Auto Academy season 3 review: the final test of the Hargreeves . family

In the third season of Oh Academy, the Hargreeves siblings must team up to save the world from some doom. Sound familiar? It should, because that’s also the summary of parts 1 and 2 of Oh Academy.

But that’s not necessarily an error. At times, resetting plots and ad content settings can be frustrating – and there are certainly moments this season Oh Academy It feels like something has happened before. At the same time, host Steve Blackman introduces lots of new storylines, new characters and new settings to complicate it all, some straight from the comics, some inspired by them, and some just for fun. That’s a lot to take in, both jarringly different and startlingly alike. But in the end it all came back to the Hargreeves siblings and their own unhappy cycle. How much you enjoy this season depends on how much you like stories about people suffering because they keep making the wrong decisions over and over again, even facing the possibility of cancellation. destroy.

[Ed. note: This review contains some mild setup spoilers for the third season of The Umbrella Academy.]

Image: Netflix

This season started with the last Hargreeves siblings back in 2019 – except, due to their mischief in 1963, it’s a different 2019 version from what they know. The biggest difference was that Reginald Hargreeves did Not adopt them. Instead, he chose seven different superpower children born on October 1, 1989. They are now an elite crime-fighting team known as the Sparrow Academy.

At first, most of Umbrella Academy seems doomed to accept their new fate in this strange timeline, but they soon realize that their presence in this alternate reality seems to have triggered a New apocalypse on the horizon. Luther (Tom Hopper), Diego (David Castañeda), Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), Klaus (Robert Sheehan), Five (Aidan Gallagher), and Viktor (Elliot Page) must work alongside an entirely new group of dysfunctional Hargreeves and siblings to prevent the end of the world.

At its core, Oh Academy is a tragedy – seven siblings trapped in their mold, unable to break free from them due to their own fundamental flaws. Clothes may change, but the Hargreeves siblings still have to deal with their own trauma and make terrible choices. For those who want the Hargreeves siblings to finally learn, grow, and succeed in averting the apocalypse, the bad news is that this season is going to be long, long, and like it repeats many arguments and same disagreement.

Photo: Christos Kalohoridis / Netflix

It doesn’t help that the pacing of this season feels a bit strange, either, with the last three episodes being particularly disjointed, almost as if they came from a completely separate season altogether. The bigger mysteries revealed in later episodes may cause more build-up than initially, but there’s a lot more ground to lay down afterwards with a new timeline, new characters, and alternate motives. everyone’s change. Last season benefited from the fact that audiences were familiar enough with the characters that putting them in a new setting eventually developed them nicely – because, yes, of course Klaus started a cult. and Allison were at the forefront of the civil rights movement and Diego was thrown into a mental hospital.

This time around, some plot elements get more attention than others, and it certainly feels uneven. In particular, the main driving force for the final three episodes doesn’t build up much until it suddenly becomes the most important thing in the universe. Meanwhile, other key themes from previous seasons were quickly wrapped up and rested without much fanfare. While these plot elements end up unbalanced, the Hargreeves family still takes center stage.

So, with a whole new cast of characters this season and more lore (not to mention 50 brand new years or so influenced by Umbrellas’ 1963 antics), there’s plenty of moving parts. But for those who invest in dysfunctional family members, both the saving grace of each other and the ultimate doom, the addition of a family unit can be more powerful (and certainly better in the whole teamwork) provides an interesting contrast to Umbrella Hargreeves. play with.

Image: Netflix

The rope that unites all three seasons of Oh Academy are the Hargreeves and all their shit. In the first season, everyone was more or less upset; in the second, after living scattered in different spots of the 1960s, they finally find comfort and joy in their reunion. This season is a bit of both – after messing around once again, tensions run high, and the presence of another (better-looking) family also exacerbates it all. However, since they are the only ones who can be contacted, they find some sense of solidarity in each other as the apocalypse looms (again).

There are some moments that can go deeper. For example, Allison and Diego – the only two siblings of color – confide in each other about being stuck in the 1960s, possibly offering themselves some more in-depth interrogation, rather than just the excuse for Allison to shut up. But while the characters often quarrel, it’s different from the icy hatred in season 1. This time, we’ve seen them get along and we know that deep down they love each other – that’s just is that after a lifetime of fighting each other and suffering brutal training routines, they’re still dealing with all those traumas. And that means that even when they want to fix things, they still make the same mistakes and fall into the same patterns. It can be frustrating, but it makes sense. The Hargreeves siblings may thrive as individuals, but they end up trapped in a prison of their own design, chained together and pulled down by whatever weakest link of theirs is. surname.

Image: Netflix

While the original Sparrows were a lot of characters at once, they ended up being a great fit for established dynamics. It helps that the two families have one thing in common: Ben, who in the Umbrella Academy universe was a sweet boy who tragically died (and the ghost that was trapped around Klaus in the previous installments); in Sparrow Academy, he’s the cute, cocky Number Two of the family. The Sparrows provide an interesting contrast to the Umbrellas, a family that on the surface seems to get along, but in reality can’t stand each other. Diego’s Lila (Ritu Arya), who has catapulted herself into a mix of everything, as does patriarch Hargreeves’ timeline version in this timeline, and this season has almost been filled with plenty of fans. how many characters and dynamics it can juggle. But once it all comes together, with groups of individuals starting to sprout, it gets pretty interesting.

This season of The Oh Academy Is one so many. It is a lot. And yet, it’s the same as always. There may be new characters, new locations, and an impending new world-ending disaster, but at the end of the day, it’s a show about a group of siblings who love each other more than anything while also being completely indifferent. same terrible for another, because they know exactly how to break each other.

When it comes to that, Oh Academy always delivery. The reason the world continues to end is because the Hargreeves siblings keep going crazy. This is the third time it’s happened, and as the show continues to succeed, there’s a chance they’ll be more likely to fail than succeed. It is frustrating, but so delicious. And for those who find themselves caught up in the cyclical nature of repeated tragedies and familial love as both the ultimate source of strength and weakness, Occa Academycontinues to be as intoxicating to viewers as the Hargreeves are to themselves.

The third season of Oh Academy access Netflix on June 22.