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Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Season 4 of The Umbrella Academy.
The Big Picture
- In the final season of
The Umbrella Academy
, the Hargreeves siblings realize their existence has caused timelines to split into a multiverse, which results in multiple apocalypses. - The final season left viewers dissatisfied with the amount of unanswered questions after the end of Season 4.
- Mysteries still remain around key elements like Reginald’s motives and unexplained character backgrounds.
In 2019, Netflix gave us the very first season of The Umbrella Academy, a more complex and creative adaptation of Gerard Way’s comic-book series of the same name. Immediately, fans and critics fell in love with the story, which is based on seven children with superpowers of a mysterious origin — and a dysfunctional, traumatized relationship with their dad. Sci-Fi lovers also adore The Umbrella Academy plot, which is filled with world-ending apocalypses and confusing time travel paradox scenarios. In Season 1, the Hargreeves siblings, after years of being apart, reluctantly agree to work together as a team to save the world from ending. However, the seven siblings — Luther (Tom Hopper), Diego (David Castañeda), Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), Klaus (Robert Sheehan), Five (Aidan Gallagher), Ben (Justin Min), and Viktor (Elliot Page) — have grown up to find themselves unable to even stand each other due to their not-very-normal upbringing by their adoptive dad, Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore).
Up until Season 3, our main cast tried their hardest to fix everything and return the timeline to its original form, but each time they are met with a different apocalypse. The fourth and final season of The Umbrella Academy gave us the needed puzzle pieces to understand all that was left of the storyline. The Hargreeves siblings find that the universe has been split into multiple timelines because of a time-paradox, a moment in time which was never meant to happen. That moment happens to be the day when the substance called ‘Marigold’ is released into their universe by Reginald, which also leads to the Hargreeves siblings’ biological mothers giving an unnatural birth to them. The release of marigolds and the birth of the 43 children across the Earth causes the main timeline to shatter into multiple timelines, with countless apocalypses happening across the multiverse. The siblings realize that they can’t stop the world from ending while being the cause of it in the first place.
Now that the show has had its finale, across the internet, fans express dissatisfaction with the execution of the Season 4 plotline. Viewers are bringing up questions that were left unaddressed by the Netflix show. Some of these can be considered annoying plot holes while others significantly impact and worsen the character writing of the Hargreeves siblings. Here are some of the unanswered questions left after The Umbrella Academy Season 4.
The Umbrella Academy
A dysfunctional family of adopted superhero siblings reunites to solve the mystery of their father’s death and prevent an impending apocalypse. As they confront their past and battle external threats, their fractured relationships and unique powers drive a mix of action, drama, and dark humor.
- Release Date
- February 15, 2019
- Cast
- Colm Feore , Cazzie David , Genesis Rodriguez , Robert Sheehan , Aidan Gallagher , elliot page , Emmy Raver-Lampman , Jordan Claire Robbins , Jake Epstein , Mary J. Blige , David Castaneda , Justin Cornwell , Justin H. Min , Britne Oldford , Adam Godley , Tom Hopper , Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton , Ritu Arya , Cameron Britton , Sheila McCarthy
- Seasons
- 4
- Story By
- Steve Blackman
- Network
- Netflix
- Streaming Service(s)
- Netflix
- Franchise(s)
- The Umbrella Academy
- Directors
- Jeremy Webb
Ben’s Umbrella Academy Season 3 Mid-Credit Scene
At the end of Umbrella Academy Season 3, Sparrow Academy Ben is shown on a South Korean subway train bound to Yeouido Station and beside him is a QR code sticker leading the viewers to a real life website called “Pogo’s Tattoo Shop”. The scene created tons of buzz and fans anticipated it to be a part of the upcoming finale. This was confirmed by the showrunner, Steve Blackman, who said that the scene was to serve as a meaningful teaser for Season 4. However, it wasn’t addressed in Season 4 at all. They never explain Ben’s mysterious Season 3 mid-credit scene, and apparently, it has no real connection to the storyline. Pogo doesn’t even make an appearance this season. Over the years, The Umbrella Academy has been successful in establishing itself as a quality show with a nuanced storyline and with each scene serving a meaningful purpose. So, the fan’s disappointment makes sense, whether more of this scene was discarded by choice or forgotten.
Why did Ray leave Claire and Allison?
Following the reset, Allison discovers herself in a reality-warping home where both her daughter Claire (
Coco Assad
) from the first season and her husband, Raymond Chestnut (
Yusuf Gatewood
) from 1963 are present. Allison makes a deal with Reginald to pull Ray out of his timeline and into hers, even after he tells Allison that he wants to remain in 1963 to focus on his activist work. This isn’t addressed in Season 4.
Ray is only mentioned once when Klaus randomly mentions how Ray abandoned his family
. Why he left and where he went to is also not talked about. Allison’s relationship with Ray played an important role in shaping her character, and their confrontation in Season 4 would’ve been significant for her character exploration. Allison going through a change to realize her immoral actions throughout Season 3 could’ve also been a potential plot point in Season 4. It’s a shame this isn’t addressed during the final season.
Related
‘The Umbrella Academy’ Series Finale Explained
The Hargreeves family faces one last apocalypse…and makes a surprising choice.
What Happened to Luther’s Wife Sloane?
The wedding of Luther and Sloane (Genesis Rodriguez) is the highlight of Season 3, as it brings together the Hargreeves family for a very short moment in Hotel Oblivion. After the reset, when the kids make it to their new timeline, Sloane is not beside Luther, and he is seen desperately asking Five about his wife’s whereabouts. He said, “I don’t care about any resets, all right? I want my wife back…I gotta find my wife.” Luther’s determination to search for his wife makes viewers anticipate her presence in the final season. However, Sloane is mentioned only twice during the whole season, both only by Luther. It is not made clear if Luther tried searching for her and if she really died. Sloane was among the 43 children born in 1989, so it would make sense for her to exist in the new timeline. But if Sloane really ceased to exist after the reset, leaving her death unaddressed negatively affects Luther’s character writing, making him seem shallow and spineless.
Is Reginald Hargreeves Alive After The Cleanse?
Originally, after his wife’s death and the destruction of his home planet, Reginald Hargreeves releases Marigold on Earth in hopes of somehow reviving his wife. But after the reset, it isn’t addressed if Reginald still chooses to travel to Earth or stays beside his dying wife as his planet collapses. It’s also unknown if Reginald was the only survivor from his home planet.
Why was Jennifer Inside a Squid?
Among the list of things that weren’t explained or resolved, fans of Umbrella Academy are left puzzled over why Jennifer (Victoria Sawal) was discovered inside a giant squid. There is no backstory given to Jennifer’s character, which makes it hard for the audience to connect with her. When Five, Lila, and Diego read her file in Gean and Jean’s office, it was revealed that she was born in September 1987. This means that she was also not among the 43 super-powered children born by Marigold. Her being born inside a Squid makes her existence even more mysterious, and this is a glaring plot hole that should have been explored further by the showmakers.
Origin of the ‘Umbrella Academy’ Interdimensional Spaces
Another unresolved mystery of this show is the origin of the Hotel Oblivion, the universe reset switch, and the time-travel subway. All three of these exist in a dimension outside all the timelines, and their origins have been left mysteriously unaddressed in the Netflix adaptation. In the comics, Hotel Oblivion is a large hotel tower built by Hargreeves on a distant planet, and it functions as a prison for some very lethal criminals caught by The Umbrella Academy siblings. However, in the show, Hotel Oblivion serves as a hotel built in a dimension outside the main timeline. Moreover, the machine inside Hotel Oblivion, which we never learn if it was actually made by Reginald, allows him to reset the timeline and also bring his wife, Abigail, back to life.
Similarly, the time-travel subway was a replacement for the comic book Televator. In the comics, Reginald invents the Televator, a device that functions as an elevator, allowing users to travel through time, space, and across different dimensions. Unlike the time-hopping subway, this invention appears frequently throughout the comics. The question of ‘who made the Universe Reset Button and the inter-dimentional subway train’ remains a mystery for the fans of the show.
The Marigold Flowers at the Season 4 End-Credit
Just like the previous season, the season finale of Umbrella Academy has an ending credits scene where the audience are shown eight Marigold flowers blooming under a tree. The marigold flowers at the Season 4 end-credits make viewers question if it was yet another meaningless credit scene, placed to provide the fans with some solace. Or if it meant to point towards an open-ending suggesting rebirth of the Hargreeves siblings.
The Umbrella Academy is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
WATCH ON NETFLIX
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