All 6 episodes of The Umbrella Academy Season 4 are now available to stream on Netflix.
The Umbrella Academy has always marched to the beat of its own drum – and the scrappy Netflix superhero series is all the better for it. Despite its frequently apocalyptic stakes, the show is a uniquely joyous affair prone to outbursts of song and dance; the series premiere memorably found the estranged, extraordinary Hargreeves siblings united in grooving to Tiffany’s 1987 cover of “I Think We’re Alone Now.” Since then, these lovable losers (complimentary) have saved the world not once, not twice, but three times, figuring their way out of seemingly insurmountable crisis after insurmountable crisis. Whether they were avoiding doomsday by ensuring the assassination of JFK or navigating the reality-threatening paradox created by that little time-traveling jaunt, Viktor (Elliot Page), Luther (Tom Hopper), Diego (David Castañeda), Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), Klaus (Robert Sheehan), Five (Aidan Gallagher), Ben (Justin H. Min), and Lila (Ritu Arya) were have been just clever and cheeky enough to get the whole world-saving job done. Entering The Umbrella Academy’s fourth, final, and abbreviated season, the Hargreeves are all quite a bit older, but, thankfully, not much wiser. This all makes for a fittingly messy though surprisingly moving send-off.
The story, loosely based on the comics written by Gerard Way and illustrated by Gabriel Bá, picks back up with the ragtag group living in a reset timeline without their powers. They’ve seemingly settled into more mundane lives while remaining as amusing as ever – that is, until trouble comes knocking on their door once more. It comes in the form of Drs. Gene and Jean Thibedeau (played by the darkly delightful yet underutilized duo of Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally), who we first meet in an effective opening scene where they acquire artifacts that prove the existence of another timeline. But the Thibedeaus want more than just memorabilia, and after the Hargreeves unexpectedly find their powers restored (because of course that wouldn’t last long), the siblings begin a mission to rescue a woman who could hold the key to stopping these new adversaries. They’ll also have to contend with yet another version of their fearsome father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore), who has his own nefarious motives and now commands even greater resources. It’s a lot of familiar territory for the series, but with a new urgency.
Namely: The superhero squad will have to save the world in only six episodes, as opposed to previous seasons’ 10. Such a scaling back has its pros and cons. On the one hand, the first three seasons often fell prey to spinning wheels, filler episodes, and extraneous subplots that played like shallow video-game side quests. The more The Umbrella Academy tacked on, the more it could start to drag. Season 4 avoids this for the most part; it splits its main characters up (as it has in the past), but it feels more focused (give or take a subplot following Klaus in the realm of ghost sex work.) On the other hand, much of Season 4 is rushed. Surprise reveals, reversals of fate, and the looming threat of annihilation are fundamental to the Umbrella Academy experience, but all that is slightly constrained here. The season’s scope is limited and the settings more noticeably confined – suggesting the budget wasn’t there for more.
Thankfully, it all comes together in a satisfying conclusion, and the cast remains a blast to journey along with. In particular, Page continues to be a performer capable of doing even more heavy lifting than his super-strong counterparts. He perfectly captures the rage Viktor feels in one moment and the compassion he brings in another. More than the bloody bursts of violence, it’s these moments of emotional growth that continue to be the beating heart and the salvation of The Umbrella Academy. We’ve come to care about these superpowered dorks not because of what they can do, but because of who they are and who they want to be.
The action around them, while less frequent this season, is still full of flair, with well-shot and well-staged combat. And when there are fewer fights, the emotions underpinning them matter more. It’s the silly yet sentimental moments amidst the spectacle – be it a barf-o-rama scene that gives the pie-eating contest in Stand by Me a run for its money or the Hargreeves coming together to crack a few jokes while everything crumbles around them – that make it all work. The season is slightly buried under its limitations, but that makes it more engaging when The Umbrella Academy punches through them to get to the good stuff. One episode that traces an epic journey for Five and Lila is the standout of the bunch – it sets the show up perfectly for us to bid everyone adieu one last time.
And as they join forces to face the music yet again, the song that brought them back together all those years ago provides an excellent closing gut punch. It’s a fitting metaphor for the show: Some things may never change, but these characters certainly have. For the first time, they’ve all truly grown up, and it happens just in time for a bold conclusion that finds beauty amid destruction. The noise of this often shaky adaptation is stripped away, and everything goes quiet. The Hargreeves all stand tall to laugh together in the face of death one last time. In the end, that’s all we can ever hope to do.
