Big Ass Heart

I'm going to start with the good.

I liked that we dove into the mystery of Ben's death in the final season. That was the inciting incident that broke most of the family apart in the beginning (save for five, who was of course already gone) and I like that we circled back around to it in the end.

The baby shark bit killed me every time they used it. Peak Umbrella Academy. Just solid.

I liked the opening premise for the season being that everyone was trying to adapt to a normal life and doing so very poorly.

Reggie's wife being the one behind the destruction of the new universe was a good twist. The fact that she was doing it as atonement for their actions on their home world felt earned and I like that Reggie actually accepted not just her death, but his own in the end.

Now, let's move onto the stuff that was kind of a mixed bag. These are things that actually could have been really good, but I don't think the execution was there.

The expanded powers was something I liked in theory, but I think the way they handled it was a bit confusing. This is one of the places I think the show would have benefited from a full 10 episode season. The new powers come in and they just... aren't explained at all. And you can kind of piece it together on your own that this is because of either consuming more of the marigold or getting their powers back in a different way, but the characters don't really react to this in any way other than initial confusion, followed by very quickly just understanding how to use their new powers. That story needed more time to cook.

In every season, Klaus goes off on his own for a little side-story, and it's one of my favorite parts of every season. BUT, the reason those stories work is because we get good character growth for Klaus and because he gets some information that helps further the plot. This side-story added nothing to the plot, which was really noticeable in such a short season. They did give him a little character growth, but it felt kind of shallow and forced. I think bringing Dave back in this moment (especially after Klaus got his dog tags back in this universe), learning a new power, or talking to god again, or even just being kidnapped by someone more relevant to the plot, would have justified this story and made it so much better than what we got.

I actually don't hate the idea of killing off all the main characters at the end of the story. I also think the noble sacrifice plot works really well for these characters and for this universe. What I didn't like was the universe re-set to before they existed. It just left me wondering what the point of the show was. We've been following around this family and by the end of the show, they don't exist and they never existed and no one knows about them. The point of their story was for the story not to exist. It's just unsatisfying. Even if they were the threat to the universe (which actually is consistent with every moment of the show since season 1) and destined to destroy the universe every single time they tried to save it, and even if they had to die or remove themselves from the universe in some other way, I think you can accomplish that in ways other than making them never exist that actually feel more meaningful.

And for the bad...

Elephant in the room - Five and Lila. The romance was just completely unnecessary. Added nothing to the plot. Didn't feel believable for those characters. Was not fun to watch because we spent the whole episode thinking about how shitty it was to do that to Diego. And also just couldn't get over the ick factor of seeing someone in their mid-30's kissing an 18 year old. It just felt like drama that was added for the sake of drama, but was never fully resolved and didn't need to be there in order to have Five and Lila's subway adventure be an impactful mini-plot. There were so many other interesting things they could have explored in that side-adventure, and instead they went with the most cliche plot devise possible and it was just not good.

I don't think they ever figured out what to do with Luther after season 2. He just became this silly guy who's always around, but doesn't seem to have much of a purpose. Occasionally they find ways to make him feel a little like season 1 Luther again, but I feel like his character growth just completely stopped 2 seasons ago, and it's a real shame. Don't get me wrong. I didn't love season 1 Luther, but it felt like there was at least a reason for him to be there. Luther got lost a bit in season 3, but I feel like they really could have brought back his purpose and his drive in the final season if they had given him just a little bit more attention.

As I mentioned earlier, I love the idea of the final season revolving around Ben's death. That being said, Jennifer just didn't work for me. I didn't understand why Ben specifically was drawn to Jennifer. It seems like any of the kids could have been drawn to her, but it was just Ben and no one else. Unless I completely missed it, there is absolutely no explanation for this. What's worse is that they could have actually fixed my mixed bag complaint #3 by fixing this issue. If the multiple timelines were created because of Ben's initial contact with Jennifer when they were kids, it explains why it's now just Ben who's drawn to her. It also explains why Sparrow Ben, who has never met Jennifer, is having visions of her and why he can't seem to stay away. (but also, why doesn't he recognize her when he was having these visions and drawing her constantly last season?) This also allows us to have an end point for the season re-set that leaves the family intact and allows them to succeed in their goal of saving the family. What if they did their re-set and everyone except Five is affected because of his wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey stuff, but now the season ends with him showing up and bringing the grown family back together to explain this wild timeline none of them now remember. I know that's still not an ending that would make everybody happy, but it would at least feel more meaningful than the one we got.

So those are my season 4 thoughts. I was so happy we were getting a final season and I really wished we could have ended it on a better note, but I'll still be happy for what we did get from Umbrella Academy - Some memorable characters, a family that loved each other despite all the chaos, a lot of laughs, a lot of great action, and excellent music.