Coming out of the boom of superhero movies and television, The Umbrella Academy proved Netflix could hit a different tone. Often irreverent and always emotional, the Gerard Way-penned adaptation thrived as a critique of the X-Men. Simultaneously, showrunner Steve Blackman ensured the same concerns of sex, drugs, and teenage angst carried over from the comics to the small screen. With Season 4 serving as its final season, The Umbrella Academy continues its antiques, but a rushed finale leaves us wanting a little more.
The Umbrella Academy – Season 4 Plot
In another new timeline, the Hargreeves family attempts to build new lives. However, unlike their previous timelines, they’ve been left without their powers. For some, like Victor (Elliot Page), Klaus (Robert Sheehan), Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) and Luther (Tom Hopper), the change helped. For others, like Ben (Justin H. Min) and Diego (David Castañeda), their life feels somewhat empty. However, when Five (Aidan Gallagher) and Lila (Ritu Arya) stumble upon a cult that realizes there are “better” timelines, the family must unite once more to stop another apocalypse.
A Finale for a family
The found family aspect has always been at the heart of Umbrella Academy, even when its main characters were forced together. However, the series has always taken the metaphorical approach to the process, allowing characters to grow and love on their own terms. For every flaw in each character, the other members of the Umbrellas find common ground. Somehow, they’re always able to explore that love, and Season 4 allows unique combos to follow through on series-long arcs.
Season 4 drops the Allison and Luther romance, instead allowing the Diego/Lila relationship to take the reigns. However, their dysfunction over the last two seasons spills over once again in several more emotionally satisfying ways for the family. Additionally, a romance for Five shakes up the dynamics within the Academy. Klaus and Allison make for one of the healthiest relationships in the series, but it still contains plenty of dysfunction. Allowing the “Sparrow” Ben to pair up with Luther and a new character helps him complete his best arc since the second season.
The real standouts of the season are Arya and Gallagher. Both bring so much pathos to the screen that rooting against them is impossible. Their roles intersect at times, but their journies as time-traveling inter-dimensional creatures make for the series’ best moments. Arya showcases an incredible range of dramatic and comedic naunce. She deserves serious consideration for any big development projects. Once again, she steals the series from the titular leads. However, Gallagher fulfills the promise of the last three years. He’s arguably been the most intriguing performer on The Umbrella Academy since Day 1. He leaves the show with even more promise as one of our emerging stars.
All of this makes for an excellent contrast with pseudo-villains for the season. The arrival of Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally brings a fun meta-aspect to the series. Not only does the real-life couple present formidable opposition, but their own relationship creeps into the story. It’s not unusual to see them bring this aspect into their performances; they made it text in Parks and Recreation as well as Will & Grace. Allowing audiences to bring this shorthand into the series helps their arc make sense in the condensed six-episode window.
The Umbrella Academy runs into the same issues.
However, The Umbrella Academy still features two giant bugs. The first stems from its unwillingness to give Justin H. Min more to do. It has been baffling over the run of the series, as Min became one of the more famous performers on the crew. However, even as his screen time increases, his role in the group continues to disintegrate.
The characters insist that the Ben character, regardless of the dimension, is still part of their family. However, the writers barely flesh out his ideas and sacrifices to remain in contact. The Umbrella Academy created a new member by looping in Arya as Lila, but it’s easy to get frustrated by four seasons of Min getting lesser writing.
Finally, the series ends with a sprint despite four seasons of storytelling. The ending makes sense for these characters and their approach to everything that happened to them throughout the series. However, how we get there feels poorly executed. The finger can easily be pointed to the drop in episode count from ten to six episodes.
Netflix habitually does this to shows, with GLOW and Bridgerton also suffering similar fates. In the case of The Umbrella Academy, it truly feels like they were told to wrap it up in one episode after shooting the first five. It’s hard to imagine that some of the storylines make sense in a shortened six-episode sprint otherwise.
Is The Umbrella Academy Season 4 Worth Watching?
If you’ve already started The Umbrella Academy, you’ll want to see where it ends. If you have not started the series, there’s still enough over the four seasons to jump into today. It’s quirky, funny, and violent as heck. In many ways, it’s a very well written and slightly emo teenage cousin to the X-Men. For all this, we wholeheartedly recommend it. The raw emotion of the finale and spending time with these characters allows The Umbrella Academy to end on a mostly satisfying note. However, with a shortened final season, it feels like Netflix damaged what should be a cult classic for decades.
7/10
The Umbrella Academy releases on August 8, 2024. Netflix provided all six episodes for review.
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