By Romey Norton August 8, 2024
Hold onto your briefcase as the fourth and final season of The Umbrella Academy is a mind-blowing, wild-ride, with a twisted story and amazing soundtrack. The final season is filled with the families classic nonsense, shenanigans, and drama. Making sure the series goes out with a bang. With additional characters and villains, season four has the excitement its previous season lacked, and will end up being your favourite season.
Review
Based on the comic series of the same name by Gerard Way, The Umbrella Academy burst onto our screens in 2019 and follows the story of a group of estranged siblings with superpowers who reunite after the death of their father. Season three ended with a twist: there’s a new timeline dictated by the family patriarch, Reginald (Colm Feore), and the siblings no longer have their powers. How can this quirky team face their enemies without their powers? Well, very quickly they get them back when one sibling poisons their saki. Everyones unhappy until they realise how ‘dope’ their new powers are. Having their powers change/develop is a great way to intrigue the audience and keep the show energetic.
From the get-go the series has a strong and steady pace, building intrigue and suspense. There’s plenty of action, with bullets blazing, intense chases, shooting Santas and lots of time travelling.
The story begins years into the future with our normal siblings living their normal lives with everyday jobs, from presenting to stripping to infiltrating undercover support groups believing they’re stuck in the wrong timeline. They come together for a rescue mission, which leads to more family secrets being revealed and their lives threatened once again. A catastrophic event called ‘the cleanse’ is on the cards, which will wipe out humanity. Five soon works out that there are infinite timelines because of the family - when they were born it shattered all the timelines and now they’re merging into one. The family realise that the marigold must be destroyed, but this means they’ll all be forgotten.
The story is compelling, and with the siblings on multiple missions and many different timelines, there’s an Avengers: Endgame vibe to this season.
With and without their powers, the storyline explores themes of identity, with each character struggling to know who they are and be what they want to be. They have their moments of giant expression, like Victor finally standing up to their father, and working with him rather than for him. The show also has themes of sibling relationships, loyalty, the meaning of life, fate and love.
The acting is spellbinding, with Robert Sheehan still shining as the quirky, arty, sibling struggling to cope with his life and powers. Elliot Page strongly portrays their character as angry, angst-ridden, and desperate for acceptance. And Aidan Gallagher gets to flex more acting muscles as his character falls in love and makes questionable choices.
But the best thing about the season is the killer couple, Dr. Gene (Nick Offerman) and Jean (Megan Mullally) who run an underground organisation called ‘The Keepers’ - an extremist group who have memories from alternate timelines. The married-in-real-life actors are the cowboy-boot-wearing, ass-kicking villains that give this show its edge that keep viewers invested. There’s a scene of the two dancing to Cher’s song Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves, and it’s wonderfully, whimsically, weird. They provide comic relief, as well as a healthy threat.
The final episode and ending to The Umbrella Academy season 4 feels rushed. But it ties up the stories well, giving an emotional end. Through the credits there’s photos of the cast and crew over the seasons and is a heartfelt way to say goodbye. But watch out for that post-credit scene, it’ll get your heart racing.
Star Rating
The Umbrella Academy Season 4 is streaming now on Netflix
It's actually ended up being most fans least favorite season (as evidencd by Rotten Tomatoes scores) because it did NOT deliver. Instead it gave us plot holes, character regressions and an unnecessary romance that was icky at best. I finished the series feeling angry and like I'd been totally let down by whomever greenlit this last storyline. Yet, another time I disagree with the critics...