Editor’s Note: The below review contains spoilers for Season 4 of The Umbrella Academy.

The Big Picture

Season 4 of
The Umbrella Academy
neglects what makes it great, focusing on a lackluster storyline with little closure.
Characters are paired up nonsensically, leaving story arcs unfinished and ignoring previous unanswered questions.
The show seems uninterested in its main characters’ development, shifting focus to a new plot that detracts from the Hargreeves.

Historically, when TV shows based on adaptations no longer have any material to work off of, the result isn’t that great. Though The Umbrella Academy’s third season was already pretty far off-book by going beyond the introduction of the Sparrows, its latest proves that without Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá’s comic backbone, the story loses all the charm that made it so fun. Season 4 of The Umbrella Academy picks up with an immediate six-year time jump where we are dropped back into the story, but the kids are not alright. Left without powers after the universe reset, the Hargreeves have had to adjust to a normal life, and aside from Viktor (Elliot Page), who is happily running a bar in Canada where he seems to be dating his way through all the women in town, the rest of the Umbrellas aren’t exactly flourishing. The season introduces a new group called The Keepers, a group led by Nick Offerman’s Gene and Megan Mullally’s Jean Thibedeau, who believe that they are living in the wrong timeline and a great “cleanse” is coming.

The issue with Season 4 of The Umbrella Academy is that it might work if this was Season 2, or if we knew there was another season or two coming in the future. But as far as endings go, The Umbrella Academy Season 4 offers so little in the form of closure, and instead of bringing the characters together, it scatters them apart into odd pairings, forgets about the events of the past, and feels painfully disjointed, relying on the talent of the actors and the chemistry they have together to keep it going. And although the cast certainly still has its charm, The Umbrella Academy fails to stick the landing with the series finale and struggles with an even smaller episode count than usual.

‘The Umbrella Academy’ Season 4 Is the Show’s Least Cohesive Installment

You would think that when a show knows that it’s ending, the final season would revolve around tying up loose plots and generally bringing the story together, maybe indulging in a little nostalgia and a few reunions. Yet, Season 4 is the least cohesive of the seasons of The Umbrella Academy. Rather than revisit some of the old bonds between the Hargreeves, it tosses the characters into completely new pair-ups that they are trapped with for the majority of the season, while other characters either get completely sidelined or isolated.

The show doesn’t seem aware that it’s following up a season where big things happened. The kids saw their father, Reginald (Colm Feore), completely turn on them and try to use their essence to bring back his dead wife, Abigail (Liisa Repo-Martell). Luther (Tom Hopper) married Sloane (Genesis Rodriguez) and subsequently lost her to the universe resetting. Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) betrayed her family to get her daughter, Claire, and her husband, Ray (Yusuf Gatewood), back. The Sparrow Academy’s Ben (Justin Min) just wants a family to belong to after his was killed off, while Diego (David Castañeda) and Lila (Ritu Arya) decide to commit to each other and start their family. The new season either forgets about what happened, ignores what came before, or tries to rewrite character dynamics for a twist on what occurred, weakening the story by forcing the season to develop from scratch rather than on existing material.

Related ‘The Umbrella Academy’ Cast Reminisces on the Road to Season 4 in New BTS Video The final season premieres this week.

‘The Umbrella Academy’ Season 4 Ignores the Build-Up of Everything That Came Before
Image via Netflix

All of these attempts fail to varying degrees, with a prime example of this being the disappearance of Sloane. In the Season 3 finale, her character was a new entry into the family, someone that Luther had fallen in love with. We enjoyed their wedding, they were cute together, but come Season 4, Luther has completely forgotten that Sloane disappeared from reality. To that point, her own actual Sparrow Academy sibling, Ben, never even thinks to mention her. We aren’t told whether Luther has given up the search or if he’s mourned her and is ready to move on. She’s just halfheartedly erased from the narrative.

The Season 3 finale also set up Ben sitting on a train in South Korea as a hint at something for the future, but the show completely ignores that post-credit scene. Instead, we pick up with Ben just getting out of prison for some kind of crypto scheme. We never see that specific subway again, we never see that version of Ben again. It seems to only hint at an idea later presented involving completely different characters. It’s a prime example of how the series set something up and then forgot about it or hoped we would do the same.

Perhaps the most confusing change, though, is the way this season tries to rewrite character dynamics. While Allison has previously been close to both Luther and Viktor, the new season shows her suddenly paired with Klaus (Robert Sheehan), leaning into the idea that Klaus has always been dependent on Allison and the two have always had an emotionally deep relationship, extending to Allison’s daughter Claire. Rather than explore the fractured relationship between Allison and Viktor, a pairing that the show dedicated a lot of time to in Season 3, or Klaus’ relationship with Ben, a pairing the show dedicated a lot of time to in Seasons 1 and 2, all that has seemingly been erased. Viktor is essentially forgotten, and Ben is shipped off to his own branch of the story alone. It’s baffling why the final season did not build on an already solid foundation, leaning into the existing bonds between the siblings, and instead opting to introduce multiple new concepts simultaneously.

‘The Umbrella Academy’ Season 4 Lacks Finality

It feels important to note that the Hargreeves have never really had a full face-off with their father in any emotional way. If there was ever an important time to address that, it would be the final season. But Season 4 pushes Reginald Hargreeves somewhat to the sidelines and, painfully, tries to convince us that he might actually be a good person. Not through his actions, mind you, but because someone tells him, “Maybe you are actually a good person.” And while this Reginald does not have a gaggle of kids who he had used and abused, he is by no means suddenly good. Rather than have the Hargreeves confront the father who tried to literally suck their souls out to use as batteries for the universe, he’s shoved to the side until convenient.

The best thing about The Umbrella Academy has always been how chaotic it is, but also how perfectly everything fits together. While Seasons 1 and 2 delivered on that front, the cracks started to show in Season 3, and now Season 4 feels completely off the rails. Rather than go back to revisit an idea like the Commission, or focus the season on the kids versus their dad, the group embarks on what is essentially a side quest that has them stumbling into a larger conflict. Viktor, Luther, and Diego are all minimized, while the series smashes together Lila and Five (Aidan Gallagher), Allison and Klaus, and Ben with new character Jennifer (Vitoria Sawall).

Considering how big his role was in Seasons 1, 2, and 3, it feels bizarre to suddenly just use Viktor whenever someone with his power is needed but otherwise completely ignore him. Rather than have Diego and Luther both deal with their mommy and daddy issues, which have been hanging around their necks like an albatross, they’re used as comic relief. And it’s not like there isn’t a dramatic narrative to mine from. After six years of being together and raising a family, Diego and Lila have reached something of a stagnation in their relationship. This would have been a fantastic thing to explore throughout the series, considering that both characters have very deep-seated issues with their parents.

Instead, the show wipes away whatever bond the couple has with each other and instead pairs Lila up with Five. Although the two have always been an interesting pairing, given their connections to the Commission, developing it into a romantic relationship and throwing them into a love triangle in the final season feels forced. Why not tease the faintest threads of romance in previous seasons before diving into this? Worst of all, the show is already quite short, coming in at six episodes, and having one full episode dedicated to this romance when there is so much more for the characters to deal with is a poor use of screentime.

‘The Umbrella Academy’ Doesn’t Seem Interested in Its Own Story

Many of these issues seem to stem from one prevailing thought I had while watching this show and then rewatching it to make sure I wasn’t being unfair with my criticism: The Umbrella Academy doesn’t seem interested in telling its own story — or rather, the writers of this show and creator Steve Blackman aren’t interested in telling a cohesive story. Just past the halfway point, the show answers the biggest question of all: How did Ben actually die? The answer links directly to the season, but unlike many of the other new plot points brought up, this one is actually interesting. Learning the truth about what happened to Ben is a shocking twist, but one that’s been telegraphed, in some ways, since the beginning. It doesn’t feel like it comes out of nowhere. But rather than spend the season around this idea, it’s seemingly an episodic conflict, one that is almost forgotten by the time we reach the final third of the story.

The Umbrella Academy answers its biggest question and then sweeps it aside in favor of a plot it seems more interested in. On paper, the Keepers make sense, but in practice, the story becomes centered around this new group rather than the Hargreeves. The result is a show that isn’t about the Hargreeves saving the world, but about a doomsday cult that involves some kids with superpowers. It’s an unfortunate ending to a series that was once so entertaining. The highlights of the season are when the kids are forced to interact with each other, and the family dynamics are firing on all cylinders, encompassing everything that works about The Umbrella Academy. Yes, the snappy dialogue is great, and we love those needle drops, but we care the most about these superpowered weirdo kids who are all suffering from arrested development in one form or another. If Season 4 of The Umbrella Academy proves anything, it’s that when attention shifts away from the Hargreeves, the story kind of falls apart.

The Umbrella Academy The Umbrella Academy Season 4 neglects what makes it great and focuses on a lackluster storyline that offers little closure.ProsThe cast performances are still top-notch, with the chemistry between the actors a highlight of the season. ConsInstead of addressing unanswered questions from previous seasons, Season 4 ignores them to focus on a new plot.Season 4 pairs up characters nonsensically and leaves story arcs unfinished.The show seems uninterested in its own main characters or their development.

Stream all episodes of The Umbrella Academy on Netflix.

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