After facing time-traveling assassins, the timeline preserving Temps Commission, and an alternate reality version of the Hargreeves siblings as adversaries, the Umbrella Academy squares off against their new antagonist(s) in the fourth and final season, in the form of a widespread cult known as ‘The Keepers’. Constituting fairly regular humans suffering from timeline sickness, the Keepers might lack supernatural flair and gusto, but their steadfastness, belief in a singular cause, and unity make them the most formidable threat the superhero group has had to face so far. By the end, the Keepers succeed in their objective as well, having a significant influence on the ending of the narrative as a whole, which makes it necessary to have a detailed discussion about the group’s origin, motive, and future in the context of the final chapter of the series.Â
Spoilers Ahead
The Origin And Motive Of The Keepers
Amidst all the mess ups the Hargreeves siblings have committed over the years, alteration of the timeline should be ranked among the top ones. Right from changing the past to creating a different future to rewriting reality itself, the Umbrella Academy’s unchecked temporal transgressions have simply stacked up without repercussions. In the fourth season, it is revealed that the perennial changes in the timeline have resulted in a huge number of people getting afflicted with timeline sickness, or, as termed by the Thibedeau couple, the umbrella effect—a phenomenon where people remember fleeting memories of the past, from the original versions of their lives in the first timeline. Naturally, their experiences and memories came off as the ramblings of a lunatic to others, while the victims had no option except to lament for their lost lives—as seen when Five attends a therapy session where one such person shares his memories of a past timeline. These people found a sense of direction through the guidance of Jean and Gene Thibedeau, a middle-aged Midwestern couple, former professors who were disgraced for sharing the truth about their experience—and who later established the Keepers to unite others who share a common experience of cumulative memories of alternate pasts. As their name and appearance might suggest, Jean and Gene’s knowledge of the differences and similarities between alternate realities and timelines becomes the key to reaching the ultimate objective of the Keepers.
The Thibedeau couple researched and collected relics of alternate realities, and their prime source of knowledge turned out to be the details about different iterations of the Umbrella Academy, which they learned of from the archives of Reginald Hargreeves. From Reginald’s documented knowledge about the Hargreeves siblings, the Thibedeau couple had learned that the conjoining of a Durango-imbued Jennifer with Marigold essence can bring about the Cleanse, which can restore the timeline to its original, first form, which can allow everyone to return to their past lives by erasing all the alterations in the process. They will no longer have to suffer in the false reality they have been trapped in by the machinations of the elite (Reginald Hargreeves in this context) and can regain their claim to their past. In a sense, the Keepers led by the Thibedeau couple work as an antithetical mechanism to Reginald’s modus operandi. While the eccentric patriarch uses diabolical means to apparently save the world only to lead it to its doom, the Keepers actively want to doom the world by initiating the Cleanse, but it actually ends up reverting things back to a much better condition by restoring the original timeline. The Thibedeaus abduct Jennifer to turn on the doomsday clock of the Cleanse, but end up losing her when Ben rescues her, and the duo flee.
Did the keepers manage to fulfill their objective?
A shift in the leadership of the Keepers occurs when Reginald’s wife, Abigail Hargreeves, manages to infiltrate the cult by disguising herself as Sy Grossman and kills Gene Thibedeau in secret to steal his appearance. Later on, disguised as Gene, Abigail kills Jean Thibedeau and simply uses the manpower provided by the Keepers to ensure that the Cleanse begins sooner than expected. Ben and Jennifer merge together as their contrasting life essences, Marigold and Durango, assimilate to create the all-consuming monstrosity of the Cleanse. Throughout the season, the Umbrella Academy clashed with the Keepers to prevent the beginning of the Cleanse, but as Five’s interactions with alternate versions of himself have taught him, the Cleanse is a necessary evil that can set things right. The mere existence of the Hargreeves siblings and the life essence Marigold had created a ripple wave that split the timeline into infinite branches—something the Cleanse can erase. Accepting the truth, the Hargreeves siblings accept the Cleanse and assimilate with it, which completes the prime objective of the Keepers. The original timeline is restored; people return to their past lives without the hassle and hindrance of supernatural threats. The members of the Keepers finally get what they wanted, and it is safe to assume the Thibedeau couple have returned to their former lives as well. The fact is, the Keepers or the Thibedeau couple were on the right side of history all along; just because their approach seemed more destructive in nature doesn’t make their motivation less justifiable, it all sprang from a simple urge to assert a claim to their lives.
