I had always thought it was but apparently not.
We’re 2 episode in with The Umbrella Academy. Seems fine so far, if a bit slow. I don’t know if it’s just us, but the lighting is really dark and shadowy to the point it’s hard to see the characters and what they are doing. The characters are either in complete or partial shadow or in front of a very bright back light so they’re washed out. The only other show I’ve seen that looked like this is the Sabrina reboot. Everything else we watch on Netflix and anywhere else is fine.
Since my last post I’ve watched the third episode of Umbrella Academy, and re-read volume 1 of the comic (which I’m assuming is more or less what the first season covers).
I like the cast more and more, they’re really all pretty great with the possible exception of Ellen Page. She’s just kind of moping around, which may be the character’s fault, but so far she’s the boring center of a much more interesting cast.
I definitely forgot a lot from the comic. I hope the show is just taking its time to ease into some of the crazier comic things rather than ignoring them all together. Zombie Robot Gustav Eiffel attacking Paris as he tries to operate the Eiffel Tower (which was of course actually a spaceship) in the comic was a much more opening set piece for the students than thwarting a bank robbery on the show.
I also completely forgot that Hargreeves was an alien. That’s casually revealed in the very beginning of the first issue of the comic, but doesn’t actually affect the plot directly, so I wonder if that will come up at all in season one of the show.
We watch Netflix on a Roku enabled TV. I discovered that Netflix was overriding my TV settings and for some shows (like The Umbrella Academy) setting it to something called “Dolby Dark” which is supposed to emulate a theatrical visual experience. Except for us is was just horribly dark. I reset it back to Normal and now everything looks great. I take back what I said about The Umbrella Academy. It looks just fine.
Probably not Netflix itself but rather your TV having separate settings for Dolby Vision sources, most of which are in practice on Netflix. That’s how it works on mine.
I haven’t read the comics, but after seeing the whole season I think Ellen Page’s performance suits the character, and makes more sense as the show progresses.
The item you mention in the last paragraph is covered briefly in the last episode.
Overall I enjoyed the series, hope it gets a season 2, particularly due to how the final episode ends.
That’s the HDR kicking in. You can adjust the picture settings after starting an HDR/Dolby Vision stream to get it how you like. If you’re using a TCL TV like me, Dolby Dark is one of 3 presets you can swap between before drilling down into more fine grain picture controls. I think the Dolby Dark preset is best if you are viewing in an absolutely pitch black room. Most people would probably prefer the Dolby Normal or Dolby Bright presets.
Yeah. That was it. Thanks Ginger and Brad. Turns out a lot of stuff was defaulting to Dolby Dark and looked great. But some shows like The Umbrella Academy benefit from a brighter picture.
Huh - Umbrella Academy is quite good! Really enjoying the visual style and the mysterious plotline.
I watched the second episode of Umbrella Academy. That was a lot better. Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now, and then the final song that the episode ended on were both really well done. If this show is going to be about musical montages like this, then I’m in. The action itself was a lot more interesting than the first episode since they upped the stakes and made number 5 weaker. All in all an excellent episode.
I have been enjoying Sex Education quite a bit as an updated take on the John Hughes high school genre. I just watched Episode 5 (the Hedwig one) last night and it was a masterpiece at hitting some subtle yet powerful notes. The show is much deeper than I expected.
Yes it is good.
Umbrella Academy: 4 episodes down. This show makes me feel a bit squeamish on how much it makes me hate certain characters. I guess eliciting strong emotions is good, not many shows do that.
When Number 5 returns and confides in the only sibling who is an asshole, it really makes me hate Ellen Page’s character so much from then on. And then that lady police officer? They make it clear that she’d rather spite Diego and not follow a lead than do what he says. And as a result a poor tow truck driver gets tortured and killed, and she doesn’t care. She doesn’t regret it.
So was the payoff to all that hate worth it? Hell yes. In Episode 4 when Chacha and Hazel kill her, it feels fucking awesome. I’ve never felt so good at a hated character dying before. It makes me think this show is turning me evil or something.
I just hope Ellen Page’s character also gets killed in a gruesome way. Hopefully she’ll get tortured first.
I finished 4 eps too. Lady cop doesn’t want to encourage you know, a vigilante that murders people.
Mega speculative spoilers.
I think I know what the ending is going to be… As soon as Paige said she forgot to take the pills she takes that’s it, I was sure. Of course she’s special somehow. She’s gonna be special enough to blow up the world somehow.[/spoiler]
This one came out of nowhere- it debuts next week, and the trailer was released a few days ago.
It seems like Netflix is getting into the “magic school for adults”/urban wizards genre, ala “The Magicians”, “A Discovery of Witches”, maybe shades of The Dresden Files, etc. It looks like a CW show, honestly- pretty mid-twentysomthings in terrible relationships. I’ll still watch it- I’m a sucker for this crap.
Anyway, trailer!
I’m more likely to see it than The Magicians. With the Magicians I keep thinking “no, I own the book, so I should read the first book before I watch the TV show”, and at this point my book backlog is huge. But The Order? I have no such hang-ups.
Thanks for the heads up!
On Episode 5 of Umbrella Academy:
That was certainly unexpected. The last thing I was expecting is for Number 5 to make a deal with the Commission to save his family instead of continuing to try to stop the apocalypse.
I think the wiser course is to never assume anything 5 does is what it appears to be.
Every character in Umbrella Academy has capital I issues that more than offset the advantages of their special abilities. With 5 it’s very clear his arrogance and belief that he can do it all himself without needing to be a team player is what holds him back.
This is backwards. Never read the source material before going into the adaptation. I mean, obviously things you have already enjoyed will get adapted, but then don’t refresh your memory. In my experience, it’s so much easier to treat it as its own thing that way, and you will especially want to do that with The Magicians, which is a terrible adaptation of the books and also a really fun show.