The End Of Something
2006
The Season 2 finale of The Umbrella Academy sees our heroes gather together to mourn the loss of one of their own. Reginald steps up and gives his eulogy. He blames the Academy for Ben’s death and tells them to fester the hurt in their minds so they can be better in the future. While Vanya reassures them all that it’s not their fault, every member starts bickering while Klaus tries to use his powers. It’s here he conjures “Benerino” from wherever his soul was and encourages him not to walk into the light. As they start hanging out together, Klaus and Ben start their long, winding, dysfunctional road to where we are now.
1963
The Umbrella Academy find themselves wanted by the police and forced into hiding. Hilariously, the news claim that Five is being held hostage by the rest of the members. It’s here Diego admits that The Commission recruited him and things quickly go awry as they all start bickering again. Vanya vacates the scene though and phones Sissy, trying to get through to the barn. When she fails to do so, she realizes that when she saved Harlan, something happened that caused them to be connected and synced together. Before facing The Commission, all the Academy members join together and decide to head up to the farm. Just before they go, Klaus learns that Ben could have gone to the light at any time but he was too afraid. The members finally drive off with Luther bringing up the rear and hilariously causing the car to buckle under his weight. Unbeknownst to them though, the lone Swede follows in a dairy truck; an ironic throwback to Klaus driving the ice cream truck last season.
The Farm
Vanya drives up to the farm and finds Sissy standing before her with a gun cocked, ready to fire. However, given what they’ve been through together she allows Vanya to head in to try and help control Harlan’s temper. Back outside, Klaus realizes Lila and The Handler have converged on the same spot and watch from afar. Five and Diego head over together to try and work out what they want. It turns out Five killing the Board of Directors was a set-up for him to fail from the very beginning. Things quickly take a turn for the worst when The Handler snaps her finger and causes a whole army of operatives to arrive and charge at their location. Five and Diego choose the lesser of two evils and decide to run and die later. With bullets spraying all over the place, Harlan is struck and knocked down to the basement. With things looking bleak, Vanya is ironically the one who saves the day. She controls her powers enough to knock down all the agents while saving the Academy in the process. Only, it turns out Lila has exactly the same powers as Vanya and hits them all with a shock-wave of her own. Lila starts using all of our heroes’ powers against them. Luther’s super strength sees him knocked flat on his face outside the farm. Allison’s Rumour back-fires until Luther manages to save her. Five and Lila go toe to toe again inside the Farm and it seems like her real power is that of a copycat. While she keeps the Academy busy, The Handler heads downstairs to see Harlan. She tries to get through to him and encourages the boy to join her and help tap into his potential.
One Of Us
Lila and Five fight down in the barn until she mentions her parents. The Flower Merchants Five killed in the past were on orders from The Handler. She switched the signature name to make it seem like AJ was the one who caused this to happen. The rest of the Academy then arrive and tell Lila she was born in 1989 and one of them. Diego happens to be the only one able to get through to her though and mentions how The Handler will turn on her if she can’t use the power anymore. He asks her to be part of their family but instead, The Handler suddenly arrives and guns them all down. Five is still alive though and as he gasps for air, the lone Swede suddenly arrives and shoots The Handler, this time making no mistake about killing her. With Five lying on the ground about to die, he decides to take the advice given by Reginald several episodes ago and “reverse by seconds, not decades.” While on the surface this seems like a neat bit of deus-ex machina, the fact it’s been foreshadowed is a welcome sign and a great nod toward the writing. With new knowledge over what actually takes place, Five manages to one-up The Handler, taking her gun and allowing the lone Swede to kill this woman once and for all. Lila seizes her opportunity and takes the case for herself, disappearing into parts unknown. As she leaves, Five drops the gun and tells the Swede “enough”. He follows too, saying enough in Swedish and walking away. With everything seemingly saved for now, Vanya heads down to the basement and turns her attention to Harlan. She manages to extract the powers she inadvertently gave him and offers some encouraging words of wisdom.
The Aftermath
Dot and Herb touch down at the Farm and see the devastation first-hand. Diego and Five greet them and reveal that The Handler is gone. With a new Board of Directors needing to be elected, Herb has been voted in as acting chairperson. However, Five requests a briefcase from him in order to head back to 2019 whence they came. As he turns and looks at the devastation, Herb tells them to take their pick. Sissy decides to stay in 1963 to look after Harlan. Vanya says her goodbyes while Ray reads a letter left behind by Allison. She confirms that the world is saved and wishes to be with him. As the group reflect on their time in 1963 and how it’s changed them all, the lone Swede is picked up by the hippies. At the same time, Harlan drives off with Sissy but despite what we’ve been led to believe, he still has his powers and whatever Vanya did, it didn’t entirely remove this from him. Having saved 1963 from an untimely demise, the rest of the Academy prepare themselves to travel back to 2019. As they turn the machine on and transport back to the Academy, they arrive a day after the apocalypse to learn everything has been course-corrected. Only, a painting of Ben happens to be on the mantelpiece now. Reginald is still alive but it’s not the Umbrella Academy as we know it, it’s actually the Sparrow Academy. As Ben steps forward and asks just who they are, the group look at each other shocked.
The Episode Review
As we come to a close on the second season, The Umbrella Academy bows out with plenty of questions hanging over this one. Who are The Sparrow Academy? Have the guys jumped into an alternate-future? Or is there more to this story than first meets the eye? In terms of conclusions though, the 1960 timeline is wrapped up neatly and seeing the lone Swede heading off with the hippies seems like a fitting end to his character. Speaking of fitting ends, seeing Five learn to rewind time and use his powers properly is a nice touch and certainly has been hinted at throughout the season. Vanya is given a decent and ironic ending too, especially given she’s the one who saves the day. There’s lots of speculation over where the next season may go and it seems almost certain that this one will be renewed for a third term. In the meantime though, The Umbrella Academy bows out its 10 episode run with a wonderful finale and a fitting end for our characters.
