Everything You Need to Remember Before ‘The Umbrella Academy’ Season 3
After almost two years, the most chaotic super-powered family on television is back in action soon. Netflix’s third season of The Umbrella Academy will arrive on Wednesday, June 22 with 10 new episodes, following an explosive Season 2 finale that left the Hargreeves siblings in yet another sticky situation.
The Umbrella Academy is nothing if not wonderfully messy, and season 2 was definitely plot-heavy, with Luther (Tom Hopper), Diego (David Castañeda), Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), Klaus (Robert Sheehan), Five (Aidan Gallagher), and Viktor (Elliot Page) scattered across the 1960s after time-traveling from 2019. There’s a lot to refresh on ahead of the Season 3 drop, so we’re going to break down the key plot points to remember before binging the new episodes.
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The Umbrella Academy, Season 2 Premiere, Wednesday, June 22, Netflix
The Hargreeves made new lives for themselves in the 1960s
The beginning of Season 2 saw most of the Hargreeves settling into ‘60s Dallas — in different years — after time-traveling there to prevent the apocalypse at the end of the previous finale. Some adjusted better than others and had to leave people behind come the final episode: for Allison, it was her husband, Raymond (Yusuf Gatewood), with whom she became involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Viktor left Sissy (Marin Ireland) and Harlan (Justin Paul Kelly), a mother and son he nannied for and grew close to after he lost his memories.
Meanwhile Klaus — with the ghost of his brother Ben (Justin H. Min) along for the ride — started a cult that he ended up wanting to escape, Diego was stuck in a mental asylum for trying to prove his worth by stopping JFK’s future assassination, and Luther was working for gangster Jack Ruby (John Kapelos). Five ended up time-jumping to the latest date (November 25, 1963), moments before the world was about to end. Hazel (Cameron Britton) showed up and died taking him back to 10 days earlier, having explained that the siblings’ time travel prompted doomsday. Five was once again charged with rounding up the others so they could stop the apocalypse once again — not to mention, JFK’s assassination somehow was at the center of it all, having only occurred days before.
The siblings met up with Reginald Hargreeves — and he was up to something
The group, finally reunited, met their adoptive father (Colm Feore) before he even knew they existed. Hazel, before he died, gave Five footage of Sir Reginald Hargreeves suspiciously close to the scene of JFK’s assassination, so they knew he played some part. After Diego and Five broke into his office to get more intel, they found out Reginald was part of a shady government group called the Majestic 12.
At last, after several run-ins with the siblings, Reginald requested the presence of the Umbrella Academy at a dinner. The group tried to enlist his help to save the world and told him all about their adoption and their powers — naturally, it got tense — and Diego demanded to know more about the impending assassination, with no luck. Of course, this meeting was bound to affect the timeline, messing with the present even more. Plus, in another scene, we found out that Reginald isn’t as human as he appears — he’s actually an alien wearing a skin suit. Always expect the unexpected with The Umbrella Academy.
Ben died (again) saving Viktor
Thinking he was a Russian spy, the FBI tortured and drugged Viktor. As a result, he got trapped inside a hallucinogenic nightmare and essentially became a ticking time bomb when his memories started coming back. During his stint at the Commission, Diego saw the future on the infinite switchboard, discovering that Viktor’s powers would blow up the FBI building during his interrogation — which would be right next to JFK’s passing car. Kennedy would live in this version of the timeline, but the explosion instead would launch a nuclear war between Russia and America (a.k.a. the beginning of the 1963 apocalypse). Allison, Klaus, and Diego tried to save Viktor before it was too late, but it was Ben, without a physical body, who could approach Viktor without being overwhelmed by the energy he was emitting. Ben jumped into Viktor’s mind and calmed him before he could explode. After, Ben dissolved, presumably passing on at last. Ben’s sacrifice prevented doomsday.
The Hargreeves beat the Commission and the Handler died
Still, even with doomsday averted, the Hargreeves weren’t in the clear. Lila (Ritu Arya) and the Handler (Kate Walsh) confronted the siblings on Sissy’s farm, and as the new head of the Commission, the Handler declared her intention to execute those that killed the Commission’s Board of Directors — even though Five killed them for the Handler in exchange for saving his siblings. Commission agents showed up by the hundreds, and Viktor leveled them out with a power blast — but Lila, the Handler’s secret weapon, nearly wiped out the Umbrella Academy entirely with a similar blast of her own.
In the end, the Handler shot all of the Hargreeves and Lila, then she was shot in revenge by the only Swede assassin still alive. (Part of a trio tasked by the Commission at the beginning of the season to kill the Hargreeves, Kris Holden-Ried’s character attributed his two brothers’ demise to the Handler’s manipulations.) But all was not lost — Five, barely alive, traveled back several seconds before the Handler killed them and gave them another chance. Everyone was alive again, but the Swede still managed to kill the Handler, for good this time it seems.
Lila escaped the battle via time-travel
During the final battle, the Hargreeves discovered that Diego’s girlfriend, whom he met in the mental institution, was in fact an undercover agent for and adopted daughter of the Handler — and she could replicate other people’s powers. (Lila is also one of the kids born on October 1, 1989, like the Umbrella Academy.) Lila wanted to kill Five, who killed her parents, but he tried to tell her the truth: The Handler ordered him to kill her parents all those years ago, so she could use Lila’s powers for her own gain. Lila asked if her adoptive mother ever really loved her, but the Handler died before answering. We, the viewers, know what the Handler’s true stance was — she literally shot Lila moments before — but Lila presumably is unaware that that happened before Five time-jumped. Lila grabbed the Handler’s time-traveling briefcase and got out of dodge, so going into Season 3, she’s still out there somewhere.
Harlan still had some of Viktor’s powers
When Harlan drowned earlier in Season 2, Viktor brought him back to life, and in the process some of his powers transferred over to the kid. In the finale, Harlan caused a sort of energy vortex, and Viktor seemed to take the powers back right after the final battle with the Handler and Commission. However, as Harlan and his mother drove across the border, he levitated an object in the backseat. So somewhere out there in the present day, there’s an adult, superpowered Harlan, which will likely come into play somehow in Season 3.
The Hargreeves found Reginald alive with the Sparrow Academy in the present
All of their actions in 1963 undoubtedly had an effect on the present. Once back in 2019, just when the Umbrella Academy thought all was well, they were hit with yet another major problem: Reginald is alive, and he made very different choices after meeting the siblings in the ’60s. The Umbrella Academy doesn’t exist. Instead, Reginald created the Sparrow Academy, complete with totally different members and a very much alive Ben, though obviously a completely different version of the character. “S**t,” they uttered in unison. Right you are, Hargreeves. But as long as the Umbrella Academy doesn’t catch a break, it sure will make for entertaining television this season.
From TV Guide Magazine
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