'The Umbrella Academy' 2.01 Recap: Right Back Where We Started

This post contains spoilers for The Umbrella Academy. Looking for something spoiler-free? Check out our full season two review here. 

So, here we are again. We're back with the Hargreeves family, delightedly watching the members of The Umbrella Academy shatter the timeline beyond repair. Of course, we don't know just how they've done so when we kick things off. Let's break it down, shall we?

Back in 2019, Number Five (Aidan Gallagher) is forced to call an audible and hurl his family into the timeline in an attempt to save their lives. If you're a little fuzzy on the why, that's alright. Eleventy billion things have happened since then. The long and short of it is that Reginald Hargeeves, (Colm Feore) the patriarch of the family, suppressed Vanya's (Elliot Page) powers and then mocked her for her entire life for not having any. To add insult to injury, Luther (Tom Hooper) locked her in a cage when she couldn't figure out how to control the immense powers she suddenly discovered. Vanya, understandably quite angry, loses control, accidentally blasts the moon with her powers, and hurls Earth into another extinction level event. 

(We had it comin'.) 

Now, if you recall, Number Five never quite got the hang of his time travel equations, and he's never tried to pull a group of people with him before to boot. Predictably, things go a little bit awry. The Hargreeves family finds themselves spread out through the 1960s. Five did, thankfully, manage to get them all in the same city. Dallas, Texas in the 60s seems like a good place to hang out, right? As you can imagine, some members of the family have an easier time than others. But, since this is The Umbrella Academy, blending in isn't the only challenge that the family faces. 

After the siblings are plopped in different years, Five finds himself in what the season will affectionally dub "Arrival Alley" (it's exactly what it says on the tin - the arrival point of the each family member). As he steps out into the street, he finds that he's stumbled into World War III. But, curiously, he stumbles upon the very siblings he's just lost fighting it together. Yes, including Vanya. 

As Five is trying to take in the unbelievable scene playing out in front of him, he gets a visit from an old friend. An elderly Hazel (Cameron Britton) pulls him out of the battle to give him important intel, but their meeting is cut short by three Swedish men who appear to be very serious assassins. From the Commission? Undoubtedly, but Five doesn't stick around to ask questions. He's got to jump back in time to collect his siblings so they can stop the apocalypse that they probably caused. Again. 

And that's pretty much where we leave things off in the first episode. Vanya's hit by a car immediately after arriving, worsening her amnesia. Klaus (Robert Sheehan) and Ben (Justin H. Min) are off making friends with old ladies, Luther wants to know where the hell Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) is, Allison wants to know why the hell she's suddenly in the segregated south.

Everyone's got questions, but answers will only come with time! See you tomorrow with another recap.