Spoilers for season one and two of The Umbrella Academy Follow. A major spoiler is not visible unless you highlight it.
I have been waiting a full damn year for season two of Netflix’s Umbrella Academy and it did not disappoint. In season one we learn that the Umbrella Academy was helmed by an eccentric old scientist who adopted seven children with special powers (most likely because they were all supernaturally born on the same day, October 1, 1989). There may have been more but the kids don’t know because they have lived most of their lives in isolation.

Their father, the eccentric, wouldn’t give them actual names, they were instead given numbers. Six were brought up to embrace their supernatural abilities except for Vanya, who was treated less then because she supposedly didn’t have any abilities. But she found out that she was actually the most powerful and that their father had been microdosing her to mute her her powers.

#5, who is a time jumper, ends up sending himself and his siblings to the past in order to avoid said event. This is where we find Vanya, in the early 1960s, without her memories living with a farming family somewhere in the middle of Texas. She is taken in by husband and wife Sissy and Carl and becomes the nanny of their special needs son Harlan.

Vanya and Sissy fall in love and I won’t tell you more or we’ll get into serious spoilers.

Ellen Page, who plays Vanya, spoke with E! about the beauty and obstacles of a lesbian relationship in the 60s. Homosexuality was not only against the law but considered a mental illness. Ellen explained how that story line is relevant today.

“It was beautiful in many ways to play Vanya falling in love for the first time with a woman, and not in an awful, abusive relationship like she was in the first season, thank goodness,” she says. “And then you want to take care of the storyline. You want to make sure you’re showing the beauty and the love, and also reflecting the obstacles, of course.”

She says that while a lot has changed since the 1960s, she still experiences homophobia in her own life and thinks Vanya and Sissy’s story doesn’t feel totally stuck in the past.

“It was illegal at the time, considered a mental illness, and what Vanya and Sissy go through is still very relevant,” she says. “I’ve dealt with a lot of homophobia in my life, and I continue to. So I think it was really meaningful in terms of that representation going out into the world, especially with a show with this reach, and also just trying to be mindful of being sensitive and hopefully telling that story well.”

[From E! Online]

Season two of Umbrella Academy was chaotic AF but I loved every minute of it. Vanya’s love story arc, albeit sad, was very beautiful and somewhat of a history lesson of how far the LGBTQ community has come. It was also warming to see Vanya in a reciprocal love relationship after her character’s trials in season one.

I also love how sensitively Ellen Page approached the story. You could see how she honored and respected her character.

Highlight the text below for spoilers for the end of season two
I wish that Sissy had chosen to go to the future with Vanya taking her son with her. Since we can’t have a happy ending for Vanya, I hope in future seasons she will get the love and support she so rightly deserves. I am also excited about where they take one of the cliffhangers at the end of the season. Specifically, the one in which Sissy’s son Harlan retained his powers accidentally acquired from Vanya. Whatever the case, I am quite sure Season 3 will have some crazy character arcs and I can’t wait to see what the writers come up with next!

Photos credit: Netflix