Netflix binges: The Umbrella Academy season 1 recap

The Umbrella Academy season 1, episode 10 recap: “The White Violin”

We go even further back in time to start off “The White Violin.” Reginald was given the violin and told to give it to someone else who would love it just as much. He did just that, but his motivations for doing so were never pure. We also see him going into an umbrella store, which is where he came up with the Umbrella Academy name.

When the family realizes what’s happening, Pogo instructs them all to get out. Ben somehow saves Klaus and Diego while Vanya keeps seeing glimpses of their past as she destroys the Academy. Pogo confronts her and that gives the kids just enough time to get out. She kills him because he knew all of these years and kept their father’s secret.

The Handler gives Cha-Cha and Hazel a new assignment, which is to protect Vanya at all costs. As “Barracuda” by Heart plays, Vanya takes her violin and kills a guy who honks at her. The rest of the family meets at a bowling alley where Five gets a fortune cookie from the Handler, who had a tracker on him.

Vanya heads to her concert and we get a flashback of the moment she took the violin. Cha-Cha and Hazel are right behind her bus. But back at the bowling alley, Allison has Luther call Claire for her since she can’t talk. Things don’t go so well for Cha-Cha, who ends up being thrown from the car once Hazel crashes it. Diego, Klaus, Allison and Luther are attacked at the bowling alley by a group of assassins.

Five heads to the location that the Handler gave her, which is the hotel Hazel and Agnes were at. Agnes is still tied up. Five ends up getting himself out of there and right as he does, we cut to Vanya’s concert. Allison goes in alone while Luther and Diego try to incapacitate her. Klaus is the lookout because Luther doesn’t trust him a whole lot with anything else.

As it turns out, Klaus is, in fact, a horrible lookout and doesn’t notice something’s wrong until Ben hears the gunfire. Five shows up and helps take out some of the assassins. Klaus does do something right, though, when he channels Ben and his powers. Cha-Cha shows up for her inevitable duel with Diego.

While they’re distracted fighting others, Vanya continues playing the violin and grows more powerful. They regroup and go after Vanya, but it’s Allison who sneaks up on her as she’s killing the other siblings. She shoots a gun right next to Vanya’s ear and her powers blow a hole in the moon. They think they’re in the clear, but Klaus notices bits of the moon falling toward Earth.

Five has an idea, but it’s a wild one. He wants to use his powers to time travel the entire family out of there so they have a chance to fix Vanya instead. He successfully gets them out of there and they all look like they are 13 years old again. This gives us a nice cliffhanger for season one and a pretty good starting point for what comes next.

Overall, I enjoyed how they translated the comic to the big screen. This season has a nice mix of emotional beats with some comic book action scenes. It was a fun time, even if it wasn’t necessarily as wacky as I thought the comics were.