The Umbrella Academy – The Swedish Job

By: Ujjyani Banerjee

From 1960 to 1963 the post-apocalyptic Klaus (Robert Sheehan) spent his time developing a cult group of his own by fooling people around the world with tricks involving his invisible sidekick, Ben (Justin H. Min). Klaus’s “spiritual higher being” persona grew by leaps and bounds and so did his devotees. However, by early 1963 Klaus got fed up with the constant attention and abandoned his cult in San Francisco only to return to Dallas. Ben didn’t like the idea, but had no say. Now back in the mansion Klaus is enjoying a solitary and peaceful life. Meanwhile, Diego (David Castañeda) regains consciousness and finds Lila (Ritu Arya) attending to his wound. It turns out that she followed him worrying that he’d abandoned her, which ultimately allowed her to save his life. Five (Aidan Gallagher) is pissed to find Lila still hanging around and is amused at how she never untied Elliott (Kevin Rankin). When inquired about his neck marks, Five morbidly refers to his reunion with Pogo.

Vanya (Ellen Page) is driving on an empty road when she gets attacked by the Swedish trio. They riddle her car with bullets but she manages to escape into a dense cornfield. After a long search, Axel (Kris Holden- Ried) finds Vanya and shoots her at a point blank range. She attempts to shield herself and to her bewilderment, not only does she manage to retreat the bullet but also releases a powerful energy wave that wipes out a large diameter of the cornfield and everything in it. Five, who was tracking sound waves with the help of Elliott’s atmospheric radar, immediately figures out Vanya’s whereabouts. He wakes up his unconscious, amnesic and confused sister in the middle of the cornfield, briefs her about the trio and gets her out of there.

Luther (Tom Hopper) is out for an intense jog and he mistakes a lady on the road for Allison (Emmy Raver- Lampman). He misses her. Later, when Jack Ruby (John Kapelos) offers him a protein filled breakfast in order to beef him up for a highly anticipated wrestling match with Lights Out Lubbock (Robert Maillet), Luther brings up the topic of tracking Allison. Ruby agrees to utilize his connections to track the lady. Meanwhile, Allison goes to meet Klaus in the abandoned mansion. She’s amused at how he managed to form a populous cult in less than three years. Klaus learns about Allison’s marriage, her “civil rights organizer” work and how she’s never rumored anyone since the throat accident. Allison hopes that the sit-in goes as planned as her husband’s now indisposed. Klaus remembers Raymond (Yusuf Gatewood) from his recent time in the cell.

The Handler (Kate Walsh) goes to a pet store. She has some business with one of the aquariums but a cherubic boy (Connor Laidman) won’t give her any privacy. She whispers something in his ears that scares him away while she stares wickedly at the underwater jewelry box that houses the air pump. She later checks into a hotel and then takes a lavish bath.

With Raymond in jail Miles (Dewshane Williams) wants the committee to postpone the sit-in. Allison; however, speaks against it as a delay could lower the impact and moreover Raymond would’ve wanted things to go as planned. Odessa (Raven Dauda) and the others support Allison. They vote and the postponing idea gets shelved altogether. In order to release his brother-in-law, Klaus sends Ben to scare the cell guard into freeing Raymond. After being released, Raymond is thankful to Klaus and is surprised to learn that he’s Allison’s brother.

Vanya and Five go to a diner where Five gives her a crash course on her upbringing along with the other siblings and the apocalypse that caused them to scatter across Dallas over different timelines. He lies that a massive asteroid caused the earlier apocalypse and begs her to help him stop this nuclear one that’s due in eight days. Vanya calls Sissy (Marin Ireland) to apologize for vanishing away with their car. She shares that she found her younger brother and promises to get back as soon as she can. Sissy, who’s struggling with a distraught Harlan (Justin Paul Kelly) who just had another episode, is happy for Vanya and hopes that she’d return soon. Five cuts the call short and reminds Vanya that the trio will come back and that time’s running out.

Diego wants to leave but Lila won’t let him as he’s too weak. They lie down next to each other. While Diego sulks about being attacked by dad, Lila shares her deepest secret about having lost her parents very young and remembers how their lifeless bodies laid face down similar to Diego’s last night. Soon, Lila and Diego have sex while Elliott prepares tuna mold for dinner.

Ruby provides Luther with Allison’s whereabouts and the moonman rushes to meet her with a box of chocolates. However, Raymond meets him at the driveway and after learning about Allison’s marital status Luther is left devastated. Raymond is equally confused to have met Allson’s second brother in under an hour. Luther comforts himself with his own box of chocolates while he scans through Allison’s wedding photos. Soon Raymond gets summoned by the committee. Before he leaves Luther asks him to inform Allison that he needs to speak to her. Meanwhile, the committee headed by Allison enters a “Whites only” diner and demands service. They are rejected on their faces but they do not deter. Raymond joins them soon and behaves curtly with Allison.

Klaus drives himself to a hardware store. Ben is confused. It turns out that Klaus’s romantic interest from the WW-II days, Dave (Calem MacDonald) is in there working as a storekeeper. Klaus pretends to have come to shop for some paint and engages in a dialogue with him. After Klaus returns to the car with two cans of pink paint, Ben accuses him of being selfish as he disregarded his need to be there at San Francisco and simply returned to Dallas to see his love interest for one last time. Klaus admits that he wanted to talk Dave out of signing up for the war as he knows from the future that the day Kennedy got assassinated was the very day that Dave signed up and in a way, sealed his own fate too. Back at the racist diner, the police come in and the situation gets worse. Raymond reveals about meeting Klaus and Luther. Allison is about to explain but Raymond gets dragged out by the police and they beat him up. The officers arrest the activists rampantly. Unable to see her husband suffer anymore, Allison “rumors” the officer dealing with Raymond who then walks away as if nothing happened. Raymond is shocked and scared to see this new scarier side of his wife. Feeling cheated, he himself walks away. Allison screams in despair, but Klaus comes in time and gets her out of there. Emotionally broken, Luther somehow gears up for the wrestling match. Five and Vanya are in the audience too. As the match begins Luther’s zeal dwindles down fast and instead of fighting he pleads Lubbock to hit him repeatedly. Lubbock’s final blow causes Luther to collapse on the ground, bleeding profusely and staring longingly at the moon.

After spending a night with Diego, Lila tiptoes out of Elliott’s apartment and goes to the same pet store where the Handler had gone earlier. She collects a key to a hotel room from the underwater jewelry box. The key has “207” inscribed on it. Lila sashays out of the pet store and checks into the hotel room where she asks mom if she can order room service as she’s starving. The Handler comes out of the shower, smiles and says yes to her daughter as she apparently deserves it!