Thematically, Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy had found the perfect final resolution with its third season, when the eponymous team had decided to sit out the world ending crisis, just to take an introspective look at their lives and spend the final days mending their broken hearts. However, with the creation of yet another reality, the team had to return for the final dance-off in the fourth season—and even though this time the ending could have been better executed, it managed to strike an emotional chord with viewers nevertheless. To save not only their world but the timeline itself, the Hargreeves siblings face a cataclysm of epic proportions, and the bittersweet end of their journey comes with a supreme act of self-sacrifice.Â
Spoilers Ahead
What Happened To The Hargreeves Siblings?
In the series finale of The Umbrella Academy the Hargreeves siblings engaged in climactic battle with the monstrous Cleanse – created by the fusion of the essence of the universe, Marigold, with its anti-essence, Durango. However, the team realizes soon enough that the Cleanse is an unstoppable force that will end up consuming the entire world, and even their combined might is ineffectual in stopping it. In the midst of planning their future course of action, Five had slipped off to the timeline traversing subway, and came across multiple alternate reality versions of himself in a diner. From them, Five learns that the universe will continue to find itself in a never-ending tirade of crises so long as the Hargreaves family exists in the timeline. The Marigold, which Reginald had brought with him to the earth, which led to the creation of 43 superpowered individuals, was responsible for breaking the original singular timeline into infinite alternate versions, and so long as the Marigold exists, there will be no end to disasters. The Hargreeves family are the aberration, the abnormalities that had broken the timeline, making it unstable and self-destructive in the process.
The shocking revelation prompts Five to arrive at the tragic realization that the Keepers were indeed right about the Cleanse restoring the timeline to its true, original form—and the only way to make that happen is to let the Hargreeves family get erased from existence by fusing with the Cleanse. Five shared the troubling news with his family, who quite obviously had a hard time coping with the truth—but in hindsight, they always knew this was coming, and so did the viewers. No matter which timeline they ended up in, the Umbrella Academy had always found itself at the centre of the crisis, and irrespective of how many times they have saved the world, the pattern has only repeated itself time and again. Lila has a hard time accepting the truth, but eventually she comes around as well – and along with the Hargreeves siblings, sacrifices herself to the Cleanse. With the Marigold essence getting wiped off the planet, the branched alternate timelines cease to exist, and only the original, first timeline gets restored. As the series ends, viewers get a glimpse into the lives of the characters who have been an active part of the misadventures of the Umbrella Academy—and now they now lead a peaceful, ‘normal’ lives. Lila’s children and Allison’s daughter, Claire, are living happily with Lila’s family, we also see the Swedes triplets frolicking in a park. Hazel and his beloved Agnes, Grace, and Handler—everyone who had lived radically different lives during the existence of The Umbrella Academy—have gotten their lives back. A voiceover by Reginald Hargreeves confirms that, on that particular day (the real world present), nothing out of the ordinary happened—and it was a normal day.
However, in the post-credit sequence, eight Marigold flowers are seen blooming on their own in the park, representing Lila and the seven Hargreeves siblings—as if a reminder that the universe has not forgotten its most endearing misfits. They will always have a place in the timeline, whatever the form might be. The ending beautifully symbolizes that the characters will continue to stay with us, even though the story itself has ended.
What Happened To Reginald And Abigail?
Contrary to viewers’ initial assumptions, the final season of The Umbrella Academy didn’t delve deeper into the origin of Reginald Hargreeves and the alien species he belongs to. Instead, we learn that Reginald’s wife, Abigail (of same alien species), had created the essence of the universe, Marigold, and its anti-essence, Durango—both of which led to the destruction of their homeworld in the first place. Abigail had died in the original timeline, but Reginald brought her back in the recreated timeline of the fourth season. Abigail was crestfallen after learning that her husband had not learned from past mistakes and had brought Marigold onto earth as well, despite knowing it could have jeopardized the existence of the planet itself. Headstrong Reginald is not someone who can be argued or reasoned with, which is why Abigail took it upon herself to wipe out all the Marigold essence by orchestrating events to bring about the Cleanse.
In the final moments of the series, Abigail reveals to Reginald that it was her actions that led to the creation of the Cleanse. It is a form of penance for her, as Abigail blames herself for creating the cosmic essence of Marigold and Durango, which ended their world in the first place—and doesn’t want to see another world fall victim to a similar fate. Abigail convinces Reginald to learn to let go, and the duo get consumed by the Cleanse at the end. Like the Hargreeves siblings, Reginald and Abigail too are seemingly erased from history forever, as they are not seen in the true, singular timeline anymore.
