Apocalypses are back in fashion, but maybe just one more time as it turns out. Superhero dramedy The Umbrella Academy, adapted from Gabriel Bá and Gerard Way's comic book series of the same name, returns for its fourth and final season to fight against the doomsday clock, in addition to competing for the cutthroat number one spot for the series with the most egregious amount of producers who no one knows what they do on the show.
Apparently Netflix wants a spoiler warning for this next part—which is hilarious because, you know, it's just the very basic premise of this final run—so proceed with caution or something like that? It's dumb. The Hargreeves are all back five years after the timeline reset, but now mostly separated and without their powers. Viktor/''Vik'' (Elliot Page) is busy womanising all of Canada; Luther (Tom Hopper) is working as an astronaut-themed stripper; Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) is a hustling actor, raising her daughter Claire (Millie Davis) and letting now-sober Klaus (Robert Sheehan) live in their basement; Diego (David Castañeda) and Lila (Ritu Arya) are in a funk with their boring family life; Ben (Justin H. Min) gets released from prison; and Five (Aidan Gallagher) is going undercover in his job at the CIA to investigate a new conspiracy group that believes that the new reality is a hoax and something is coming to correct the timeline.
Five's investigation introduces us to the leaders of the movement, wife and husband duo Jean (Megan Mullally) and Gene (Nick Offerman), whose beliefs are also tied to Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore) who's now out and about with his mysterious business empire. This sets the season's storyline in motion as the titular Umbrella Academy has to reconvene once again despite their grievances, and yes, their powers come back as well in some form. It's been diminishing returns after season one in terms of what the show does with that, primarily since it has failed to delve into the characters' inner turmoil as powerful beings or any bigger themes in a meaningful way, resulting in storylines with a lot of chutzpah but very little depth. This season doesn't necessarily change that equation but it is more purposeful with the time that it has left until the universe explodes.
Much of that is because showrunner Steve Blackman and his writers' room (including Christopher High, Jesse McKeown and Robert Askins) have clearly realised that there's not much gas left in the tank so the writers aren't spinning their wheels anymore. There's actually momentum in these final six episodes, as well as a desire for resolution and more focus on the show's strength, which has always been its entertainment value. Most of the scenes matter, the conversations matter, and it builds towards a big crowd-pleasing spectacle after some refreshingly simple groundwork has been laid when the characters don't have their powers. With plenty of neat, sometimes suitably flashy editing (Carol Stutz, Scott Turner) keeping track of the time and alternate timelines, this last hurrah moves incredibly well, which is rather infectious as a viewer.
It might not fully offset the flaws of the slight hollowness of the writing, but it also helps that there aren't so many distractions anymore. Money is put to better use this time around as the actors have proper environments to inhabit rather than acting against blue screens constantly, whilst the VFX (supervised by Everett Burrell) are consistent instead of being an eyesore like in season three, even being somewhat impressive in the finale. Sure, there's clumsy ADR and pointless, amateurish gun fights, but on the other hand, you also get a cool action scene in episode five featuring Diego and Luther. It's a lot of give-and-take but at least the lows aren't as low.
Related to all of that, Min also tones down his performance compared to the previous season, which is not only a blessing considering it was pretty unbearable before, but it also makes Ben a substantial part of the group dynamic and raises the stakes in the endgame. However, this season doesn't really have a standout performer, partly because Sheehan and Page's character arcs in particular are a bit thinner.
Arya, Gallagher and Castañeda do get to explore some complex relationship drama later in the season but it's not consequential enough in the end. Plus, the series makes a weird decision with Diego as it employs the tired ''absent dad'' trope during a crucial moment in the finale that is designed to be the emotional climax. Surely conflicting schedules were to blame for that decision; otherwise it would be exceptionally bad writing. Mullally and Offerman bring some amusing charm to the series with their shared banter, even if the writing embraces their conspiracy theorist characters quite distastefully; yet again, with little regard to how it speaks to our current cultural or political landscape.
The solid cast fills some of those blank spots at times but in general, the writers struggle with the series' signature blend of dark comedy, a diverse group of characters and otherworldly events threatening them. That first element is where you can feel the struggle the most since the comedic bits fall flat at an alarming rate, whether that's the bickering of the siblings, which has mostly become mean-spirited and annoying, or the dance numbers that continue to exist only so that the clips can earn 318k views on TikTok five days after the premiere, or the terribly unfunny soundtrack choices such as 'Baby Shark'—the second time the track starts playing, you're ready to die in an apocalypse yourself so that you'll never have to witness its cringeworthy use ever again.
All in all, this final season is a welcome return to form despite the hiccups, delivering a fast-paced and nifty closing chapter for these eccentric characters. The end of the world depicted may have become too noisy and busy for you to get anything too thoughtful or memorable out of it, but enough of it is exciting to devour at the very least. And yes, that's definitely more interesting than a show telling you about a normal day when absolutely nothing out of the ordinary occurs.
Smileys: Pacing, editing
Frowneys: Humour
She's not evil and he's just Jennifer's buddy.
3.0/5
Where to watch:
This article may contain affiliate links, which means that we may earn a commission if you make a purchase through these links. Thank you for the support!
