Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Season 4 of The Umbrella Academy.
The Big Picture
- Five’s discovery of a mysterious subway system provides a unique way to traverse alternate timelines in
The Umbrella Academy
Season 4. - The subway system serves as a crucial nexus point between realities, allowing characters to jump between timelines.
- The subway map visually represents the multiverse and plays a vital role in understanding how timelines intersect and the concept of the “Cleanse.”
Every season of The Umbrella Academy has found a unique way for the group, particularly Five (Aidan Gallagher), to traverse the show’s ever-increasing multiverse. From Five’s time-traveling powers to his future self’s Commission briefcases, each method has allowed the super-powered group to end and save the world in a myriad of ways. With the Hargreeves losing their powers at the beginning of Season 4, Five found a new, mysterious way to journey through the multiverse — a way that also became instrumental in saving the world for the final time.
The Umbrella Academy
A dysfunctional family of adopted superhero siblings reunites to solve the mystery of their father’s death and prevent an impending apocalypse. As they confront their past and battle external threats, their fractured relationships and unique powers drive a mix of action, drama, and dark humor.
- Release Date
- February 15, 2019
- Cast
- Colm Feore , Cazzie David , Genesis Rodriguez , Robert Sheehan , Aidan Gallagher , elliot page , Emmy Raver-Lampman , Jordan Claire Robbins , Jake Epstein , Mary J. Blige , David Castaneda , Justin Cornwell , Justin H. Min , Britne Oldford , Adam Godley , Tom Hopper , Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton , Ritu Arya , Cameron Britton , Sheila McCarthy
- Seasons
- 4
How Does The Subway Work in ‘The Umbrella Academy?’
When the Hargreeves drink the Marigold potions and see the return of their powers, Five accidentally blips into a strange subway system. He walks out of the tunnels and finds himself in the same place, at the same point of time, but in a completely different universe. Unlike Five’s powers and the briefcases, which allow for time-jumping within the same timeline (that is, traveling to the past and future), the subway system is a waypoint to alternate timelines.
When Five confides in Lila (Ritu Arya), she immediately urges him to blip so they can explore the mysterious subway systems. However, this leads to the montage of the pair getting lost in the twisted, labyrinthine tunnels, as they jump onto eastbound and westbound trains, trying to return home, but to no avail. It’s a testament to how complex and convoluted the timelines really are, leading to the newly formed couple being stranded there for seven years.
When they finally do return to their home timeline, thanks to a book left in an alternate-timeline-Five, the seven years end up equating to only a few hours in their time. As a waypoint in between timelines, it seems the subway system exists and operates outside each reality, further indicating that it is an independent plane, which foreshadows a decision that is made in the Season 4 finale.
What Is the Diner Five Finds in the Subway Tunnels?
After being rejected by Lila once they return to reality, Five dejectedly returns to the subway system to lose himself in the vast structure. He comes across a bizarre diner — its rich reds and bright lights being completely out of place in the derelict stations. The diner housed multiple alternate versions of him, who had all ceased trying to save the world and built the diner as a communal place to wallow in their defeat. Speaking to one of the Fives, our Five discovers that they had tried to save the world over 140,000 times, suggesting that many timelines are now in apocalyptic ruin. It is here that Five figures out that the “Cleanse” is actually a good thing and will restore the original timeline, completely eliminating all the fractured ones. As such, this in-between space has become integral to saving the world once and for all — it is also the place where we realize that our favorite characters will now cease to exist.
The Subway Map Shows ‘The Umbrella Academy’ Multiverse
The subway system is not in the comics by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba that inspired the series, though it may be introduced in later installments. It seems that this mode of travel has replaced the Televator. Season 3 may have seen Reginald (Colm Feore) use a Televator himself, but it hasn’t really been seen since. Either way, the show’s subway system may be the better choice, especially at this point in the story. The subway map in particular becomes integral in the way we visualize the endless alternate timelines, making it far easier to understand how they intersect and interact — which also explains how “artifacts” from one timeline end up in another one.
It also helps us visualize the Cleanse. In the finale, The Umbrella Academy alum decide to send Lila’s and Allison’s (Emmy Raver-Lampman) family into the subway system to protect them from the extinction event, since it seemed to exist outside of reality. During the Cleanse, we watch each waypoint corrode in the subway, leaving one central line that represents the original timeline. This may explain how their family survived in the end, instead of getting lost like Lila and Five did. The closing scenes see the family members in a picturesque glade together, and we know they have to have come from the subway because Lila’s and Allison’s daughters could not exist in this timeline where the Hargreeves do not. As such, the subway system becomes more than just a vehicle across the multiverse in The Umbrella Academy, it is also the vehicle to the series’ bittersweet ending.
The Umbrella Academy is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
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