Watch of the Week : The Umbrella Academy Season 4
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- August 24, 2024
There’s something just a little familiar about the way Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy ends with Season 4. This feels apt since the off-kilter superhero drama, based on the comics by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, has always felt close to other properties about super-powered individuals. Yet that lingering sense of deja vu doesn’t stop the six final episodes from being a fast-paced, often fun ride.
The fourth season honestly benefits from the shorter episode count, as it allows for just enough in the way of classic Umbrella Academy hijinks while also getting to the core of the story concisely. Things kick off by tackling the biggest twist from the Season 3 finale: After every Hargreeves, including Ben (Justin H. Min), survived that season’s looming doomsday scenario, they all lost their powers. The Season 4 premiere is thus focused largely on how they’ve adapted to their new lives… until, that is, another universe-shaking threat comes into play.
Before the end, we get some answers to long-lingering questions, a new take on the multiverse, multiple star-crossed love stories, and (of course) some off-kilter needle drops to accompany big action scenes. There are a few set pieces that are pretty remarkable in scale (though perhaps a bit lacking in VFX budget), though the demented nature of the violence doesn’t quite compare to other shows in the genre. (Say what you will about The Boys, but that show has yet to stop topping itself in this area.)
Joining for Season 4 in a significant role is David Cross as Sy Grossman, a mysterious presence who always brings a unique energy to the screen, especially when he’s operating outside the realm of comedy; at times, he can be downright unsettling in the best way, which this show uses well.
Though Cross does get a bit outshone by the ever-delightful Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally as new villains Drs. Gene and Jean Thibedeau as a nefarious duo that’s also deeply in love, the pair are equally committed, delivering a delicious sort of weirdness that’s just a little bit scary when it needs to be.
As for the core cast, one thing that the cast and writers continue to do well is deliver familial vibes: Although they’ve been working together for less than a decade, Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, and Justin H. Min bring the weight of a lifetime’s familiarity to their interactions. Despite the Hargreeves’ differences, at this point there’s no doubt as to the depth of those sibling bonds, and the show knows quite well that that’s where its heartbeat lives.
A good portion of the new episodes split the Hargreeves up, but when the whole ensemble is riding together inside a cursed minivan… that’s where the good stuff can be found. And that’s important because while The Umbrella Academy deserves real credit for at least a few truly original ideas (Luthor’s cursed ape-man body, for one), watching the series often leads to the sense that there might in fact be a finite limit to how many different kinds of stories you can really tell within this genre. But its characters and the wild and wonderful places they’ve been able to go are what set it apart the most — which can sometimes get flattened out in moments of melee or when individuals get silo’ed off into their own side stories.
Without spoilers (of course), The Umbrella Academy wraps up the story on a bittersweet but definitive note, with some touches that hardcore fans will appreciate. Yet that ending will feel at least a little bit familiar to genre fans — an inevitable consequence of the sheer proliferation of comic book-based or inspired film and TV projects, which means that there have been a lot of these stories over the past few decades.
The Umbrella Academy ending now could be considered yet more evidence of the ongoing contraction superhero-related content is currently experiencing. Its ending strong, though, with enough commitment to its characters to make its most memorable moments shine. There have been a lot of movies and shows made about superheroes. But not a lot of them let them dance.
Boluwatife Adesina is a media writer and the helmer of the Downtown Review page. He’s probably in a cinema near you.
