I really enjoyed this show. It has a lot of rough edges, but I really like how they often manage to do quite a lot with what feels like a tight budget (whether it really was tight, I haven't checked). There's very rarely anything spectacular in the VFX space, the show's impact comes down to a great script. The special effects are few and far between, and if I'm honest, they usually don't look that great (with a few exceptions). But I still loved the show and it's because none of that matters.
I really enjoyed seasons one and two. I think the strongest character was five. I really enjoyed the exploration of the mystery boxes.
Reginald
The super space alien headmaster, parent, aspect I think is the biggest anchor of the show. I would consider this the a plot of the entire series The more we learn about the alien the more everything comes together
The show is exemplified by poor communication skills, a lot of the drama is simply because people cannot concisely communicate their needs and what they've observed. And that is frustrating
Regarding the poor communication thing: I agree that it's frustrating, but once I realized that them being a dysfunctional family is the entire premise of the show, I was a lot more accepting of it while watching. They all have intense bottled up feelings about each other, it's actually realistic that they're complete failures at communication.
I agree. Especially with Reginald. Given his unique circumstances and past. Him being an absolutely obtuse and unapologetic poor communicator can make a lot of sense.
Even season 2 to season 3, Reginald takes his feedback and goes off in a weird tangent instead of becoming a better communicator. And for his background that can make a lot of sense.
I just wish we'd fleshed out Reginald's motivations more even if they were crazy
The Allison arc is really weird. But I suppose somebody who has basically mind control powers would become something of a narcissist. I just don't think they justified that in the story they told
Season 2 Allison feels like a totally different person than season 3 Allison. Totally different motivations and urgency.
Not to mention the insanity of season 3 Allison making a deal with Reginald, and then at the last second the train Reginald, and causing Luther's wife to disappear from the timeline... That's really frustrating
I think the season 1, and season 2 beast boy Luther Arc was fairly good the person developed, and they handled adversity fairly well.
The season 3 marriage kind of felt a little out of nowhere, and then season 4 my wife disappears oh well just was super wacky. Not to mention the whole stripper career as the fallback for somebody with such a unique background
Klaus has to be my favorite character arc, I started off not liking them, but as they developed, as they came to terms with their powers and their role. They became an actualized human being.
Well five will always be my favorite, Klaus has the most satisfying arc
I watched Umbrella Academy before Misfits, and was blown away by how great Klaus' actor is in that earlier show as well. Guy's just perfect for that kind of role; real "OG Jack Sparrow" energy, in a very good way.
Still have yet to get started on the last season, but looking forward to it!
Allison got telekinesis, Lila got laser eyes that are just by coincidence exactly the same as Homelander's from The Boys, and Five as you said started teleporting to the multiverse subway. I also think, though I didn't double check, that Ben used to have tentacles come out of his belly/chest and it changed to come out of his back.
There may have been other changes that I've missed, but I think Diego for example keeps the same power, maybe just a bit powered up.
Why did Reginald, after having access to the amazing time and space recreation machine, not remake his homeworld? Why did he make an empire on earth? If you had that machine wouldn't you turn back everything to the way it should be? Including preventing the destruction of your own planet. This just doesn't make sense to me
The big MacGuffin machine from the end of season 3. The Oblivion hotel. That could fix the time and space problems they were having.
So when we came in to season 4 I was surprised that Reginald didn't fix his core motivational problems. He brought his wife back, which is great, but he could have done a lot more