**SPOILERS FOR THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY SHOW AHEAD, ESPECIALLY SEASON FOUR**
Netflix recently released the fourth and final season of their popular show, “The Umbrella Academy,” and viewers are unhappy with it, to say the least.
The Umbrella Academy follows a dysfunctional family of superheroes, the Hargreeves, who are estranged but come back together for their father’s funeral. While at the funeral, they’re faced with the return of their missing brother, who’s come back to try and prevent the apocalypse in less than a week.
In the fourth season, the Hargreeves family and Lila (their sister-in-law) navigate a new timeline without their powers, in what is theoretically an ideal world. They spend six years in the new timeline, and none of them are truly happy with their new lives. When Ben, one of the siblings, doses the rest of the family with the power-causing Marigold, they get mutated versions of their powers back. The seven siblings and Lila spend the rest of the season trying to prevent yet another apocalypse that they’ve caused.
Season four only has six episodes, four less than the other seasons, because Netflix cut their episode count only a few months before filming started. The abrupt turnaround that this caused is definitely a contributor to the disorganization and lack of cohesion throughout the season, but it doesn’t explain all of the issues in the season. The priorities of the writers also played a large part, as they decided that they had enough time for the Five and Lila’s relationship but not enough to show the effect of Allison’s betrayal on her relationships with her siblings for more than an episode before they forget.
There are some things that just don’t make sense that can’t be attributed to the limited time. For instance, when Luther gets his powers back he also gets his ape-like torso back, even though his having that had nothing to do with his powers. Jennifer, the cause of the apocalypse along with Ben, was cut out of a giant squid when she was six. There’s no explanation for why she was in a squid or how she got there, and it seems like the writers don’t know why either.
Very few characters get coherent or meaningful arcs in the season. Motivations, actions, and character development from previous seasons are dismissed and forgotten, regressing the characters and ignoring plot points that season three set up.
The worst example of this is the erasure of Ray and Sloane, Allison’s husband and Luther’s wife respectively. Ray was one of the big motivators for Allison and her storyline in season three, because Allison wanted to be in a timeline where she could be with Ray and with her daughter, Claire, and it’s why she worked with her father to change timelines and betrayed her siblings in the process. There’s a brief reference to Ray having walked out on Allison, and the viewers are never told why he walked out or what happened. Sloane is the only one from the group to not be brought to the new timeline with the Hargreeves and Lila when the timeline reset for reasons we never learn, and she’s barely referenced throughout the season.
Luther’s arc is the best example of the character regression in the season, as he is back in the house that they grew up in and working to refurbish it back to what it was when he lived there. This erases all of the work that he’s done to make a life for himself that didn’t revolve around the past. Luther had finally gotten to a point where he was figuring out who he was when he wasn’t on the moon or under his dad’s thumb, but season four sends him right back to where he started in season one.
One element of the show’s final season that’s been controversial with viewers is the romance between Five and Lila after they spent seven years together in an interdimensional subway system before they eventually found their way back to their timeline. Their relationship happened towards the end of their time in the subway, and it’s been the most polarizing part of the season. Because of all of the time travel it’s hard to pin down ages for both characters, but by the time they get together, Lila is approximately 42 mentally and between 34 and 42 physically depending on how aging works in the subway system. Five is around 72 mentally, but 19–26 physically. There’s also the fact that Lila met Five when he was physically 13, and Five is the one who killed Lila’s parents when she was four. Lila is also the wife of Five’s brother Diego, and they have three kids. The whole relationship is uncomfortable, and it ruins the relationship between Diego and Lila which is one of the best parts of the show.
This isn’t to say that there were no good parts to the season. The acting is fantastic from the entire cast, and it’s clear that they care about their characters. The sibling banter throughout the season is a bright spot, demonstrating the love and irritation between the siblings and showing their relationships while being some of the funniest parts of the show. Klaus and Allison along with Diego and Luther are the sibling relationships that shine the most, and despite some of the questionable plot choices, both relationships show the care that the Hargreeves family has for each other. Another highlight is the opening scene, where Luther is stripping in a fake space suit and doing an awful job.
The writing is the real letdown of the season, creating gaping plot holes and out-of-character decisions for almost everyone. If you’re someone who watches shows and overanalyzes them or wants consistency and accountability in your characters, this season might not be for you. If you just want to take everything at the surface level and avoid thinking too logically, you might like the season. This is definitely the weakest link of the series, and it’s disappointing that the show went out on such a low note after a fantastic first two seasons and above-average third.
Overall, the fourth season of the Umbrella Academy was a confusing and unsatisfying end to what had otherwise been a consistently good show full of complex, well-developed characters.