The Umbrella Academy – The End of Something

By: Ujjyani Banerjee

Circa 2006 the Hargreeves family gathers for Number Six’s last rites. Reginald (Colm Feore) gives a cold eulogy remembering young Ben (Ethan Hwang) whilst blaming the Umbrella Academy for his demise. The siblings get offended, but Reginald doesn’t care. Young Klaus (Dante Albidone) summons Ben’s spirit and to his request Ben decides to spend some more time with his brother before walking into the light. Coming back to 1963 Klaus (Robert Sheehan) is sulking in bed remembering Ben (Justin H. Min) while his siblings are worrying about their newly acquired WANTED statuses. Given their dubious backgrounds the media is characterizing Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), Diego (David Castañeda), Vanya (Ellen Page), Luther (Tom Hopper) and Klaus as a Terrorist group who have held a kid hostage. The kid that is Five (Aidan Gallagher) is wanted too. Diego and Five argue about The Commission being on their lookout. Five learns that his seemingly dimwitted brother turned down a job offer at the Commission and that he was the one who stopped Vanya’s issue from escalating by checking the Infinite Switchboard footage in advance.

Vanya gets an SOS call from Harlan (Justin Paul Kelly) and starts recollecting how she transferred some of her powers to the kid while resuscitating him the other day. She now wants to go help him, but needs her siblings to be by her side. They decline Vanya’s plea, citing other priorities. Before she drives off Klaus jumps into the car to learn about Ben’s last words for him, if there were any. Vanya lets him know that the reason Ben didn’t walk into the light was because he was scared and not because of anything that Klaus told him. Klaus is relieved. Soon the other siblings join them on the way to the farm. Axel (Kris Holden-Ried) follows them. Upon reaching the farm, Sissy (Marin Ireland) bars the Hargreeves from entering her property after having fallen prey to the recent media reports against them, but Vanya regains her trust. She now rushes to help Harlan at the barn who’s struggling to control his forcefield while Diego and Five go to meet two new visitors they just spotted. It’s The Handler (Kate Walsh) and her daughter Lila (Ritu Arya).

Five gets death threats from Lila and a confused Diego learns how his brother massacred the board of directors. Before Lila can accuse Five at length for how he murdered her parents back in 1993 London, The Handler changes the topic to dealing with the Hargreeves. Five and Diego are confident to win the fight as they’re more in number, but to their utter shock The Handler instantaneously summons an entire army of cold-blooded assassins who come after them. After a great deal of running, an exhausted Five tries to conjure some energy to space-jump himself and Diego, but fails. The fight escalates. Vanya comes to rescue after she’s done powering down Harlan and lets out a force field that wipes out the entire enemy troop, except The Handler and Lila who are safe inside an energy bubble. In retaliation Lila mirrors Vanya’s actions and releases a similar force field towards her. The energy waves knock Diego down whose leg gets stuck under a tractor.

One after the other Lila mimics each of the siblings’ superpowers and uses it against them. When rumored to stop breathing, a sinking Allison is saved by Luther who kisses her back to life. While Lila remains engaged in a face off with Five, The Handler goes to see Harlan. She knocks Sissy down with hopes to become the gifted boy’s new mother. The remaining siblings help release Diego and start discussing Lila’s ability to mimic their superpowers. They realize that she’s in fact one of them and wonder if she can mimic all their powers simultaneously, in case they gang up on her. Back at the barn Five is clueless as to why Lila has a deathwish against him. After learning that her parents’ death has been the driving force, Five clarifies that it was The Handler who gave him and AJ the orders to execute the task. He goes on to share that unlike other cases she, herself, accompanied them to the execution site. Lila tries to deny his allegations, but soon the other Hargreeves arrive and ultimately Diego manages to get through to her that The Handler was only interested in her powers, nothing else. Lila is shocked and devastated. Diego reveals to her that they all have the same birthdate and can in fact be her real family. Just as Lila calms down, The Handler barges in and shoots all the Hargreeves. Lila asks her mom if the allegations had any truth in them. In return, The Handler shoots her “daughter” and then glances at Five who still has some life left in him. Before she can kill him, Axel guns her down from behind and aims at Five.

Staring at death Five suddenly remembers his dad’s (Colm Feore) advice to time-jump seconds as sometimes the most pivotal moments occur in this humble unit of time. He gathers all his energy and manages to go back to the time when The Handler was about to burst into the room for the first time. This time, instead of letting her murder all of his siblings, Five snatches the gun from The Handler and simply allows Axel to come in and finish her off. Like before, Axel aims his gun at Five. Realizing that there has been enough bloodshed for a lifetime, both of them surrender and decide to go their own ways. Just when Lila is about to leave with The Handler’s briefcase, Luther and Diego intercept but she’s long gone. Diego confesses his love for her to Luther and keeps the sanitarium bracelet that she left behind. Vanya goes on to help Harlan get back to normal by sequestering out his powers. The boy returns to his earlier state and Sissy rushes to embrace him.

Herb (Ken Hall) and Dot (Patrice Goodman) also arrive at the farm and are thrilled to know that The Handler is dead. Herb is now the interim chairperson at the Commission until a new board of directors is arranged. When Five wonders if he can get a briefcase to time jump to 2019, he’s asked to choose from the hundreds lying on the farm amidst the dead agents. Meanwhile, Sissy declines Vanya’s request for her and Harlan to time jump to the future along with the Hargreeves. She cannot risk her son’s life with the uncertainties that come along with knowing a superhuman. Instead, she wants to move to California where her friend lives. Vanya understands Sissy’s standpoint and wishes her luck. Sissy thanks Vanya for being the much needed fresh breeze in her life and they share a kiss. Diego comforts Vanya who seems heartbroken. Meanwhile, the rest of the Hargreeves acquaintances grapple to find ways to move on with their lives.

Raymond (Yusuf Gatewood) finds a letter from Allison where she mentions to have always known that she’d have to return to her family when the apocalypse came calling. Dave (Calem MacDonald) gets on the bus to serve his country while Klaus himself kisses future Dave’s dog tag in grief. Keechie (Dov Tiefenbach) summons a depressed Axel into joining “Destiny’s Children.” Luther tries to make peace with his ex-boss, Jack Ruby (John Kapelos). Sissy drives past the New Mexico border and looks over at Harlan who’s busy levitating a toy with his leftover powers. Finally, the six Hargreeves gather and prepare to return to 2019.

It’s April 2, 2019 and the Hargreeves are back in their old house. The doomsday was supposed to happen a day before, but everything seems intact which means they averted both the apocalypses. The team decides to celebrate and stroll into the living room where they suddenly spot Ben’s portrait and see their dad standing right opposite to them! He greets them and declares that they don’t belong here. Apparently, it’s home to the “Sparrow Academy.” We see the silhouettes of some new members standing at the balcony and their team is led by Ben or maybe a lookalike of Ben!