REVIEW: THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY SEASON 3

THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY Season 3: It tried very hard to be WATCHMEN by following several storylines that seem very, very odd and totally disconnected but ultimately lead to a fantastic understanding of the characters and series. They failed at this excruciatingly - script analysis. #SpoilerAlert 
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- The most frustrating thing about the season is that we were ahead of the characters. We knew the kugelblitz existed, we knew the Umbrellas didn't take Marcus, and we knew the Sparrows didn't have the briefcase. This went on for several episodes even after a few of the Umbrellas were aware of the kugelblitz. WHYTF were they worried about anything other than making that thing go away? 5 is the only one searching for answers PER USUAL.
- What is the kugelblitz and how did it get there? Maybe I'm forgetting what happened at the end of Season 2. Why weren't the Umbrellas freaked out about a big ball of fire in the basement? 5 mentions that it must have shown up with them but we never learn why. We're just left to accept it.
- They used the excuse of the grandfather paradox to do whatever they wanted, breaking rules left and right. Just because you note that the rules don't make sense, doesn't mean the audience will suspend their disbelief.
- WTF is Klaus' power? He comes back to life and that helps others how? What exactly does he do with ghosts? WhyTF did we need to spend so much time with Klaus and Dad learning how to overcome his fears and take control of his power if his power wasn't going to help them defeat the kugelblitz? It seems all of that setup was just to bring Luther back from the dead, even though we never really learn that's his power in the first place. 🤦🏽‍♀️ Or we witnessed that just so Dad could get on Klaus' good side so Klaus could talk everyone into helping Dad... but he doesn't actually talk anyone into doing anything. They decide on their own for their own reasons.

Here's another example of cool being more important than story or staffs not really knowing how to get their stories from A to B. This is based on established IP. I'm not sure how far they get from it, but this season made absolutely no sense to me.

I had much more to say but IG has a character li.... 🤦

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AUTHOR

Shannan E. Johnson is a former creative executive at The Syfy Channel turned CEO + Head Consultant of The Professional Pen, a script consultancy that develops screenwriters from idea to pitch to become more confident storytellers ready for a professional screenwriting career, and consults with scripted development teams at entertainment companies to streamline their notes process to get to pre-production more efficiently.