The following contains spoilers for The Umbrella Academy Season 3, now streaming on Netflix.
Season 3 of Netflix's The Umbrella Academy is its most ambitious yet. As the Umbrellas return home in 2019, they discover that their home is no longer theirs, but, in fact, the Sparrow Academy's. There's a whole slate of new characters to dive into, but the season feels incredibly overwhelming with so many stories to juggle around.
The Sparrow Academy is one of the most exciting, but messy ventures The Umbrella Academy has wrestled with. After changing the timeline (yet again), the Umbrellas learn that their mothers died before they were born, meaning they never existed in this new timeline, so Reginald adopts seven new children to be Sparrows, while also keeping an obnoxious but enthralling Ben. This adds up to 14 super-powered beings, plus new and old characters acting as the supporting cast -- and it all becomes too much.
The Umbrella Academy does succeed at giving every prominent character their own story. Viktor has a gracious and respective storyline highlighting his transition, while also acting as a true Number 1 for the group. Allison quickly falls into a very flawed and disrespectful descent into a manipulative person. Meanwhile, Klaus, Five and Luther all have their own stories, but feel weak compared to their siblings' stories. Most outrageous is Diego, who falls victim to a predictive trope that should stay firmly in the hands of romantic comedies.
Among the Umbrellas settling into Hotel Obsidian and figuring out the new timeline are the Sparrows planning how to deal with their new enemies. The Sparrows definitely have a place in this season, but surprisingly they're not the main focus for long. Despite all of Netflix's marketing since Season 2, the Sparrows are the biggest threat to the Umbrellas, it's actually just another apocalypse. When the world-ending Kugelblitz is introduced, the Sparrows are merely just disposable "meat in spandex," as Viktor would say.
The good thing that comes out of these cluster of new characters is that everyone does have their own moment to shine -- but the show fails to let them do any more than that. Early in the season, it seems like the creatives behind the Netflix series knew they spread themselves too thin with so many characters and decided to kill most Sparrows off one by one. First it was Marcus, which is disappointing because he was the most charismatic Sparrow besides Ben. Then it was everyone else until it was down to just Ben and Sloane, and Sloane's fine as a character, but she is more or less used as a plot device to heal Luther's grief and become his first real love interest after Allison.
Factoring in characters outside the Umbrellas and Sparrows, there's also an adult Harlan this season, who sadly shares Sloane's role of being a pitiful plot device to keep the story full of surprises. Grace and Pogo are back as abnormal version of themselves, proving that The Umbrella Academy should let some dead characters stay dead -- no matter the amount of nostalgia it brings. Javon "Wanna" Walton as Stanley is a mischievous joy on screen, but really has no significant impact on the season overall.
The difficult takeaway to muster is that most of these characters had worthwhile stories, but they get lost in the shuffle. There are genuinely humane and imperfect stories that the viewers are expected to fall in love with, but The Umbrella Academy falls under its own weight this season. For what it's worth, the overstuffed plot and underdeveloped characters are just a fluke in what's considered an impressive addition to an underrated superhero show.
All episodes of The Umbrella Academy Season 3 are now streaming on Netflix.