#tua meta

[unabashedmoonlight]

I think tua made the sibling dynamics too healthy too soon. They were all isolated, made to compete with each other, abused, each others' only true company for years and the only ones who could understand each other. Then after the academy parted ways, most of them didn't interact. It was heavily implied in the first season that this is after a decade that Allison is meeting Klaus yada yada. Diego, notably, still harbours resentment and anger and so does Viktor and I am sure others do too.

All of this apparently got fixed because in season 2 because they got stuck in the past and didn't meet each other for years/months. I Get what they were trying to do. Years/months of being alone and stuck while not knowing if the others are alive or if they will ever meet again will give way to some of the kinder feelings.

But what do you mean they all just forgave Viktor. I don't consider that scenario to be 'Viktor ending the world' but how come They don't? Being stuck should have given way to feelings of some anger and misplaced blame too. They all lost other people too, they lost their entire world and they were not angry about that?? Some of them should be blaming Luther too? Some should go blame Allison because she fired the bullet? Again, I don't blame any of them but they all should be blaming each other imo.

They weren't bombarding Klaus with questions about Ben? Neither were they furious with him?

They should have been more angry, clingy, guilt-struck, trauma dumped on each other because of their unique experiences while also not really talking about their feelings and I think some of this they did do with Klaus (and kind of Five but he should have been more unhinged at all times) but then missed the mark on everyone else.

And of course, they are going to have fun childhood memories but these are supposedly children who got half an hour of free time per WEEK. Most of their fun and beloved memories should be a bit more extreme/violent than the ones they were constantly recalling.

It just comes off as way too unrealistic and I know tua is not a show that cares about that, its camp is half its appeal but the other half is its characters and their dynamics and I think they messed that up in season 2.

It was still fun, don't get me wrong but I suppose it could have been more fun.

#tua #the umbrella academy #diego hargreeves #viktor hargreeves #Allison hargreeves #five Hargreeves #luther hargreeves #ben Hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #tua meta

[frunbuns]

There's something so bittersweet about the childhood flashbacks in tua. They were all children together. Reginald was horrible, but they had each other. And then everything went to shit. Five's 13 year old body a bitter reminder of what once was. His siblings in their adult bodies a reminder of how things should've been. God,,,,

#and now they're so different #they have so little in common ): #Five came back to a family that he no longer knew and who no longer knew him #they can never go back #Five's lived half a lifetime without them #its never going to be the same #Five's also the only one of them who kept the number name which makes him more of a reminder of the past he's like a relic of a lost time #i'm rewatching s1 rn and oh man #it hurts so bad Five should've grown up with them #ben should've lived #god the tragedy of it all #they were children together </3 #the umbrella academy #tua s1 #tua season 1 #tua #umbrella academy #luther hargreeves #diego hargreeves #allison hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #ben hargreeves #five hargreeves #viktor hargreeves #tua s2 #tua s3 #tua season 2 #tua season 3 #mine #tua meta

[disco-tea]

I miss season 1 of TUA, I miss the way it was such a clear cut abuse/post-abuse story. The way it was about how your father abused you and screwed up your whole life but now he’s gone and you have to try to deal with that. You have to figure out how to mend the damaged done and if you even can. Can you fix that relationship with your sibling? Can you heal from all that pain? That resentment? The way it’s about the siblings but it’s also about Grace. Mom. It’s about Diego trying to protect his mom who was just as much a victim as anybody. It’s the journey from “how could you speak so well of him, he treated you worse than anybody” to Grace finally doing things she wants to do because “your father isn’t here anymore.” She’s free. It’s the way Grace was literally programmed to speak well of Reginald and apologize for his abuse and in so many ways, Luther was too. He doesn’t have code but he was programmed all the same. Season 1 of TUA is an amazingly well done allegory about abuse and how different people react to abuse and about still suffering the effects of abuse. About breaking out of that programming and the lies you were told. It’s about the way sometimes you end up copying your abusers shitty behavior and how you have to make the conscious choice not to. It’s about wishing you could raze your childhood home to the ground. It’s about surviving abuse and asking the question “what are you going to do now that he’s gone?” I just can’t stress enough how well done it was and how the show did itself such a huge disservice by erasing that timeline and bringing Reginald back.

#umbrella academy #tua meta

[littlerit]

The mothers & their character

Musing on what we get to see of the Umbrella mothers, I have some thoughts. I wonder if the mothers were shown as deliberate reflections of their children?

Luther’s Mother. A confident business lady, giving or about to give a presentation. She shows leadership, confidence (that dress folks, YES), poise. Professional strength and intelligence. All things that Luther has aspired for.

Diego’s Mum. Shown in the home, preparing a meal. A home maker, caring, love language presumably acts of service. A reflection on how Diego always seems to have wanted to be a real family, with real connnections and care. His closeness with Mom/Grace. Also, knife skills.

Allison’s Mother - a teacher. And if my memory serves me, teaching geography/geology with a diagram of the earth’s layers on the chalkboard. A nurturer who works with youths/children, and who has the power to inspire and change lives with her words.

Klaus’ Mother - Amish. The simple, self-sufficient and religious life doesn’t seem a good fit at first glance, but when you look a little deeper I think there’s some parallels. Religion/Spirituality/Mediumship/literal crossing to the other side are all linked beneath the surface. And the self sufficient life style - Klaus has never really gone without. Whatever he has thought he needed or wanted (materialistically) he has been able to get, one way or another. He’s adaptable, a charmer, he always lands on his feet.

Five’s mother, the butcher. A professional who can get the job done, isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty, but can work with precision. Ability to separate emotions from the job at hand. Also, excellent blade skills and good understanding of anatomy. A good parallel to Five’s ruthless fighting style and the professional pride he took in his assassination work.

Ben’s schoolgirl mom. Young, really starting to explore life, with years and years ahead of her. Too young to be thrust into motherhood, such a momentous change, regardless of the instantaneous nature of it. A reflection or mirror to her son, who was beginning to explore life outside of the academy and died too young.

Viktor’s mother. The aspiring olympic swimmer who wanted to rise above ordinary and compete with the extraordinary - something Viktor longed for for most of his life and formed a huge part of the S1 arc, and really still influences Viktor even in S3.

#the umbrella academy #tua #hargreeves siblings #tua meta #umbrella academy

[sunriseseance]

Hi, I’m so sorry this ask is long and probably messy but I saw you talking about Allison and Klaus and I’ve been thinking about them a lot so here’s something:

I’ve seen a lot of people hating on Allison at the end of season 3 for making a deal with Reginald and “getting Luther and Klaus killed” when she clearly didn’t know that was gonna happen and there’s no way she would agree to do that.

Like they specifically have a problem with her making a deal with Reggie but, what do they think Klaus was doing? Do they think he was too stupid or too naive to make a deal? Is it not a deal if they don’t shake hands? Because I think Klaus was playing his own game and they just fell for the “I’m hanging out with dad because he’s nice now” act.

Reginald tried to use both of them to get the others on board with his plan but that didn’t work because, despite everything, they still respected their siblings decisions. Allison could have rumored everyone and be done, but instead she committed the crime of… actually talking to them and maybe putting on a fake smile? Klaus could’ve been very manipulative and insistent, enough that Lila told him to back off.

In the end, Luther got killed because they weren’t willing to go that far and Reginald had to find another way.

Yep yep yep. I think you are 100% correct. Allison clearly did not know what she was agreeing to, and she risked everything she could to undo the harm.

People have been falling for Klaus's shtick since the first week after season 1 came out. He says he is just a carefree silly who doesn't know better and can't do anything and the fandom says "yep!" or "I can't believe the writers would do this to him" instead of looking at the incongruencies as deliberate choices for them to examine. This is regrettably not new.

I think it is worth SERIOUSLY questioning why people are so charitable with Klaus and assume the absolute worst possible of Allison. Because you have hit the nail on the head. They are extremely similar characters, who have almost 100% the exact same flaws, and yet one is the fandom darling and the other's tag is about 80% people talking about how much they hate her.

#the umbrella academy #klaus hargreeves #allison hargreeves #tua meta #HOW FUN to use that tag again thank you anon!!!!!!!!!!!! #I missed out on s3 meta because I was doing chemo for stage 3 cancer #so it is nice to get back into it. #also: I am going to hear about Allison sexually assaulting Luther #1. she stopped. She realized what she was doing and she stopped. #2. Klaus has issues in that department as well #which is natural!!! They were child trafficked soldier billionaires and both used their charisma or LITERAL POWERS to get what they want #Of fucking course they are messed up in that way #She stopped. She is not an irredeemable monster. She is a person who went through THE WORST THING POSSIBLE and had some nasty reactions #Get the fuck off her ass

[cogentranting]

The thing about the other siblings never listening to Klaus or asking him for important information is that he's totally conditioned them into that. If you go back and watch Klaus's season 1 interactions with the others before Vietnam you'll see that a really large amount of what he says is lies or weird nonsense. Sometimes it's just because he's on his own track and he's Like that, sometimes it's kind of mocking, sometimes it's an attention thing, and sometimes it's outright manipulation in an attempt to get money for drugs (or whatever else he wants). But regardless, at that point in the story, the majority of what Klaus says is either being obnoxious, actively derailing what they're trying to do, or is in pursuit of something self destructive that they don't want him to do. And so they do their best to ignore him.

And from what we're shown, that's how Klaus was for at least 15 years. And he does change, for the most part. From Vietnam forward Klaus has a ton of character growth (even with a certain amount of relapsing and backsliding). BUT the amount of time actually spent with the siblings (other than Ben) since that growth started, adds up to only about two weeks. So 15 years of dealing with Klaus is going to outweigh two weeks. It takes time to unlearn those dynamics.

And also, Klaus does still do some things to reinforce the old pattern. Without context a lot of what he says sounds like nonsense. Even when he's being sincere it comes through in weird ways (the frog and the scorpion scene). He still has major attention seeking behaviors like starting a cult. He does still lie and withhold information intentionally (like about Ben in season 2).

And none of this is meant as a knock against Klaus-- I love Klaus, he's a great character. And it's not to say that they SHOULDN'T listen to Klaus more, just that it's really understandable why they DON'T. Old habits die hard. And for a long time, Klaus was not very trustworthy and not an easy person to be around, especially if you care about him.

#the umbrella academy #tua #klaus hargreeves #tua meta #cogent metas

[destinyandcoins]

lmao i know it’s 2 seasons later but it just occurred to me: what if, at the beginning of s1, instead of deciding his funeral was the best way to get everyone back in one place, reginald decided to have a wedding instead

not only do we get the entertaining side-plot of this poor person reginald has bribed/blackmailed/begged to marry him For The Con, but the only reason any of the kids show up is because they got a wedding invite and immediately went “oh now this i gotta see”

#the episode is titled ''we only see each other at WEDDINGS and FUNERALS'' #i'm just saying it could have gone the other way #the umbrella academy #half the kids are there to check in with their new stepparent and make sure they're there of their own free will #''idk what he told you but you don't have to do this. say the word and i'll get you out of here'' #''no i promise i. definitely....want to...be here :) :) '' #i can't decide if it's funnier if five knew because time travel and he's already had time to adjust to this concept #so is perfectly polite and accommodating if slightly confused because the personality he built for them in his head isn't accurate #while the rest of them are going through the 5 stages of grief over discovering their dad is capable of romance #or if through some time fuckery five came from a timeline where he saw the news that reginald is dead #and then drops into the timeline in the middle of a fucking wedding and is COMPLETELY blindsided by this #but doesn't have time to deal with this shit #somehow THIS is the timeline where they do manage to prevent the apocalypse #and at the end of everything the new stepparent divorces the fuck out of reginald ASAP because holy shit they were not paid enough for this #and yet they're like ''well i did what you asked (even if you didn't mention the LOOMING APOCALYPSE) #but holy shit i'm taking these kids in the divorce because what the fuck dude what the FUCK. idc if they're all adults #they need a better family and now i'm obligated to be that for them'' #and reginald was playing fast and loose because of the LOOMING APOCALYPSE and didn't sign a prenup #so the new stepparent gets the academy (the property AND the actual kids) and reginald has to move out and live on the streets #tua meta

[i-seeaspaceshipinthe-sky]

reginald lied to klaus about his death in 3x07. in 3x06, when klaus comes to visit him, it’s a day; it’s still a day when reginald electrocutes him to death:

it’s night, when allison comes to the academy with harlan’s body in the trunk (and there’s also klaus’ body somewhere in the academy):

and it seems only the NEXT DAY reginald takes klaus out for training. in 3x07, reginald tells klaus he remained dead for 22 minutes. so, klaus probably thinks it’s still the day when he told reginald about the white buffalo suite; the last thing he remembers is being electrocuted. reginald also adds that klaus was totally vulnerable, and he could’ve taken any of his organs. klaus is shocked, because why good ol’ reggie would do that, right?

the training starts at 1:15 p.m., reginald writes it down. logically, klaus’ 22-minute-long death should be listed as 001, but:

it’s 004. 22 minutes - lower body (something something), and LACERATION? before that, 003 - failure (?). 

between klaus’ FIRST electrocution and the bus-ball training, reginald had killed him not one, but four (FOUR!) times. and, most likely he did indeed try to cut him/cut out his organs (?) to check on how/if his dead body can heal itself. spoiler alert: klaus CAN HEAL HIMSELF even when he’s dead. later, we can see it in 3x09 when he comes back to life when the wound on his stomach has ALREADY healed. (so no one could steal his falling out guts, right? reginald knew. old bitch fucking knew). 

so, i think reginald kept electrocuting klaus all night between 3x06-3x07 (with the method reginald chose, it could probably mess up klaus’ memories? he literally doesn’t remember shit except for being electrocuted one last time?) until he made sure that: a) klaus comes back fairly quick now (attempt 003 says 26 minutes, not bad, not bad!) and b) his body heals from any injuries so haha getting crashed with a car is not a big deal.   

#the umbrella academy #tua meta #tua theory #klaus hargreeves #reginald hargreeves #tua #umbrella academy #meta

[mortal-song]

klaus has this habit of searching for answers and purpose in the same place he lost them. his autonomy was stolen from him as a child, and he lives with that loss every day. it’s quite common for people with that experience to live with dissociative symptoms, and i actually think klaus is a realistic portrayal of that. while it’s never outright said that it’s dissociation he deals with, i think a lot of survivors could probably see it in him. he’s always seemed to feel a disconnect with himself, with his own body (for example -- and this is a small one -- when he told ben “you’re not getting in this body,” rather than my body). his identity is something transient, something that shifts drastically sometimes depending on the situation he’s in, which is a common experience in people with dissociative symptoms -- we’re like “chameleons.” 

he forgets key things regarding his trauma: that, or his brain will twist the events to make them more palatable to himself. he didn’t remember being killed as a child, even though it happened multiple times. and despite not remembering anything, he still has visceral reactions when it comes to being confined. he may not consciously remember every event, but his body does, and so he reacts accordingly, as if the threat of being killed again were a present one. because the body remembers the loss of control, it remembers the autonomy that was once stolen. then there’s “bus ball.” obviously, it was an objectively shitty, terrifying thing, being once again murdered, multiple times by your own father and abuser -- and as an experiment, no less. despite that, the events were portrayed as something that was for the most part fun, almost. and when he vaguely recounted said events later on, he referred to it as “bus ball.” like it really was nothing more than a game. that’s another common dissociative symptom, and a common trauma symptom: being so disconnected on a certain level from your own trauma that you’re able to talk about it like it’s nothing. that you’re able to remember a skewed version of it so that you don’t have to internalize any of the real terror.

touch is another one. klaus is a very tactile person. he communicates well through touch. but he often doesn’t like being touched, unless it’s from someone he knows, loves and trusts.

he startles easily, too. will jump back at sudden movements or words, gets frightened by loud noises and will cover his ears.

his need for connection is relevant here, too. he has a hard time being alone with himself, and so he finds people to cling to, or finds people that will cling to him, just to stave off those feelings and to ground himself, almost. sometimes it spirals out of control, like with the cult. but his constant need for connection stems from feeling disconnected.

one of his passing comments to luther in s1 (”I remember my first time... oh no. i don’t”) hits hard, too. it’s not uncommon for trauma victims to experience hypersexuality as a result of this loss of autonomy. and then, to not even remember some of these encounters (obviously, the drugs/alcohol likely play a role in this not remembering. but hey, what’s addiction often a symptom of? oh yeah. trauma.)

this disconnect he feels from his own body is also why he was able to have certain encounters even with people he didn’t like. keechie comes to mind. he didn’t like keechie, that was made clear. but it sounds like he still had no problem having sex with him, despite this. it’s common, when you have dissociative symptoms, to feel this sort of disconnect. you don’t always care what happens to a body that doesn’t feel like yours, hell, you can enjoy it, sometimes -- even if you don’t like the person you’re doing it with.

it’s why he gets off on torture, too. klaus being a masochist was clearly portrayed in episode four, but then was referenced again two other times. (”if i see a boner, i’m out” when he was being tied up, and, “i’m going to beat you, and not the way you like it.”) when you grow up tortured and become accustomed to it it’s easy for the brain to say “hey, this is unbearable so actually we like this thing now. that’ll make it bearable!” i mean, obviously it’s a little more complicated than that, but that’s the gist of the situation. 

you often find comfort -- or even pleasure -- in familiarity, even when familiarity isn’t safe. we see that in klaus.

and that leads me back to my main point: klaus searches for answers, he searches for purpose in the same places he lost them. if he can give up his body to anyone who will take it, then maybe he can take back autonomy, is what he might think. if he can have a say in his own destruction, whether it’s addiction or reckless behavior, then maybe he can take back control. 

but that’s never truly how it plays out. a trauma survivor will never find what they’re looking for this way. i believe that klaus is starting to realize this, even if he does run into setbacks, and even though he will continue to run into setbacks. if he wants to find control, and if he wants to find purpose, he will have to reroute that energy into a path of recovery rather than destruction. it’s a hard hill to climb, but we know he can do it.

i could say more about this, but i think this says enough, for now.

#klaus hargreeves #the umbrella academy #tua #this is something very personal to me #actually #kind of feels like standing on a podium and going i'm gonna tell you my deepest secrets #but this is NOT about me #it's about klaus #it's just that there's a reason i understand him so well #tua meta

[allisoooon]

Here to remind y’all that if the Sparrows did indeed get abused worse than the Umbrellas, that does not mean the Umbrellas did not have it that bad.  The Umbrellas were still horrifically abused.  They are not whining unnecessarily, their validity is not undermined, and they still very much have the right to be as fucked up as they damn well please.  Reg being more strategic now that he basically gets a do-over does not mean he’s not the exact same man he was the first time around.

#tua meta #the umbrella academy #the sparrow academy #five hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #ben hargreeves #diego hargreeves #allison hargreeves #luther hargreeves #viktor hargreeves #reginald hargreeves

[itstheapocalypsebaby]

one thing i like more about comic!five than show!five is that while comic five is like arguably Worse (but also everyone in the comics are worse people than their show selves so he isnt special) we get more... flashes of childishness that in my opinion enhances his character.

one of the most fun parts about five's character is that he is a man filled to the brim with contradictions. he is arguably the most devoted to his family but he constantly goes rogue and is a lone wolf. he is a time traveler but is always running out of time. he is ruthless and objective but also sentimental as fuck. he is brilliant to the point of stupidity.

one of the most obvious contradiction of his character is that he is simultaneously the oldest sibling and the youngest sibling. you cannot deny that five is old, that he is the sibling with the most experience, that after facing what he faced, you cant really call him a child. but it is precisely his experiences that stop him from maturity because when you are forced to rapidly mature, you end up not really maturing at all.

five is 58 and 13. he is simultaneously aged by his experience and preserved by it. and you can see it sometimes in the show! but it's better shown in the comics, at least it shows the dichotomy better.

comic five is just as snarky and asshole-y as show five. he has a larger body count that doesnt seem to stop rising. hes a paid mercenary but comic five has his dog that he HIMSELF named mr. pennycrumb. he gets excited over fortune cookies. he got himself ice cream after a job well done and offered it to the others because thats what they did as kids when they did well.

im not saying the show should infantilize five, hell no! but i think it's an important thing to show that despite all his talk about being 58, there is still a part of him that's still very much 13. the little flashes of childishness really adds to the tragedy of five's character and in my opinion, is also integral to his character.

#recently reread the comics and man comic five is like so annoying /affectionate #he is so fucking feral i love him #the umbrella academy #five hargreeves #tua #tua meta #tua analysis #tua comics

[weirdwildwonderland]

Ok so what do y’all think the real age order of the tua siblings is?

For me Luther is still the oldest then it goes Allison, diego, five/Ben, viktor, then klaus.

I feel like even though Luther might not have the most common sense he’s very loyal and wants to be a good leader and even though five is the oldest per se he’s doesn’t give off oldest vibes.

Klaus gives off youngest sibling vibes and Diego def gives off middle child vibes

Anyways I’m curious to hear what anyone else thinks!

#tua #klaus hargreeves #the umbrella academy #allison hargreeves #hargreeves siblings #diego hargreeves #viktor hargreeves #luther hargreeves #tua meta #umbrella academy

[oddlittlestories]

So one of the things about TUA that I find so interesting is how each of the characters reacts to the abuse of Hargreeves in a different way. It’s very close to an exploration of the full spectrum of reactions. (Season 1 in particular is a kind of study of this but I’m not going to go into Leonard here. I’m also not going to go into Lila or the abusive relationship employment of the Commission, but I have thought about those things as well.)

Edit: Kind of long so more under the cut. Slipped and marked it mature by accident >.<

Luther

Luther isn’t the leader, like he thinks. He’s the enforcer. And he’s the enforcer because he is so convinced that the failure is with him, with them, and not their father. When he can no longer follow his father’s will in s2, he finds a new powerful man to enforce for—in a very literal way.

Luther, especially in s1-2, is a difficult character to like. He’s an ass, he’s always convinced he’s right, and he’s always wheedling to be heard, to be obeyed, to be listened to. And he is the cause of much of his siblings’ suffering.

It’s quite sad from another angle, though. He seeks out another powerful man in s2 because he very much does not have any internalized framework of his own—of right and wrong, or even really of likes and dislikes.

Once he sets that need for control down, he’s mostly just this goofy, slouchy guy. He doesn’t know what’s happening, going to happen, or what’s right. He just takes things as they come.

As a comparison to a character many of us find much more appealing, Dean Winchester is also an enforcer. The difference is, one of John’s directives is to protect Sammy, and his own reaction is in that same direction, like many abused kids. Protect your sibling. Which creates this deeply codependent dynamic that we see throughout the show. (They also have a bit of golden child / scapegoat going on, which we’ll come back around to.)

Ben

The one who dies. I’m not going to say too much about this beyond sometimes that, too, is a consequence of abuse.

Allison

The one who perpetuates the cycle. I really like this because I don’t fully like the adage ‘hurt people hurt people.’ Hargreeves is an abuser because he feels justified in his abuse.

Allison does it because she didn’t grow up with any other skills, and because it feels safe. Her first acts of abuse are with her daughter, because she is a frustrated and overwhelmed parent with no other skills to manage her own emotions. But she does well in therapy, and we see her leveraging those skills to push back against ingrained family dynamics.

But whenever she is lost and afraid in the world, she resorts to abuse to get what she wants. And more and more through the story, we see her abandoning compassion and emotional regulation in favor of taking her feelings out on others. Because she decides it’s justified.

Five

The runaway. Five rebels to escape the abuse, and gets re-traumatized out in the world. But he also steals his autonomy back and crafts his own completely-formed identity. Look. That’s not to say that the dude doesn’t have issues in spades. But he can talk to Hargreeves, interact with him at any stage in the game, and not have it shake his identity to the core. Both the trauma that he chooses and his own choice for responsibility and autonomy determines who Five becomes.

Diego

There’s a sequence from House, MD that I feel like sums up Diego’s reaction to the abuse quite nicely. House is late to his dad’s funeral and he explains to Wilson how punishing his (abusive) father was about punctuality. He explains that he is deliberately careless around time because he didn’t want to make his father’s issues HIS issues. And Wilson, incredulous, shoots back with, “Thereby MAKING it your issue!”

Yeah. That’s Diego. He defines himself in opposition to Hargreeves. And he even says so explicitly. He’s all about fighting crime, “the right way.” But he defines himself so in opposition to authority (and to people in general) that he gets kicked out of the police force and burns his first romantic relationship to ashes. He just can’t stop fighting.

Klaus

The addict. Addiction is a common response to abuse. And Klaus is a full-blown addict. A thief, willing to do anything and everything for his next score. He’ll injure himself, terrorize others, go dumpster diving, steal, defraud. Really there are no limits to what he’ll do. And yet we always feel he’s a sunshiney sweetheart right from the start. Even so, the “anything to score to escape my demons” is a keen literalization of the addiction response to abuse.

Viktor

The scapegoat

“Everything is always your fault.” This is the one who gets blamed for the family’s problems, who gets punished and punished and ignored. This is the one who is always in the wrong. And Viktor is such a great character in season 1 & 2 for this because he’s both reactions to that. He is the explosive anger, the rage and indignity. And he’s the one broken by any means necessary, heaped with family blame, with no sense of what he wants or who he is. And also, in s1, exceptionally vulnerable to an abuser masquerading as everything he ever wanted.

I just. It’s so multifaceted. It’s such a good exploration of abuse and this is only one sliver of that. TUA has its flaws, and I thought s3 was such a mixed bag, but this is one piece they just NAILED.

#tua #the umbrella academy #abuse #cw abuse mention #TUA meta #abuse meta

[punkxcalibur]

random thought i had more than a year ago but i'm sharing it now

in umbrella academy season 3 we find out that there is someone named Jennifer that most likely relates to Ben's death and basically, i found that in Gerard way's song "get the gang together" there is a line which says "Jennifer died in Rome"

it's obviously pretty unlikely that this has something to do with the show, but i thought it's a kind of funny parallel, since the song's title almost sounds like a reference to TUA.

#god i just binged the entirety of season 3 i forgot how much i loved this show #it got me into digital art and into mcr #tua #the umbrella academy #umbrella academy season 3 #tua meta #gerard way #hesitant alien

[sunriseseance]

Actually what if "The Unbearable Tragedy of Getting What You Want" isn't just Allison. She knows her siblings' desires, arguably better than any of the others. She knows about Dave, Sissy, Diego n Lila n their kid, Sloane, and Five's want for peace. What if s4 is a utopia that none of them, least of all Allison, can stand. She has a husband who should be dead and a daughter LITERALLY without a biological father. What if nothing, none of it, is right. Because she wanted to give them what they want but they don't have what they need. What if.

#the umbrella academy #Tua meta #I love you Allison #I lobe this fucking title #I love you s4

[blurrycow]

Lila and Five.

One could say they are opposites- Lila is willingly in the Commission, and although she would not have chosen to work there had she had the regular offered choice, she has made no move to remove herself from their position. She loves the Handler because she lives her life in ignorance, while Five hates the Handler for her controlling nature that Lila is too blindsided to see, and he is only at the Commission for a specific reason, and not by his choice. He would leave if he could, and DOES leave, the first chance he gets. 

Their main difference is, though: Lila is driven by spite, and Five by duty.

Lila: “Never personal, my ass. I’ve killed. and it was always, ALWAYS personal.”

Lila holds grudges upon people. She kills when she wants to, and she kills unsparingly. Every person who dies at her hand perishes because they have had some part in whatever she is driven to collapse. The reason Lila enjoys the killing more than Five is because she believes with every stab, every bullet, every hit, that the person she is hurting is getting what they deserve. they deserve her contempt and anger and they must accept it because they will die anyway. She smiles while she takes lives, because she is taking vengeance as much as she is causing pain. 

Meanwhile, Five: “We took out anyone who messed with the timeline. [...] it was the only way I could get back here.”

Five is motive driven. He knows what he wants and gets things done. Killing is a job, something he does not particularly have fun doing, but partakes in some enjoyment, because every kill is one step closer to getting home. Unlike Lila, he is one step, two steps, three steps, five steps ahead, always thinking of the impact of his decisions and actions, and how they will affect his route home. He knows that if he puts one toe out of line, he could be sent somewhere he will never recover. This scares him. So he is steps and steps ahead of the game, although sometimes it becomes a wall that stops him short, and he must think- how do I get out of this?

The main difference between the two is that Lila thinks from the past, and Five thinks into the future. So yes, their experiences are similar, although inverted, and really, they are complete opposites. 

#tua meta #(sort of) #im bad at these #tua #the umbrella academy #lila pitts #lila tua #five hargreeves #number five #im not sure what i was trying to convince you of here #i cannot write meta. why do i do this to myself #the handler tua #the handler #ritu arya #aidan gallagher #analysis #my writing