The Umbrella Academy returns to Netflix with its fourth and final season after the Hargreaves siblings’ dramatic showdown at Hotel Oblivion. Stripped of their powers in another new timeline, siblings Viktor (Elliot Page), Luther (Tom Hopper), Diego (David Castañeda), Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), Klaus (Robert Sheehan), Five (Aidan Gallagher), and alternate-timeline Ben Hargreaves (Justin H. Min) must learn to adjust in their new powerless-mundane lives. Stuck in their wearisome lives, the siblings and Lila’s (Ritu Arya) normal, domesticated lives come to a crashing halt with the arrival of the mysterious organization The Keepers. Strange new forces come after the siblings, upsetting the shaky peace that they have all become accustomed to.
As a final season, you would expect things to be wrapped up and plot lines to come to their natural end. Instead, the final season of The Umbrella Academy focuses more on unnecessary plot lines such as an affair between Five and Lila that ends as suddenly as it begins, without any substance but taking focus away from the main plot line. It’s a shame as Arya has previously excelled as the manipulative Lila, but now the character is as lost and confused as the different timelines. Perhaps if Gallagher had given more in his performance than simply just turning up on set and delivering his monotonous lines, the confusing and odd affair plot line could have been saved, but it is doubtful.
The siblings had been the compelling part of the season, more so in their differences and how they could work together to save the end of the world. Now, the siblings come together for birthday parties while being paired off with plots that rarely propel the storyline forward. Luther and Diego spend too much time stuck in the CIA, Klaus is once again misusing and selling his body while Alison looks for him. The only plot of substance comes from Vik and their road trip with Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore) while Ben and Jennifer (Victoria Sawal) are massively underused.
After four seasons of build-up, the ‘Jennifer incident’ that was hinted at being involved with the original timeline of Ben’s demise and something of a fascination for The Sparrow Academy’s Ben is finally revealed. While the series does everything it can to connect Jennifer to The Umbrella Academy’s Ben, it’s almost as if the writers forgot that The Sparrow Academy’s Ben is a different person. While their connection is what is supposed to bring about ‘The Cleanse,’ season four spends very little time on this main plotline. It’s a shame as Min and Sawal try and give it their all, but the writers sidelined them in favor of affairs and bickering about marriage.
One of the most frustrating things about this final season has to be the ending scenes. Without going too far into spoiler territory, it renders the past four seasons' worth of character development and world-building useless. There was a hope that other timeline academies would come to aid in the monstrous final battle, but much like consistency and character development, the other academy timelines were forgotten. Unfortunately, it would have been better if The Umbrella Academy ended abruptly with season three.
Final Score- [2/10]
Reviewed by - Leigh Doyle
Publisher at Midgard Times
Note: All 6 episodes were screened for this review.
Premiere Date: August 8, 2024, on Netflix