Whether it’s gross-out gore and nudity in The Boys or Marvel’s increasingly desperate exploits with the timey-wimey Multiverse, superheroes these days are struggling to find new ways to surprise us. Step forward The Umbrella Academy, now on its fourth and final season, hoping to shrug off supe fatigue for one final fling.
Premiering in 2019, Netflix’s quirky adaptation of a comic book series written by Gerard Way has always taken a grounded approach to saving the world. The new episodes do a brilliant job of living up to this legacy, while still embracing the more ridiculous parts of a story that so far has involved aliens, talking chimps and an extremely dysfunctional family.
We kick off with a time-jump. After failing to stop two apocalypses, the third season ended with the central Hargreeves siblings resetting their entire universe after being tricked into sacrificing their powers by slimy adoptive father Sir Reginald (Colm Feore). Years later, and everyone is living out their new super-ordinary (and very separate) existences.
It’s not long, though, before another crisis forces The Umbrella Academy to reunite. Central to this plotline are Gene and Jean Thibodeau (real-life couple Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally). As members of the mysterious, underground organisation the Keepers, Gene and Jean are convinced they’re in the wrong timeline and hope to try and correct this error via something called The Cleanse. It’s a big sci-fi fantasy about fate and time, told by characters who have been allowed to evolve and make mistakes over four seasons. Above all else, The Umbrella Academy is still a show about family and belonging.
Naturally, there are frustrating moments across this shortened season of six climactic episodes. The larger-than-life Klaus (Robert Sheehan) once again struggles with sobriety in a subplot that doesn’t really go anywhere. And the viewer is expected to care deeply about a brooding Ben (Justin H. Min), even though he’s a recently-introduced variant who’s proved mostly antagonistic. It’s a shame we don’t get more time with the always interesting Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) and her daughter Claire (Millie Davis), but that shortcoming at least allows space for other characters to grow – namely Viktor (Elliot Page) and Number Five (Aidan Gallagher), who were always the show’s most complex personalities. Luckily, it all comes together in a beautiful way for the finale – where any irritations are washed away.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about The Umbrella Academy’s last season is that Netflix have actually allowed it at all. Given the streamer’s history of abruptly cancelling beloved shows – Glow, The OA, Tuca And Bertie – we should be grateful The Umbrella Academy has even made it this far. The writers make the most of this opportunity by bringing everything to a satisfying conclusion which answers long-standing questions that span the show’s entire lifetime. The Umbrella Academy, we’re pleased to say, goes out with a weird, wonderful bang.
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