The long-awaited fourth and final season ofThe Umbrella Academyhas finally dropped on Netflix, and it has fans feeling a bit lost. After nearly two years of waiting for questions to be answered and problems to be solved,we have more questions and more issues. Season 3 ended with the Hargreeves siblings losing their powers and living in a timeline where the Umbrella Academy never existed. Instead, the Sparrow Academy was the child superhero team tasked with saving this timeline. The beginning of season 4 opens up six years after the events of season 3.
The Umbrella Academy - Season 4
On one day in 1989, 43 infants are inexplicably born to random, unconnected women who showed no signs of pregnancy the day before. Seven are adopted by billionaire industrialist Sir Reginald Hargreeves, who creates the Umbrella Academy and prepares his “children” to save the world. In their teenage years, though, the family fractures and the team disbands. Fast forward to the present time, when the six surviving members of the clan reunite upon the news of Hargreeves' passing. They work together to solve a mystery surrounding their father’s death, but divergent personalities and abilities again pull the estranged family apart, and a global apocalypse is another imminent threat. The series is based on a collection of comics and graphic novels created and written by My Chemical Romance lead singer Gerard Way.
We see the siblings briefly living without powers, quickly regaining them, and the end of the world threatening them once again. It’s a similar theme to the previous seasons of the show, but this time the outcome is different, and the character decisions are different. Ultimately, the show ended in probably the only way it could, but how we got there is something else entirely.There are some truly great moments in the final season, but these are some things that just are not sitting right with fans.
6Marigold Isn’t What Gave Luther the Monkey Body
When Sparrow Ben (Justin H. Min) tricks the rest of the family into taking shots laced with Marigold, they all get sick and end up with heightened versions of their previous powers. Luther (Tom Hopper) got his strength back, but along with it, he got his monkey body back as well. While this could have been seen as an opportunity for jokes throughout the short season,it didn’t really make sense or add anything new to Luther’s character.
Marigold is what gives the Hargreeves siblings their powers, but the monkey body isn’t part of Luther’s power, nor is Marigold responsible for it. After a disastrous mission that left Luther on the brink of death, Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore) had to inject Luther with an experimental serum to save his life. The serum gave him an ape-like physiology and enhanced his super strength. So, when Luther’s monkey body returned after drinking the marigold, many fans were left confused.
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It is possible that there were still remnants of the serum in his DNA that could have mixed with the marigold to transform his body back to the ape-like state. However,this is never addressed in any capacity. We don’t know if the serum was still in his body or if the marigold would trigger dormant particles of the serum.
Since Luther lost both the monkey body and his powers at the end of season 3, many think it would make sense for him to get each back with the substances that originally gave him the physiology and the strength.
5Umbrella Ben Is Left Behind
In a post-credits scene at the end of season 3, Ben (Justin H. Min) is seen riding the subway in Korea by himself. It is never specified which Ben it is, but all signs point to the Umbrella Academy’s original Ben.
The Sparrow Academy version of Benis more aggressive and snarky than the Umbrella’s Ben. He also dresses differently and styles his hair to be more spiked. The Ben seen riding the subway in Korea has his hair slicked back like Umbrella Ben and smiles as he looks up from his book.
Since Sparrow Ben is the Ben seen in season 4, it seems even more obvious that it was Umbrella Ben on the subway. Sparrow Ben was in prison for four years and immediately went back to the Umbrellas after his release, so it’s highly unlikely that it was him on the subway in season 3.
Whatever storyline was supposed to come from that post-credit scene, unfortunately, never came to fruition in season four. It could have added much-needed clarity and heart to a short and confusing season.
4Multiple Characters Sidelined or Not Present
One of the biggest questions fans ofThe Umbrella Academyhave been asking about season four is,where are Ray and Sloane?Both characters never appeared in the final season, with zero explanation or even a hint as to why they had disappeared. Luther mentions Sloane (Genesis Rodriguez) a handful of times but never shares why she’s not there. Luther simply expresses that he misses her or wishes he had fought for her. Ray (Yusuf Gatewood) is mentioned even less.
Sloane and Ray’s absence from the final season truly doesn’t seem to have a rhyme or reason to it. At the end of season 3, Luther runs off to find Sloane, and that storyline doesn’t go any further. Ray’s whole world was his daughter Claire (Millie Davis).
It seems highly unlikely that he would not be involved in her life at all, even if he and Allison had problems after bringing him into both a different timeline and out of the ’60s. Their absence is a huge missing puzzle piece that is never found and a conflict that is never resolved.
If that wasn’t enough, some of our main characters are completely sidelined in the final season. Klaus (Robert Sheehan) has beena fan-favorite charactersince the first season and has been heavily involved in the siblings' continuing attempts to thwart the impending apocalypse.
Yet, he is given essentially nothing to do in the fourth and final season. After he gets his powers back from the marigold, he is alienated from his siblings for much of the remainder of the show. He has an odd sidequest, performing seances for money to pay off an outstanding debut and eventually being buried alive where he has to try to escape,Kill Billstyle.
Recently released deleted scenes show an emotional moment where Klaus attends an A.A. meetingand finally confesses all of his insecurities and issues. Allison and Claire overhear his confession, and it turns into a heartwarming bonding moment that would have made the shenanigans he got into this season have a purpose. Klaus doesn’t contribute to the overarching plot this season and almost becomes a caricature of himself.
3The Character Assassination of Five
Up until the last season, the one thing that Five (Aidan Gallagher) cared about the most in the world was his siblings. Even though he spent most of his life trying to stop the apocalypse, he was willing to sacrifice everyone and everything for his siblings. Nothing meant more to him than family. He spent 45 years stuck in the future apocalypse trying to get back to them and figure out a way to save them. By season 4, Five did the one thing we never thought he’d do; give up on his family.
Sure, there are plenty of moments inThe Umbrella Academywhere the siblings argue and insult each other. However, it never lasts long, and they always move past their issues to save each other.Family is everything to the Hargreeves, especially Five.
In season 4, he not only continuously gave up hope of saving his family, but he straight-up abandoned them. Before he found out that it was the Marigold and Durango substances that caused the Cleanse, he left them to figure it out on their own while he rode the timeline subway. He had no intention of going back until learning that information.
Five’s personality had a huge tonal shiftas well. Five was always snarky and witty. He had better, smarter comebacks than the rest of his siblings and could think circles around most people. He insulted his siblings constantly, but it was never mean-spirited. Mentally, he was just a grumpy old man with little patience.In this season, much of that humor and wit was gone. He was actually mean to his siblings and hurt Diego (David Casteneda) in ways a sibling never should.
2Unexplored New Powers
When the siblings ingested the Marigold again, it heightened their previous powers. Allison’s “rumor” power essentially became telekinetic instead of having her command her target to do something.
Viktor could manipulate sound waves and energy into physical force using his violin, which is whatbrought about the apocalypsein season 1. In the last season, Viktor could target and control his powers with ease. Klaus' new powers are never touched on, considering he spends a good portion of the six episodes away from the rest of the family doing his own thing.
Lila’s (Ritu Arya) new powers are perhaps the strangest out of all eight characters. Before losing their powers, Lila could mimic the power of anyone with abilities. She had used it to help Viktor create more powerful blasts and used it to time travel with Five. When they come back in season 4, she can randomly shoot lasers out of her eyes, which is strangely similar to Homelander inThe Boys. The new power is not explained, nor does she use it a lot in the final season.
The Umbrella Academy Ending Makes No Sense (and That’s a Problem)
The Umbrella Academy was a great show, but the ending of the fourth and final season makes no sense.
Although we see Allison’s and Viktor’s new powers being used, they are used so sparingly that we don’t get to see the full extent of what they can do. Since the siblings end up erasing themselves from existence to stop the end of the world,it seems pointless that any of them had new powers to begin with. They were never going to have time to explore or develop them.
1An Abrupt Romance That Could’ve Worked if Done Right
Perhaps the biggest upset of the final season ofThe Umbrella Academywas the out-of-the-blue romance between Lila and Five. Considering Lila was married to Diego and had three children with him,the romance seemed forced and unnecessary to most fans.
The first few episodes of the season show Lila and Diego at odds with each other, but the show never truly elaborates on why they’re not on the same page anymore. By the beginning of the fifth episode of the season, it does become painfully obvious that something is happening between Five and Lila.
Lila and Five decide to ride the timeline subway to stop Ben from meeting Jennifer (Victoria Sawal), therefore stopping the Cleanse. Things don’t go as planned, and the two of them wind up stuck on the never-ending subway and unable to get back to their timeline. They spend seven years lost in the mess of timelines, although for the rest of the Hargreeves it’s only a few hours.
After years of eating subway rats and struggling to stay warm, they decide to live in one of the other timelines. It’s then that Five and Lila start their affair.
This could have worked if thewriters had gone about it differently. Five would never intentionally hurt his brother by having an affair with his wife, and Lila would never stop looking for a way to get back to her family. The characterization of both Five and Lila was way off, immediately leaving a sour taste in fans' mouths.
If they had shown real problems occurring between Lila and Diego either through conversations or flashbacks, this new romance potentially could have worked. Or, if they had hinted at feelings developing between Five and Lila in the previous season and let that build up instead of forcing it in the second to last episode. Better yet, it could have been one of the other Fives from Max’s Diner that replaced the real Five so he didn’t try to save his family from the Cleanse.
