Welcome to the Heavy Spoilers show I'm your host Paul and it's time to Mambo Number 5
as we go over The Umbrella Academy Season 3.
The new series has just dropped on Netflix and throughout this we'll be talking about
what happens at the end, the clues that we have for it's true meaning and also our theories
on where things will be heading in the future.
-
Now the season ends with the Universe very much being reset and we see that Hargreaves
has not only taken over the world but he's also managed to bring his love back to life.
If we time travel back to the tenth episode in Season 1 then it actually explains a lot
of the big reveals at the end of this one.
In it we caught the man who's moniker is the monacle on his homeworld as he said goodbye
to his wife. Sadly his world was dying and he had decided to travel to Earth in order
to quoute unquote save us. With him was a jar full of strange glowing orbs that he then
released. For a long time it's been theorised that these were absorbed into the mothers
who gave birth to the superpowered children.
We get this confirmed at the beginning of the episode with them flying into Ben's mother
as she rides a train. This somewhat plays into the post credits scene featuring a version
of Ben which we'll talk about more later on in the video.
Now come the end of the season we see these orbs being absorbed in order to power up Hargreeves'
machine so that he can start things all over again.
Thus I think that his plan the entire time was to created beings that ended up taking
these orbs inside of them so that they could mature and grow to the point that the Universe
could be reset so that he could start over again. This could explain why he ended his
own life in the first season as potentially he wanted to bring them all together and have
them unite so that the machine could be powered.
Big theory time theory time theory time on that one though.
In Season 2 we watched as he ended up becoming heavily involved in the space race and the
comics flesh him out as a nobel prize winning, olympic gold medalist.
Now there are other theories that we'll talk about later on but Hargreeve's wife was clearly
very important to him. In the season we learn a bit more about Luther's mission and discover
that he was also guarding her body on the Moon which had been put in status similar
to Nora Freeze.
We're gonna be breaking down why this is and also looking at the comics for some clues
on where things could be going. Now the series is loosely based on the third volume in the
Umbrella Academy run titled Hotel Oblivion. Not only does this feature the Sparrow Academy
but it also features the titular location. However the similarities pretty much end there
and outside of the Sparrow Members, the works are completely different. In the source material
the Hotel was an interdimensional prison that housed all of their villains.
Now when we last left our intrepid Umbrella Academy, they had saved the world again but
in doing so they altered events in the past and made it so that there were completely
new members of the team.
These were known as The Sparrow Academy who as I mentioned, also featured in the comics.
The graphic novel storyline did away with the time travel and it simply had Mother taking
Vanya to meet the group. These had been secretly picked by Hargreeves to act as a backup and
they showed up at the end of Volume 3 to save the day.
Now In the show, there's a number of reasons why things changed. Due to Dallas he was disgusted
by the group and he ended up picking other members with Ben only being there because
he never actually met him due to his death.
This is also mirrored in Harlan we we discovered inherited Viktors powers. For years he patiently
waited for the Umbrellas to return and upon his mother sissy's death he felt them. Unable
to control his powers he accidentally killed them all except for Ben's who again, he never
met.
Little disclaimer, Elliot Page of course transitioned in real life and when discussing his character
I'll just be using Viktor. They reuse a lot of clips from the Second Season to add new
context to the character becoming who he truly is and it's handled pretty well in my opinion.
Now in this timeline, Marcus, Ben, Fei, Alphonso, Sloane, Jayme and Christopher became the Sparrow
Academy who were formed to stop a mysterious threat called Project Oblivion.
Netflix series have showed us recently that you can't trust No One, and though that is
the case initially with Marcus and Ben, they do come around.
They are more successful mainly due to the fact they didn’t split up as the umbrellas
had a several tragedies. Five went missing, Ben died and this led to the group to fracture
whereas here they're more of a stable unit. They also have their father on medication
which sedates him and this puts a stop to him being the manipulative monacle that he
was in the comics and first two seasons. He has plans for them to go on a suicide mission
which they don't want to happen, hence them filling him with pills.
Now this season sees both Umbrellas and Sparrows having to deal with yet another apocalypse
making that three in three seasons.
Their arrival also brings about the appearance of a black hole-esque object known as a Kugleblitz
which it's believed is brought out due to the paradox that the Umbrellas have created.
Due to their mothers being killed before they were born they've very much set up the Grandfather
Paradox which Five explains during Episode 2.
This is a well established theoretical discussion in science that ponders if one would be able
to time travel in order to kill their grandfather because in doing so, it would mean they were
never born. Thus they'd never be able to go back and kill him in the first place so it's
a lot of timey wimey wibbly wobbly stuff.
The commission we saw last season attempted to ensure that this never happened but well,
it did due to them being defeated.
With the umbrellas technically not existing this creates the kugelblitz that starts to
fire out a wave that slowly destroys reality.
In the comics this was the result of a combination of the people in the Hotel Oblivion prison
causing chaos in the city and the villain terminal used this to build his strength.
This season is very much about how the past can come back to haunt you and nowhere is
this more apparent than in the arrival of Harlan. When we last saw him he was levitating
a foreboding sparrow at the end of season 2 but now he's all grown up.
Making it so that the Umbrellas never existed also meant that Allison never had a daughter
which sends her into a deep spiral in what's one of the most complicated and well acted
sub plots this season.
Now all these issues mean that the world slowly starts to look like an Incursion in The Multiverse
Of Madness.
As their members are taken out one by one the Sparrows and Umbrellas put their differences
to the side and try to get to the bottom of what's going on. They have a face off in episode
1 which juxtaposes what happens in the comics. This face off happened in the final issue
of Volume 3 with them easily outmatching the sloppy Umbrella Academy.
Not much is known about them in the source material but they will be explored more in
the upcoming Volume 4 Sparrow Academy.
After this, they all lick their wounds and head to the Hotel Obsidian which in the show
is like a merge of the Chateau Marmont combined with the Cecil Hotel. There are also several
references to the shining, namely in the carpet pattern used and this pretty much becomes
the mainstay location for the series. The Pandemic obviously had a big effect on the
show and there were definitely aspects of it limited by what was happening in the world.
Obsidian was built by Hargreeves as a cover for the portal to another dimension and this
is watched over by tryphobia triggering guardians.
Here Lila arrives with her and Diego's apparent son Stan who you may recognise as being Ashtray
from Euphoria.
This entire thing was a test to see if Diego would be a good dad and stay with her which
he does in the end as really he’s a big softie. We discover Stan was actually a kid
she found in Berlin after being set free by the Commission and he ends up getting wiped
out by the Kugelblitz later on in the series.
As for the Commission it turns out that their founder was actually an older version of Five
who warns his younger self not to stop the apocalypse.
What do you call Old Five...95...
Also I dunno if this is an older version of five or if younger five is older but moving
on.
We also learn what happened to Pogo in this universe and discover that he ended up joining
a Biker gang after leaving hargreaves employment. This biker gang was also in the comics named
the Mothers of Agony but they were connected to Klaus’ story instead.
Now Pogo ended up training them but he fell out with Hargreeves over the Oblivion mission
which we learn will kill all those that take part in it. Interestingly in the opening of
Episode 6 we see that the group are forced to fight over a bell and these bells end up
playing into the finale as being what the group must stand on. Hargreeves tells them
that this legend of seven bells comes from myths and legends and he plays coy over the
whole thing even though he's subliminally planting the idea in their heads that this
is how they save everyone.
Whereas in the comics, the Hotel was akin to Arkham Asylum or The Raft, as mentioned
earlier it absorbs life in order to power the machine to reset the universe. Reginald
has tried several times to power up the machine and we see a mixture of soldiers sent into
the pocket dimension that all get wiped out by the guardians. This is why Pogo and Hargreeves
decided to train the children so that they'd be strong enough to fight back.
Pogo didn't want to be part of it though and neither did the Sparrows because they knew
that it would lead to their deaths.
This led to the Sparrows drugging him so that it couldn't happen and thus Hargreaves was
unable to put his plan in movie. Now he just sits about watching TJ Hooker until Klaus
comes along and gets him off the drugs. He of course was addicted himself and he sees
saving him and finally getting some quality time as somewhat redemptive.
This opens up a full storyline where Klaus is manipulated once more to get not only the
umbrellas back together but to get hargreaves back into the family so he can use them to
enat his plan.
Elsewhere Allison learns of Harlan's attack on their mothers and she ends up killing him.
She ends up joining forces with Hargreeves later on due to him providing a way to bring
back her daughter. This alternate timeline seemingly brings in everyone's hearts desires
as not only does she come back but so does Ray who she of course only knew in the 60s.
Again...lots of timey wimey wibbly wobbly stuff but there is even potential that this
may either be a false reality or heaven due to everyone getting what they want even though
a number of paradoxes would be created.
Alongside this we also have the romance of Luther and Sloane. Slowly over the season
they start to fall in love and as reality dwindles away they decide to get married.
There's a big...well a small party and after it Hargreaves makes a pact with Allison and
he then later kills Luther. This was designed to bring them altogether to stop the destruction
which again calls back to the season 1 saying that they only see each other at weddings
and funerals.
Klaus is killed in the final wave and the remaining heroes end up fighting the Guardians.
Standing on the Sigils they defeat the last one but then the truth about the machine is
revealed.
Allison realises that it'll kill her family and thus she ends up murdering Hargreaves,
stopping his plan.
However she still goes to press the button and though Viktor initially tries to stop
her she ends up trusting that its the right thing to do. Not like there was anything else
to do anyway and this changes the entire timeline.
Now interestingly they travel there on an elevator which could be a nod to the comics,
namely the one that they use to travel into the Hotel. This new universe seems completely
idyllic and rather than being how it should really be, it's exactly how they want it to
be.
Ray appears to be the father of Claire instead of her ex husband and the heroes no longer
have their powers. This also means that Luther's body is back to normal and that he's no longer
fused with Ape DNA.
Everyone hurt or killed also appears to be alive with Diego getting his fingers back.
However Sloane is missing and though Luther goes looking for her, we're left wondering
whether she exists here. Now the heroes find a plaque with a brass model of Hargreeve's
head that was donated on the day the children were born. It's unlikely that he ever went
looking for them because he didn't need to release the orbs due to his wife Abigail still
being alive. It seems that he's taken over with all the skyscrapers bearing his name
and it's important to note that they look far more advanced that
what
the city used to.
Now
going forward I think that the cast will realise that their lives are all missing something
and that though this seems like an ideal world it's not. They might end up having to take
on their father once more and potentially they could end up restoring the universe back
to how it was in the first season. It's difficult to use the source material to guess where
things are gonna go as it's not really inline with the work at this point and if you've
read the graphic novels then you'll know the show is only very loosely based upon them.
Cut to the post credit scene and we have what I believe is the original Ben seemingly living
his life in Seoul South Korea.
With this being an ideal timeline and him never being part of the Umbrellas it would
mean that he never died as a kid. Though his spirit left in peace in Season 2, there was
another version of him created for the third season whereas the other children were stopped
from exisiting by Harlan. Therefore we likely have two Bens, namely the sparrow timeline
version and the original.
However him being born and being on the same train shows that his mother still had him.
Makes you wonder how this happened as her sudden pregnancy was still down to the orbs.
Behind him we also see sparks that look like them flashing up and though this could just
be off the train tracks, it could also potentially be the powers, if we're reaching. Which we
often are.
So
going forward I'd love to have us learn that there is this alternate world where everything
worked out. However this might show that there are dopplegangers in this universe and the
group could come to the realise they don't belong here. This could make them want to
reset the universe again as they're stuck in a timeline where they're not welcome. Who
knows, they might even try and start the apolocalypse this time which I think would be a great twist.
Hargreaves seems like he could be a tyrant in this reality and whereas the other seasons
were clearly about resurrecting his wife, this could be about killing her. They are
of course both aliens and the pair might rule over the planet like Tyrants.
Lots of possiblities and as for my thoughts on the series, I think this was probably my
second favourite one. Season 2 is still the top for me but this was brilliant and it's
so good being back with the family. They, like the season, have their bad points but
overall they're such a fun group to hang around with that it's difficult not to have a blast.
Whether it's the opening dance number or just the situations they find themselves in, I
had a lot of fun even though I feel the series did fall apart a bit towards the end.
Obviously the Pandemic massively affected this as well and whereas in the past we'd
get lots of jumping around locations through not only time but the city, this one becomes
a bit stationary. Still though I enjoyed what we got and the character development, numerous
twists and reveals all build nicely on what's come before. Kinda wild to me that both this
and The Boys have been better than all the other Marvel comic book shows by the bigger
studios and I think they could learn a thing or two from them.
In the end, Umbrella Academy Season 3 was great and it gets an 8/10.
I'd of course love to hear your thoughts so make sure you comment below and let me know.
We’re running a competition right now and giving away 3 copies of Everything Everywhere
All At Once on the 15th of July. All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is
like the video, make sure you subscribe with notifications on and drop a comment below
with your thoughts on the episode. We pick the comments at random at the end of the month
and the winners of the last one are on screen right now so message me @heavySpoilers if
that’s you.
If you want something else to watch then make sure you check out our breakdown of perfect
scene in Spider-Man Homecoming. We break down the entire thing so it’s definitely worth
checking out if you wanna know more.
With that out the way thank you for sitting through the video, I’ve been Paul and I’ll
see you next time. Take care, Peace