Umbrella Academy Season 3 Ending Explained: Season 3’s “Oblivion,” the Umbrella Academy’s finale, is mainly, well…final. The Umbrella Academy’s first two seasons ended on chaotic, perhaps world-threatening cliffhangers that needed to be resolved right away at the beginning of the third season.
In the season 1 finale, the catastrophic destruction of Earth was seen, and our heroes narrowly avoided it by fleeing to uncharted territory and a time unknown. The Hargreeves children were then returned to the “now” in Season 2, where they discovered something had gone wrong because “The Sparrow Academy” were uninvited guests in their own house. In contrast, season 3 ends with many plots resolved.
Reginald Hargreeves appears to accomplish one of his main objectives, and his “children” are given a chance to rebuild their lives without the support of their supernatural abilities. While there are still some unanswered concerns, such as “Where is Sloane?” and “How will the gang regain their powers?” as well as “Will anyone give Klaus a hug?” the Umbrellas essentially have a clean slate to work with.
The Hargreeves family arrived at that clean slate in what way? What will they do with it now that they possess it? Here, we’ll investigate it by dissecting The Umbrella Academy season 3’s finale in detail.
Did Luther And Klaus Die?
Indeed, they did. Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore) uses one of his sharp alien fingers to mortally stab his “Number One” son Luther (Tom Hopper) in the chest after season 3’s penultimate episode, “Seven Bells.” As previously stated in season 2 and reiterated here, Reginald is a space alien. Before Klaus (Robert Sheehan) can enter with his brothers, Reginald closes the door to Oblivion, informing him, “You’re just more trouble than you’re worth.” Not yet satisfied with Klaus’ cretinous behavior.
Then, yeah…Luther and Klaus pass on. Thankfully, death is not as final as one may believe in the world of The Umbrella Academy. Klaus recently learned that he not only has the ability to converse with the dead but also to rise from the dead earlier this season. Klaus returns from the dead and meets up with his brothers in Hotel Oblivion after much prodding from Luther.
Luther can also travel with him, but only for a short while as a ghost. After chatting with his new wife, Sloane, Luther finally loses his influence (Genesis Rodriguez). If not for a subsequent occurrence that we’ll discuss, Luther Hargreeves’ story should have ended.
What Is Hotel Oblivion?
Hotel Oblivion is not just the title of the third book of the comics on which The Umbrella Academy is based, but it also has a significant part in season 3. Episode 8’s 1918 flashback reveals that Reginald Hargreeves picked a particular spot on Earth to construct the Hotel Obsidian. That’s because “Oblivion,” a metaphysical failsafe location, is hidden behind Hotel Obsidian, which is only an exterior artifice.
Reginald Hargreeves leaves some leeway for superstition despite his significant focus on concrete ideas like arithmetic and science. That faith in superstition has been proven right in this case. The makers of reality, whatever they may be, Reginald believes, would devise some accessible failsafe system to save that reality if all other measures have failed. According to him, whoever or whatever “wove space and time” left a means to put everything back together if the universe was destroyed.
That is where the place he calls “Oblivion” is located. And for that reason, Reginald constructed the Hotel Obsidian right on top of it, giving him and the kids access whenever they needed it most. Speaking of the kids, they have a big part to play in this.
What Are The Seven Bells?
Ever wonder why just seven of the 43 infants born on October 1, 1989, with exceptional ability, were adopted by Reginald Hargreeves? According to the comic book storyline, Reginald only managed to locate seven of the 43. The TV show seems to imply that he never required more than seven.
An old prophecy mentioning “The Seven Bells” is one of the main reasons Reggie believes in Oblivion. In reality, numerous predictions from different cultures say the need for seven items. Reggie points out that the Blackfoot had seven stars, and the Norse had seven sleepers. They had seven bells where Hargreeves came from (anywhere in the cosmos, that might be).
The children are the seven bells, as Five (Aidan Gallagher) accurately surmises when things in Oblivion start to go to shit. The kids’ abilities will be combined and accessible by standing on specific spots in Oblivion that were previously identified by a map to display a virtual computer terminal that can “reset” reality.
Although Reginald had only seven offspring at first, Lila and the Sparrows from the sideways universe have given him a large number of options. The Seven Bells are ultimately played by Klaus, Ben (Justin H. Min), Sloane, Viktor (Elliot Page), Lila (Ritu Arya), Diego (David Castaneda), and Five.
Since he promised that she would be reunited with her kid, Reginald tells Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) to hold back because he knows the experience will kill her. Whatever you think of Reggie, he keeps his word and is an absolute monster.
What Was Reginald’s Plan?
Oblivion, Seven Bells, and everything else seem to have been part of Reginald Hargreeves’ plot, possibly even from the start of season 1. As was already said, Reginald is a space alien that doesn’t care about his kids. But that doesn’t preclude the possibility of him ever experiencing love.
Reginald lost his wife Abigail at some time in his long life. Reginald, unable to let her go, maintains her body and searches for a means to bring her back. In actuality, Luther inadvertently defended her body on the moon the entire time.
Reginald wanted to utilize Oblivion to win back his lost love rather than just as a failsafe to “save” reality. To achieve this, he adopted all of these kids, raised them, and then passed his time learning about the secrets of Oblivion.
What’s intriguing here is how much of The Umbrella Academy’s events Reginald Hargreeves predicted. Did Reginald know that by committing suicide before the series began, he would trigger a chain of events that would lead to his children blowing up the Earth, traveling to 1963 Dallas, returning to a Sparrow-ified cosmos, and ultimately entering Oblivion? Or did the elderly alien commit suicide because he could no longer bear the suffering? Maybe we won’t ever find out.
Where Does The Umbrella Academy End Up?
The Umbrella Academy concludes in a chronology similar to the one they began in, much as they did at the end of season 2. But not the same. By entering a few keys on Oblivion’s doomsday computer, Allison manages to reset events and restore the Umbrellas to a “normal” universe.
Claire and Allison are reunited when Allison returns to Los Angeles. Her siblings Luther, Diego, Klaus, Five, Ben, Viktor, and Lila eventually find themselves in the courtyard that used to be the Hotel Obsidian. A plaque honoring Reginald Hargreeves’ “Obsidian Memorial Park” has been installed in its place. While Reginald and his wife are together, they are looking out over a metropolis from a tall tower.
Other than two little details, everything appears to be okay. One is the absence of any of the Hargreeves’ former abilities. One more is that Sloane seems to have vanished. Is it possible that Sloane couldn’t fit into this new world because she was a product of one herself? If the second Ben Hargreeves cut, then it would make sense.
What’s Up With That Post-Credit Scene?
Particularly now that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has made it to television, post-credits scenes are becoming more and more regular in superhero storylines. The Umbrella Academy first used this strategy in its third season. The post-credit scene from season 3 is relatively brief and enigmatic, though, which is the problem.
The post-credit scene briefly catches up with a glasses-wearing Ben Hargreeves as he rides a Korean metro train for about a dozen seconds. “This train is headed for Yeoudio Station,” we overhear. Ben grinned, and that was it. Last seen Season’s end.
So why was this included, exactly? What does it mean for the future of the program, then? Our best bet is that it functions as a nice bookend for the season, echoing the incident in which Ben’s mother unexpectedly gave birth to him aboard a Korean train on October 1, 1989.
Additionally, this may be how the program is gradually transforming Sparrow Academy Ben into our Ben. This Ben smiles, indicating that either he’s the old Ben or the Sparrow Academy Ben is starting to unwind. And if that is the case, it could suggest that Five’s prophecy has finally come to pass and that there are other Umbrellas in existence. That might make for a clever season 4 plot. About season 4,
Will There Be a Season 4?
Although Netflix has not formally acknowledged it, we think Umbrella Academy season 4 will exist. Nobody knows for sure what that season will be about. Even though the show’s comic book inspiration is no longer available, we have the impression that there is still more story left to be told. Keep an eye out for our interview with Umbrella Academy showrunner Steve Blackman tomorrow, in which he will go into more detail about his plans for the upcoming season.
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