What I’m watching: a second season of an offbeat superhero show.

On Netflix: The Umbrella Academy Season Two

It has occurred to me of late one of the trends in depicting super heroics is to make the movie or TV season as odd as possible. Certainly that has been the case with “Doom Patrol” on the DC streaming service and now on HBO Max.

“Doom Patrol” was always an odd comic book, but that series ratchets the strange way past anything the original comic did. After watching that first season, I realized that in too many episodes narrative structure and characterizations were sacrificed for odd images and ideas.

“The Umbrella Academy” is also a non-traditional comic book in its looks and plotting, but somehow the characters and their situations, while indeed non-traditional for the genre, are at least intriguing.

“The Umbrella Academy” presents the lives and stories of a group of exceptional young people who had been adopted by an eccentric billionaire, Sir Reginald Hargreeves. Hargreeves recognized each child had special abilities and relentlessly trained them as a superhero team.

As the children matured, the team fell apart and ultimately the young people went off to follow their own path.   

At the end of season one, the Umbrella Academy narrowly escaped the end of the world – caused accidentally by one of them – by going into the past, courtesy of team member Number Five, who has the ability to travel through space and time. Throughout season one, assassins pursued the team from The Commission, an organization that is dedicated to the preservation of the time line.

With season two, The Commission is still after them, but that seems secondary to the more mundane human problems that are now facing them. They all jumped back to Dallas, TX, but were separated by several years. For some they jumped to 1961, others, 1962 and 1963.

They all believe they are alone and all of them start their own lives. Luther (Tom Hopper) is now a bouncer and fighter for night club owner Jack Ruby. Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) is married and active in the civil rights movement in Dallas. Vanya (Ellen Page) has amnesia and has been taken in by a farming family where she works as a nanny. Diego (David Castañeda) is still trying to be a hero.

All of this changes when Five (Aidan Gallagher) shows up and manages to bring the group together in an effort to get back to their own time.

I’ve complained a lot of about time travel in movies lately. Few seem to get it right. What I liked about this show is it seems to makes sense within the confines of the story’s logic.

Kate Walsh returns, this time as the new head of The Commission, who wants to destroy the group. Now it’s revealed she has an adopted daughter who she has trained as a killer.

I like the fact much of this story relies on a group of diverse siblings who have many very human problems. They are interesting and compelling.

Stuck someplace? Aren’t we all? This shows makes for a fine COVID-19 summer binging experience.

Brave new world

I’m ready to go back to theaters, but distributors don’t seem too interested in giving me any new movies. Disney has announced its live-action version of “Mulan,” will be available to see through its streaming service for the cost of $30.

According what I’ve read, as long as a person subscribes to the service he or she will have access to the film. It’s sort of like leasing it.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek has said, “We’re looking at ‘Mulan’ as a one-off as opposed to saying there’s some new business windowing model.”

I wonder, though, if it’s a big hit – “Mulan” reportedly has a $200 million budget, a big nut to crack – if Disney would be tempted to release other films this way.

“Mulan” is coming to your TV next month.”