The Swedish Job
1960-1963 – What Happened To Klaus
No sooner had we mentioned Klaus hadn’t had much screen-time this season, episode 3 of Umbrella Academy season 2 flamboyantly flaunts on screen. We begin with a look at Klaus through the years, kicked out from a diner and immediately taken under the wing by an upper-class woman. She takes him back home and, with a helping hand from Ben, ascends to prophet status. For the next several years Klaus starts a cult movement across the world, leading to San Francisco in 1963.
Vanya
Vanya drives down the road but is stopped by the three Swedes. As they cock their guns ready, Vanya scrambles down the road, crashes her car and subsequently hides in the cornfield. Unfortunately, she runs right into one of the assassins and they open fire. Vanya instinctively uses her powers though and manages to stop the bullet, causing a shock-wave to knock the Swedes down. She seizes her opportunity and bolts.
Diego & Five
After their encounter with Hargreeves last episode, Diego survives his knife wound and is patched up back at Elliot’s house by Lila. However, Five notices a disturbance on the atmospheric scanner and assumes correctly that it must be Vanya. Five heads out and meets his sister, telling her about the apocalypse and what’s happened. She rings home and tells Sissy she’ll be there soon. However, Five hangs up on the woman and reminds Vanya nothing is more important than the end of the world.
Diego
Back at Elliot’s Diego tries to leave, intent on stopping the JFK assassination. However, Lila manages to convince him to stay. As Elliot tucks into some dessert, clothes are flung against the window and he tries awkwardly to ignore the two making love next door.
Luther
Luther heads out for a run and hilariously starts mirroring Rocky, punching the air triumphantly. However, this soon goes awry when he double takes a woman by the side of the road…and falls flat on his face. The woman he thought was Allison isn’t actually her and he mutters an apology. Back at Jack Ruby’s, he asks his boss for a favour; track down Allison for him. Later on in the episode he’s successful too and hands over Allison’s address.
Allison & Klaus
Allison finds Klaus in charge of his cult and living the high life. As they talk, she mentions how she hasn’t used her powers since stepping foot in 1961 and hasn’t looked back since. In the wake of this, Allison heads back to the beauty parlor and exerts her authority. She stands up for civil rights and makes sure the sit-in they have planned goes ahead – even without Raymond present. Klaus has other plans though and manages to use Ben’s powers to make him type a message for the police. Believing he’s cursed, the officer scrambles to help free Raymond. When he returns home, Ray finds Luther on the front porch with a box of chocolates. Things are incredibly awkward and, realizing that his sister is now married, eventually leaves. Raymond visits the diner and sits with his comrades up at the bar-stools while the crowd furiously shout at them and dump salt on their heads.
Klaus
It turns out Klaus has his own reasons for heading to Dallas. He tracks down Dave – that same Dave he was romantically involved with in Vietnam last season – at a hardware store. Ben realizes what his sibling is trying to do and urges him not to try and change the future. After botching his first attempt, he heads outside and talks to Ben frankly in his car. He wants to save Dave and prevent the boy from signing up to fight. When police sirens wail, he immediately realizes Allison is in trouble and drives toward her. As the fight at the diner spills outside, Allison watches helplessly as Ray is beaten down to the ground. Unsure how else to proceed, she eventually decides to use her powers and stops the officer. Scared, Ray flees while Klaus arrives at the scene and takes her away.
Luther again
Luther is distracted by what he found out about Allison and isn’t himself during his next fight. With his hands by his side, he goads his opponent to constantly pummel him with punches to the face. It’s a brutal affair too and as Vanya and Five arrive to see this take place, Luther screams to try and feel pain. As he does, an uppercut knocks him down to the ground.
The Handler
The Handler arrives at a pet store and tells a boy there to stop tapping on the glass. When the child continues, she whispers something inaudible to him. Frozen with fear, he wets his pants and runs away. In the wake of the protest outside the diner, Lila seizes her opportunity and heads to that very same pet store, grabbing keys to a motel room. As she enters the room, The Handler stands waiting for her where it’s revealed that she’s actually her daughter!
The Episode Review
With a lovely twist at the end regarding The Handler, The Umbrella Academy steps it up a gear and delivers a really dramatic episode. The sit-in is handled well and ties in nicely with the context of the story as well. All the character are starting to come together in the best possible way, and seeing these storylines start to converge is really smartly written. It helps that there’s a decent amount of humour here too and it doesn’t overpower the drama. So far so good and The Umbrella Academy is shaping up to deliver a really impressive second season.
