The Klaus Detail That Makes The Umbrella Academy Fans Love Him More
"The Umbrella Academy," a Netflix series about a group of adopted siblings with superpowers, took audiences by storm when it first debuted in 2019. Based on the comics of the same name by My Chemical Romance lead singer Gerard Way, the show explores familial relationships, self-acceptance, and of course, the apocalypse, all with a highly stylized aesthetic.
While the Hargreeves siblings struggle to work as a team due to a lifetime of built-up tensions and heartbreak amongst them, they still harbor an intense love for each other when all of that is stripped away. Each of the siblings is unique, with the most peculiar being the otherwise unnamed Number Five (Aidan Gallagher), who is a man in his late 50s stuck in the body of a 13-year-old due to mishaps with time travel. Of course, there's also Luther (Tom Hopper), who has been fused with an ape, causing his body to grow to enormous proportions.
Notably, the more average-looking siblings are often the most interesting. The character now called Viktor, played by Elliot Page, has powers that scare the Hargreeves' adoptive father so much that he brainwashes him into thinking he doesn't have them. Klaus, played by Robert Sheehan, has the power to communicate with the dead and is haunted by the ghost of their deceased brother, Ben (Justin H. Min).
Interestingly, Klaus is often the emotional compass of the group, since his powers give him a level of sensitivity to others, but those powers are a burden on him, and he struggles with drug abuse as a result. Many fans adore Klaus for his caring nature. When one particular Klaus-centric detail was pointed out on Reddit, many fans admitted they loved him all the more for it.
Klaus cared about Viktor when no one else did, and fans love him for it
Viktor is often the odd sibling out among the Hargreeves, going from a seemingly powerless pariah in Season 1 to an overpowered possible threat in Season 2. For most of his life, everyone else made decisions for Viktor, and it often seems only Klaus has his back.
On the r/UmbrellaAcademy subreddit, u/Tealotaku posted a photoset of two moments from the show in which Klaus tried to advocate for Viktor's agency. The first scene comes during Season 1, Episode 9 ("Changes"), after Viktor kills his abusive partner, Leonard (John Magaro). Number Five, Diego, and Klaus find the body. Number Five asks who could have done it, and Klaus suggests the "crazy" idea of asking Viktor what happened.
The second scene in the photo set comes from later in the same episode. Having subdued Viktor, the rest of the Hargreeves siblings lock him in the same anechoic chamber he was often kept in as a child. While they debate what to do with him, he sobs and pounds on the soundproof door. Again, Klaus begs for them to simply ask Viktor what happened instead of acting on his behalf.
While Klaus may have plenty of issues of his own, perhaps that's why he feels such a strong affinity for Viktor. Put simply, he also knows what it's like to struggle. Fans loved these moments juxtaposed, with u/KintsugiPanda writing of Klaus, "He actually tries to communicate and find out why. As someone who I wish more people I care about did that for me ... it's very much appreciated." Interestingly, u/Strix924 also chimed in, "He always advocates that [Viktor] needs their help, having those new powers must be scary. Respect".