The Umbrella Academy Season 4 Ending Defined

This publish accommodates detailed spoilers for the ultimate season of “The Umbrella Academy.”

“The Umbrella Academy” is over, and the Netflix sci-fi collection managed to take down numerous timelines and a complete household of superheroes with it. The present ended this week with a six-episode arc that messily, confusingly, and –- by some means –- satisfyingly closed the e-book on the story of the Hargreeves household as soon as and for all. Alongside the best way, unlikely pairings fell in love, long-suffering characters had been redeemed, and Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally did a cool little dance.

However what does all of it imply? Attempt to clarify the emotional conclusion to “The Umbrella Academy” and you will find your self in want of a whiteboard to chart out the present’s many alternate universe offshoots and imprecise scientific theories. As heartfelt as the tip of the present is, it is not precisely logically hermetic, and since season 4 has outpaced Gerard Method’s comedian books, which beforehand served as inspiration for the present, there isn’t any textual content to cross-reference for readability right here. However there are loads of particulars dropped all through these episodes –- and in earlier seasons –- to assist make sense of the newly reset timeline and its necessary place within the present’s multiverse.

To grasp what the hell occurred within the “Umbrella Academy” collection finale, it is value revisiting a component that is been talked about in previous seasons of the present: marigold. Earlier than season 4, audiences had already seen the gold stuff earlier than, as the unique papa Hargreeves (Colm Feore) launched a few of it into the environment when his spouse was dying again in season 1. That was someday after 1898 (presumably on a planet aside from Earth), and the particles finally led to the creation of the superpowered children he’d in the end acquire.

The “reset” iteration of the Umbrella Academy that we meet firstly of season 4 has no powers, however they quickly discover a jar of marigold that The Keepers uncovered. The Keepers are militant conspiracy theorists who (rightfully) imagine this dimension is just not the “true” timeline, and that an occasion referred to as The Cleanse will return every little thing to regular. Ben (Justin H. Min), who’s alive and a jerk on this timeline, doses a spherical of photographs with the marigold, and sober Klaus (Robert Sheehan) will get an infusion of it when he dies a bit afterward. Thus, all of the Umbrella children are again to their super-powered selves after which some.

The marigold alone is not the rationale for this season’s apocalypse, however as mama Hargreeves (Liisa Repo-Martell) finally explains, it could develop into a catalyst able to nuclear-level destruction if it comes into contact with a second artificially synthesized factor, durango. “Years in the past, I synthesized a brand new factor, the very essence of the universe,” she tells the children, referencing marigold. “And on the similar second, unbeknownst to me, a second particle was created.” We do not actually know who made durango (perhaps it was one other model of Abigail, or perhaps it was meant to be revealed within the present’s reportedly canceled spinoff), however we all know who ended up made from it: Jennifer (Victoria Sawal).

The present’s fourth season ties the durango plot into the overarching timeline by lastly revisiting the incident in 2006 that killed a younger Ben. Because the present’s starting, Ben’s demise has loomed giant over the Hargreeves siblings, particularly since Reginald appeared guilty it on the children’ incapability to work collectively. That clearly wasn’t true: It seems Reginald wiped their reminiscences of the incident, and when he and Abigail put them again, they present a a lot totally different, even darker state of affairs.

The Jennifer Incident, because it was finally referred to as, occurred when the teenager heroes had been tasked with intercepting the transport of what they’re advised is a harmful new weapon acquired by a Moldovan arms seller. Hargreeves warns the children not to take a look at the package deal beneath any circumstances, however once they arrive on web site, Ben hears a distinctly human sound coming from inside. He opens the field to find a lady, Jennifer, who viewers already know was found inside a large squid caught by fisherman. Ben rescues Jenn (facet be aware: I can not imagine nobody within the present referred to as them Bennifer), however each of them are instantly shot at level clean vary by Hargreeves.

The remainder of the children are understandably traumatized, however Hargreeves thinks he is truly saving the world. Once more, just like the Keepers, he is in all probability proper: Jennifer was born with durango within her, and Ben had marigold in his veins. As we have seen within the present-day timeline, only one contact between the 2 of them can set off a series response to finish the universe. And regardless of Hargreeves’ excessive measures, that is precisely what finally ends up taking place.

Ben meets Jennifer within the diner she owns, and is beneath the idea that she’s the lacking daughter of a mysterious man named Sy (David Cross). In actuality, she’s the important thing to determining why the present timeline feels “off,” and as such, is a valuable goal for the Keepers. The pair are shortly attracted to one another –- Ben theorizes that they are from the identical place since they each have large squid-related backstories, presumably a nod to the comedian books’ planet Rigel X-9 –- and whereas on the run from the Keepers, they find yourself hooking up.

It is a distinctly unhealthy thought. Their shut proximity leads each of them to develop a superpowered rash of kinds, which, when untreated, finally turns them into Cronenberg-esque goopy monsters. The pair go full “The Fly” and proceed to develop, finally turning right into a type of two-faced kaiju that’s on monitor to destroy the world within the present’s finale. The Cleanse is actual, they usually’ve brought about it, with some assist from a guilt-stricken Abigail, who helped transfer issues alongside along with her personal superpowers. It is all as a result of Ben and Jennifer determined to be collectively, however the pair do not appear to remorse it: Two individuals who at all times felt alone lastly received the sensation of “household” they’d been lacking, even when it did not final.

There are, after all, some plot holes right here. Why could not Viktor (Elliot Web page) take the marigold out of Ben when he’d finished one thing related earlier than? Why could not the Umbrella Academy journey again to the day earlier than their inception, collect up their mothers, after which have Viktor take the marigold from them for the time being they turned pregnant? With an extra-short season to conclude this story, the present would not appear to have sufficient time to think about all of this, nevertheless it appears possible that one of many many Fives on the multidimensional diner did.

This brings us to a different brief, advanced scene that is important to understanding the present’s endgame. Within the collection’ remaining episode, 5 (Aidan Gallagher) leaves the group after Lila (Ritu Arya) appears to rebuff him. He finally ends up on the time journey subway as soon as once more, and it takes him to a shocking vacation spot: a diner that is fully stuffed with alternate timeline Fives. As one in every of them explains, they’ve all just about retired to this bizarre limbo area after failing to determine tips on how to save their worlds.

It seems that the Umbrella Academy’s penchant for ending the world is not only a redundant choice from the present’s writers’ room. It is truly an inevitability that was apparently triggered by the children’ marigold-infused inception, which shattered the one “true” timeline into hundreds of them. In every one, the Hargreeves finish the world a technique or one other. The present would not get into the “whys” of this a lot, nevertheless it appears possible that having human beings strolling round with what’s principally a god particle within them is an excessive amount of for the material of the space-time continuum to deal with.

Principally, string concept solely exists right here due to the Hargreeves, and it is an unstable system that is doomed to destroy itself repeatedly. Regardless of their collective genius, not one of the Fives has ever discovered tips on how to undo it and set the world proper, and the world has ended roughly 150,000 occasions. However our 5 is totally different, and so are our Hargreeves: All the pieces they have been by has introduced them to this second, wherein they’re requested to sacrifice themselves and really select to do it regardless of their worry and selfishness.

The plan is surprisingly easy. Principally, the Umbrella Academy has to cease current, one thing they’ll apparently do by letting the durango-marigold hybrid monster devour them whereas their powers are lively. Nobody actually explains why that is the best way to take away them from the timeline, nevertheless it’s a noble and surprisingly emotional selection nonetheless. The group is not into it till they understand that it may be doable for his or her households to hold on with out them within the “good” timeline.

This, too, would not make a ton of sense, as time journey films like “Again to the Future” have taught us that if we cease current, our descendants may even vanish. However Method’s books have at all times cared extra about emotional and aesthetic fact than logic, and this ending is in keeping with that ethos –- even when its philosophy is extra hopeless than anticipated. There’s one thing painful in regards to the thought of a world that may solely be saved by the whole erasure of people that fought so arduous to be right here, and of 5’s absolute certainty that these individuals are the issue. Upsettingly, this conclusion imagines a type of fairy story suicide story, wherein these left behind aren’t traumatized as a result of they by no means knew their cherished one existed within the first place.

Darkish as it’s, “Umbrella Academy” makes this really feel like a contented ending, too. The Hargreeves siblings -– together with Lila –- permit themselves to be swallowed up complete by the universe-eating goo, joking with one another about how they’re whole a**holes as much as the final second. Then they’re gone.

5’s gambit labored. Earlier than the Hargreeves vanished, Lila led their households to the subway station –- and, I think about, gave somebody directions to the best timeline on the best way. The group knew this plan would work as a result of Ben shared a flash of it with Viktor as he was dying: a picture of individuals picnicking within the park. We see them within the present’s remaining scene. There are Umbrella relations there, like Diego and Lila’s children and Claire, however there are additionally a number of characters who died because of the Academy in earlier seasons.

We see Kate Walsh’s The Handler take a telephone name on a bench, The Swedes from season 2 play frisbee in matching monitor outfits, and Agnes (Sheila McCarthy), the baker Hazel fell for who in the end died from most cancers, on a motorcycle trip with a person who I assume is Hazel. It is a bit just like the afterlife scene in “Misplaced,” besides as a substitute of our major characters reuniting, it is practically each facet character who ended up collateral harm all through the present’s 4 seasons. There’s additionally no huge epiphany second right here; the inhabitants of the true timeline are blissfully pleased and wholly unaware of every other model of actuality.

The long-absent narrator ends the collection with an announcement that mirrors the best way it started, flipping the unusual births of the Hargreeves children on their heads to as a substitute ship a bittersweet remark in regards to the world with out them. “On the twelfth hour of the eighth day of August 2024, completely nothing out of the odd occurred,” he says. “You may say it was only a regular day.” You may, besides we’re all crying!

The tip of “The Umbrella Academy” –- each the present and the group –- is hard, and never simply due to all of the advanced timey-wimey stuff that results in it. By retconning our heroes into an issue that may solely be solved by their very own undoing, the present is directly hopeful and hopeless, darkish as hell and carried by by the energy of its personal shocking conviction. Stronger writing in its remaining episode might’ve bought the self-sacrifice idea a bit higher, or at the least tied it in additional firmly to the characters’ inconsistent heroes’ journeys. But regardless of all that, “Umbrella Academy” pulls off one thing singular right here –- and pulls the present out of the nosedive that was the terrible third season.

Whether or not the “true timeline” ending resonates with you or not, the group behind the present makes certain to not finish it on too downbeat a be aware. Two glorious needle drops grace these final scenes, and the episode’s finish credit are chock stuffed with lovable behind-the-scenes pictures. These photos of pleased castmates and crew members (a pointy distinction to the allegedly vindictive writers’ room described by a latest Rolling Stone report) preserve followers watching by to a post-credits scene.

It is a easy scene that may virtually definitely be taken at face worth. In it, the digital camera lingers as soon as once more on a tree within the park of the true timeline earlier than panning right down to reveal eight golden flowers sprouting collectively from the bottom. They’re marigolds that shine with a fantastical sparkle, and there is one for every of the individuals who sacrificed themselves to save lots of the timeline: Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, 5, Ben, Viktor, and Jennifer. There is no sense of hazard to the universe’s equilibrium right here, because the group is not truly again, nevertheless it’s a candy picture that lets us know they don’t seem to be solely gone, both. They’re nonetheless of their family members’ lives, not in human type, however as a flower, swaying within the breeze on an ideal summer season’s day.