The Unicorn Scale: The Umbrella Academy

Welcome, Unicorns! Let's take a look at The Umbrella Academy! The Umbrella Academy was originally a comic and graphic novel series, but we’ll be talking specifically about the first season of Netflix’s 2019 adaption of the series, which boasts a cast full of talented actors including Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, Aidan Gallagher, and even Mary J. Blige.

As always, there will be SPOILERS from here on out. If you’d like another look at how we score these, check out the rundown here.

For those totally new to this universe, here's the set up of The Umbrella Academy. 

On October 1st, 1989, 43 women spontaneously gave birth. A strangely stoic industrialist billionaire, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, adopts seven of these babies and spends his life training his “children” to save the world. He doesn’t even bother naming them, instead, giving them numbers one through seven. It isn't until their robot mother, Grace, takes pity on the little ones that they get real names. 

These children form what Hargreeves calls the first class of The Umbrella Academy.

Six of the children demonstrated supernatural abilities or special powers of some kind and were placed on the team as they helped take down bank robbers and countless other ill-doers, but “Number Seven” — Vanya — did not seem to have the skills that her siblings had, and was relegated to the mansion while the others went out on fantastical missions.

Due to their mixed backgrounds and understandably varied feelings about their father, the seven of them grow apart as they get older. That is, until their father’s death brings them all back together for what starts out as a who-dunnit and transforms into a story of healing from past traumas (or at least attempting to) and the importance of family, all topped off with a lot of time travel and some badass futuristic assassins.

What I Liked:

First off — as usual — let’s get some things out of the way before we put our purple glasses on and take a look at this series through a bi lens. The Umbrella Academy is based on the 2007 comic series of the same name. Many of us will recognize its creator, Gerard Way, from the band My Chemical Romance. Since the source material is so stylized and cinematically sharp, the series had to kick things up a notch, and I think they were successful. The aesthetics set the tone for the time period and the underlying subtle steampunk vibe.

As far as bi representation goes, there’s only one real visible instance in the form of Klaus Hargreeves — also known as “Number Four” — codename Seance. Much like his moniker suggests, Klaus has the ability to speak to and conjure the dead. Klaus is a wildly colorful, kink-positive character, whose antics often steal the show. 

One major thing I liked was that the show doesn’t make a big deal of Klaus’s sexuality. Sure, it’s a large part of his crazy, impulsive, fantastical personality, but it doesn’t create any drama with his family or cause unnecessary plot obstacles. In fact, there are several instances when Diego “Number Two” or one of the others would ask about Klaus’s past during the period when they all drifted apart, and showed no surprise when Klaus admitted that his longest relationship had been mere weeks and that he’d only stayed because "he made the most fantastic osso buco". 

In addition, while there are a few sarcastic quips here and there about the way Klaus chooses to dress — as you can see when Allison “Number Three” asks about her skirt in the trailer — no one talks down to him or criticizes his wardrobe choices throughout the course of the series. Don’t get me wrong, Klaus’s relationship with his family is tense, but it has nothing to do with his sexuality and everything to do with his addictions and occasional selfishness. 

Though Klaus does lean on his vices a little too much, we can see that he’s still a well-rounded character with his own poignant backstory and struggles that give me a serious case of sonder. As the series progressed, I became proud of how Klaus tackled these inner demons and made progress, no matter how small, in his own personal journey. 

It’s always very obvious that he has an undying love for his siblings — most of them, anyway — as he goes out of his way and puts his addictions aside when one of them is in need. For instance, he resists the temptation of taking some pills he finds at a rave in order to find and help his brother, Luther.   

After becoming accidentally involved in some time travel shenanigans, Klaus is transported to the front lines of battle, presumably during the war in Vietnam, where he quickly forms a bond with a fellow soldier, Dave. It doesn’t take long for their bond to grow into something much stronger. I love that we are allowed to see tender moments between the two men such as when they awkwardly steal a kiss from each other during what appears to be a drunken night of dancing. While they were both obviously intoxicated, it's clear that they have real romantic feelings for one another. These glimpses help us get a better idea of the type of bond they shared, with neither afraid to show their masculine or feminine sides in stark contrast to the war raging all around them. I just wish that their story had a happy ending… but, like so many other love stories, it has to come to an end — and theirs ended in the form of a fatal wound on the battlefront. I honestly never understood how Klaus was able to get back to the “future”, or current time period for the show, but from the very instant he arrives back in modern times, we can see just how incredibly distraught he is by the loss of his love, and that grief carries over through the rest of the season.

Although his main love interest is a man, Klaus is also described as having relationships, or at the very least, being interested in women in the past. Allison “Number Three” describes one of their childhood missions to her daughter, and lovingly recalls how Klaus was of no help to their cause as he was quite distracted with one woman in particular — but was she a ghost-like the illustration suggests? I still don’t know.

In an interview with Digital Spy, Robert Sheehan, who plays Klaus, describes how proud he was to be able to portray Klaus in a way that could inspire others who might be questioning their sexuality.

It’s very, very lovely that maybe young people who are embarrassed about the fact that they’re gay and they’re keeping it to themselves, can feel a little less uncomfortable about it by seeing a character like Klaus who is very out there and very colorful and unashamed about the fact that he is pansexual.

Oh yeah, and Klaus can’t sit right, just like the rest of us.

What I Didn't Like:

My main drawback is honestly how little representation there is, overall. I know I should be happy with even ONE bi character on the show, and I am, but I want more.

As much as I adore Klaus, I just wish there was another queer character… or even a hint of one. Klaus is the only visible instance of LGBTI representation at all, so it’s hard to say that the universe as a whole is queer-friendly, but the Hargreeves family, at least, always seemed supportive.

While it would be easy to point out how he fits into the “messy bi” stereotype, I’m not going to. I feel like there are other aspects of his life that have a stronger impact on his… messiness… for lack of a better term — aspects that any of us would struggle with. Overall, I applaud the attempt at a queer character with a real, believable love interest that doesn’t “pick sides” or attempt to downplay any part of his past as just an added detail that is never spoken of again.

The Rating:

In May 2020, Netflix announced the release date for season 2. 

I hope that season 2 will provide us with a wider lens in which to view the Hargreeves’s universe, and hopefully, spot another queer character — and raise their score? In the meantime, I’ll have to be satisfied with the fact that darling Klaus is getting his own comic spin-off.

12/1/2020 Editor's Note: This was written before Elliot Page came out as trans. We have since changed his name and pronouns in this article.