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number5theboy · 4 years

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Please elaborate on how Five could've turned into the most insufferable character to watch

Thanks for asking me to elaborate on this text post:

@tessapercygranger, @waywardd1 and @margarita-umbrella also wanted to see a more detailed version of it, and I ended up writing an essay that’s longer than some of my actual academic essays. So buckle up.

WHY NUMBER FIVE SHOULD BE THE MOST OBNOXIOUS CHARACTER IN TV HISTORY, AND HOW HE MANAGES NOT TO BE

Number Five: The Concept That Could Go Horribly Wrong

Alright, let’s first look at Five in theory in an overarching way, without taking into account the execution of the show. The basic set-up of the character, of course, is being a 58-year-old consciousness in a teenager’s body, due to a miscalculation in time travel. Right off the bat, Five is bar none the most overpowered of the siblings; by the end of Season 2, no one has yet been able to defeat him in a fight. He is a master assassin – and not just any master assassin, but the best one there is – and a survival expert, able to do complex maths and physics without the aid of a calculator, shown to have knowledge of half a dozen languages, has very developed observational skills and, to top that all off, he can manipulate time and space to the point where he can literally erase events that happened and change the course of history. And Five knows how skilled he is; he is arrogant, self-assured and sarcastic, and his streak of goodness is buried deep inside. David Castañeda once described Five in an interview as 90% chocolate with a cherry in the middle, meaning that you have to get through a lot of darkness and bitterness before knowing there is a good core, and I think it’s an excellent metaphor. However, Five is also incredibly, fundamentally terrible at communicating with anyone, and, because he is the only one with time travel abilities, the character a lot of the actual plot - and the moving forward of it - centres around. Also he’s earnestly in love with a mannequin, who is pretty much a projection of his own consciousness that functions as a coping mechanism for all the trauma he has endured. All in all, this gives you a character who looks like a teenager, but with the smug superiority of a fifty-something, who a) is extremely skilled in many different things, b) has a superiority complex, is arrogant and vocal about it, and most of the superiority is expressed through cutting sarcasm, c) has one very hidden ounce of goodness that he is literally the worst at communicating to other human beings, d) is what moves the plot along but is also bad at talking to anyone else, meaning that the plot largely remains with him, and e) his love interest is essentially a projection of himself. Tell me that’s not a character who is destined to be just…obnoxious, annoying, egocentric, a necessary evil that one has to put up with to get through this show. There are so many elements of this characterisation that can and should easily make Five beyond insufferable, but the show manages to avoid it, and I’m putting this down to three aspects.

That Trick of Age and Appearance

Bluntly put, Five as a character would not work if he was anything else than an old man in a 13-year-old body. Imagine this character and all his skills and knowledge, but actually just…a teenager. Immediately insufferable. Same goes for him being around 30, like his siblings, all of which are stunted and traumatised by their father’s abuse. If Five, being comparatively unscathed by Reginald to the point where he explicitly does not want to be defined by his association with his father, were 30 like his siblings, it would just take the bite out of that plot point and also give him a lot less time in the apocalypse, reducing the impact it had on him as a person. And making Five his actual 58-year-old self would make him very similar to Reginald, at least on surface level, with the appearance and attitude. Five and Reginald are two fundamentally different people, but having one of the siblings being a senior citizen that’s dressed to the nines and bosses his siblings around in a relatively self-centred way does open up that parallel, and would take away from Five’s charm as a character. Because pairing the life experience of a 58-year-old with the appearance of a teenager gives you the best of both worlds. You get the other siblings (and a lot of the audience, from a glance in the tags of my gifsets) feeling protective and paternal about Five, but his age and experience also give the justifications for his many skills, his arrogance, in a way, and his ability to decimate a room full of people. It’s the very interesting and not new concept of someone dangerous with the appearance of something harmless, a child. This is also where Five’s singular outfit comes in. I know we like to clown on Five to get a new outfit, but I think what gets forgotten often is how effective this outfit is at making the viewer take him seriously. The preppy school uniform is the perfect encapsulation of the tension between old man in spirit and young teenager in appearance. The blazer, vest and especially the shirt and tie are quite formal, relatively grown up. They’re not something we, the audience, usually associate with a teenage boy wearing; it makes Five just a little bit more grown up. But there is also a reason characters in this show keep bringing up Five’s shorts and his socks, because those are not things that we associate with grown men wearing; they’re the unmistakably childish part of his school uniform. Take a moment and imagine Five wearing a hoodie or a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers; would that outfit work for him as well as the uniform does? Would he be able to command the same kind of respect or seriousness as a character? I don’t think so; the outfit is a lot more pivotal in making Five believable than a lot of people give it credit for.

Writing Nuance

The other big building block in not making Five incredibly insufferable is the writing. Objectively speaking, I think Five is the most well-written, and, more importantly, most coherently written character on the show (which does have to do with the fact that the show’s events are all sequential for him), and his arc and personality remain relatively intact over the course of the two seasons. More to the point, a giant part of what makes Five bearable as a character is that he is allowed to fail. He is written to have high highs and low lows, big victories through his skills and his intelligence, but also catastrophic failures and the freedom to be wrong. His superior intellect and skillset are not the be-all end-all of the plot or his character, just something that influences both. His inability for communication has not (yet) been used to fabricate a contrived misunderstanding that derails the plot and left all of us seething; instead, it’s a characteristic that makes him fail to reconnect with the people he loves. This is a bit simplified, as he does find common ground with Luther, for example, but in general, a lot of the rift between Five and his siblings is that they can’t relate to his traumas and he does not understand the depth of Reginald’s abuse, which is an interesting conflict worth exploring. Another thing that really works in Five’s favour is that he is definitely written to be mean and sarcastic, but it is never driven to the point of complete unlikability, and a lot of the time, the context makes it understandable why he reacts the way he does. Most of the sarcastic lines he gets are actually funny, that certainly helps, but in general, Five is a good example of a bearable character whose default personality is sharp and relatively cold, because it is balanced out with many moments of vulnerability. Delores is incredibly important for this in the first season, she is the main focus of Five’s humanising moments, and well-written as she totes the line between clearly being a coping mechanism for an extremely traumatised man and still coming across to the viewer as the human contact Five needs her to be. In the second season, the vulnerability is about his guilt for his siblings, it’s about Five connecting a little bit better to them. There’s also his relationship with the Commission and the Handler specifically – which honestly could be an essay on its own – that deserves a mention, because the Handler is why Five became the man he is, and this dynamic between creator and creation is explored in a very interesting way – their scenes are some of the most well-written in the entire show. And TUA never falls into the trap of making Five a hero, he is always morally ambiguous at best, and it just makes for an interesting, multi-faceted character, well-written character, and none of the characteristics that should make him unlikeable are allowed to take centre-stage for long enough to be defining on their own. I know a lot of people especially champion the scenes where Five goes apeshit, but without his more nuanced characterisation, if he was like that all the time, those scenes would not hit as hard.

Aidan Gallagher’s Performance is Underrated

But honestly, none of the above would matter that much if the Umbrella Academy didn’t luck out hard with the casting of Aidan Gallagher. I think what he achieves as an actor in this show is genuinely underappreciated. Like, the first season set out to cast six adults having to deal with various ramifications of childhood trauma, and a literal child that had to be able to act smart and wise beyond his years, seamlessly integrate into a family of adults while seeming like an adult, traumatised by the literal end of the world, AND had to be able to create the romantic chemistry of a thirty-year-long marriage with a lifeless department store doll. The only role I could think of to compare is Kirsten Dunst in Interview with a Vampire, where she plays a vampire child who, because she is undead, doesn’t age physically, but does mentally, so she’s 400 in a child’s body. And Kirsten Dunst had to do that for a two-hour movie. Five is a main character in a show that spans 20 episodes now. That’s insane, and it’s a risk. Five is a character that can’t be allowed to go wrong; if you don’t buy Five as a character, the entire first season loses believability. And they found someone who could do that not only convincingly, but also likeably. As I said, he is incredibly helped by the costuming department and the script, but Aidan Gallager’s Five has so much personality, he’s threatening and funny and charming and arrogant and heartbreaking. He has the range to be convincing in the quiet moments where Five’s humanity comes to show and in the moments where Five goes completely off the rails. Most child actors act with other children, but he is the only child in the main cast, and holds his own in scenes with adults not as a child, but as an adult on equal footing with the other adult characters. That’s not something to be taken for granted. But even apart from the fact that it’s a child actor who carries a lot of the plot and the drama of a series for adults, Aidan Gallagher’s portrayal of Five is also just so much fun. The comedic timing is on point, he has the dramatic chops for the serious scenes, the mannerisms and visual ticks add to the character rather than distract from him, and his line deliveries, paired with his physical acting, make Five arrogant and smug but never outright malicious and unlikeable. It’s just some terrific acting that really does justice to the character as he is written, but the writing would not be as strong if it wasn’t delivered and acted out the way Aidan Gallagher does. He is an incredible asset for this show.

Alright, onto concluding this rambling. If you made it this far, I commend you, and thank you for it. The point of all of this is that Five, as a character, could have been an unmitigated disaster of a TV character. He is overpowered, arrogant, uncommunicative and could so easily have been either unconvincing or completely unlikeable, but he turned out to be neither. It’s a combination of choices in the costume department, decisions in the writing room, and Aidan Gallagher’s acting skills that make the things that should make him obnoxious and annoying incredibly entertaining, and I hope you liked my long-winded exploration of these. Some nuance was lost along the way, but if I had not stopped myself, this would’ve become a full-blown thesis.

#thanks for the ask again #TUA #The Umbrella Academy #Five Hargreeves #tua s2 spoilers #my meta #i guess #Replies #Anonymous

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glorioustidalwavedefendor · 5 years

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Umbrella Academy: Watchmen meets Carrie meets good Omen meets X-men.

I know, as usually I am super late to the party, but I still want to throw my five cents in to the mash.

DISCLAIMER: I didn‘t read the comic, so I am not judging this as an adaption, but as a stand alone.

DISCLAIMER: This is my Hot Take after I just finished the show.

First of all, this show is absolutely gorgeous.

I could take any frame, nail it to my Wall and it would look incredible.

Second, the soundtrack is great.

The choices, always perfect.

Three, speaking of perfect, the casting is a match made in heaven.

Especially Aidan Gallaghers number five is a true revelation. Seldom have I seen a child actor deliver such a superb and solid piece of acting.

Four, the digital effects are on par with anything I have seen on the big screen. Pogo, is as real a character as all the others.

Nice, touch to have the Title always appear on a different Umbrella.

Also, big shout out to the props department, they really outdid themselves.

Set design and Weapons Master, kudos to you guys … as well as to the fight choreographer, that was awesome.

Oh, and I forgott the costume department and the makeup department as well as the practical effects ...

Let’s just say, the cre is just as amazing as the cast.

Five, this cast is surprisingly diverse for a mainstream show. And it is divers in n dimensions.

Not just race, but age, orientation, handicap … we got it all …

(Again, keep in mind mainstream, don‘t expect miracles)

Six, the characters are, for the most part pretty believable, even if they sometimes do stupid things for the sake of the plot.

Seven, look out and prediction. Like so many shows have taught us, the quality of the first season, has nothing to do with the quality of the second season. I am looking at you, Daredevil, Jessica Jones …

So while I am delighted to hear that the Academy has been greenlit for a second season, I am not even carefully optimistic. I will expect nothing, then I can not be disappointed.

My Prediction?

*Spoiler*

O.K. so maybe this one is wearing tap shoes, but I am super proud that I noticed, so I will include it anyway.

Number five is Richard Hargreaves.

#Umbrella Academy #my opinion #also can we talk about Klaus?#This walking talking dumpster fire? This complete and utter human desaster?#He is my favourit #Like seriously #he is my presous baby angel and I want only good things to happen to him #I know #not gona happen #But boy do I love Klaus ...

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richardfurch · 5 years

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Great fun mixing this for @aidanrgallagher and @trinityroseofficial , two voices on their way, both musically and in the case of Aidan, as an actor on the wildly imaginative @umbrellaacad on @netflix masterful production by @andrewldixon and mastering by @beckermastering Let’s do it again soon and go go go. S/o @robgallagherx for putting it all together and thanks to @billboard for the article. #Repost @aidanrgallagher ・・・ Check out @billboard magazine! blbrd.cm/4nrcVg https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8508395/aidan-gallagher-trinity-rose-miss-you https://www.instagram.com/p/BwvEbnhFLTY/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=epetp6hcww2q

#repost

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wherever-i-look-blog · 5 years

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The Umbrella Academy‘s first season is a bit hit and miss, but by the final, it seems to have found its footing.

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Network Netflix Creator Gerard Way, Gabriel Ba, Steve Blackman Genre Sci-Fi, Drama, Comedy Good If You Like Melodrama Isn’t For You If You Don’t Like Superheroes Who Don’t Use Their Powers Often To Fight Crime

Like Charismatic Villains

Think Most CW Shows Are Trash

Noted Cast Reginald Colm Feore Luther Tom Hopper Diego David Castañeda Allison Emmy Raver-Lampman Klaus Robert Sheehan Number Five Aidan Gallagher Ben Justin H. Min Vanya Ellen Page Cha-Cha Mary J. Blige Hazel Cameron Britton The Handler Kate Walsh Leonard John Magaro

Summary

It all began October 1st, 1989 when 43 women gave birth to kids immaculately. Originally, the whole world was supposed to end approximately 25 years later. However, the members of The Umbrella Academy, founded by eccentric billionaire Reginald Hargreeves, were recruited to stop that, and various crimes. The members, who began their training before they were even 12 were the following: Number 1 (Luther) who had strength beyond the average human; Number 2 (Diego) who is a master with projectiles; Number 3 (Allison) who with saying “I Heard A Rumor” could manipulate anyone to do or forget anything; Number 4 (Klaus) who has the ability to communicate with the dead, and more; Number 5 (No Alias) who can teleport towards the future, past, and to different locations in the present; Number 6 (Ben) who could unleash a monster with tentacles to fight for him; and Number 7 (Vanya) who we are led to believe is powerless.

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Together, minus Vanya, these children were trained for great things. However, by the time they are adults, most have left Reginald and The Umbrella Academy behind for various reasons. Be it Allison wanting to become a famous actress, Diego wanting to operate outside Reginald’s assigned missions, or just not wanting to deal with the indifferent nature of Reginald who barely seems to like most of his children. But, upon his death, they all come together and between investigating how he died, and Five returning after disappearing for years, so begins the first season which focuses on how to stop a pending apocalypse. One which will require them to work together unless they want to meet the same fate Five escaped from.

Highlights

What Ellen Page Brings To This

Vanya (Ellen Page)

Recognizing not everyone is an Ellen Page fan, I honestly think she was the best actor out of all of them. As noted in the recaps, she brought a seriousness to the show, consistency in emotions, that we don’t really get from everyone else. While we hear the other actors, and their characters, vent about their childhood, adult life, and have these very forced upon emotional moments, it feels rather natural for Page.

For whether it is just her character being unwilling to hold most people’s glance, apologizing for existing sometimes, and other little things, you get a quality performance. Albeit one which barely fits in with the tone the show has, but towards the end, it becomes less of an outlier and more so something for this show to aim towards. Thus pushing the writing and Page’s peers to the point of trying to match her.

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Low Points

The Superhero Element Isn’t Tapped Into Much

If you’re expecting powers to be used in masse, crime fighting to happen, epic fights, and things of that nature? Well, you might be disappointed. There are only two to three big fights in the entire season, and two of the three are in the season finale. A finale which finally lets us see Klaus’ power in force, as well as see how Ben’s power works – since Klaus passively conjures him up, even when high – which makes little sense considering being high is supposed to numb his powers.

As for the rest, again, it is only in those three fights we really see their powers, sans Allison who doesn’t use her skills for reasons noted in the season.

In The Beginning, It Cheaply Tries To Make You Emotional

We’re told, fairly often, that things weren’t good in anyone’s childhood and with each other so for 12 or 13 years, the family didn’t speak to one another. Also, we see Reginald, while testing his kids’ capabilities, would borderline torture them. Klaus, for example, was locked in a mausoleum to get over his fear of the dead – didn’t happen. Also, Allison was used and allowed to use, her powers to manipulate people – including for Reginald’s use. Making it so, when she became a mom, she found herself even using that power on her daughter.

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But, there are other things. People die, and you can tell that it is supposed to affect you. There are multiple betrayals as well, and a bunch of drama which is made to be a big thing, but likely won’t hit you emotionally. They are just things noted to keep things chugging along, not so much the type of events which deepen your investment.

The Villains Were Lackluster

Hazel (Cameron Britton)

The Handler (Kate Walsh)

Cha-Cha (Mary J. Blige)

Being that this is based on a comic book, you’d think the villains would be spectacular, the organization they worked for would be sinister, complex, and more, but that’s not the case. The Commission’s mission is explained, and we do get to see inside of it, but how it was created, whether there is competition, and how does it decide what timeline is correct, that isn’t gone into. Mind you, most episodes are almost 60 minutes so not learning those nuggets make it so there is a bit of a gray area. Not the kind which complicates things, but more so leaves fans to make theories or feel pushed to read the comic if they want answers.

But, setting aside the organization and talking about their representatives, things aren’t much better. Cha-Cha and Hazel come off fearsome at first. However, like the majority of the characters, they are infected with this tone of appearing serious, but being low-key bumbling fools. So with each failure and their reaction being to strip away any and all mystique, it kills any sense of them being menacing or people to worry about.

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Then with the Handler, while she isn’t as exploited as Cha-Cha and Hazel, she doesn’t have the appeal of the villain with Cha-Cha and Hazel being her minions. She makes it clear she is just a recruiter, if not middle management. Thus taking away from any power or mystique she could have. Leaving us essentially without a villain besides the childhood trauma everyone, especially Vanya, are dealing with.

On The Fence

Some Call It Weird, I’d Say Awkward

“Weird” is a term often used when this show is described, and I’d say the show is more so awkward. Acknowledging the source material began nearly a decade ago, there are times when you feel the show, in an effort to not be compared to X-Men, among other properties, tries to dodge comparisons and ends up in a ditch. There is also a problem of either trying too hard, like Klaus being a comic relief and not going far enough.

Now, the Klaus example one could write off easily as Robert Sheehan giving the fans what they want. However, when it comes to the “not going far enough” comment, the issue is how the show develops its characters. When it comes to Leonard, for example, there is no subtly when it comes to revealing who he is. He is made suspicious early on, and it makes the big reveal fall flat. The same could be said for Allison and Luther’s relationship and Diego and Eudora’s relationship. This show, awkwardly, tries to make these emotional connections, craft what should be major betrayals, but often times they feel dialed in.

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Leading to, as seen in episodic recaps, the show coming to the point where it is hard to get through since it doesn’t seem to have much going for it beyond a budget and big-name stars. Yet, one could write the awkwardness, weirdness, are first season jitters. Both the writers and actors getting a groove, if you will. For by the time we’re in the final two episodes, there is some kind of rhythm, the emotional moments are set up better, and could get a real reaction out of you. That is, compared to what they were early on which often felt cheap and desperate.

Overall: Mixed (Stick Around)

I feel like many of Netflix’s shows, this wasn’t necessarily adapted to be binged. It was made for a six to seven day forgiveness period so its flaws could be excused, its pacing wouldn’t seem so slow, and you didn’t experience the production as a whole, fatigue and all. Which I feel is a factor in the mixed rating. However, the bigger issue was not having a hook until damn near the end. The characters were a bore, the storyline never made the villains or the apocalypse that big of a thing, and the relationship drama, be it family or romantic, never reached a point where you could use that as a selling point.

Yet, because of the ending, that is why it is being noted to stick around. In general, most shows are figuring out how to handle their writers and performers and how to get the best out of them. Add in this being an established property, and that means trying to figure out what stories should be saved, held for the second season, and what can be done considering the budget. So while, by no means, over the moon when it comes to season 1 of The Umbrella Academy, this is getting a mixed label since it seems it can get better and is trying to. Rather than it feeling settled in the way it is, so you can take it or leave it, the last two episodes pushed the idea season 2 could give us everything season 1 struggled with. And sometimes, just leaving people with hope is all that is necessary to maintain their loyalty.

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Has Another Season Been Confirmed?: Not yet.

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The Umbrella Academy #UmbrellaAcademy: Season 1 - Recap, Review (with Spoilers) The Umbrella Academy's first season is a bit hit and miss, but by the final, it seems to have found its footing.

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