Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for The Umbrella Academy season 4.
The Umbrella Academy concluded with a heartbreaking and hopeful ending, featuring an emotional mid-credits scene. The Hargreeves faced a personal apocalypse in season 4, following their previous apocalypse in season 3. The show ended with Reginald as the most powerful man, leaving the Hargreeves and Lila six years later in a new timeline with no longer their powers.
The Hargreeves, having separated and moved on, are reunited for a rescue mission to find Jennifer. The mission leads to shocking revelations about Jennifer, Ben’s death, their connection to Jennifer, and the end of the world. Five learns that their sacrifice is the only way to fix the multiverse and restore the main timeline. The Hargreeves erase themselves from history, but season 4 ends with an emotional tribute for the team.
The flowers represented the Hargreeves siblings
Jennifer, the host of the Durango particle, and Abigail, Reginald’s wife, created the marigold particle and Durango particle. Abigail explained to the Hargreeves that Durango’s interaction with a marigold caused an unstoppable physical reaction called The Cleanse. Ben, unaware of this, became too close to Jennifer, triggering the Cleanse and the end of the world. Jennifer and Ben merged into a monstrous creature that consumed everything and grew until it destroyed the world.
Five encountered his variants at a subway station and learned that the arrival of marigolds on Earth shattered the timeline and created a multiverse. The Hargreeves were doomed to end the world repeatedly, but the Cleanse could restore the main line by consuming all the marigolds. The Hargreeves sacrificed themselves, and the main timeline was successfully restored after the Cleanse consumed them.
The Umbrella Academy season 4 finale showcases the main timeline and characters from previous seasons living differently without the Hargreeves. The Hargreeves’ sacrifice erased them from history, making them unremembered. However, the mid-credits scene pays tribute to the Hargreeves and Lila, with eight golden flowers blossoming next to a tree, symbolizing their sacrifice for their safety.
The Umbrella Academy season 4’s mid-credits scene features golden flowers emitting particles similar to marigolds, suggesting the Hargreeves can return. However, the flowers are unlikely marigolds and the sparkles were a visual confirmation. The main timeline restores the Hargreeves, meaning the marigolds never reached Earth, and the Hargreeves’ existence is not confirmed.
It’s important to remember that the marigolds created the 43 children, as they were born to women who weren’t pregnant when the day began. Without the marigolds, none of those children existed, so there’s no way the Hargreeves can come back to life, and it’s understood that they didn’t get variants in this new timeline.
The Umbrella Academy season 4 emphasized themes of family, love, and sacrifice, with the Hargreeves teaming up again after their previous separations. Allison, Diego, and Lila, already with families, decided to take them to safety before their sacrifice. The flowers serve as a tribute to their sacrifice, proving that, even though their families may not remember them now, their sacrifice was not in vain.
The Hargreeves siblings choosing to die was a disappointing ending
The Umbrella Academy season 4 disappointed viewers by choosing the fate of all Hargreeves, despite their expectations. The family’s dysfunctional narrative ends in a bleak way, and the final season doesn’t start well, maintaining the fun feeling of previous episodes. The series takes a somber tone towards the ending, leaning too far in that direction in the finale.
The Umbrella Academy’s conclusion is not satisfying due to tonal inconsistencies and a lack of resolution of major storylines and family issues. The show’s underdeveloped reasons for the Hargreeves’ deaths make it feel even sadder. Five’s insistence on their deaths is out of place, making rewatching difficult and rendering previous seasons pointless.
The Umbrella Academy’s ending, End of the Beginning, makes the series pointless as it doesn’t occur after the season 4 finale. The episode highlights the Hargreeves’ sacrifices and their inability to exist in the reset timeline, leaving no family members to remember them. The survival of Allison’s daughter, Diego’s, and Lila’s kids also makes little sense, as their existence is crucial for their survival.
The fact that none of The Umbrella Academy happens after the finale also leaves viewers to wonder why they spent so much time watching the Hargreeves’ story unfold. All their character growth and world-saving shenanigans are for nothing, and season 4 doesn’t give enough of an explanation to make it acceptable. Perhaps if there was more build-up to Ben and Jennifer ending the world or more of a connection to characters who make it to the main timeline, their sacrifice would feel more warranted. Unfortunately, the way it’s executed misses the mark.
ALSO READ: The Umbrella Academy Season 4 Ending Explained: What Happened to The Hargreeves Siblings At The End?
