- Title: The Umbrella Academy – The Unbearable Tragedy of Getting What You Want
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Set six years after the Third Season finale, The Umbrella Academy has returned to the present and a new timeline in which none of their powers exist. Going their separate ways, the family comes together in “The Unbearable Tragedy of Getting What You Want” for the birthday party of Diego (David Castañeda) and daughter Grace (Ciara Rose Feeney). The remain together for the rescue of Viktor (Elliot Page) who is kidnapped on the way to the party by an odd man (David Cross) with a story to tell the group about a missing girl (Katharine King So) who needs their help.
The season premiere spends quite a bit of time catching up with the characters’ lives, none of which have really amounted to much since the loss of their powers. The intervention of this stranger, and the introduction of the idea that some people in the world are aware of an original timeline that has been replaced by the current reality, and the group being subtly manipulated behind-the-scenes are all pieces to the final puzzle of what will be the show’s definitive final season. We end with a family dinner and Ben (Justin H. Min) making a choice for the family in restoring their powers thanks to a little gift left the group by their mystery benefactor who is definitely not Sy Grossman.
The season premiere is a solid opener ending with a cliffhanger making you want to stick around to see what happens next. Of the family’s various subplots, most are dropped but Five (Aidan Gallagher) and Lila (Ritu Arya) both looking into a secret cult run by the goofy pair of Gene (Nick Offerman) and Jean (Megan Mullally) who are aware of the existence of a different timeline, collecting proof that has fallen through the cracks of time, and building a global conspiracy whose members are obsessed with a return to the “real” world. As for Lila and Five, we’ll see more of them together this season as they explore the oddities of Five’s restored powers and Lila attempts to hide from her dysfunctional marriage to Diego.
