The Umbrella Academy: Episode 11

11. Right Back Where We Started

Five’s plan works, but not without hiccups. The siblings all end up in Dallas but arrive at different times: Klaus and Ben on 02/11/1960, where the former starts his own cult; Allison in 1961, where she gets her voice back and marries civil rights activist Ray (Yusuf Gatewood); Luther in 1962, where he makes a living by being the bodyguard of Jack Ruby (John Kapelos); Diego on 09/01/1963, where he ends up in an asylum with fellow patient Lila (Ritu Arya) after trying to murder Lee Harvey Oswald; an amnesiac Vanya on 10/12/1963, where she is taken in by a family of three; and Five on 11/25/1963; at the exact time of yet another apocalyptic event that follows them there. Witnessing his siblings try in vain to repel Soviet invaders before nukes hit the ground, Five is whisked away by an older time-traveling Hazel who is immediately gunned down by three blonde guys as they teleport 10 days prior. Five begins his mission of finding his siblings in an effort to prevent the new apocalypse they have to face.

I love how they add that specific twist to what could’ve been just another journey to the past kind of narrative. The different dates in which they arrive, some just years but several exact dates, also make you wonder if those would play a significant part in plot development. It’s a bit overwhelming especially if you are not good with dates, but it does wonders to how the siblings are going to be reacting to one another. For us the viewers and Five, we’ve only just arrived in 1963. For the other siblings, though, some of them have technically been living in the 60’s for a few years now. As for the storyline, is the premise going to be like this every season? They time travel somewhen and then a new apocalypse has to be stopped? It’s a perfect formula to keep the show running but the trick might get old quite quickly. I’m hoping they will also get to follow a primary plot of sorts. Like, what is the endgame here? Do they want to go back to their original timeline or will they just be all over time and space?

“On April the first 2019, the Earth was destroyed in a cataclysmic event. Billions of people were wiped out in a matter of minutes. Ironically, the six survivors of the apocalypse were the very siblings who brought it on.”

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