Summary
This is an OK penultimate episode, but I don’t blame the writers. Getting this sewn up in six chapters must have been difficult.
Sometimes, you can tell when it’s the final season. There’s something sad about the writing. The fourth season of The Umbrella Academy has an objective in mind, but you can sense it has been suppressed by the pressure to end this once and for all. Season 4, Episode 5 sets a clear path to end the story with plenty on the line for the “end of the world.”
Lila and Five find love in a timeless place
As the last episode suggested, Lila and Five have gotten lost in the subway network. In Episode 5, they struggle to get back to their timeline. In fact, they have been stuck for six years, five months, and two days.
But there’s a warmth to their battle to find the right timeline. They find companionship, help each other through sickness, and find joy and hope in distressing situations. Somehow, they’ve made the experience bearable together.
Eventually, Five wants a break, and they settle on an ideal timeline with no secret police. It’s a tranquil place with a beautiful greenhouse they can tend to. And with that, Lila and Five appear to fall in love. A romance develops, and we witness them kiss and become partners.
This comes with judgment—Lila is married to Diego and has children. I would not support this, but from an emotional standpoint, I understand it. Six years is a long time to be stuck in timeless limbo with someone.
As Episode 5 nearly ends, Five finds a journal under the railway tracks and is surprised to see that his handwriting clearly shows a path back to their timeline. But he does not immediately tell Lila. He keeps it from her for six months.
Eventually, he tells her, and Lila is understandably emotional. Five does not want to go back to “normal” and raises how miserable she is back in their timeline. They’ve been happy in this peaceful timeline. But Lila calls their situation “survival” and reminds him she has children.
I can see both sides. Five can see the happiness he’s given himself and Lila, away from all the apocalypses and drama. But Lila’s bubble burst when she realized they could make it home — she wants realism.
Five and Lila kiss in ‘The Umbrella Academy’ Season 4, Episode 5 (Credit – Netflix)
Viktor and Reginald aim to stop Ben and find a moment of connection
The personal conflict between Viktor and Reginald continues. Despite this not being the same Reginald from his timeline, Viktor wants his father to prove he’s not the same as the others. But there’s no time for bickering. When they arrive at the motel where Ben and Jennifer were, it’s clear that The Cleanse has begun.
Continuing to track them down, Viktor and Reginald find overturned cars on fire on the road. They are suddenly attacked by Keepers, and Viktor uses her powers to help get them away.
That brings the moment of connection, and maybe this is all Viktor needed, too. Reginald tells him that the other Hargreeves treated him wrong and that he deserves to wear The Umbrella Academy uniform just as much as others.
This is the kind of personal conflict that’s resolved in a final season, and you cannot help but be happy for Viktor.
Jennifer is struggling with her powers
Jennifer is struggling with The Cleanse, but Ben is there to support her (Credit – Netflix)
Ben is in love with Jennifer. Whether it is real or not is to be debated, but regardless, he wants to run away with her and get married. Viktor tries ringing Ben on a payphone and tells him he will end the world with The Cleanse. He insists that Ben cannot trust his feelings.
Ben dismisses Viktor’s concerns and continues on this never-ending road trip. Jennifer, however, is suffering from her powers. Whatever The Cleanse is doing is hurting her, and she’s losing strength. To make matters worse, The Keepers know where they are.
The penultimate chapter does very little to progress this story, and The Cleanse barely shows any results, so it’s evident the writers wanted to put it all into the finale.
Klaus is finally saved
If there’s any example of the stress in the writing of Season 4, then it is Klaus. His path in the final season is the epitome of what happens when a story is not allowed to breathe. He’s essentially been disconnected completely from the main story arc, and Allison has been dragged down with him.
So, while everyone else is trying to save the world, Klaus finds himself buried alive after restoring his powers and becoming an addict again. There are a few cool scenes where Allison tortures Quinn to find Klaus’s whereabouts, but apart from that, if this storyline weren’t in the fifth episode, we would not have noticed.
Eventually, Alisson gets Klaus’s location and saves him from the grave he was buried in.
Diego and Luther find themselves in trouble at the CIA
I’d argue that the issue for Klaus is the same for Diego and Luther, who have been sent to the CIA offices by Five, so they are distracted. It’s almost as if the writers had no idea how to give each character a fair share of the story.
Luther is found snooping around the offices in the lower levels of the CIA, and soon, he and Diego find themselves attacked by agents. They fight their way out, but as they leave, one of the agents, Ribbons, shouts, “Nothing will stop The Cleanse,” suggesting that many of the employees are part of The Keepers.
But nothing here moves the story forward. It’s just two idiots treated like children sent to the CIA as a distraction.
The death of Gene
Abigail kills Gene in ‘The Umbrella Academy’ Season 4, Episode 5 (Credit – Netflix)
There was a reason Jean and Gene were wary of Sy (or, as he calls himself, Mr. Muntz).
Sy tells Jean and Gene that he is looking for Jennifer and that Ben is the key. He explains that the family needs to be stopped from getting to Jennifer.
Gene is irked by Sy, and it isn’t helped that Jean appears to enjoy Sy’s masculinity to solve the problem. Not trusting him, Gene tells Sy to leave. By the end of the episode, Sy kills Gene with a squid-looking hand. That’s when the face mask comes off, revealing that Sy is Abigail, Reginald’s wife.
Abigail then guts Gene and shapeshifts into him.
The episode ends with Jean and the imposter being made aware that Jennifer and Ben have been found. They agree to move to the next phase and “play the song.”
Overall, this was an OK penultimate episode, but I have a distaste for series that rush to an ending. It makes me feel uncomfortable and cheated.
