The Umbrella Academy season 4 episode 6 recap: "End of the Beginning" (Series finale)
We've made it to the final timeline on The Umbrella Academy — or have we? The fourth and final season concludes with episode 6, "End of the Beginning," which includes a very significant post-credits scene. Let's break down all the biggest moments!
WARNING: Major spoilers for The Umbrella Academy season 4 episode 6 are below.
The Keepers put out the call to all the members and the song "Map of the Problematique" by Muse begins playing on every single radio. The Keepers begin walking together with weapons in the streets, assembling at the store Ben and Jennifer are hiding out in. Jean and "Gene" give a speech to their group, telling them that they cannot let anyone stop the Cleanse. Ben sees them through one of the store windows, and his face has gotten much, much worse.
Diego goes home and brings Luther along, and is so happy to see his family. Luther looks upset, probably missing Sloan, and Diego is surprised to learn that Lila's family doesn't know where she is.
Reginald and Viktor show up at the store and try to negotiate with Jean and "Gene," and "Gene" begins going off on Reginald, which takes everyone by surprise. Clearly, it's Abigail taking out her anger on her husband, but no one else knows that. The show then cuts to Ben walking through the store and he looks pretty monstrous.
"Gene" kills off Jean
Jean and "Gene" begin arguing in the street; Jean believes "Gene" must know Reginald somehow or else he wouldn't have spoken to him that way, but "Gene" denies it. Jean thinks something has changed in him, and that the non-believers have gotten to him. To this, "Gene" takes a sword from one of the members of The Keepers and kills Jean, just like that. The crowd is shocked and he tells them that Jean betrayed them.
Five and Lila make it back home and go to her house, though Lila is scared to go inside. She's nervous her kids won't love her like they used to, but Five reminds her that it's only been a few hours for them so nothing's changed. Diego opens the door and is happy to see Lila, while Lila is happy to see their children. Klaus, Allison, and Claire show up, and Lila seems relieved. Everyone looks happy, really, besides Five.
Viktor and Reginald find out that "Gene" killed Jean and Reginald says Viktor has 15 minutes to save Ben or else he has to kill him and Jennifer. Viktor comes up with a plan on the fly, drawing an umbrella on his wrist to pass off as a tattoo. He joins The Keepers and tells them he's going to find an alleyway to pee in, and while he's there he tries to find a way inside to get to Ben. One of The Keepers catches him, however, and Viktor uses his powers to kill him.
Ben and Jennifer have turned monstrous
Viktor is able to make it inside and finds Ben, and is horrified at his appearance. In a very Brundlefly from David Cronenberg's The Fly style, Ben has totally transformed and looks like a terrifying, red, glowing creature. And Jennifer looks just about the same. Ben gets aggressive, the virus very obviously getting to his emotions, and he apologizes for yelling. We see that Jennifer and Ben are connected in a strange red, glowing web.
Lila and Five clearly feel awkward around each other and the tension is pretty clear. Luther even asks what's wrong with Five because he's so quiet, and this leads to a major argument between the group. Five picks a fight with Diego, and Diego then sees the bracelet on Lila's arm, wanting to know where she got it from. Five comes clean and says he made it for her and Diego asks if there's something going on between them. The rest of the siblings are in shock and even Lila's family starts to stare when Diego says he knew she was cheating on him. Lila explains everything, and when Diego asks if she loves Five, she doesn't answer.
Viktor tries to reason with Ben again but he doesn't want to listen. Viktor tells him that if he doesn't come out with him, Reginald's team will come in and kill him and Jennifer. In response, Ben's tentacle comes out and knocks out Viktor.
Five, Diego, and Lila's conversation is cut short when Claire tells everyone to look at the TV. They're talking about Ben on the news, referring to The Keepers as protestors. The siblings head to the store and it's not long before The Keepers begin shooting at the van. Five blinks them into the store and when they see Ben and Jennifer, they're horrified.
Viktor tries to remove the durango out of Ben
Viktor grabs Ben's arm and tries to pull out the durango but it doesn't work. Suddenly, Reginald orders the shot and Ben is hit, but it doesn't kill him. Ben and Jennifer begin to merge together to form an even bigger creature, and none of the siblings can stop it. Diego and Five then start physically fighting over Lila, while the Ben and Jennifer creature throws Allison and injures her. As hard as the siblings try to fight it, the monster only gets bigger and stronger.
Lila yells at Diego and Five and Five blinks away, while the other siblings decide they need to leave the scene to figure out how to put a stop to Ben and Jennifer in this new state. Five goes back to the train station and gets on a train, thinking back to his memories with Lila. The train stops and he sees another version of himself that he follows into a restaurant, and he's surprised to see multiple other versions of himself. One of them calls him over and tells him they're all him from alternate timelines. He also tells Five that there's only supposed to be one timeline, but the siblings have shattered it into an infinite amount of timelines as they save the world over and over again. The only way to put a stop to all of this is to remove all the other timelines, a.k.a. the Cleanse.
Five realizes he needs to get back to his family to stop this from happening again.
Meanwhile, "Gene" goes over to talk to Reginald and reveals himself to be Abigail. She tells him that dying was what she deserved, questioning why he brought her back. She feels like it's her duty to set it right, which is why she ruined all of Reginald's plans to keep Ben and Jennifer apart. Reginald understands and is content that Abigail has made his wrong right. The monster eventually kills them both.
The siblings are back at the house along with Claire and Lila's family. Five shows up and tells them they're the reason this keeps happening. The marigold that inflected their mothers actually shattered the timeline, and now the timelines are bleeding into each other. Viktor realizes this is what Ben was trying to show him as he was trying to pull the durango out of him. When he did this, Ben showed him a vision of the original timeline.
The end of the Hargreeves
Five tells the siblings that they need to let the marigold in their bodies merge with the durango to cancel each other out. The only catch? They will cease to exist. Five explains that they'll be erased from history and the other timelines won't exist either. Even though this is what they should do, the siblings don't want to. Ultimately, they decide to make the ultimate sacrifice, with Allison saying goodbye to Claire. Diego tells Lila she should go too, but they know she can't. She drank the marigold so she has to stay with them, but she seemingly doesn't care because she leaves anyway.
Lila blinks her family and Claire to the train station but Five is close behind her. He tells her that if she goes with them all of this will start over. She gets on the train but at the last second as the doors start to close she gets off, saying goodbye to her family through the glass. She falls to the floor and cries, and Five comforts her.
The monster gets closer to the siblings as Five and Lila blink back. As they all wait for their deaths, Luther suggests going around in a circle and sharing their favorite moments of one another but that's shot down very fast. They all power up and say their final words, as the monster takes over the house and swallows up the siblings.
We then cut to the original timeline, which is the vision Ben tried to show Viktor. We see Lila's family, Lila and Diego's kids, and Claire all together in a park, looking very happy. We also see previous characters from the show, including The Handler, while Reginald shares in a voiceover that on August 8, 2024, it was just a normal day. The credits begin to roll here, but that's not the last of The Umbrella Academy.
The season 4 post-credits scene
In a post-credits scene, the camera cuts to yellow marigolds blooming in the park and spewing out yellow particles. Though the Cleanse happened, there's still marigold somehow in the original timeline, meaning it's all going to restart. The marigold has been released, so we can assume it will begin entering bodies and causing babies to be born with superpowers once more. Was what the Hargreeves siblings did all for nothing? Well, maybe, in the end. But they also buy a lot of time for the next group of superpower siblings who will, no doubt, save the world multiple times.
All six episodes of the fourth and final season of The Umbrella Academy are streaming on Netflix.
Read all of our The Umbrella Academy season 4 recaps here: