The Umbrella Academy resurrects the dead in adequate second episode

The plot thickens in the second episode of The Umbrella Academy season 2, as several characters thought to be dead return to the fray.

The second episode of The Umbrella Academy season 2, “The Frankel Footage,” isn’t quite as good as the premiere, but it doesn’t stray too far off course and manages to keep the momentum going with the return of some fan favorites.

We open with the revelation The Handler is still alive. After Hazel shot her in the head, she barely escapes her own crematorium, and three months later is back at the commission. But she’s been demoted to Five’s old position and been replaced by a cigarette-smoking talking goldfish with a man’s body named A.J. That’s some high quirk, right there.

Luther tells Five he works for Jack Ruby before kicking a drunk out of club, a drunk who happens to be Carl, the husband of the couple Vanya is living with. Luther sees Number Seven pick up Carl to take him home, and after finding his wallet, tracks her down and confronts her. It’s an awkward encounter, and Vanya doesn’t recognize him on account of the amnesia. He apologizes for being a bad brother and leaves without causing any trouble.

Five discovers the tape Hazel put in his pocket before he died, and asks Elliot to develop the footage. While that’s going down, Five convinces Diego to help him stop the apocalypse instead of the JFK assassination. He agrees, and Lila with him. The three of them return to Elliot, who points a gun at them. He’s quickly disarmed, but it makes you wonder what he saw on the footage that freaked him out. It’s of the Kennedy assassination, and who should be on the infamous grassy knoll by Reginald Hargreeves, their father.

Cops arrest Allison’s husband Raymond for her ejecting a racist white man from their meeting place in the first episode. Her husband gets roughed up, and she almost uses her power, but stops at the last second. In jail, Raymond runs into Klaus, who promises to use some of his connections to get the him released. Allison visits Raymond, who tells her to make the sit-in happen without him. Before she leaves, she gets information on Klause from one of his followers.

Diego and Five visit the D.S. Umbrella company, owned by their father. After exploring some weird rooms, Five is attacked by a baby Pogo, and Diego is stabbed by his father before the Reginald and Pogo walk off into the night, hand in hand.

The best bit of this episode is when Five, Diego and Lila confront the UFO guy after he develops the Frankel footage, which is a reference to the Zapruder film, the best-known video of the JFK assassination. He nervously asks, pointing a shotgun, if they are an enemy of the people. “That’s such an open-ended question, and it really depends on people” they reply. Easily making the greatest hits album of Umbrella Academy Jokes.

Lila, the crazy lady, quickly became a favorite, and a great companion for Diego. Her wit, attitude, and wild style are wickedly funny. Humans star Rita Arya absolutely kills it every time she’s onscreen, stealing the spotlight again and again.

In the premiere, it did bother me a bit that none of the siblings run into each other in this three-year span when Five finds Luther very easily. It’s full steam ahead for the coincidence train: some of the encounters are harder to believe than a group of superheroes being raised by a talking monkey.

The Swedes are an intriguing trio of villains, and while they lack the depth that Hazel and Cha Cha had in season 1, they set a great mood. I don’t know quite why the commission keeps sending gun-toting killers to stop super-powered beings when they apparently employ talking goldfish, but maybe they know something we don’t.

The return of The Handler was a bit strange, and it was awfully convenient that she survived a bullet to the head on account of a lucky metal plate. But if that’s what it takes to get Kate Walsh back in the game, I’ll take it. Also, I like that Reginald Hargreeves was somehow in on the assassination of JFK — that sounds about right — and it’s cool to dig into Pogo’s origins.

Overall, this felt more like an installment from season 1, which isn’t entirely bad, and I’m still more than interested to keep watching.

Episode Grade: B

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