The Umbrella Academy: Season 4 Mysteries Revealed & Finale Explained
Are you ready to find answers to all the questions?
It's time to say goodbye to the Hargreeves family. On August 8, Netflix released all six episodes of the final Season 4 of The Umbrella Academy.
Let's find out what happened in the finale and what burning questions were finally answered.
How Did the Original Ben Die?
In Season 3, the Hargreeves averted another apocalypse. They teamed up with Reginald and allowed him to use their powers to restart the universe. In the new reality, the members of the Umbrella Academy lost their powers, and Reginald was able to bring his wife Abigail back to life.
The action of Season 4 took place five years after the events of Season 3 – in 2024. The Hargreeves were learning to live without their superpowers. Suddenly, they were approached by the mysterious Sy Grossman, who asked them to help find his daughter Jennifer. Before she disappeared, the girl allegedly contacted a group of cultists, the Keepers, led by the Thibedaeus.
Due to the collision of multiple timelines, the Keepers remembered the events of their other lives and wanted to perform the Cleanse ritual so that only one key line would remain. Among his daughter's things, Sy found a vial containing a glowing yellow substance.
The Hargreeves immediately realized that it was marigold – an element developed by Abigail that gave them powers. The Hargreeves decided not to return their powers, but Ben arranged for the family to become superheroes again.
The Hargreeves found Jennifer in a small town that turned out to be created by Reginald – he placed his agents there to protect the Hargreeves from Jennifer.
Abigail revealed that she had accidentally created the opposite element of marigold – durango. Marigold and durango are two opposites that attract each other, but when they collide, the elements can cause a major catastrophe. They destroyed Reginald and Abigail's home planet. After Abigail's death, Reginald released the elements to find a way to resurrect his wife in the future.
In 1989, marigold particles entered 43 women who simultaneously gave birth to superchildren. Jennifer was born with durango, so Reginald decided to kill her in infancy so the girl would not meet his children.
In Season 4, it was revealed that Reginald once sent Umbrella to destroy a dangerous weapon kept in a large vat. Young Ben discovered that the vat contained a girl – it was Jennifer. He freed her, and Ben and Jennifer's marigold and durango particles became intertwined. Reginald killed Ben and Jennifer to prevent the fusion from causing a catastrophic reaction.
Why Did the Hargreeves Sacrifice Themselves?
The Hargreeves took Jennifer with them, but she was immediately kidnapped by the Thibedaeus. The couple found out that Jennifer was the one who had to arrange the Cleanse.
Ben separated from the superhero team and single-handedly pulled the girl out of the Keepers' camp. But in doing so, he only accelerated the Cleanse: his marigold particles began to merge with Jennifer's durango, starting the countdown to the apocalypse.
Sy Grossman turned out to be one of the Keepers. Therefore, he joined the Thibedaeus, who worked to ensure that no one interrupted the Cleanse. Jennifer is not his daughter: it was important for Sy to give the Hargreeves superpowers again so that the fusion of marigold and durango could happen.
And it turned out that it was Abigail hiding behind the mask of Sy. She blamed herself for creating a terrible weapon that destroyed her planet and saw her death as punishment. The very appearance of the particles in the human world and the birth of the Hargreeves caused a rift in the original timeline and the creation of alternate ones.
How Many Timelines Are Left?
The Hargreeves are destined to provoke global cataclysms an infinite number of times and save humanity by creating new dimensions with their actions. Abigail has realized that the only way to save the Earth from numerous apocalypses is to merge marigold and durango and completely destroy the particles. The Hargreeves realized this and decided to surrender to the monster that Ben and Jennifer became after the merger.
The Hargreeves' plan to merge with the monster worked. Marigold and durango left Earth, and the alternate timelines disappeared. Only one timeline remained – the original. And none of its inhabitants remembered the Umbrella Academy's existence: it was as if it had never existed.