Spoiler Warning: Spoilers for The Umbrella Academy Season 4 follow. The Netflix series The Umbrella Academy, based on the comic books by Gerad Way and Gabriel Bá, returned with its fourth and final season on Aug. 8. The series had a bittersweet ending – our favorite dysfunctional family members, Number Five, Diego, Luther, Lila, Viktor, and Allison Hargreeves are erased from their timeline. But a lot more transpired at the end of the season that might have some people confused.
If you’re one of those viewers who isn’t sure what exactly happened at the end of The Umbrella Academy Season 4, here’s a breakdown.
The Jennifer Incident.
This season, fans finally saw how Ben died when the Umbrella Academy were kids. When the team goes to see their father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, from the reset timeline they were placed in at the end of Season 3, they realized that they cannot recall Ben’s death. Their minds were programmed to say his death was an accident and because of their failure as a team.
To see what really happened to their brother, Reginald used a machine to unlock their memories of that day. The family gained their memory from Oct. 14, 2006. Their mission was to destroy a weapon being held in a shipping container. During the mission, Ben heard someone inside the container and opened it to help them. He assisted Jennifer with getting out of the container and both were shot by Reginald (from the original timeline).
Ben and Jennifer interacting with each other would’ve led to “the cleanse,” a world ending reaction due to their respective marigold and durango particles.
The cleanse began in this timeline after Ben (from Season 3’s Sparrow Academy) helped Jennifer escape from Gene and Jene, leaders of the Keepers, a group with relics from the original timeline and a desire to start the cleanse, in episode 3.
Lila and Number Five reunited with Diego and the rest of the Umbrella Academy.
Episode 5 ended with Lila and Number Five escaping the subway station they were trapped in for seven years. This subway station had trains that took them to alternate timelines, including a peaceful one they lived in for a few months. Along the way, the two formed a romantic relationship.
In the series finale, Lila and Five returned to the correct timeline where they were reunited with their family. But tensions rose when Diego found out what happened between Lila and Five. Despite this, the team had to work together to stop the cleanse before the world ends.
Why did Abigail Hargeeves want “the cleanse” to happen?
In episode 5, it’s revealed that Abigail Hargreeves was posing as Denny Muntz after she killed Gene and took off her mask. Abigail took Gene’s place, using his body as a suit and took his role in finding Jennifer and Ben, who are set to cause the cleansing.
Abigail wanted the world to end so her husband, Reginald, could face the consequences of releasing marigold on Earth and bringing her back to life. She believed her death was penance for creating marigold and its interaction with durango. Abigail believed that allowing the cleanse to occur would right Reginald’s wrongs.
There are no longer alternate timelines or the Umbrella Academy.
Ben and Jennifer started the cleanse in the final episode, sending the Umbrella Academy on the path of trying to stop it until Five realizes they must allow the cleanse to occur after having a conversation with an alternate timeline version of himself. His alternate self tells him the original timeline was shattered into infinite alternate timelines when he and his siblings were born and they are in a loop of trying to save the world.
The cleanse would end the alternate timelines, so only the original timeline (before they were born) would exist. Doing so would erase the team from history and they’d cease to exist.
The Umbrella Academy accepted their fate, especially Lila who decided to get off the train with family members to join the team. Lila’s choice was significant because all of the marigold and the durango had tointeract or their plan wouldn’t have work. The team allowed the cleanse to happen as we saw their tearful goodbye and the alternate timelines ending.
The series concluded with one timeline remaining – a peaceful one where family members (excluding the Hargarvees siblings and Lila) and villains, like the Handler, are alive and happy.