From secret time-travel machines to classic horror movie references and the hidden truth
about Christopher the cube, the third season of The Umbrella Academy is loaded with tons
of weird and wonderful details you might have missed.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan and these are the biggest and best Umbrella Academy
easter eggs hidden in Season 3.
Spoilers ahead, so take care.
The little dog at the hotel's reception desk with the nametag "Mr Pennycrumb", who goes
missing in one of the Kugelblitz waves, is a nod to the comics where Five has a canine
companion with the same name, who in turn was named after Umbrella Academy co-creator
Gabriel Bá's real-life pug.
When Klaus sneaks back into the Sparrow Academy, the film he watches with Reginald…
I love this movie. …is The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Several characters in the movie get literally stabbed in the back, which is why Reginald
says: Never turn your back, my boy.
Especially not to your children.
Reginald's comment foreshadows his own demise at the hands of Allison, who strikes him from
behind to stop him harming her siblings any further, but it also telegraphs his betrayal
of Klaus who he metaphorically stabs in the back by shutting him in the Hotel Obsidian
as it gets Kugelblitzed…
You've done a fine job bringing me back into the family fold.
You're just more trouble than you're worth.
And Reginald's words 'Never turn your back' also foreshadow Klaus's death as he literally
stabs himself in the back by launching himself onto the horns of the white buffalo, which
also brings to mind Pogo's death in season 1.
In the season's opening scene on the subway, there's an easter egg to a breakfast cereal
called Clever Crisp, which Reginald Hargreeves invented in the comics.
It also made an appearance in Season 2 on the kitchen table in Elliot's home.
And there was also an ad for the cereal outside the store Klaus steals from in the first season.
There's another neat detail in that scene as well.
Notice how the Korean girl about to give birth to a super-baby is positioned just in front
of a seat sign for pregnant women, foreshadowing what's about to happen next.
And when the camera moves round and she repositions herself to avoid a kiss from her boyfriend,
they perfectly frame the pregnant woman and woman with child sign in the shot.
This scene also mirrors the Season 1 cold open with a Russian girl, where her boyfriend
also goes to kiss her and she pulls away before kissing him then running off.
And there's a call-back to that same pilot episode scene when the Umbrella team look
through newspaper clippings about their mothers and find one about a young woman who died
after kissing her boyfriend then jumping into a swimming pool.
Just before Stanley gets Kugelblitzed, he's drinking a slushee, and when he bites the
dust, his drink container hits the floor revealing a comic-book image of the Umbrella Academy's
Number 2.
All of which happens as Diego looks on in the background of the shot.
Hidden away on a lower level at the Sparrow Academy is Five's backpack from the third
series of the comics which is called The Hotel Oblivion.
Also in this shot is a black and white photo of two kids hugging each other.
It's been deliberately placed on a desk next to various beakers and test tubes and there's
a blackboard behind with formulas and notes scrawled on it.
This could be a clue to the origins of the cube and Sparrow member known as Christopher,
implying he was originally a human boy, as I suggested in my Season 2 Harlan theory video.
Now we've seen season 3, it could be that Christopher was critically injured on a mission
and Hargreaves decided the only way for him to survive was to save his consciousness by
placing it inside a cube.
Hargreaves did a similar thing with Luther when he was on the verge of death by injecting
him with a serum that turned him into a half-human, half-ape.
Likewise, in the superhero show Doom Patrol, after a terrible accident, the brain of Cliff
Steele was salvaged from his body and placed inside a robot.
The Umbrella family dancing together during the opening episode's Footloose sequence creates
a nice parallel with the pilot where they all danced separately to I Think We're Alone
Now.
And there's a call-back to that very first dance with Luther busting out some of his
old moves.
Grace – appropriately for her character – does the robot and she does it while dancing
with Diego which seems pretty fitting given how close he is to his mum.
Speaking of family ties, Ben and Klaus also dance together in a nod to OG Ben and Klaus's
close connection.
There's also some foreshadowing of Luther's season 3 romance as his main doubles dance
is with Sloane.
And there's a little throw-back to his romantic season 1 dance with Allison when he ends his
dance with Sloane by twirling her around.
The cast also perform plenty of moves from the original Footloose dance in the 1984 musical
movie.
And there's more shout-outs to the 80s film in Christopher's glitter drop, the balloons
around the floor, and the way they all circle around and watch as different dancers take
their turn to shine.
Plus, given how specific showrunner Steve Blackman is in his choice of music for the
series, and how he writes songs into the script, the Footloose lyrics about 'working so hard'
and wondering why you bother fit the Umbrellas' current situation pretty well, given they
saved the world only to find their father's replaced them.
And then there's the line: 'I've got this feeling that time's just holding me down',
another perfect fit for our time-travelling team.
One of this season's main locations, the Hotel, has strong echoes of The Shining.
The way Klaus introduces his siblings to the place…
Back in her heyday, she played host to world leaders.
…mirrors the way the Torrance family are shown around The Overlook Hotel:
In its heyday, it was one of the stopping places for the jetset.
They had four presidents who stayed here.
Then there's the wallpaper in Harlan's room and again at the Barber's, which has the same
distinctive geometric pattern as the famous Shining carpet.
Also, soon after the siblings settle into their rooms, we get a real grown-up Grady
sisters meets Grey Gardens vibe in this shot of two women in the hallway, each holding
white cats.
And let's not forget the whole claustrophobic, maze-like feel of the hotel, where we see
the Umbrella team repeatedly lose themselves and each other.
It's like the thing is alive.
It's interesting also how Five talks about the hotel being alive and Klaus anthropomorphises
it too…
Absorb her into your bosom. …because among the many popular theories
about The Shining is one that says its hotel possesses Jack, absorbing his soul.
And, given this season's many hat-tips to Stanley Kubrick's The Shining movie, it seems
particularly apt that the boy who Lila introduces in the hotel as Diego's son shares the director's
name: Diego, meet Stan.
Say hello, Stanley!
There's a real ring of Alfred Hitchcock's 60s horror film The Birds throughout the season,
for example, when Fei's ravens crowd round then chase Luther in the park, and also in
the first episode when they pursue Luther and Allison through the Academy then peck
down the door they hide behind.
I love the way the birds emerge from Fei's back, almost like wings, and return there
after their work is done, and notice how Fei's bird-like tendencies even extend to how she
eats.
On top of that, there are definite shades of Morpheus from The Matrix in Fei's look
in this scene.
Interestingly, both Klaus and Luther's deaths are foreshadowed in the opening episode when,
after the Umbrellas' battle with the Sparrows, Diego runs into Reginald's office and tells
his brother: You're probably gonna die.
And then the scene cuts straight to Luther.
Later on, when Luther and co empty their pockets to pay for their hotel stay, Klaus brings
out a bunch of condoms, and one of the brands is Valhalla, also the name of the fifth episode
of Season 2.
A few episodes later Luther also buys the same brand…
Condoms?
For sex. [both chuckle]
Which is a thing I do now.
Now, in Norse mythology, Valhalla is a place in the afterlife for slain warriors.
And both he and Klaus end up later on in the Void, the show's version of Heaven or the
afterlife.
Plus, notice when Luther asks for condoms, how the seller goes to get the 'regular' size
at first, then looks downwards and picks up an 'extra large' pack instead.
When Lila tries to use a briefcase to travel to Berlin, she's carrying a record with an
ape on the cover by a group called Prime8s, a hat-tip to the comics where where Number
2 and 7 have a punk band together called the Prime-8's.
The group's name fits well in the world of both the show and comics which each have their
share of simian characters, but it also feels like a play on the virtual band Gorillaz.
Five gets his very own Michael Corleone moment when he and Lila return to the Commission:
You know, Lila, I shouldn't even be here.
I was out.
I was done, and yet here I am, swept back into the chaos.
…which the second I heard it, reminded me of Michael's famous line from the final film
in the Godfather trilogy: Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in.
In Reginald's office, there's a photo of him next to the Eiffel Tower, an easter egg to
the comics where the Umbrella Academy have to save Paris when the city's famous tower
starts killing people.
In the books, the tower is actually a spaceship operated by Gustave Eiffel.
There were also a couple of shout-outs to the team's Eiffel Tower mission in season
1 via a framed newspaper cutting in Reginald's study and when Allison's daughter Claire begged:
One more story, Mommy.
I wanna hear the one about the Eiffel Tower.
And after their successful mission in Paris, the Umbrella team were rewarded with ice cream,
as also happens on other occasions too, and there's a nod to that in the 'Papa's Soft
Serve' poster outside the diner where Viktor is trying to depower Harlan.
And there's another soft-serve moment when Klaus uses an ice cream metaphor to try and
describe how he feels to Reginald: I feel like scoop after scoop's been taken
out of me.
Do you want some ice cream?
Would that shut you up?
Which also brings to mind Klaus's iconic ice-cream truck moment from Season 1.
Just before Reginald kills Luther, he says: The best way to bring a family together is
at a wedding or a funeral.
Of course, he's talking about Luther's recent wedding to Sloane and now his imminent death.
But this moment is also a throw-back to the pilot episode, the title of which is 'We Only
See Each Other at Weddings and Funerals', and where it was Reginald's own funeral that
brought the Umbrella siblings back together.
So, it's ironic that their father is now using his son's death to bring the family together
again for his own purposes at the end of season 3.
There's an interesting parallel between two songs about heroes in the first and last episodes.
The first one "No More Heroes" by The Stranglers, hits the nail on the head as the Umbrellas
lose their fight against the Sparrows, who've usurped them at the Academy.
While the second, The Heavy's "Short-Change Hero", with its repeated line 'This ain't
no place for no hero', fits the fact that the Umbrella crew no longer have their powers,
and as the camera swoops upwards to billionaire Reginald Hargreeves in his towering offices,
the line 'This ain't no place for no better man' seems doubly fitting.
When Marcus wanders down to the Academy basement, there's another comic-book easter egg in the
form of a sign for a Televator.
In the comics, the Televator is a machine invented by Reginald Hargreeves to travel
through space, time, and across dimensions and Klaus has one built to transport him,
Diego, and Luther from Vietnam to Dallas.
There was also a reference to the device on a comic-book cover in Season 1, and there
were plans for the Televator on Reginald's blackboard in his hidden research room in
Season 2.
In fact, I think this Televator easter egg that keeps appearing through all the seasons
could be a big clue that Reginald is using the machine to loop through time over and
over, something I explain in more detail in my Season 3 explained and Season 4 theories
video.
Tap here to watch that or there's a link in the video description below.
A bonus detail you might have missed in the mid-credits scene is this little QR code next
to Ben.
If you scan it, it'll take you to a webpage set up by Netflix for Pogo's Tattoo Shop.
At the moment, you can get a digital set of tattoos with various symbols and easter eggs
from the show.
If you can't get the code to scan on your phone, just go the website on screen here.
So, Movie Lovers, what other details and easter eggs did you notice in season 3?
Let me know in the comments below.
Tap here for my full explanation of that cliffhanger ending and what to expect in Season 4.
And if you liked this video, do leave a thumbs-up, I really appreciate it.
Thanks for enjoying The Umbrella Academy with me and hope you have a marvellous movie-loving
week!
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!