Why did the final season of 'The Umbrella Academy' fail?

The final season of The Umbrella Academy has come and gone, and with it, we finally got the chance to say goodbye to our favorite dysfunctional superpowered family. However, not everyone is impressed with how the final season of The Umbrella Academy turned out. The Umbrella Academy It's over, and we agree. Here's why.

As far as superhero shows go, The Umbrella Academy was a brilliant new and quirky addition to an already saturated genre. Based on Gerard Way's comic of the same name and created by Steven Blackman, the first season of The Umbrella AcademyReleased in 2019, the film was a big hit for Netflix.

The second season was a solid addition to the story. However, in the wake of the global pandemic, the third season saw a significant drop in quality and viewership, and there was hope that season 4 would be an incredible end to the Hargreeves story. Suffice it to say that the ending has divided opinion, and many fans are unhappy with how we said goodbye The Umbrella Academy,

Below, we'll discuss some of the issues we found in the final season and why it failed to impress audiences and critics.

Please note that we are happy to hear from everyone who enjoyed the final season of The Umbrella Academy. But if you'll take our word for it, below are some of the issues we found in it.

An (un)happy ending

Not every story needs a “happy” ending. However, after all the trials and tribulations the Hargreeves siblings and Leela have endured, having the series end with them sacrificing themselves leans more towards the depressing side rather than the bittersweet.

Sacrificing yourself to save the world is one of the most noble acts any person can perform. What makes it even more incredible is that all eight sacrificed themselves for a world that kept punching them in the face over and over again. However, it's hard to shake the feeling that Hargreeves and Lila were nothing more than a harbinger of Reginald's obsession with bringing Abigail back to life and Abigail's desire to be punished for her part in creating Marigold.

Image: Hargreeves is prepared to sacrifice himself – Netflix.

While the series didn't need a picturesque “happy” ending, having all the Hargreeves kids and Lila die in order to save the world was incredibly disappointing. The Hargreeves weren't “good” people, but they weren't “bad” either; they were simply flawed and complicated individuals whose lives were affected and ruined by their alien adoptive parents.

Aside from saving the lives of Lila and Diego's children, her family, and Alison's daughter, Hargreeves' sacrifice and his impact on the world is the equivalent of the worst saying in fiction: “It was all just a dream.”

Holes in the plot

The problem with time travel and traveling to different realities is that you are stuck with some holes in the plot.

The Problem with Marigolds

Steve Blackman confirmed that the moment Marigold entered the bodies of 43 women on Earth, the timeline began to break down. However, in the reset after Hotel Oblivion, all of Marigold's parts were removed from the bodies of Hargreeves, Lila, and, presumably, the remaining thirty-five children (with the exception of some of the already dead Sparrow Academy members).

First of all, without Marigold the 43 babies would never have been born, as this substance was the cause of their spontaneous births. The only reason Alison's siblings and Lila are still alive is because she made a deal with Reginald to keep her family alive after the reset. However, in the reset world, he removed Marigold from their bodies, so while they would never have been born in the “new world”, they are remnants of the reality that came before. But if Marigold is the reason the world ended, and Reginald removed it from their bodies, then the fractured timelines should no longer exist (theoretically).

Selfish Abigail

Abigail is arguably the most selfish person in the entire series. She expresses that the death was her atonement for creating Marigold and eventually Durango, and she is angry at Reginald for resurrecting her. However, instead of telling her husband this and possibly taking her own life to continue her penance, she lets Marigold go out into the world once again, which ultimately leads to “The Cleanse.” Talk about a toxic marriage.

“Okay. So he feels he committed the greatest sin and he told her that he feels he has no right to bring her back. She didn't ask to be brought back. He believed she should have died for her sin. The original timeline broke (because) Marigold was never supposed to be on Earth. And when Marigold came to Earth with him from Hargreeves' home planet — when she impregnated these women and they had these special children — that's when the timeline started to break down. So from the moment Marigold was released and these children were born, the timelines started to break down and we ended up with millions of alternate timelines. And the only way to connect them back together was to make them cease to exist.”

— Steve Blackman discussing Abigail and Marigold With TUDUMEdit,

This may be a poor use of the analogy, but “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?” Well, in this instance, if Marigold is safe in a jar and no one is using it, then the world-ending events can't happen – we think, anyway. So Abigail being the instigator behind “The Cleanse” doesn't make sense because it would never have happened without her influence in the first place. Her selfish need to atone for the creation of Marigold and Durango killed the entire world.

Pictured: Abigail (left) and Reginald (right) moments after being consumed by The Cleanse – Netflix

jennifer issue

At the end of the third season and after the world was reset, the marigolds were removed from all the Hargreeves siblings and Lila's bodies, which meant they no longer had any powers. But if the reset world is based on Reginald's design, why does Jennifer have Durango?

Even if we assume that Durango can't be removed from Jennifer, why would Reginald keep her alive? The first timeline, when Reginald killed Ben and Jennifer, proved that Durango's threat ended once Jennifer died. Marigold's existence still led to the apocalypse, but the reset was intended to eliminate that threat as well.

Unless Abigail had some role in keeping Jennifer alive, it doesn't make sense that Reginald would allow such a threat to survive.

Pictured: Ben and Jennifer's moments before they became clean-up monsters

Season 4 was the shortest ever

Fourth and final season, with only six episodes The Umbrella Academy It was surprisingly short, especially considering that the previous three seasons had ten episodes each.

• Season 1 – 10 Episodes – 552 mins / 9.2 hrs.
• season 2 – 10 Episodes – 473 mins / 7.88 hrs.
• Season 3 – 10 Episodes – 485 mins / 8.08 hrs.
• season 4 – 10 Episodes – 337 mins / 5.61 hrs.

Quantity doesn't always indicate quality, and unless it's the most incredible bait-and-switch in Netflix history, and there's a surprise Part 2 coming later this year, the final season simply wasn't enough.

Sharp decline

While Rotten Tomatoes isn't the ultimate way to tell if a television series or movie is good or not, it's often the best indicator of what audiences and critics think of them.

This way Critics and audience ratings of all four seasons Of The Umbrella Academy,

• Season 1 , 77% Tomatometer (94 reviews) / 85% Audience (2500+)
• season 2 , 91% Tomatometer (89 reviews) / 88% Viewers (1000+)
• Season 3 , 91% Tomatometer (58 reviews) / 55% Audience (1000+)
• season 4 , 59% Tomatometer (32 reviews) / 17% Audience (500+)

Comparison of the first and second seasons The Umbrella AcademySeason three saw a significant decline in audience appreciation for the series.

However, the fourth and final season saw the biggest drop, with critics giving it poor ratings for the first time and audience scores also dropping significantly. The scores on Rotten Tomatoes for the fourth season show that the reaction we've seen online accurately reflects fan sentiment.

final thoughts

Though Hargreeves didn't get his final song and happy ending, we have to remember that except for the final few episodes, The Umbrella Academy Still a great series.

Watching the cast on and off screen, it's clear that they make for a chaotic family. Their chemistry was always fun, and if there was one actor to keep an eye on in the future, it would be Aidan Gallagher, who always impressed as Five.

A rushed and sad end to a great series, we say goodbye to the Hargreeves. Hello. Goodbye.

Did you like the final season? The Umbrella AcademyPlease let us know in the comments below if we got something wrong with the ending of the story.