The Umbrella Academy is a new Netflix original series that you’ve probably heard of, if only because it’s been plastered across the Netflix home page for the last few weeks, and that’s well deserved: it’s fantastic! It delivers a lot of the action and fun that make superheroes so great, while also having amazing twists, interesting characters, and the kind of intricate plot that isn’t often seen in a superhero blockbuster. It’s a fantastic action-comedy-drama disguised as an equally fantastic superhero adventure, and that’s something anyone can get behind.

The show is based on the comic book series of the same name, which I’ve read; it’s fine. Not bad, maybe a little above mediocre, but not great. The overarching story was good, but it felt rushed, and while reading, I felt I was missing details. The show fixes this, instead of a frail six issues, Netflix’s adaptation of The Umbrella Academy gets a ten hour long season, and manages to fit all of the books in and expand upon it. At no point did I feel lost, or confused, and despite the fact that I’d already read the story, the ending was still shocking and interesting.

The show and book both have the same setup: as children, the eponymous Umbrella Academy was a superhero team under the leadership of their adoptive father, the uncaring, and often cruel, Sir Reginald Hargreeves. In the years since their childhood, the Academy has grown apart, and no longer see each other regularly, but the death of their adoptive father reunites them. This, however, is where the show starts to diverge from the book: while the book tells you “their childhoods were traumatic,” it only tells you that; the Netflix series shows you Hargreaves locking his children up in prisons and mausoleums, ignoring them, and limiting their free time to thirty minutes per week. The show really sells the idea that Hargreaves was a horrible person, and that the Academy have a reason to resent their childhood. Speaking of childhood, references to the Academy’s childhood adventures feel long gone, as if they were child stars whose fame has dried up, but who have since moved on; the comic, however, still shows the characters as superheroes who are no longer operating as a team, which makes for a much less interesting dynamic.

The show’s tagline is “super dysfunctional,” and the actors really are very good at playing a family that has split up, but each character still manages to shine on their own. As the viewer, you want the family to come back together, but the show makes it hard to believe that they’ll manage it; each character is clearly not over the childhood trauma of being raised by an emotionally absent billionaire. They don’t really agree on any decision they have to make, since they all have vested interests outside of each other: the actress wants to see her daughter, the addict wants to stop seeing ghosts, the vigilante wants revenge, the astronaut liked their dad, and the violinist wants to be left alone. Each of the protagonists has been affected differently, and seeing them both deeply relate to each other, as well as completely fail to see the others’ points of view are some of the shining moments of the show. The family dynamic also works well as a point of entertainment, each of them love the others in their own ways but would hate to admit it. It’s certainly an improvement over the book, where they’re more stereotypical heroes and quickly put aside their differences to focus on “the greater good.” The show’s portrayal of this feels both more dramatic and more realistic at the same time.

The series isn’t adapted like some other superhero properties, and benefits from it. While there are plenty of enjoyable fight scenes, most of them play out as shootouts with the occasional superpower thrown in, rather than the massive-scale, city-destroying scenes prevalent in both the source material and adaptations of other prominent comics; it’s easy to disconnect from the scale of the destruction when every punch destroys a major landmark, and the smaller scale fights keep the action focused. There are certainly no costumes in The Umbrella Academy; Okay, there are a few costumes, but they mostly amount to a school uniform and a domino mask. And they only show up in flashbacks. In truth, The Umbrella Academy doesn’t feel too much like superhero shows like The Flash or Arrow. It brings to mind the more out there sci-fi elements of shows like The OA, or Torchwood.

In addition to being fantastic on its own merit, the show also serves as a sort of critique of normal superhero teams and tropes in a vein similar to that of Watchmen, though not quite as depressing. The show is clearly inspired by X-Men: one day children are born all over the world with extraordinary powers, and are taken in by an eccentric billionaire who leads them as a team of young heroes, while operating out of a school. Despite sharing the same premise, The Umbrella Academy differs from X-Men and Watchmen in that it’s not really about a world with superheroes, but rather about a world with super-powered people. Aside from one of the adopted siblings that make up the academy, who does operate as a vigilante, none continue to pursue the hero once they are old enough to leave home; one is an astronaut, one is a violin teacher, one is an actress, and one is an addict. Some of them are well positioned in their fields because of their powers: the actress for instance, can make people do what she says, which is especially good for getting roles in films. They are super, but hey aren’t really “heroes,” they’re just sort of… people, and it’s fantastic. It’s quite the reversal from the comic, too, the first page of which mentions atomic squids and aliens.

While the show is great, it does have a few flaws: the characters each have an episode dedicated to them, but with seven leads and a ten episode season, a few episodes have their plot encroached on by the overarching story. In addition, several of the characters are more sympathetic than the others, which makes some seem boring or whiny by comparison; don’t get me wrong, all the characters are enjoyable, and I love seeing them on screen, but it’s like being given a slice of the most delicious pizza you’ve ever eaten, and then going to Frankie’s after; sure the pizza is still good, but it doesn’t really compare. The other issue is filler: it exists; it’s not bad filler, far from it! It’s compelling and interesting, and explores facets of some of the side characters. The issue isn’t really that the filler makes  episodes uninteresting, or fails to contribute to the story, it’s that it contributes a lot, and then the episode is made completely irrelevant by a plot twist in the first seen of the following episode. “The Day That Wasn’t,” the episode with the most overall filler, was one I that forgot. The issue is that the show is so fast paced and dynamic that any plot point or scene that doesn’t in some way further the overall plot doesn’t end up being very memorable, and while most of the protagonists can stop and explore their deeper mental and emotional states, they are only afforded this luxury because the plot is deeply motivated by their mental and emotional states. The Umbrella Academy, despite having flaws, is an outstanding series and worthy of your time. If you have Netflix and aren’t watching anything, or need a break from your current binge, pick up The Umbrella Academy. If you don’t have Netflix, find someone who does. Every day you don’t watch TUA is a day you’re missing out on what will certainly continue to be a new, hot show.