Warning: spoilers for The Umbrella Academy season 4.
Summary
The Umbrella Academyseason 4 solved some of the biggest mysteries left by previous seasons, and its shocking ending finally explained why there were no cellphones throughout the whole series.The Umbrella Academyhas now ended with its fourth season, and it was packed with twists and big reveals, especially about the origins of the Hargreeves. After landing in Reginald’s custom-made timeline at the end of season 3,The Umbrella Academyseason 4 caught up with the Hargreeves and Lila (Ritu Arya) six years later, as they all lived the most normal lives they ever had.
The Hargreeves were brought back together for a rescue mission, but this led them to reunite with their father and learn some disturbing truths about Ben’s (Justin H. Min) death in the first timeline, their origins, and the source of the apocalyptic event known as “The Cleanse”. To Reginald’s surprise, it was his wife, Abigail (Liisa Repo-Martell), the one who moved all the pieces to trigger the Cleanse, which ended up restoring the main timeline.The final scene inThe Umbrella Academyshowed the main timeline, and it made one subtle but important reveal.
The Umbrella Academy Season 4 Ending Explained
The Umbrella Academy has ended with its fourth season, which saw the final apocalypse and some shocking reveals that changed the team’s lives.
The Umbrella Academy’s Ending Implies Sir Reginald Halted Earth’s Technology
The Umbrella Academy’s Ending Was A Total Reset
What stands out about the Handler’s appearance is not just that she’s a happy and normal woman, but that she’s using a cellphone.
The only way for the Cleanse to succeed and avoid more apocalypses across the multiverse was if the Hagreeves and Lila sacrificed themselves, as the Cleanse needed all the marigold particles. Unfortunately, this also meant that the Hargreeves would be completely erased from history, and so they wouldn’t return in the main timeline. The final scene inThe Umbrella Academytook the audience to a park in the main timeline, where Lila’s family and Allison’s daughter were alive and well. This scene also showed characters from past seasons living completely normal and happy lives, among them The Handler.
All 9 Returning Characters In The Umbrella Academy’s Final Scene
The Umbrella Academy season 4’s final scene brought back a couple of characters from past seasons but in completely different contexts.
It seems as if technology had stopped developing after the Hargreeves’ unusual births in 1989.
What stands out about the Handler’s appearance in the final scene ofThe Umbrella Academyis not just that she’s a happy and normal woman, but that she’s using a cellphone. ThroughoutThe Umbrella Academy, not one cellphone was shown, andthe overall technology seemed to be stuck in the late 1980s/early 1990sas if technology had stopped developing after the Hargreeves’ unusual births in 1989. Cellphones existing in the main timeline, where none of the marigold children and Reginald are present, suggestsReginald’s presence and influence were to blame for the strange development of technology on Earth.
How The Umbrella Academy Not Having Cellphones Improved The Show
No Cellphones Made The Umbrella Academy Better
At multiple times throughout the series, the Hargreeves needed to contact each other urgently, but a world without cellphones made that more complicated.
The lack of cellphones and other modern technology inThe Umbrella Academywas pointed out since season 1, which was set in 2019. The second 2019 timeline (also referred to as the “Sparrow timeline”) and Reginald’s timeline in season 4 didn’t have cellphones either, but this actually improved the show in subtle but important ways.No cellphones added to the mysterious vibe of the show, which was futuristic in some ways but also somewhat retro in others, and helped establish that this was a timeline very different from the real one.
The lack of cellphones in The Umbrella Academyalso added difficulty to the stories of the Hargreeves. At multiple times throughout the series, the Hargreeves needed to contact each other urgently, but a world without cellphones made that more complicated. The world inThe Umbrella Academyno longer has to worry about that, as the Hargreeves’ sacrifice also allowed technology to advance as it should.
The Umbrella Academy
The Umbrella Academy is based on the comic book of the same name created by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá. The Hargreeves — collectively known as The Umbrella Academy — were born with superpowers, and their adoptive father utilized their abilities. However, as they grew older, the siblings grew apart as they dealt with their trauma. They are brought back together after their father dies and Five returns from the future with grave news: The world will end, and The Umbrella Academy has to stop it before it happens.
