It’s The End Of The World As We Know It
After the dramatic ending to the previous episode, we begin the 10th and final episode with Sir Reginald Hargreeves consoling his dying wife. After stepping out to the balcony, he releases something into the atmosphere which appears to be the same substance that may have got the 43 women pregnant originally.
There’s no time to dwell on this though as we cut back to the present day where Vanya has lost complete control. As the mansion crumbles and looks set to come down at any moment, Pogo tries to talk some sense into Number 7. It appears to work too, at least for the moment, as the blue-hue in her eyes dissipates, replaced by a little more colour. Unfortunately, as she comes to learn that our monkey friend withheld her true powers for all these years sets her on the war-path again, this time with tragic consequences. Pogo is impaled on the wall and, helpless to stop it, Luther escapes with the others out the front door. It’s a sad moment but also something foreshadowed in the first episode when the group joked about meeting again when Pogo died.
Pogo’s not the only casualty here either and as the group try to recuperate following the mansion being destroyed, it turns out their Mum was still inside the building when it collapsed. This leads the group to a nearby bowling alley where they try to figure out what to do next.
After catching our breaths following this action-packed opening, we catch up with Cha Cha and Hazel at each other’s throats. As time freezes and The Operator shows up, they’re both informed that Number 5 duped them and their messages were not actually sent by the organisation. After seeming to be on the same page, they leave with renewed vigor to go after the family and protect Vanya.
After a particularly heartwarming moment between Luther, Allison and her daughter on the phone, a gunfight inside the bowling alley pushes all of our characters to converge at Vanya’s concert hall. From here it’s onto the final showdown where we finally see the extent of Klaus’ power as a projection of Ben springs forth. All of this culminates in a final battle against Vanya with one very clever resolution to the conflict. All seems to be resolved… but for the moon cracking up and exploding. As chunks of moon rock fly down toward Earth, Number 5 tells the group there may be a way to save everything if they travel back in time. The episode, and the series, ends with the world reduced to rubble and the Umbrella Academy jumping back through time, regressing to their child-forms.
What does this mean for the future? Having not read the comics I can’t say where we go from here but I’m guessing we may well see something akin to 12 Monkeys where the group converge on themselves and have to try to avoid running into their past selves. It may even come down to saving Vanya again or it may even be a completely different time period the group find themselves in. The most likely, I’d imagine, will be coming back as children inside the mansion with Sir Reginald. This may well give some much-needed answers to the past and help flesh everything out a bit more.
The Umbrella Academy rounds out an impressive, highly enjoyable series with a suitably epic finale. While the door is left wide open for the second season, there’s enough characterisation here to make for a satisfying watch nonetheless. It seems Reginald’s plan to bring them all together has worked and The Umbrella Academy finally seem to be on the same page. I’d imagine we haven’t seen the last of The Operator either and the history around this shadowy organisation is something we haven’t really seen here either.
All of this poses a particularly intriguing notion going forward and hopefully we hear some word over The Umbrella Academy soon. Given Netflix’s recent ruthless streak over cancelling shows, I really hope The Umbrella Academy is not another casualty and given the way this one ends, it deserves and needs a second season urgently!
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