The Umbrella Academy ended after four seasons, and, unfortunately, it left more questions than answers, but it also ignored a big Ben Hargreeves (Justin H. Min) mystery that created a plot hole. Seizing the rise of darker superhero stories, Netflix brought The Umbrella Academy comic books to life. The Umbrella Academy debuted on Netflix in 2019 and stuck around for four seasons, officially ending in 2024. The Umbrella Academy introduced Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore), an eccentric billionaire who set out on a very specific mission in 1989.
After 43 women around the world gave birth on the same day, at the same time, and none of them were pregnant when the day began, Reginald set out to adopt as many of those kids as he could, but only got seven. Reginald trained them, as each of them had special superpowers, and formed the superhero team The Umbrella Academy. After parting ways for years, the Hargreeves reunited to prevent the apocalypse, which became their recurrent mission throughout the show. The Umbrella Academy season 4 solved some big mysteries but also left questions and plot holes, including one about Ben.
The Umbrella Academy Season 4 Forgot About The Sparrow’s Jennifer Incident
The Umbrella Academy Season 3 Mentioned The Jennifer Incident In The Sparrow Timeline
The Umbrella Academy season 1 revealed that Ben died years before the events of the show and thus appeared as a ghost that only Klaus (Robert Sheehan) could see, but exactly what happened to him wasn’t revealed until season 4. Before that, however, Ben’s death was referred to as the “It was even theorized that Ben had killed himself, most likely due to his inability to control his powers, and in season 2, ghost Ben was finally able to cross over; however, season 2’s finale had a big surprise for the Hargreeves and the audience.
The “Jennifer incident” had already happened in this timeline, as confirmed by Sparrow Ben having various sketches of Jen all over his bedroom.
The Hargreeves returned to their present year (2019) but landed in a different timeline, one where Reginald created the Sparrow Academy with six different superpowered children… and Ben. In this timeline, Ben was alive and well, though, in of personality, he was very different from the Umbrella version of the character. However, although this Ben was alive, the “Jennifer incident” had already happened in this timeline, as confirmed by Sparrow Ben having various sketches of Jen all over his bedroom.
In The Umbrella Academy season 4, Ben, the Umbrellas, and Lila (Ritu Arya) met Jennifer (Victoria Sawal), who, little did they know, was the key to triggering the apocalypse. Jennifer and Ben quickly bonded, and the apocalypse began. However, despite this Ben having already gone through a “Jennifer incident” and meeting Jennifer, so much so that he became obsessed with her, he didn’t recognize her, nor did he know what Jennifer could trigger. The Umbrella Academy season 4 completely forgot about the “Jennifer incident” in the Sparrow timeline, creating a big plot hole that most likely will never be solved.
Jennifer & Ben’s Roles In The Umbrella Academy Apocalypse Explained
Jennifer Was Key To Triggering The Apocalypse
Jennifer wasn’t a random character in The Umbrella Academy, and season 4 explained her importance in the Hargreeves’ story and her key role in triggering the apocalypse. The Hargreeves (and the rest of the kids born that day under the same mysterious circumstances) got their powers from a particle named “marigold”, created by Reginald’s wife, Abigail. When creating the marigolds, Abigail also created an opposite particle she named “durango.” Jennifer was the host of the durango particles, and as the opposite of the marigold, their coming into was extremely dangerous.
Abigail explained to the Hargreeves (minus Ben) that when durango interacted with a marigold, it unleashed an unstoppable physical reaction that caused mass extinction. This is the event that the Keepers called “The Cleanse”, as it would get rid of the broken timelines and fix the multiverse by restoring the main timeline. This is why Reginald did what he could to kill Jennifer in different timelines and keep her away from his kids, and it’s why he had to kill Ben in that one mission, as Ben had taken Jennifer’s hand to help her.
In the season 4 timeline, neither Reginald nor the Hargreeves could stop Ben from bonding (physically and emotionally) with Jennifer, and so the Cleanse began. On top of that, the Keepers were right, and the Cleanse was the only way to effectively fix the main timeline – but for it to work, the Cleanse had to consume all the marigolds. This meant that Lila and the Hargreeves had to sacrifice themselves, with them not coming back in the restored main timeline.
At the end of The Umbrella Academy season 4, the Hargreeves came to with the apocalypse, their role in it, and the consequences of their presence on Earth, and let themselves be consumed by the Cleanse. The Hargreeves and Lila saved the universe, but at the cost of their own existences.
1 Umbrella Academy Theory Suggests Christopher Was Involved In Season 3’s Jennifer Incident
Christopher’s Cube Might Be Explained Through The Jennifer Incident
The Umbrella Academy season 4 showed the “Jennifer incident” of the Umbrella team, but failed to show or even acknowledge the one in the Sparrow timeline – however, given what Jennifer could trigger when coming into with a marigold host, the incident in the Sparrow timeline might not have involved Ben. One of the of the Sparrow Academy was Christopher, a telekinetic cube of unknown origin. The theory suggests Christopher was once a normal, human boy, but he was the one who came into with Jennifer.
However, instead of killing him, like the original Reginald did with Ben, Sparrow Reginald found a way to contain the reaction of the marigold/durango interaction, leading Christopher to become a cube. As The Umbrella Academy also failed to explain Christopher’s physiology and origin, it could be possible that he was the protagonist of his timeline’s “Jennifer incident”, but Ben developed an intense crush on her. Surely, this doesn’t explain why Ben didn’t recognize her in season 4, but it explains why she didn’t end the world in the Sparrow timeline and all the Sparrows were alive.
Jennifer’s Introduction In Season 4 Only Made The Umbrella Academy More Confusing
Season 4 Was A Confusing Ending To The Umbrella Academy
The Umbrella Academy season 4 solved the mystery of Ben’s death, the source of all the apocalypses, and the role of the Hargreeves in them, but it also left many questions that won’t be solved now. Jennifer’s origin is completely unknown, as well as why she was the durango host and why she was found inside a squid, why she seems to be especially drawn to Ben, and why other apocalypses were still bound to happen even without her.
The Umbrella Academy: Biggest Plot Holes & Questions After Season 4
The fourth and final season of The Umbrella Academy might have concluded the series, but it wasn't without several absolutely glaring plot holes.
The Umbrella Academy season 4 brought the stories of the title team and Lila to a definitive end, as they didn’t return in the fixed timeline, but neither did Reginald. The Hargreeves and Lila sacrifice themselves for the sake of the timeline, and as sad as it was, it left too many unanswered questions and a couple of plot holes.
The Umbrella Academy
- Release Date
- 2019 - 2024-00-00
- Showrunner
- Steve Blackman
- Directors
- Jeremy Webb
Cast
Cazzie David
WHERE TO WATCH
- Writers
- Steve Blackman
- Franchise(s)
- The Umbrella Academy
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