The final season of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy has our adoptive sibling gang living through a Mandela Effect. Depleted from their powers, the adult sibling dynamics are still strong and the generational, multi-timeline trauma is finally able to heal with an ultimate sacrifice.

You Can’t Always Get What You Want

At the end of season three, our beloved Umbrella Academy accepts not having their superpowers and needing to live normal lives. Alternative timelines aside, they always return to who they are, which prompted me to question how much of ourselves we carry with us throughout time – the essence of who we are in the core of our soul? And how to sacrifice to achieve a “normal” life?

Luther (Tom Hopper) still ties his worth to his physique in burlesque ways. Number Five (Aidan Gallagher) can’t stay away from top-secret missions in the CIA. Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) is in an audition cycle for her big break. And Viktor (Elliot Page) is still why everyone bans together again.

Sober Klaus (Robert Sheehan) is pulling tarot cards in a car as the lookout, still craving some sort of clairvoyance in this timeline (I paused the episode and turned to my dog – Am I Klaus?) Daddy Diego (David Castañeda) continues to lean into family traditions and wins stuffed animals with ax throwing. And Ben’s character finally gets a spotlight in season four and Justin H. Min did an amazing job with his character arc in this timeline.

Season Four Surprises

Don’t get sucked into the small-town bore in episode two, things get action-packed very soon. We got a special treat with the iconic hubby-wife team Nick Offerman as Dr. Gene Thibodeau and Megan Mullally as Dr. Jean Thibodeau, a perfect cult co-leader casting. Sprinkles of romance are weaved throughout with a few unexpected kisses in the final season – one made me audibly gasp and the other made me pause and scream into a pillow.

No spoilers but I had some… reactions to that last episode. I was on board but it’s always so hard to tie together new plotlines in the final season. Lila (Ritu Arya) and Five’s storyline was unexpected and very side quest lore. The deli filled with Fives was trippy. I was on that couch at Christmas, watching the telenovela drama play out (gasps in Spanish). I’m still undecided if the ending left me satisfied. If there’s only one timeline, what about cannon events? The marigold flowers were a nice wink and the cameos brought some twisted sense of peace.

Navigating Adult Sibling Relationships

These siblings don’t hold back on trauma triggers. Six years later, they’re still lost. Never being able to process his trauma, Luther breaks a birthday party piñata. Mature enough to realize there’s no friendship between them at this stage of their relationship, Viktor confronts Allison over their series-long push-and-pull dynamic.

There is no manual for navigating adult sibling relationships but more series that showcase what those relationships can look like on screen could help us heal. When Allison’s daughter, Claire (Millie Davis), calls out her mother’s inability to set healthy boundaries with her siblings, we finally get a taste of generational trauma healing. While being the savior for your siblings isn’t a role we should always strive for, the bonds we share are complex, and sometimes a savior is in order.

Daddy Issues & Other Generational Traumas

Even without superpowers (for the first few episodes), family-rooted trauma affects everyone this season. That’s one of the things I love about this series – it humanizes a superhero-found family. After confronting their daddy issues, we get some cool mind-control scenes and flashbacks to missions as kids. In a nod to cognitive therapy, inner child memories bring answers to healing. It is nice to see the Umbrella Academy in action in their glory days.

My therapist often reminds me that facing my parents is like going to the last level of a video game and trying to defeat the final boss. While there is a giant final boss this season, standing up to the rents is worse. Viktor finally faces his dad, telling him, “My whole life, all I wanted was for you to see me.” Same, Viktor, same. I love the moment of closure Viktor gets in that special getaway car with the new timeline dad. Maybe multiple timelines do help after all.

The last episode delivers the ultimate umbrella legacy when Allison tells her daughter Claire, “I need you to live and experience all of the amazing things this world has to offer you.”

Cinematic Moments in the Final Season

We get a really cool recap from Detective Diego in episode three, connecting strings like Brady Bunch tiles on screen. This season continues to play with the concept of time and leans into subway cinematography that made my rule-of-thirds spidey sense tingle.

Even the tie to the marigold element being the essence of the universe is a great nod to the flower itself. Familiar petals on our ancestral altars during Día de los Muertos bridge the concept of everything being connected. It’s a superpower serum for the siblings, and a healing thread back to our superpowers too.

I watched that slow-motion car crash to “Carol of the Bells” with our first tease of the chemical bond multiple times. The yin-yang symbolism between Ben and Jennifer (Victoria Sawal) was chef’s kiss. I did a standing ovation to the psyop of “Map of the Problematique” by Muse. Season after season we got fed cinematic grapes like queens. I’m going to miss The Umbrella Academy so much and it’s one I will never hesitate to rewatch.