The Umbrella Academy S4E4: The Cleanse
At the end of last episode, an alternative-timeline version of the Hargreeves’ estranged father hooked them up to a machine intended to bring back their memories of Ben’s death — memories that had been erased by the original-timeline version of their father. (There’s really no way to explain even five minutes of this show without it sounding like complete nonsense.) We see Sir Reginald Hargreeves as his kids remember him — a stern, dismissive taskmaster, who sends his superhero-team progeny on a mission to blow up a shipping container with a weapon inside. A container that is under no circumstances to be opened.
It should come as a surprise to no one that the container gets opened. Nor is it a surprise that Ben’s the one to open it, and that Jennifer is inside. Or that Ben — the sweet, thoughtful Ben of the original timeline, not the self-absorbed, dickish Ben of the current timeline — abandons the mission to save the girl.
But how he dies is a genuine shock. A bullet rings out, and Jennifer falls dead. A second bullet, and Ben’s lying beside her. And holding the gun — Sir Reginald Hargreeves.
It’s a devastatingly effective gut punch, although after a few moments of recrimination, in which current-timeline Reg reminds the angry Umbrellas he’s not the same man who raised them (although is very quick to defend his alternate self), we get some sci-fi mumbo-jumbo exposition. To sum up, Abigail, Reginald’s wife, is the one who created Marigold, the “essence of the universe” that gave the Umbrellas their powers. At that same moment, someone else created Durango, the antimatter to Marigold’s matter. Jennifer is infused with Durango, the same way the Umbrellas are infused with Marigold, which means if they come into too close contact… it’s the end of the world. Again.
Which is a slight problem, because Bennifer (I just made that up just now) are on the run together, from the doomsday cult that’s trying to bring about that exact end of the world. (The Cleanse of the episode title). And it’s possible that they’ve already made a connection (their hands went all CGI and glowy when they touched last week) that’s infected them with whatever’s going to lead to this season’s apocalypse.
So multiple plans unfold. This version of Reg is proving to be every bit as ruthless as his alternate-timeline counterpart, as he plans to hunt down Bennifer and kill them again, reasoning that the fate of the world is far more important than two lives (and the pile of bodies Ben left behind at Jean and Gene’s farm just makes him feel more justified). Viktor, Allison, and Luther disagree strongly, and resolve to save their brother. Lila proposes a third way to Five — use his powers to go back in time and stop the original murders from ever taking place.
But they aren’t the only ones making plans. Jean and Gene have adopted a new HQ — a branch of a fast food chain called King Reg, presumably part of the Hargreeves’ paterfamilias’ business empire. David Cross pays them a visit to discuss “the missing girl.” He’s the one who sent the Umbrellas looking for Jennifer in the first place, claiming (falsely) that she was his daughter, and what his actual role in all of this is is yet to be seen.
But none of the plans get set in motion this week. We get a few side stories which feel a lot like filler — Five sends Diego and Luther to hang out at the CIA to keep them occupied; Klaus’ works as a medium-slash-prostitute to pay back his debt to his drug dealer — and only two scenes that seem meaningful. Viktor confronts Reg about his lack of humanity, and Lila and Five take the metaphysical subway to try and stop the Bennifer murders, only to end up in the wrong timeline with no clear way to get back. We’ve got two more episodes to sort it all out.
Stray thoughts:
• Apart from the emotionally devastating opening, this was the least interesting episode of the season, although a lot of it is clearly setup. As always, it’s hard to tell what’s weak writing and what’s simply the fault of the season’s episode order being cut short. But a shorter season should have less filler and not more, and a lot of this week’s episode felt like wheel-spinning. If they had to cut, they should have kept to the emotional heart of this season — Lila’s growing bond with Five, her and Diego’s growing dissatisfaction with their marriage, and Viktor working through his resentment towards Reg. And, you know, the usual end-of-the-world stuff.
• As much as Klaus’ material this season has felt like filler, Robert Sheehan is still a delight in the role, especially once Klaus gets his powers back and reverts back to his whimsical, befuddled theater kid persona.
• We get a brief glimpse of Pogo — the Hargvrees’ talking-ape butler — as he’s piloting the family’s X-Men-like helicopter/plane in the flashback mission.
• Durango isn’t necessarily Dodge product placement, but we’re not ruling that out.