Depending on who you ask, the third season of The Umbrella Academy, based on the Dark Horse comics by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, was either its best season yet or its worst. Most would agree that there was a lot (maybe too much) going on, especially when there are twice as many characters. Showrunner Steve Blackman (Legion) made sure the Brellies were at the center of Season 4, which is only fitting since this is their last hoorah. But before we can get into that, we need a little recap.
Spoilers ahead for Season 3 of The Umbrella Academy.
Season 3 opened with the members of the Umbrella Academy — Luther (Tom Hopper), Diego (David Castañeda), Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), Klaus (Robert Sheehan), Five (Aidan Gallagher), and Viktor (Elliot Page) — returning to 2019 from 1960s Dallas.
They face off against the Sparrow Academy, the superpowered group this timeline’s Sir Reginald Hargreeves’ (Colm Feore) adopted instead of them. We meet the super strong Marcus (Justin Cornwell), an unpleasant version of their tentacled brother Ben (Justin H. Min), gravity-manipulator Sloane (Genesis Rodriguez), crow-controlling Fei (Britne Oldford), human voodoo doll Alphonso (Jake Epstein), venom-spitting Jayme (Cazzie David), and Christopher, a psykronium cube. The characters are one-dimensional and we don’t spend much time with them before they start dying off.
The Brellies being in this timeline, where they were never born, created a Grandfather Paradox, which results in a universe-ending Kugelblitz, or as Five describes, an “extra kinky kind of black hole.” Five does some time-hopping with Lila (Ritu Arya) and finds the founder of the Commission, who happens to be an older version of him. Old Five tells Young Five not to save the world. Luther falls in love with Sloane and they get married at Hotel Obsidian because the world’s ending so why not?
Allison went on a dark journey this season, which is expected of someone who was stuck in the racist and segregated Jim Crow South. She left behind her civil rights activist husband, Raymond Chestnut (Yusuf Gatewood), to return to her timeline and be with her daughter, Claire (Coco Assad), who she finds out doesn’t even exist. However heartbreaking her circumstances are, Allison’s anger was wildly misdirected. Her behavior was very out of character and unbearable at times (credit to Raver-Lampman’s impeccable acting skills).
She SA’d Luther (which is never addressed), murdered adult Harlan (Callum Keith Rennie) for accidentally killing their mothers, and made a secret deal with Reginald that nearly killed her siblings. To her credit, she didn’t know that part of the plan and saved them in the end. But she still resets the universe, seemingly getting her happy ending with Claire and Ray.
Meanwhile, Five, Viktor, Klaus, Sparrow Ben, Diego, Lila, and a newly alive Luther (previously murdered by Reginald to rally the family together) arrive in a new timeline with no powers, no Sloane, and no idea what’s going on. They end the season doing what they do best — immediately going their separate ways. The finale closes with Reginald hand in hand with his wife, Abigail (Liisa Repo-Martell), as they look over their empire. A mid-credits scene shows Sparrow Ben reading a book on a subway in Seoul.
Season 4 doesn’t begin with the Brellies embroiled in the usual chaos. Instead, we meet two new characters — community college professors, Dr. Gene Thibedeau (Nick Offerman) and Dr. Jean Thibedeau (Megan Mullally). The quirky but sinister couple lead a secret group called the Keepers, who believe they exist in the wrong timeline.
Then we get a classic Umbrella Academy montage set to a nostalgic needle-drop showing what the regular human Hargreeves have been up to without their powers for the past 5–6 years. Viktor runs a bar in Canada. Five fittingly works for the CIA. Ben was just released from jail. Diego is a delivery driver married to Lila, now a stay-at-home mom. Luther has a racy job that lets him show off his simian-free body. Allison is a working actor raising a teenage Claire (Millie Davis). Klaus is sober, germaphobic, and plagued by constant anxiety.
The siblings start off separated but are reunited when a mysterious dry cleaner named Sy Grossman (David Cross) asks for their help finding his daughter. Some are more excited than others to go on this rescue mission. Diego, Lila, Ben, and Luther are hyped to see some action again. Viktor and Allison begrudgingly tag along. Klaus is not on board but goes anyway.
The trailer shows that they get their powers back and learn new things about their abilities (but how that unfolds is a spoiler). Again, some are thrilled to feel extraordinary again while others are perfectly content being ordinary. They still bicker and blame each other for every bad thing that happens, but it’s not the same fights we’ve watched for three seasons. It’s maybe the only season where everyone isn’t awful to Viktor in some way.
As usual, there are character pairings that go on separate side quests. Reginald and Viktor spend quite a bit of time together. Lila and Five have another time-travel (mis)adventure on a subway that operates across timelines. Luther and Diego have an epic fight at the CIA.
Klaus’ drug addiction leads him down a strange path that ends with a touching moment with Allison and Claire. Ben is very much at the forefront of the season. After the brief mention of “the Jennifer Incident” in Season 3, the siblings finally learn what happened the day Umbrella Ben died.
This season feels slightly darker and more grounded. Even though this is their fourth world-ending event, the stakes feel higher than ever. With action movie visuals and lingering dramatic shots, Episodes 5 and 6, directed by Paco Cabezas (Into the Badlands) and Neville Kidd (Outlander), respectively, look and feel particularly cinematic.
Although this season is only six episodes instead of the typical 10, it doesn’t feel rushed since most of the episodes are over 50 minutes, plus a 69-minute finale. While Blackman stated Season 4 will answer “a lot” of the questions and mysteries of the show, it still feels like there are some loose ends. I’m not at all surprised that Allison’s Season 3 behavior was barely mentioned, let alone what she did to Luther. We see her as a loving but frustrated mother, who, aside from some initial awkward tension, easily fits back into the group.
The Umbrella Academy ends its four-season run with a six-part conclusion filled with its trademark endearingly dysfunctional characters, superpowered sibling shenanigans, end-of-the-world chaos, and more melancholic moments to process individual character journeys and the overall story. While it’s sure to be divisive among fans, the ending is still pretty epic.
The Umbrella Academy premieres its final season August 8, 2024, on Netflix.
