What Actually Happened During 'The Umbrella Academy' Series Finale? (2024)

Spoilers Ahead

Oh, just kill ’em all, why don’t you Netflix? The fourth and final season of The Umbrella Academy seemed to be gearing up for this kind of ending, no matter how hard we all rooted against it. After the Hargreeves family just couldn’t help but aid in ending the world season after season, it became hard not to wonder if they were the problem all along.

The final episode begins with Jean (Megan Mullally) and Gene (Nick Offerman) Thibedeau calling all members of their cult-like conspiracy theorist group to unite, as it was time for “The Cleanse.” As we learned episodes ago, the Cleanse is a catastrophic, world-altering event that was meant to return everyone to the original timeline. Yes, people may die, but anything for the cause, right?

Throughout the last few seasons, the protagonists in The Umbrella Academy have hopped from timeline to timeline, altering the world and exploring the Butterfly Effect to its fullest extent. The timelines have begun to bleed into one another, because there are so many versions of what the present time actually is. Jean and Gene formed their cult after finding artifacts from other timelines in their current world. They both began to resent the fact that in another world, it looked as if they were successful and revered university professors and they wanted some of that glory.

It turns out, the Jeans (as I will unlovingly refer to them from now on), have quite a massive following. The two build a small militia, determined to bring the Cleanse about, so anyone who has been wronged by this current timeline can return to their former glory. Their group joins forces in what looks like small town U.S.A., setting the place for the show’s final battle. Also another reminder: Gene was killed by Abigail Hargreeves (Liisa Repo-Martell) in the last episode, and she took over his skin. So, Gene is actually Abigail, but in Gene’s body.

Of course, this beckons father of the year (said sarcastically) Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore), who is looking to protect the world. In the prior episodes, we learned all of the Hargreeves children received their superpowers because their mothers came across a special substance, created by Abigail, called marigold. Abigail then died in another timeline due to her science experiments, but in this one, she’s alive and kicking (more on that here). When she created marigold, she also created durango. If durango and marigold interact, they not only bring the end of the world, but also he end of time, a.k.a the Cleanse. Papa Hargreeves adopted all of the children to ensure this never happened.

Durango then took the form of another child, Jennifer (Victoria Sawal), whom Sir Reginald Hargreeves essentially built a The Truman Show-style life for in this timeline. If Jennifer comes into contact with any of the Hargreeves children, the Cleanse will happen and boom, everything will disappear. In the past few episodes, we have seen Ben Hargreeves (Justin H. Min, who essentially has a demon living inside of him that goes feral when he wants it to), form a relationship with Jennifer. As the two begin kissing, hugging, and touching, they both begin to transform, spelling bad news for everyone.

So, Sir Reginald Hargreeves has come to the site of the start of the Cleanse to kill his son. (He already did this once in a past timeline, when Ben formerly came into contact with Jennifer). That is unless Viktor Hargreeves (Elliot Page), who has been hanging with Reginald now, can formulate a plan to avoid killing both Ben and Jennifer.

Viktor and Reginald decide to confront the Jeans and their followers (called Keepers). As they do this, Jean begins to realize that Gene/Abigail is not who they say they are after Gene/Abigail makes a pretty feminist comment to Reginald. After a few awkward moments, the Jeans and Reginald cannot come to an agreement about saving Ben and Jennifer, who are changing form minute by minute in the abandoned mall the Jeans put them in as the durango and marigold in their systems interact.

After that confrontation, Jean confronts Gene/Abigail very loudly in front of the rest of the Keepers, saying that they clearly knows Reginald. Realizing they’ve been caught, Gene/Abigail kills Jean and convinces the Keepers to join him/her in welcoming the Cleanse.

Meanwhile, Diego (David Castañeda) and Luther Hargreeves (Tom Hopper) are celebrating their recent escape from the CIA, who were (gasp!) Keepers. Diego returns home to his family, only to find that his wife, Lila Pitts (Ritu Arya), is nowhere to be found. Lila is stuck in a pleasant timeline with Number Five (Aidan Gallagher), and has fallen in love with him after living together for years. They have a strawberry farm and a lovely home, after they got stuck with no way home years into their timeline hopping.

Five and Lila finally escape the subway station from hell and return home. No time has passed since they’ve left in this timeline, even though Five and Lila spent seven years together in the subway station. Now in love, Five and Lila are confronted with Diego. Lila must now choose: Five or Diego? Allison Hargreeves (Emmy Raver-Lampman) and her daughter Claire, who just dug Klaus (Robert Sheehan) out of the grave, then show up at Lila’s home too. It’s a merry reunion for all.

Back at the site of the Cleanse, Reginald begins planning to kill Ben once again, but Viktor decides to try to convince the militia to let him go in prior to try to convince Ben to stop talking with Jennifer. Reginald makes it clear that if Viktor takes more than 15 minutes, he will have to kill Ben. There’s no other choice.

Viktor once again approaches the Keepers, this time posing as one of their members. The Keepers play along for a bit, but then one miltia member makes it clear: They know who Viktor is, and they try to kill Viktor. Of course, don’t f*ck with Elliot Page, because Viktor then uses his powers to kill the dude and break into the mall. Viktor finds a deformed Ben and Jennifer, both turning into goopy masses. Ben says he does not need Viktor’s help, even as Ben and Jennifer are turning into a monster.

Back at the family house, everyone wonders where Viktor went. After they reminisce about their days, Diego spots a bracelet on Lila’s hand and comes to the conclusion that she and Five were together. They both admit their treason in front of the whole family. Diego, is of course, crushed, and he asks Lila if she loves Five. Lila doesn’t have an answer, which only propels the situation to become even more volatile. Then, the news on the TV reveals where Viktor and Ben are: inside the mall. Let’s go shopping, Hargreeves family!

The body horror is body horror-ing at the mall as Ben continues to transform. Ben, who won’t agree to leave Jennifer (the pull of the durango and marigold is too strong) pummels Viktor when the phone rings with a call from Reginald. Viktor, now on the ground, cannot answer. This means Reginald has to take his shot. It is the only way to save the world from the Cleanse.

The siblings then arrive at the scene in a van, with “Baby Shark” stuck playing on the radio, and immediately get the attention of the Keepers, who take fire. Faced with bullets, the Hargreeves escape out the back and make Five use his power of teleportation to take them to Ben and Jennifer. Viktor, trying to pull out the durango from Ben, is unsuccessful, but he sees a happy summer day that resembles a scene from Sunday in the Park with George. It’s odd, and it confuses Viktor.

Reginald then decides to take his shot and the bullet hits Ben square in the chest. But, oh no! It’s too late, as Jennifer touched Ben again just moments before, and it was enough to cause the scientific reaction to continue. Jennifer and Ben’s bodies merge, becoming a giant monster. The Cleanse is afoot.

Of course, a big battle ensues as the siblings try to bring down the monster once and for all. Their powers, guns, and more are useless against it, and it continues to wreck havoc. Diego, however, decides to fight Five instead of the monsters, because, you know, getting revenge is more important than the end of the world.

As the Cleanse begins to consume the world, Reginald decides it’s time to face the inevitable. Gene/Abigail walks over to Reginald and sits by him. Reginald asks Gene/Abigail if they know what they’ve done, and Abigail finally reveals herself, zipping off Gene’s skin and grabbing Reginald’s hand, proud that she ended the world. She says she had no other choice. When she originally created the marigold and durango, she believed dying was her penance for creating something so deadly. She asks Reginald why he brought the marigold here from their planet after seeing their world destroyed, knowing the marigold could destroy this world too. She also wonders why she was brought back to life. Reginald says it was an act of love; Abigail said it was idiotic. She decided she had to set everything right. She brought Ben and Jennifer together, and she brought the end herself. Gag! They both then get taken by the Cleanse.

Five, realizing the end is near, flashes away to the time subway. Here, after traveling for a bit and reminiscing about Lila, he sees another version of himself, learning there is a diner on the subway line. The diner is filled with Fives (all eating pastrami), who have given up trying to fix the broken timeline. There is actually only supposed to be one, but currently there are countless. The Hargreeves siblings wrecked the timeline once they came into existence, and they’ve tried to save the world 145,412 times, never having one success. The Hargreeves are destined to always cause the end of the world.

As the Cleanse continues to ravage time and space, Lila reunites with her family, and Allison reunites with her daughter, Claire. Five comes back and reveals how bleak everything has become. The only way to stop the end of the world and return to the original timeline is to allow the Cleanse to take them. They won’t just die. They will be erased from history.

Viktor realizes that the grassy vision he saw when he touched Ben was the original timeline. The Cleanse isn’t a bad thing. Some of the siblings immediately defect, but after much convincing, every sibling agrees to letting the durango do its thing. Everyone, that is, except Diego and Lila.

Diego says Lila should take her family to the time subway with Claire and escape. Five immediately pushes back, saying all of the marigold has to go, so Lila must stay. Lila doesn’t listen and takes her family and Claire to the subway.

Five goes to the subway and makes one final plea to Lila. Lila then gets all of the family onto the train, seeming to chose herself. Right before the doors close, she steps off the train, leaving her family on, and allowing them to travel on the time train. She says to Five that she hates him for this, ending their relationship in the process.

The two then head back to the site of the Cleanse. The whole family waits for the Cleanse to overtake them. As they approach not just death, but their absolute erasure from history, they power up and apologize, coming clean about everything. It’s heartwarming, they are coming together one last time to truly save the world. Klaus’ final words? “I want to say, I love you guys, but you are all assholes.”

As they all disappear, the alternate timelines disappear and transform into one timeline. The correct path has been restored. It is the grassy meadow Viktor saw. Here, it’s a perfectly sunny day. The Handler from seasons 1 and 2 (played by Kate Walsh), makes a cameo, just stretching in the park. And, in one final voiceover, Reginald says, “On the twelfth hour of the eighth day of August 2024 (which is the day the series began with the Umbrella Academy’s births), absolutely nothing out of the ordinary occurred. You might say, it was just a normal day.” The Hargreeves finally saved the world, once and for all.