SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t yet finished ‘The Umbrella Academy’ Season 2, this article contains a MASSIVE SPOILER! Turn back now or proceed with caution!
‘The Umbrella Academy’ Season 2 included plenty of twists and turns and squeezed in a ton of revelations that further fleshed out S1 including what happened to at least one of the other kids born on October 1, 1989? What (or who) inspired the kids’ robotic “Mom?” Where did Pogo come from?
But perhaps one reveal that viewers didn’t even know they were supposed to be wondering about is the true origin of Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore), the eccentric, hardnosed millionaire that adopted seven of the mystery kids– even though he seems to HATE children– and raised them to be the dysfunctional family forced to save the world from total annihilation… twice.
He seemed fairly cut-and-dry, but some of his behavior and abilities are odd upon reflection. I mean he had an intelligent talking chimpanzee and built a completely life-like robot to raise his kids with the tenderness he could not produce himself. He sent his #1 son, Luther (Tom Hopper), to live on the moon, essentially to get him out from under his feet.
But this is a superhero show and an extra surreal one at that. Talking chimps, android mommies, moonbases… that’s normal right?
Well, no apparently. It seems we were supposed to find those things odd and wonder how Hargreeves had this technology at his fingertips. S2 filled in a little more of Hargreeve’s backstory, including his specific interest in the dark side of the moon. As Hargreeves is meeting with his sinister cabal, he stands up and… removes his face! Surprise! Papa’s an alien!
Even though this was revealed early in the comic book series, by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, showrunner Steve Blackman explained that he knew he had to include the reveal but chose to delay it.
“It was important for me to eventually get to that. It’s something that you see in almost the first frames of the graphic novel in Volume 1. But it’s also a good reveal. I know the fans of the graphic novel know that, but I don’t think a lot of the new fans know that. But I had to find the right moment where it felt really organic and made sense. And you know, we found the moment, and if we’re lucky enough to have a Season 3, obviously that’s gonna be part of the storytelling. Who is Reginald Hargreeves? Who is he really? … We’re really excited. To get another season would be great.”
Fans of the show would surely agree that it would be “great” to get a third season. Or rather, a third season is ESSENTIAL after the surprise cliffhanger at the end of S2.
Blackman also teased what most of us were thinking at the very end.
“I think I would answer by saying the Tiki dinner has a lot of impact. Reginald Hargreeves meeting his family has definitely had an impact on him, without giving anything else away. Because remember, we haven’t gotten to the events of 1989 yet. But he’s had a chance to meet his family, and what he does with that, I think, will be interesting.”
It seems what happened is that Reginald was so repulsed by the adults his “kids” grew into that he chose not to adopt any of them in 1989, and instead selected seven other kids. We know one of them is Ben, who was dead, so Reginald didn’t encounter him at the dinner, even though he was there in ghost form. In this new reality, Ben is the new #1. Fans will have to wait and see who the rest are, as their identities haven’t even been revealed in the comics yet. Could Lily be one of them?
Also, I wonder if Harlan Cooper (Justin Paul Kelly) has anything to do with them. This new crew is called the Sparrow Academy, instead of the Umbrella Academy, and Harlan, who is shown to still have some psychokinetic powers at the end of the last episode, was always playing with a small red wooden bird. Was he the inspiration for the new moniker?
Sadly, we likely have a long wait until we see what happens next to all (and I do mean ALL) of the Hargreeves.
Check back for updates on ‘The Umbrella Academy’ as they arrive.
Source: Cinema Blend
