**SPOILER WARNING**
There are major spoilers for the latest season of The Umbrella Academy in this post.
On August 8th, the 4th and final season of the Netflix original show, The Umbrella Academy, was released. As a longtime fan of the show, I went into the new season excited. Like many fans, I came out of it annoyed, disappointed, and confused.
The Umbrella Academy, based on a comic book series, had its first season come out in 2019. The first season is incredible. The plot is clever and clean; it’s funny too. Season 2 came out the following year, in 2020, and it was just as great. The first two seasons were well received by both critics and viewers alike. Season 3 came out in 2022 and it was less adored. My biggest gripe with season 3 was mainly just the butchering of Allison’s character. They randomly turn her into a villain and ruin all of her character development. The plot is overall messier and less concise. Despite this, season 3 was still good enough that season 4 had potential.
Granted, the first two episodes of season 4 weren’t that bad. It was interesting to see how the family had adapted to five years without their powers and I was genuinely shocked by the plot twist in episode 2 where the seemingly quaint town turns out to be a setup (although the CGI vomit scene is unforgiveable). But by episode 3, the season quickly goes downhill.
This season felt so rushed. The first 3 seasons have 10 episodes each, but this season, for some godforsaken reason, only has 6. Because of how rushed it is, there are so many plot holes and loose ends. Quite a big thing that happens in the cliffhanger of season 3 is that Allison gets back not just Claire, but also Ray, her husband from the 50s. Ray, however, is not in this new season. It’s briefly mentioned by Klaus that Ray left Allison, but we never get to hear the how, when, or why of that. Sloane is another important character from season 3 that never gets a solid explanation.
The most annoying plot hole to me is the show breaking its own rules of time travel. Lila puts her family and Claire on the subway which means they still get to exist in the new timeline. This would indefinitely cause a Grandfather paradox; a concept that is literally a major plot point in season 3. Lila, Diego, and Allison are not only killed, but are completely erased from existence, therefore, their kids still existing even though their parents never existed would cause a massive rift in time and space, as per what is established in season 3. It defies all logic. And this is me only scratching the surface of all the plot holes and loose ends in this season.
Again, because of how rushed it is, pretty much none of the characters experience any character development this season. Luther’s character is useless the entire season, Diego has some epiphanies about his life only for them to go nowhere, Allison never reconciles with her mistakes from the prior season, Klaus is sober for three years just to relapse, if anything Five goes backwards as a character, as does Lila, Sparrow Ben lives and dies an asshole, and Viktor never really sorts out any of his issues with Reginald. All of their character arcs fall completely flat.
The thing I’ve always loved about this show is that it’s not your average apocalyptic superhero thriller — this show is weird. But it’s wonderfully weird. A character who’s a talking chimpanzee that wears glasses and a suit? That’s weird. A scene where everyone breaks out into a choreographed dance sequence to the song Footloose? That’s weird. The main character’s love interest being a mannequin? That’s weird. This new season is, unfortunately, lacking in weirdness. The only real weird moment we get is a mall Santa running and firing machine guns at the group while Baby Shark plays in the background.
But all of what I’ve mentioned so far isn’t what’s outraged everyone; it isn’t what killed the show. The real crime happens in episode 5. Lila and Five decide to travel back in time to stop Ben from dying and they accidentally get stuck in the magic subway that allows them to travel to different timelines. They’re stuck down there for 7 years, but for the audience, it’s only a montage. While isolated together, Lila and Five end up falling in love. I cannot believe that is even a sentence I’m saying. If you had told me before the new season that Lila cheats on Diego with Five, I wouldn’t have believed you. After their kiss scene, I seriously contemplated turning it off and not bothering to even finish the show. That’s how mad I was.
I genuinely cannot comprehend why the showrunners thought it was a good idea to do this. Diego and Lila are easily my favourite couple of the show. They’re also the main couple of the show. As the audience, we have been watching their relationship grow and develop throughout the last three seasons. To watch Lila throw that relationship away for Diego’s brother in the second to last episode is infuriating, to say the least. I liked Lila and Five’s dynamic in season 2 and 3, but personally, I always interpreted their relationship as a brother/sister dynamic. Diego and Lila always bickered like an old married couple, and Lila and Five always bickered like siblings. So naturally, I wanted to barf during all of their kiss scenes.
It’s not just their dynamic that makes it weird and uncomfortable, it’s also the age gap. Ritu Arya, who plays Lila, is 35. Aiden Gallagher, who plays Five, is 20. When they filmed the scenes, he was likely still 18 or 19. Not to mention that when Ritu and Aiden met while filming season 2, Aiden would’ve only been 15. I can’t imagine how awkward it must’ve been for the actors to film those scenes. Even though the character of Five is mentally in his 60s, he is still physically in the body of an 18-year-old. Not to mention they first met when Five was in his 50s and Lila was 4, when Five literally murdered Lila’s parents right in front of her. No matter what angle you look at it, it’s weird.
Not only is it weird, them getting together also makes no sense for their characters. A key characteristic of Five is that he is loyal to his family. It is so out of character for him to stab his brother in the back and risk ruining his relationship with him just for a love interest. And they completely change Lila’s character when she’s with Five. In seasons 2 and 3, Lila is a badass assassin; she’s powerful, she’s smart, she’s cunning. She’s not lovey-dovey or romantic; she hardly even was with Diego. Yet they make her into some sappy lovey-dovey romantic when she’s with Five. I mean, come on, she’s wearing a milkmaid dress and a cardigan. Season 2 and 3 Lila wouldn’t be caught dead in that outfit.
How am I supposed to believe THEY’RE the same character?!
So to recap- not only is their relationship weird, uncomfortable, and out of character, their “love story” is also so poorly written. Did I mention it’s conveyed to us in a montage in the second to last episode? They literally speed run their relationship storyline, and then still expect the audience to care about them. All of the emotional moments between Five and Lila in the final episode weren’t impactful at all, because even though for them it’s been seven years, for the audience, it’s only been two episodes. I can’t comprehend how they thought it would work adding a love triangle in the second to last episode (a love triangle that doesn’t contribute to the plot in any way, btw!). She doesn’t even pick between them in the end anyway, so genuinely, what was the point?
In a recent interview, Steve Blackman, the showrunner, said this:
“I felt that Five had to have a love story. I mean, he’s a 64-year-old man in the body of an 18-year-old. And I thought, ‘How can he have a love story? He’s not the kind of guy who’s going to date.’ I thought Five needed to be with someone, whether it be a boy or a girl. We thought we had an opportunity with Lila. And we tried it. I don’t know how the fans are going to take it.”
Well the fans rightfully took it bad. He insists in this interview that Five needed a love interest, but he never says why Five needed a love interest. I thought we were past the time in TV shows where every single goddamn character needs a love interest and a romantic storyline. If Five really needed a love interest so bad, why couldn’t they just create a new character? Instead of pairing him up with a character who already has a love interest?
Now that I’ve ranted about that enough, I need to talk about the ending. First of all, the final fight scene is so awkward and anti-climactic. Usually this shows’ fight scenes are so dramatic and grand in scale, but in the final fight of the entire show, they’re trapped in a room and are fighting a monster that moves at the pace of a sloth. It was such a disappointing scene. And of course, after everything, the show ends with the entire group sacrificing themselves and erasing themselves from existence in order to save the world. To put it more bluntly- they all die. The ending has been subject to much debate online already.
Now, I know there are going to be some who say that people are hating the ending just because it doesn’t end with a “happily-ever-after.” But that’s not true. I’m someone who can appreciate a sad ending if it is executed well. When sad endings are done right, they can be impactful and poetic and thought-provoking — take, for example, The Book Thief, The Fault in Our Stars, and La La Land. All examples of stories that executed a sad, bittersweet ending well.
The ending of this show is not executed well. Throughout all four seasons, we watch as every character desperately tries to secure a happy, normal life because they were all robbed of a happy, normal childhood. None of the siblings resolve any of their trauma. They live and die a messed up group of humans who have a lot of issues, and none of them ever get to live the happy, normal life they desired. That’s not a satisfying ending for the audience; nor is it impactful or poetic or thought-provoking. This TikTok explains it well.
When I first finished watching the new season, I was so mad that one of my favourite shows ended so pathetically that I was considering no longer calling myself a fan. But now that some days have passed, what I’ll say is that the fourth season doesn’t take away from the brilliance of the first, second, and to some extent, the third season. Overall, it is still a damn good show (nonetheless, moving forward, I will be delusionally pretending that season 4 never happened).