Biggest Plot Holes & Questions After Season 4

Spoilers are ahead for The Umbrella Academy season 4’s ending.

Summary

• Bizarre plot points that were newly introduced in
  The Umbrella Academy
  season 4, like Jennifer’s squid connection, are never elaborated on.
• The show offers very little information or detail about massive plot elements, like the Durango or The Cleanse.
• With just six episodes,
  The Umbrella Academy
  season 4 condenses its many threads, leading to tons of plot holes, inconsistencies, and poorly executed or confusing moments.

The Umbrella Academy season 4 boasts perhaps the most plot holes of the show’s installments. Given that the timeline-hopping series becomes its most complex just ahead of the truncated fourth and final outing, the sheer number of plot holes isn’t a huge surprise, but it’s still disappointing. Based on the comic book series of the same name by writer Gerard Way and illustrator Gabriel Bá, The Umbrella Academy centers on a dysfunctional family of adopted superhero siblings, all of whom were born on October 1, 1989, in The Umbrella Academy‘s original timeline.

The eccentric billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore), who’s actually an alien whose home planet was destroyed, adopts seven of the kids and forms the titular academy of teenage vigilantes. The Umbrella Academy‘s super-powered Hargreeves siblings include the super-strong astronaut Luther (Tom Hopper); the vigilante Diego (David Castañeda), whose powers allow him to control the trajectory of flying objects; the mind-controlling actor Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman); the immortal medium Klaus (Robert Sheehan); the tentacle-wielding Ben (Justin H. Min); the time-hopping Five (Aidan Gallagher); and Viktor (Elliot Page), who can convert sound waves into energy.

Five warns his estranged siblings of the impending apocalypse and, begrudgingly, the Hargreeves reunite to thwart that cataclysmic event…

Although The Umbrella Academy season 4 reveals how Ben died, that mystery is what forces the Hargreeves siblings to go their separate ways as teens. Five, who vanished before Ben’s death, reappears for Reginald’s funeral in 2019. Although the rest of the siblings have seen a decade go by, Five has weathered 40 years — even though he still looks 13 years old — in an apocalyptic version of the future. Five warns his estranged siblings of the impending apocalypse and, begrudgingly, the Hargreeves reunite to thwart that cataclysmic event in The Umbrella Academy season 1’s ending.

Unfortunately, things don’t quite go as planned: Viktor accidentally shoots an energy beam into the moon, breaking it into pieces that hurtle toward Earth. Realizing the Umbrella Academy team actually caused the apocalyptic event, Five decides to transport them back in time, landing them each in different years of the early 1960s. Against all odds, The Umbrella Academy navigates the Hargreeves siblings’ ages and various interactions with time pretty clearly — but season 3, which sees the siblings back in 2019, but in an alternate one of Umbrella Academy‘s timelines, is where things get shaky.

In The Umbrella Academy season 3’s ending, the Hargreeves try to ward off the kugelblitz — a concentration of energy that’s capable of warping spacetime so much that it creates a black hole — that all their time-traveling shenanigans caused. Reginald reveals that he constructed Hotel Obsidian in 1918, after discovering a portal to another dimension nearby. Within, the so-called Hotel Oblivion has the power to redesign and reset the universe. While the siblings successfully reset the universe, their actions cause them to lose their powers — an event that leads into the plot-hole-riddled season 4.

10 Why Was Jennifer Found Inside A Squid?

Jennifer’s Bizarre Origin Story Was Never Explained

The Umbrella Academy season 4 reveals that the mysterious Jennifer (Victoria Sawa) was born inside a giant squid. (Or, given her age, maybe Jennifer had been living inside said creature?) In grainy footage from the newsworthy event, a reporter is interviewing the two fishermen who reeled in the colossal squid when something starts moving inside of it. Eventually, they cut a young Jennifer from the creature’s belly. It’s possible there’s some connection between Durango. Jennifer, and the squid, but it mostly feels like the writers just wanted a blatant-yet-bizarre way to connect her to the tentacle-wielding Ben.

9 Why Did Luther’s Simian Body Return In Season 4?

The Gorilla DNA Was Never Connected To Luther’s Powers

After Ben secretly slips Marigold into his siblings’ drinks, they all regain their superpowers — aside from a sober Klaus. For the most part, the siblings’ core powers return in full force, but a few receive some additional upgrades and abilities. Unfortunately for Luther, the Marigold inexplicably makes him part Simian again. Since Luther received his gorilla-like upper-body and limbs as a result of a life-saving serum, there’s no actual connection between his powers and the gorilla DNA, so the Marigold shouldn’t have triggered the physical changes. In short, Luther’s ape body returning is a plot hole.

8 What Was The Umbrella Academy Season 3’s Post-Credits Ben Scene About?

After the credits roll in Umbrella Academy season 3, viewers are treated to a special teaser involving Ben Hargreeves. Although the Ben that is a Sparrow Academy member joins the fray in the third outing, the mid-credits scene suggests that there are potentially two Bens floating around. In the sequence, Ben, who looks more like the Umbrella Academy version of the character, is sitting on a subway in Korea, reading a book with two red umbrellas on the cover. While the series does reveal how Ben died in Umbrella Academy, it completely ignores this mid-credits tease.

7 Is Sir Reginald Hargreeves Still Alive After The Umbrella Academy Ends?

It’s Implied That The Monocle Dies But It’s Frustrating To Have That Happen Off-Screen

It’s honestly pretty unclear if Reginald Hargreeves is alive at the end of The Umbrella Academy. The cause of all that has happened, Reginald is the perpetrator of the show’s chaos — the one who sets everything in motion. In a rushed flashback, Umbrella Academy reveals what happened to Reginald’s planet, but it doesn’t conclude The Monocle’s story satisfyingly. In The Umbrella Academy season 4’s ending, Reginald sits on a bench, chatting with Abigail (Liisa Repo-Martell), as The Cleanse creature looms. This Reginald probably dies, but it’s unclear if a version of the character exists in the final timeline.

6 Why Did The Marigold Introduce New Powers?

Lila’s Laser Eyes & Klaus’ Flight Ability Were Particularly Pointless

In addition to the Marigold giving Luther his gorilla features again, the substance also bestows new powers upon several of the Hargreeves. For starters, Lila (Ritu Arya), a super-powered human who was raised by The Handler (Kate Walsh), is still a mimic, but she also, inexplicably, has laser vision. The new gift is played for laughs, with Lila’s Cyclops-like powers leveling part of Luther’s house and slicing humans in two. Later, in the finale, Klaus randomly flies — just because it’s convenient? — and cracks a joke about it. Yes, Marigold is unpredictable, but it all feels unnecessary.

5 How Are The Umbrella Academy Members’ Children Alive If They Never Existed?

Lila & Diego’s Kids (& Claire) Exist In The Final Timeline

There’s no denying that The Umbrella Academy‘s cast of characters is complex, especially with so many alternate-universe versions of folks walking around. Still, one thing is made pretty clear in the show’s season finale: the Hargreeves siblings and Lila must sacrifice themselves to The Cleanse in order to truly prevent the apocalypse and the many fractured timelines. Five informs them that by sacrificing themselves, and the Marigold within them, they will all cease to exist. So, if Lila, Diego, and Allison no longer exist, their children shouldn’t appear in the final timeline either.

4 How Does Abigail’s Face-Stealing Power Actually Work?

Abigail Seemingly Kills The Person She Shifts Into

The Umbrella Academy season 4 ending doesn’t go into too much detail when it comes to Abigail’s shapeshifting abilities. However, it seems like a fairly violent process: when she’s posing as Sy Grossman (David Cross) she brutally murders Gene (Nick Offerman), tears off her Sy disguise, and takes on her new victim’s features. It’s possible that Abigail just wants the original out of the way before she shifts into them, but the way the shift is shown — as if she permanently sheds one skin to make room for another — makes it something worth clarifying.

3 Why Would Reginald Keep Jennifer Alive?

Sir Reginald Hargreeves Was Ruthless Throughout The Series

Capable of murdering those closest to him, including Ben and Luther, Reginald is a ruthless man who cares more about the greater good than any one person. However, he goes to extreme lengths to protect Jennifer, even hiring a private army who pose as the residents of a small Maine town. Reginald’s decision to put Jennifer in a Truman Show-style situation just feels completely at odds with the man viewers know. It’s possible he feared the Durango would simply find a new host if Jennifer were to die, but it’s frustrating the series doesn’t clarify that if so.

2 Why Was Ben The Only One Who Was Pulled Toward Jennifer’s Durango?

Ben & Jennifer’s Special Connection Was Never Fully Explained

Not only is it strange that Sparrow Ben didn’t recognize Jennifer, especially after the so-called “Jennifer Incident” pushed him to work through his trauma by sketching her face time and again, but it’s also weird that Ben and Jennifer share a connection that Jennifer and the other Marigold-toting characters don’t. The show teases that Ben and Jennifer have a deeper, inexplicable connection — the tentacles! — but it all feels very rushed and arbitrary. If Marigold and Durango had some sort of magnetic pull toward each other, the other Hargreeves would’ve experienced a similar reaction.

1 Why Didn’t Abigail Just Give Jennifer The Jar Of Marigold?

The Umbrella Academy Never Makes It Clear If Two Human Hosts Are Needed

Long ago, Abigail synthesized a new element: the Marigold — thought to be the very essence of the universe. However, along with the Marigold came something unexpected: Durango. Umbrella Academy mentions what Marigold and Durango are, but, again, it’s all rather rushed. It’s clear that the Marigold is the source of the Hargreeves’ powers — and that an interaction between Marigold and Durango would cause a cataclysmic event. When Five learns that the Marigold shattered Earth’s timeline, thus creating the multiverse, he realizes that the particle is why the endless loop of apocalypses has plagued the Hargreeves.

Jennifer, a host for the Durango, can’t come into contact with Marigold…

Essentially, The Cleanse, an apocalyptic event that The Keepers cult wants to bring about, is meant to trim the ever-branching timelines. By consuming everything, The Cleanse will pave the way to the one true timeline, which is why the Hargreeves and Lila sacrifice themselves (and their Marigold) in the finale. Jennifer, a host for the Durango, can’t come into contact with Marigold, so it’s not clear why Abigail (posing as Sy) gives the Hargreeves the substance when, theoretically, she could just pour it on Jennifer in The Umbrella Academy season 4. Do both substances need hosts? It’s possible.

All four seasons of The Umbrella Academy are streaming on Netflix.