MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for The Umbrella Academy season 1 finale.
The Umbrella Academy season 1 finale saw the Hargreeves kids avoid the apocalypse by jumping through time thanks to Five’s superpower, but this cliffhanger ending to “The White Violin” leaves us with plenty of questions. All throughout The Umbrella Academy season 1, the show was unraveling the mystery of what caused the apocalypse and how the Academy could prevent it from happening. Of course, this task was made more difficult by the fraught relationships between the members of the team. The siblings and their relationships were stunted due to the abuse suffered at the hands of their “father” Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore), the death of their brother Ben (Justin H. Min) and Vanya’s (Ellen Page) memoir about their childhood.
The Umbrella Academy kicks off with all the surviving siblings returning home to the Academy following the death of their father and the arrival the long-lost Five (Aidan Gallagher), who warns his siblings about the imminent apocalypse. The remainder of the season sees Luther (Tom Hopper), Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), Diego (David Castañeda), Klaus (Robert Sheehan) - who’s haunted by Ben - and Five attempt to discern the cause of the apocalypse. However, it turns out the cause is Vanya, who presented superpowers as a child just like her siblings, but Hargreeves decided they were too powerful and used Allison to make Vanya think she was ordinary. All the storylines and character arcs converge on Vanya’s concert in the season 1 finale, “The White Violin.”
The Umbrella Academy season 1 finale ends on a cliffhanger in which all the siblings agree to use Five’s time-traveling power to avoid the apocalypse and try (again) to save the world. However, there’s plenty we don’t know about what’s next for the Umbrella Academy team members, and the finale leaves viewers with a number of questions. While the cliffhanger was an exciting way to end The Umbrella Academy season 1, here are the biggest questions about what’s to come.
- This Page: What The Time Jump Means For The Academy Next Page: The Apocalypse & Other Superpowered People
How Long Will The Academy Members Be Kids?
As the siblings are getting ready to jump through time, Five warns them that their appearances may be altered just as his was when he initially returned to the present. After Five traveled to the future as a child and witnessed the fallout of the apocalypse, he grew up and joined the Commission, then reverted back to his child body but maintained all his knowledge and skills. In the season finale, we see all the other members of the Academy revert back to their child selves, but will they be stuck as kids like Five in season 1? Or will they eventually grow up? After all, the apocalypse takes place when they’re all meant to be adults.
From a production standpoint, it would be strange to hire such actors as Page and Sheehan, who are perhaps not household names but are undoubtedly beloved by their fans, just for them to not appear in season 2. So we can likely presume the Academy kids will eventually return to their adult selves in season 2, but it’s unclear when that will happen - if it does at all.
Will Five Get An Adult Body In Season 2?
Along those lines, if the rest of the Hargreeves siblings grow up and/or revert back to their adult appearances, where does that leave Five? He’s an interesting character, having grown up apart from the rest of his siblings and away from their father. Arguably, one of the key aspects to his character’s struggle in season 1 is having the knowledge and mentality of a 58-year-old man, but appearing as a child. (It’s also the source of plenty of humorous moments in season 1.) The Umbrella Academy would lose one of its more fun, quirky aspects if Five were to grow up in season 2. It would also be a major difference from The Umbrella Academy comics. However, if the other Hargreeves’ do grow up, but Five doesn’t, the show would need to explain why he’s stuck as a child when they aren’t.
Will Ben Be Alive In Season 2?
Speaking of how the time jump will affect the Hargreeves siblings, since all the characters revert to their child selves, does that mean Ben is alive once again? The Umbrella Academy season 1 references Ben’s death on multiple occasions, but it’s not explained when or how he died. Since his ghost doesn’t appear as a child, we can presume he died when he was older. If we follow that thought to the logical conclusion, it’s likely that Ben somehow comes back to life as his child self alongside the younger versions of his siblings. But, until the show confirms as much, it’s largely open to interpretation whether Ben will be alive or still dead in The Umbrella Academy season 2.
Next Page: The Apocalypse & Other Superpowered People
Where Did The Umbrella Academy Jump To?
Since The Umbrella Academy season 1 finale cuts to black right after the Hargreeves siblings make their time jump and avoid the apocalypse, we don’t know where they land. Their goals are to “fix” their sister Vanya by helping her to learn how to control her powers and, in doing so, save the world from the apocalypse she causes. The most likely time period they could jump to is earlier in their own history, but when exactly is truly anyone’s guess. The rules of time travel aren’t explained in The Umbrella Academy season 1, so it’s not even clear how jumping through time works for Five and his siblings. Can they jump back to a point in their own timeline or will that cause a paradox? If they jump to an earlier point in their lives, will there be two Fives, two Luthers, two Vanyas etc. running around?
Since there’s still plenty about the Hargreeves’ childhood to be explored - including Ben’s death - it makes sense for The Umbrella Academy to have the kids jump to an earlier point in their own lives. It’ll allow them to relive certain key moments of their lives with the perspective of their older selves, which would make for some fascinating drama. However, if The Umbrella Academy wishes to avoid the questions that would raise in terms of how time travel works in this world, they may jump back farther in time to before they were all born.
Can The Apocalypse Actually Be Stopped?
Throughout season 1, a conflict arises between Five and the Commission for which he worked. Five returns to his family in an attempt to save the world from the impending apocalypse, while the Commission strives to make sure it continues on as planned. Again, we come back to the rules of time travel in this world: Is the apocalypse a fixed point in time that cannot be changed no matter what? Or can the Academy actually prevent the apocalypse from happening? Since we don’t know the rules of this world, it’s impossible to know for sure. It should be noted, though, that Five believes the apocalypse can be prevented.
What we do know is that there are at least two timelines in which the Academy failed to stop the Apocalypse. The first was without Five, and the second was with Five and the tip about Harold Jenkins. Both times the team didn’t know Vanya was the cause of the apocalypse, but now the Hargreeves know she’s the cause and they have another shot at preventing her power from destroying the world. Unfortunately, that means the fate of the Earth rests on the shoulders of a group of emotionally stunted siblings who may not be capable of confronting and healthily working through each other’s emotions. So even with their knowledge of the apocalypse’s cause, it still remains to be seen whether they’ll be able to save the world.
What Happened To The Other 36 Babies?
The Umbrella Academy season 1 premiere introduces the premise of the series by revealing 43 babies were born on the same day and at the same time to women all around the world who previously showed no signs of being pregnant. Hargreeves adopted seven of these children, but what happened to the other 36? The Umbrella Academy team of superheroes were a worldwide phenomenon. Not only did they have their own action figures and comic books, but Vanya’s memoir offered insight into their private lives. As such, the other 36 children must have not only known about the Academy, but that they may possess powers as well.
That opens the door to other super-powered individuals showing up in The Umbrella Academy season 2, potentially giving the Hargreeves siblings some allies in their fight to prevent the apocalypse. Or future villains. However, it could also be explained that none of the other children had superpowers. Either way, it’s an unanswered question from The Umbrella Academy season 1 and fans would no doubt like an explanation.
-
Whether The Umbrella Academy season 2 answers any or all of these questions remains to be seen. First Netflix needs to renew The Umbrella Academy. Should that happen, fans can start looking ahead to what a second season will entail and the answers we’ll hopefully get from the continuing adventures of The Umbrella Academy.
