’m afraid is just that, an excuse. And not a good one either.

As someone who was eager to watch Season 2 of The Umbrella Academy, I do have to say that I’m no longer so intrigued by this series.

If racism and homophobia are what’s needed to make a series “interesting” then I’m afraid I’ll have to look elsewhere for entertainment!

There ain’t no god damn way you’re telling me that this was the only option they had!

They could have picked ANY other year, any other topic, yet they chose racism. And honestly, had it not been for having to write this review I wouldn’t have made it past episode 3! I didn’t sign up for racism. Murder? Sure! Science fiction? Most definitely!

But having to relive one of the worst times, if not the worst time, in our history, during a show that’s meant for entertainment, not even education? Absolutely, positively not!

I cringed during every racist scene, silently wondering if any of the other critics had found it disgusting.

Because apparently the ones that made it their business to mention how great this season was, forgot to pull their Black friend to the side and notify her about the racism. Despite it being in almost absolutely every episode!

I mean a heads up would have been nice you guys! But I guess seeing it doesn’t really affect everyone, now does it.

The Umbrella Academy Emmy Raver-Lampman As Allison Hargreeves In Episode 203 Of The Umbrella Academy Cr. Christos Kalohoridis/Netflix © 2020

When did this show become so hateful and disgusting? I don’t expect Season 2 to be the same as Season 1, but the unnecessary racism and homophobia really made this show hard to watch. Aside from educational purposes, entertainment is supposed to entertain us! Is this supposed to make others feel good? Is this what makes y’all happy?

‘Cause I wouldn’t purposely watch racism, and had I been forewarned about this Season I would have skipped it altogether.

When a boy drowning himself is the emotional part of a series, and not the absolute worst thing to happen, Houston we have a problem. I watch movies and tv shows for the exact same reasons I read books, to escape the world we currently live in, not to remind me of how horrible the world really is.

But this is why we need POC in writing rooms!

This is why we need more people of color behind the scenes. As said during the Entertainment is Female Comic-Con panel a few days ago, it’s not enough to sprinkle in a tad of diversity into our on-screen cast. We must make sure there are POC behind the scenes and in the writing rooms as well.

‘Cause this shit ain’t it!

And I really wanted to love this! I really did!

I mean the dance scene in the parlor was super cute, and most of the music was great. (With the exception of the horrible rendition of Bad Guy by Billie Eilish! That I hated.)

I even liked it when Allison used her powers to take her husband on a shopping spree.

(Yeah she’s married now.)

The Umbrella Academy Emmy Raver-Lampman As Allison Hargreeves In The Umbrella Academy Cr. Christos Kalohoridis/Netflix © 2020

But then again, since we’re in such a racist era, that scene also lost its appeal.

I mean, even if she used her powers to shop in the store, the moment they had walked out wouldn’t she have had to use them again? Ain’t no way Karen and them were gonna let two-colored folks just walk out a store with a ton of bags in their hand and not accuse them of stealing!

They ain’t supposed to try clothes on in a store, but you want me to believe that they can just freely leave the store with bags in their hand, laughing and smiling, and not be questioned? So yeah, no!

Then there’s the last episode, which is the absolute best episode of the entire season!

Only, even after that scene, I’m still left confused about all the racism and why it was ever needed. Honestly, this season was just way too much and I still don’t get why.

The violence was turned all the way up, the racism wasn’t needed, and I surely coulda did without the homophobia.

Had it not been for those three things, I’d probably be sitting here writing this review, telling you how great Season 2 of The Umbrella Academy was. Oh, and I’d probably be looking forward to Season 3. But I can’t!

I can’t sit here and say I enjoyed this because I didn’t. I wish I had, but I didn’t. So I don’t know.

And that brings me back to my original question, was the racism really needed?

You tell me!