How ‘The Umbrella Academy’ Season 4 Ends, One Final Time

The ending of The Umbrella Academy Season 4 made sense. There has been apocalypse after apocalypse. Eventually, it would be best to stop them once and for all. And with Episode 6, “End of the Beginning,” being the last chapter, it made sense to have an absolute conclusion.

At the start of the finale, Jean and imposter Gene (it’s really Abigail) play a song on the radio nationwide. Keepers around the country grab their weapons and gather around the retail building that Jennifer and Ben are in to protect them. Jean gives an emphatic speech, stating that they are nearly back to their time.

I’ve broken down all the key points of the finale.

Viktor Does Fail To Save Ben

Ben and Jennifer’s connection forms The Cleanse in ‘The Umbrella Academy’ Season 4, Episode 6 (Credit – Netflix)

It was not like Viktor did not try to save Ben. After convincing Reginald frequently to allow him to intervene, the fate of the world was already decided.

Once Viktor enters the building after facing resistance from one member of the Keepers, he sees how far Ben has attached himself to Jennifer: he reached a form that was not even human. He’s also refusing to leave Jennifer’s side.

Despite Viktor’s heroics, Ben knocks Viktor unconscious, which spears events that conclude the entire series. 

Five And Lila Do Return To The Timeline, But It’s No Longer Simple

Diego learns the truth about Lila’s affair with Five in ‘The Umbrella Academy’ Season 4 finale (Credit – Netflix)

Who do we feel sorry for more? Five who has fallen madly in love with Lila and wants a life with her? Or Lila, who has to return to her husband and family after experiencing seven years stuck on a timeline-subway-station having an affair? Of course, it hasn’t been seven years for her family – it’s been a few hours for them.

Lila is relieved to see her family again, but Diego’s intuition spikes when he sees a bracelet on her wrist. He knows Five gave it to her, which leads him to realize they had an affair.

Lila explains what happened to them—that they were trapped for seven years—but before they can continue this awkward conversation, the crew sees the news: Ben is reported to be in a hostage situation. Finally, after six episodes, the entire family is involved in saving the world.

But the entire scenario between Five, Lila, and Diego sucks. You can sense that Lila loves Five, but it’s impossible for them to have what they had in the timeless limbo.

The Umbrella Academy Fails to Stop The Cleanse

The Cleanse (Credit – Netflix)

If Viktor failed to stop Ben, then there was no way the rest of the family was going to stop The Cleanse. Everything feels inevitable at this point, leading to a final answer.

When the family teleports into the building, Reginald’s team already has a sniper on Ben. Viktor does try one last time to drag the Durango out of Ben and, in doing so, sees a vision of a beautiful, peaceful park that becomes important in the finale’s final scenes.

Reginald’s sniper takes the shot, and it pierces Ben’s chest, and he falls.

However, nothing can stop The Cleanse. Jennifer combines her monster-like body with Ben’s, and they continue to grow as the end of the world begins. The crew tries to fight the Cleanse monster, but it’s useless. Every time they use their powers, it gets bigger.

Abigail Reveals She Is Behind The Cleanse

It was probably not surprising to anyone that Abigail was behind The Cleanse. After all, she did kill Gene and shapeshift into him. With The Cleanse transforming, Reginald is defeated and wishes he had taken the shot on Ben sooner.

However, Abigail removes Gene’s skin mask, revealing it to be his wife. She explains to her husband, Reginald, that she had to end the world because she never asked to be brought back to life. She understands that Reginald felt lonely without her in the other timeline, but his alterations had consequences. Abigail believes it is her duty to correct it, which is why she kept Jennifer away from him.

This was a charming revelation because it also confirmed that there was no real villain in Season 4. The Keepers sensed they were on the wrong timeline, and The Cleanse was merely a result of course correction.

Five Learns A Horrible Truth About His Family And The Timelines

Five learns the truth about his family in ‘The Umbrella Academy’ Season 4, Episode 6 (Credit – Netflix)

While fighting The Cleanse, Five gets into a scuffle with Diego. But Lila intervenes and says directly to Five, “It’s over,” signifying their relationship will never happen again.

Upset, Five heads to the subway, where he ends up in a strange diner full of alternate Fives, working, eating, and drinking. They were all from alternative timelines, and they’ve given up trying to fix the broken timelines that their siblings broke. He learns there’s a constant loop of trying to fix the timelines.

Five learns that his family is the problem. The apocalypses happen because they exist, causing infinite broken timelines and infinite end-of-the-world scenarios.

The Family Have To Sacrifice Themselves To Fix The Timelines

The ending is conclusive and absolute. To save the world and to restore everyone to a single, original timeline, the family has to let the marigold in their bodies merge with the Durango in The Cleanse. It means they die, but not only that, but they cease to exist and are erased from history.

It was painful to see Five explain this to his family, and at first, Lila was resistant, running away to the subway with her family and Allison’s daughter, Claire. But in the end, she put them on a train to the original timeline to save them (I’ll get to this further down) and decided to sacrifice herself with her family.

The family enters a circle, powers up, and waits for The Cleanse. At this point, Ben and Jennifer’s monster form represents Godzilla’s size. Eventually, The Cleanse takes over their bodies. The Umbrella Academy is no more. They no longer exist.

All the timelines are erased apart from the original. The audience is shown the peaceful park that Viktor saw in the vision given to him by Ben. It seems Ben was showing Viktor the purpose of The Cleanse. In the park, there are characters we’ve seen in previous seasons living everyday lives. Reginald narrates, “On the twelfth hour of the eighth day of August 2024, absolutely nothing out of the ordinary occurred. You might say it was just a normal day.” This confirms that the family’s sacrifice worked.

However, my only issue with this storyline and ending is that Lila’s family and Alisson’s daughter, Claire, were in the park. It seems Lila’s efforts to save them on the subway worked. I agree that this is a good ending point of the series, but surely, these people are not allowed to exist in this timeline. If The Umbrella Academy’s existence was deemed unnatural, causing multiple timelines, then surely Lila’s family and Claire’s existence will cause similar issues.

But maybe the focus should be on The Umbrella Academy finally doing the right thing and sacrificing themselves for a good ending. It’s also possible the writers did not want to destroy Lila’s family and Claire from an emotional perspective, which I get, even if it does not make sense.

What does the post-credits scene mean?

The eight marigold flowers in the post-credits scene of ‘The Umbrella Academy’ Season 4 (Credit – Netflix)

After the credits roll, the audience is returned to the beautiful park in the original timeline. It focuses on eight marigold flowers blooming. This signifies that The Umbrella Academy may not exist as human beings, but their existence, energy, and spirit exist as part of nature.

And why eight flowers and not seven? Well, Jennifer is classed as Number Eight.

I would love to gather readers’ thoughts on The Umbrella Academy Season 4, Episode 6. Is this the ending you wanted? Was it a good finale? Discuss below.

Read More: The Umbrella Academy Season 4, Episode 5 Explained