Returning to the Tuesday TV Touchbase for the first time in two years, it's The Umbrella Academy.
But first, let me indulge in an old guy rant.
Why the hell does it take so long for new seasons of TV shows to be released?
I understand that the pandemic threw a monkey wrench into things a few years ago and the writer and actor strikes from last year didn't help but still, the gap between seasons for certain projects seems excessive. There's a gap of 1 or 2 years between seasons for:
- Doctor Who
- Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
- The Boys
- Outlander
- Interview With the Vampire
...and more!
The fourth and final season of The Umbrella Academy dropped on Netflix on August 8th, two years after season 3.
It took me until September 8th to actually start watching it because, quite frankly, I lost interest in why I was watching the series in the first place.
Absence MAY make the heart go ground fonder but sometimes absence makes the heart get used to absence.
When I sat down to watch, you better believe I watched the recap because I was hard pressed to remember what had gone on before.
Our stalwart Umbrella Academy had stopped yet another world ending event but due to some timey wimey shenanigans, our "heroes" are left devoid of their powers in a revised timeline.
Any ongoing fiction about beings with super powers will eventually do a story where those beings lose their powers. There is much fodder for both comedy and drama in such scenarios.
Luther's life is so absurdly pathetic, you're not sure if you should laugh or cry. He's working as a stripper in a low rent venue during the mid afternoon lunch buffet shift. Most of the women seem to be annoyed by his show but there is ONE woman who claps and squeals and shoves dollar bills in his g-string.
Meanwhile, Luther is living in the decaying decrepit building that was once the Umbrella Academy but in this timeline was the Hargeave's Home For Wayward Boys.
Look, who needs a TV show to watch powerless people living sad pathetic lives of mind numbing mediocrity. That's called LIFE!
<Sorry, in a bit of a bad mood. Give me a moment.>
...
...
OK, I'm better now.
Eventually the gang is brought all together but not always willingly.
Without the power to see dead people, Klaus has kicked his debilitating addictions to drug and alcohol. Well, good for him! But he's traded those addictions for a hyper paranoid germaphobia.
And the gang's power's are restored. Again, not exactly in accordance with everyone's wishes.
The threat this time comes from a group known as the Keepers who know there is something wrong with this timeline, something they call "the Umbrella effect". Think "Mandela effect" where some people remember things one way but reality tells is something different.
Headed up by Gene and Jean Thibedeau (played the real life husband and wife actors Nick Offerman & Megan Mullally), the Keepers are looking to start something called "the Cleanse" which will reset the timeline by (you guessed it) ending the world.
Once I hit the 2nd episode, I remembered why this show was important to me, for these strange complex characters and the absurd dark humor of their various travails.
But I feel that something may be off with this latest run of The Umbrella Academy. I'm not sure if I have a legitimate critique or I'm just annoyed by the constant playing of "Baby Shark" during the road trip to Maine.
_______________________
And that is that for this week's touchbase.
Next week, the theme is non-fiction as we take a look at the Emmy award winning documentary about Jim Hensen and the return of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.
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