There’s a few things that give me a special sort of GeekMom nostalgia, but one of them is when a show I started covering from season one during my first year wraps up. The Umbrella Academy is one of those shows. There’s been a special place in my heart for the crazy superpowered and highly dysfunctional world saving shenanigans of the Hargreeves siblings ever since they first debuted. The final season has now dropped on Netflix with some mixed feelings. Overall, if you love the sibling fights, humor, and save the world stakes of previous seasons, you should find a lot of what you love here. However, this season was four episodes shorter than previous seasons some of the ability to really flesh out the character arcs was cut short. The Five/Lila/Diego love triangle plotline is one that a lot of fans have struggled with especially with the age gap between Five and Lila’s actors underscored by the fact Gallagher was still a kid for the early seasons.
So let’s look at the moments that did stand out in the final season.
Take the superpowers away, and the Hargreeves are still messy. This family really doesn’t know what to do without their powers. Luther is living on the ruins of the old family home while trying to hold onto a career as an aging stripper. Diego is struggling with life as a dad of three and a job he hates while Lila is also struggling with being a suburban mom. Allison is a B-list actress and Ray has left her so even the perfect life she made a deal with Reginald for is in shambles. Klaus is actually sober, but he’s now a terrified of life germaphobe. Five has managed a career with the CIA, but he seems lost without a mission to save the world. Ben is getting released from jail after a cryptocurrency scam and fifteen minutes with the family has him ready to be sent right back in. Viktor tried to distance himself from the others and starts off the season blowing up yet another relationship.
The Truth about Ben’s death. This was a “Truth” with a capital “T” moment. Fans have wanted answers about what happened to Ben since the beginning and with the exception of a few breadcrumbs, all we’ve really gotten is a explanation that Ben was the best of them, the team failed on a mission, and it was no one’s fault and yet everyone’s fault. Then we learned there was a specific reason that we only got that exact explanation. The Hargreeves memories had been altered so they wouldn’t remember that Reginald shot and killed Ben and a girl named Jennifer after Ben disobeyed an order to not engage with a “weapon’ they were sent to destroy (Jennifer was the weapon). The Hargreeves get their powers from this stuff called Marigold, but there’s a counter substance called Durago that Jennifer possesses. The two coming together have world ending capabilities, and it seems like Ben in particular is drawn to Jennifer across the various timelines. Bonus, we got a return of the young Umbrella Academy with the amazingly cast younger versions of the Hargreeves.
Return of the powers. Oh, we knew we needed to see the Hargreeves power back up again and luckily they come across a jar of Marigold. At first, there’s a huge resistance to getting powers back, but Ben pulls one on the team and spikes their drinks so that everyone but the very sober Klaus gets their powers back. Never fear though, a near death experiences causes Allison to save Klaus and return his abilities. The reactions vary from Diego’s obvious joy, to Luther glad to be strong but hating his simian body, to Five discovering he’s not popping around at will but going to some sort of subway station.
Special guest stars. Nick Offerman and Megan Mullalley are TV legends unto themselves but when you put them together, they’re a highly iconic power couple that makes everything awesome. Fans were excited when they were announced to be joining the final season, and they absolutely show up and steal scenes left and right with the kind of colorful characters that they absolutely thrive on playing. As conspiracy theorists that are actually right on track, these two are a formidable threat. Their unnervingly matching outfits only underscore their creepy insanity. They also end up getting the dance scene of the season (I do miss a good Hargreeves dance scene though). Bonus points to Nick Offerman for his scenes when Gene is possessed by Abigail and his hilarious verbal lashing at Reginald about the man’s ego. The look on Reginald’s face was priceless.
David Cross also shines in his role that starts off as concerned father and turns into Abigail in disguise. Well done, casting department, well done.
The fight scenes. The Umbrella Academy always delivers on fight scenes. There’s the big Christmas Village fight that includes Diego and Lila saving each other while trying to maintain a hold on three reindeer plushies earmarked for their kids. Also notable is when Diego and Luther get a fight scene in the CIA while backed up with “Secret Agent Man,” a reminder that this series always delivers on the music choices. The final fight has some good old family Hargreeves messiness while Diego and Five fight about Lila and Viktor is trying to save Ben from the Marigold/Durango merging.
Viktor comes into his own. Viktor takes the lead in this season in a few ways while trying to save Ben including finally earning an acknowledgement of his worth from Reginald. He finally gets a sense of closure he desperately needed, but he’s also much more assertive in his actions and choices which is really great to see.
The subway of timelines. A new layer of the mythology of the series got explored with the subway. Five and Lila end up stuck there for years trying to sort out the different timelines when Five suspects that keeping teenage Ben from encountering Jennifer may be the way to go to fix things. The subway is more complicated as Five discovers after he encounters the diner of Fives who failed to save the world in their timelines. The Hargreeves coming into existence created the various timelines to begin with, and there actually should only be one true timeline. The problem is the timelines are now bleeding into each other. Five realizes there is only one way to fix everything: the Hargreeves must surrender to the Cleansing so that they will be wiped from existence and the one timeline can be restored.
Aidan Gallagher and Robert Sheehan’s performances. These two always consistently deliver and it’s an absolute shame that neither was nominated for an award during their work on this series. It’s easy to write a character who can be a fifty-year-old on the body of a kid, but it’s another to find a young actor to pull it off and Gallagher has done just that since the beginning. He shines often in the quiet moments where a look or an expression can tell an entire story. Sheehan, on the other hand, is pure chaotic energy. Klaus is a character that is tragic, vulnerable, messy, and darkly hilarious all at once. It’s a role where you have to be able to kit the right balance between all of those notes. Sheehan does, and to add to that he is absolutely known for improvising after the first take. His reactions to the fight between Diego and and Five after Lila rejects Five were hysterical. I pity the agents to these two who have to find the next role that compliments their skill sets so well. It’s a high bar to cross.
The final choice. Deep down, as messy as they are, the Hargreeves do want to save the world. When Five tells them what they must do, it hits them hard, especially when they don’t know what will become of Claire, Grace, and the twins. Emmy Raver-Lampman has an absolutely tear inducing moment here. But when it comes down to things, the Hargreeves will do the right thing, even Lila who wasn’t raised a Hargreeves. While many fans bawled, they allow the Cleanse to take them, resetting everything back to an original timeline. Deep down, I think we all knew that the story of the Hargreeves would have to end with them finally saving the world or the world finally ending. I heavily suspected a sacrifice would need to occur to lock it in (I suspected Five instead of all of them), but the Hargreeves are chaos gremlins and they managed to save the world by ending the world.
The final scene and credits. Pay attention to the final park scene as there’s a ton of Easter eggs. It’s not just that Claire, Grace, and the twins are safe with Lila’s family (we don’t know how that worked but we accept it as we hate the idea of the Hargreeves having to choose to have their kids be erased from existence). A lot of minor characters from previous seasons are present including some from the 60’s that are now older because they weren’t killed. The comic artist Gabriel Bá also appears as the artist in the park. Sticking around to the credits reveals eight marigolds springing up beneath a park tree. The Hargreeves will always be with us.
Thank you, Umbrella Academy, for letting us share this adventure with you, and thanks for saving the world.
