#or diego trying to get allison to vent out her frustration | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

matuk-art · 2 years

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(Same anon as the one about the emotions)

Can we also talk about the fact that half the sparrows died really early in the season and their siblings didn't seemed to care, I mean they lived in the same house for like 30 years even if they considered themselves more as a team than a family that was odd, also Luther ready to betray his family for a woman he met two days ago (as he said to her), and everyone acting as if Diego acted like a great father when he basically constantly pushed away the kid who was supposed to be his son, even saying that he has most important things to deal with than him, like ok (tbh it seemed quite ooc for Diego to act like that) and also Diego literally forbidding Lila to fight because she's pregnant and restraining her basically not respecting her choice, like I get it, he wants to protect her and the baby and she should be careful but the way he acted was a bit too much, and it gave me bad vibes. Again, I won't talk about Allison

And honestly the worst is the weird vibes and inc*sty stuff, like stop with this already pls, that made me so uncomfortable, I honestly think that the writers are so wrong for this, why are they writing all of these romantic relationships between these people, and also why did they make Five fight with a n*ked lila, like that basically his "sister-in-law" in the show, like I know that n*ked doesn't equal anything s*x*** but that was still weird. And more importantly Aidan is a teenager and Ritu a grown woman !!!

I'm so sorry for ranting in your asks honestly, there still a lot of things I liked about the new season but I needed to vent about it a little bit, I'm sorry if that gave you negative energy....

Diego's arc is incredibly frustrating for me. Firstly because it didn't mean anything, it didn’t get us anywhere!! Arggghh and secondly because ironically Diego had been a better father figure or protector in previous seasons (S1 with klaus, ej). With Stan he did a pretty lame job. All the time I was thinking: poor baby Stan with such bad parents. Haha.

I have no strong opinion on the fact that Diego forbade Lila to fight while she was pregnant. I am not for or against. And to be honest, I as an overprotective and aggressively prepotent person, who commonly thinks that everyone is making stupid decisions regarding their existence, would not have allowed a woman I love to put herself at risk during a pregnancy either. But obviously it is not my place to decide for anyone!! Diego is a flawed but sensitive man, so I do understand his position but I don't necessarily approve.

Honestly, I can't care less about the couples and all the decisions that the writers make regarding the subject, I try not to give them a lot of thought, because as I mentioned before, I think the TUA writers do not do a great job writing the romance. I'd say they do a pretty mediocre job. The only times I ever bought the credibility of a romance is when the couple is already established (ray/Allison, klaus/dave S2, Eudora/diego)

AND just as I don't care about couples, I don't care about the incestuous relationships either. I have no problem with any of the ships bc they all bore me to death haha, honestly, and I think that everyone has the right to imagine fictional characters in the situations they please. It's not like someone is getting hurt.

It does make me very uncomfortable, however, the weird vibes between five and the handler, and in this season, between five and lila. I think both relationships are mirrored. I can't believe people didn't notice how off their scenes were (as they were with the handler), I don't know if they have a hard time reading the subtone or have no clue of how film language works. I seriously have the urge to isolate a couple of frames and sequences and showing them out of context so they can witness the obvious suggestive tone deliberately set by whoever wrote the script and directed the scene. But, come on!, naked Lila fighting??? Jesus

It could be the hypocrisy in the fandom. Some condemn, block, cancel any fan who refers to Five as attractive or sexy, but for some reason they have no problem with Lila referring to him that way ???? It's frustrating. Similarly with the incestuous couples. I KINDA understand the outrage over Luther/Allison, sure, they were raised as siblings, but the fact that they find Luther/Sloane so disgusting and for some reason have no problem with Lila/Diego is incredibly disconcerting to me. Beyond the fact that Lila has a different last name, it seems to me that both relationships took place in quite similar circumstances. They weren't raised together, neither of them. Andd at the end of the day ALL children with powers are siblings (whether they have the same last name or not), because they were born on the same day and conceived from the same source. Source that is Reginald himself. I think the fandom makes very impartial judgments, based on very strange, contradictory and not very objective or even fair criteria. I think we should leave each other alone, to enjoy the series as we each please.

#tua s3 spoilers #im responding to everyone just give me time #sorry for the delay

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phoenixes-and-wizards · 4 years

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little things i never want to forget about the hargreeves:

all of them used to defy their father, sneak out to griddy’s, and in five’s own words “eat donuts until we puked. simpler times, eh?”

luther wrote poetry while he was on the moon, especially about comets

tom hopper and the UA crew have said that the scratches all over luther’s body were made by him. he couldn’t stand the loneliness, especially during that first year, and would often resort to harming himself as a way to vent his frustration

it’s also pretty likely that he's had body dysmorphia at one point or another

he also has a habit of stress eating

diego almost became a detective, but he dropped out because he wasn't good at following orders. he even went to police academy!!!

diego has the cross stitch grace made specifically for him on the wall of his basement apartment, and in a frame no less

he’s also a big-ass momma’s boy

and he’s the only one grace calls “silly” as a term of endearment

and he has a fear of needles due to getting that tattoo when they were kids (y’all know which one i’m talking about)

plus his stutter only comes out when he's under extreme emotional stress

and a close rewatch of 1X03 shows that his bedroom had an overflowing abundance of books so what if him and ben used to bond over that😭

allison speaks seven languages

she told her daughter about her siblings, and claire obviously knew them well enough that she was calling them "uncle” and “aunty,” and that last one is especially heartwarming because this was around the time that vanya’s book had just come out, and yet, allison--who has the option of never telling claire about her--still does, and even explains why she wasn’t allowed to go on missions

klaus was smoking blunts at fourteen

klaus was clutching dave’s dogtags right before five teleported all of them to the past

and i’ve noticed that he has a habit of doing that in general in season 2, especially when he’s feeling kind-of low, but sometimes it’s also an unconscious habit and that’s cute, too

klaus would write the things the dead would say to him, all over his bedroom wall

klaus has a habit of going barefoot whenever he’s at home

five was the only person vanya felt comfortable enough with to present new violin pieces to

five outright says that everything he’s done so far was to get back to his family and keep them safe

@me-evil-never wrote in the tags: “five has watched his family die/be dead like 3 times if i’m counting correctly (YES YOU ARE AND IT’S A PAINFUL FACT WE MUST ALL LIVE WITH), plus all he has ever done in his life since age 13 was to get back to them so he could spend time safely with them” and YES I AGREE why would you hide such an excellent point in the tags because, sometimes, even i forget that it’s only been two weeks for him, and they’re probably the roughest he’s had since being stuck in the apocalypse as an actual child, and idk about you guys, but i just really want to give five a big hug because lord knows he deserves needs it

allison used to paint klaus' nails during meals

and was apparently a daddy’s girl, though how one could become a “daddy’s girl” if the father in question was reginald hargreeves is beyond my capacity to understand

ben was reading chekhov as early as 14

ben was a bookworm, both in life and death

vanya had the smallest room

vanya openly called ben the kindest of their siblings in her book, and said that when he died, none of them had any more reason to stay

before he left, diego gave reggie a piece of his mind

all of them know how to dance

they all know how to speak and read greek (ancient fucking greek, as one of you oh-so-eloquently put it)

vanya knows how to speak russian and god knows how many other languages

(by this point i'm really convinced they're all multilingual and there just hasn't been an opportunity for them to utilize that yet)

she also has a mr. snuggles teddy bear

according to klaus, vanya used to cry when the others would step on ants as kids

klaus is pansexual

he also dated twins once (though i’m not sure if he dated one then the other or both at the exact same time)

and has mild claustrophobia from being locked up in mausoleums all the time as a child

diego swore a pinky promise with lila and called it “the pinkiest promise” he’d ever make, and even though he’s a hard-ass who won’t hesitate to cut anybody in half, he’s still at his gentlest when he’s around her and he doesn’t even try to hide it

off her meds, vanya got first chair and a solo on her first try (as a violinist in a professional orchestra, lemme tell you that this is no easy feat to do)

she also seemed to have an affinity for bach (again--not easy!!)

even though he was barely starting puberty, ben was smart enough to reprogram allison's teddy bear to say "luther smells dad's underwear."

upon possessing klaus for a few minutes in season 2, ben could be seen clutching various flowers and smelling them repeatedly

klaus can actually levitate in the comics

according to @valkerymillenia, ghost!ben once saved klaus' life in the comics after he overdosed on heroin yet again

both klaus and diego repeatedly tried to open the lock to vanya's old anechoic chamber and were absolutely furious when luther wouldn't let them

diego called elliott "one of ours" despite knowing him for all of a week and a half

he also calls herb “herbie,” calmed him down after accidentally drawing a weapon on him, and created a secret handshake with him, all within two hours tops of meeting him

if one really thinks about it, diego is actually good with people? and that makes sense because he left the academy as early as seventeen, and he would’ve had to talk to a lot of people just to make ends meet that first year alone, and even though reggie tried to squash that part of him down, he’s still a good person at heart, you go prince of pointy things, make us all proud

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commissionspartybus · 4 years

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How to tell which sibling is The Impostor in Among Us:

Luther: Luther takes way too long to kill anybody, saying that he’s trying to make them trust him and it’s some 500 IQ play. With the exception of Diego, if you are in a room with him he will likely not kill you. If tasks are 75% done and there’s only two dead bodies then it’s Luther.

Diego: This bitch LOVES killing. You turn your back then BOOM knife in the back. Gets way too argumentative though when people suspect him and if he’s yelling at you then vote his ass out.

Allison: Does pile kills and always has a solid alibi, one that’s a bit too solid. Absolutely amazing at using the vents and dodges cameras like a pro. She gets frustrated as a crewmate though, so anytime she seems content then vote her out because she is an IMPOSTOR.

Klaus: Self reports, forgets about cameras and points fingers at everyone. Tricky thing though is that Klaus also does the third thing when he is a crewmate, so without the first two you really gotta be careful. Saves Diego and Ben for last out of respect. If those two are surviving then get this motherfuckers ASS.

Five: If things seem to be going too well it’s Five. If Five is the last person on your list you’d suspect then it’s Five. If Five said something totally unrelated that leads to people arguing over who’s sus without him in the mix then it’s Five.

Ben: ALWAYS sabotages the lights. Always. He will camp out in vents waiting for the Perfect Time. He will get Klaus to play third impostor without him even knowing it and will use the dead card. Ben Will Play Dirty.

Vanya: She’ll feign ignorance on how to play. “How do I do this task?” She asks, five seconds after gutting Luther and venting to electrical, “I’m sorry I forget so much :(”

#tua #The Umbrella Academy #among us #luther hargreeves #diego hargreeves #Allison Hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #number five #five hargreeves #ben hargreeves #vanya hargreeves

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mellifluousoctopus · 3 years

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I decided to make a character analysis post about my observations of the tv show and what i know about the comics. I’ve bolded my main points.

abuse TW, canon incest mentioned

On Diego

Diego is often mischaracterized as gruff, insensitive, resentful of all his family, abrasive and rude. Especially towards Vanya. But in reality he’s big softie, although a less emotional one than Luther. Diego hides his feelings and vents them in other ways. No matter how visibly present they are, his has a disdain for his emotions. Maybe because they are so present. He feels very strongly. (anger and love being a very easily seen example) Reginald is cold and calculating and emotion is a blindness on the battle field as well as a liability to be manipulated by Reginald and by others. Diego hates his emotions not only to appear competent in his fathers eyes but to also hide from Reginald’s wrath. No doubt that boxing and vigilantism are whats keeping him from going insane.

He will try to deny it but his father’s teachings have big bearing of who he is now. The duty of the strong to protect the weak, vigilantism, striving to to hone and train your powers and body so that you are useful a better hero. These are ideals that Diego has taken from his upbringing and we see him live by even so much as to abandon all reason and try to save a doomed man at the price of the timeline. This devotion to the teachings of his father despite Diego’s resent of him, is an ironic circle of his father’s manipulation that birth his hero complex.

He does everything that Reginald instilled in them with the same subconscious motive. He is in confliction with his own emotions and his own motivation. Diego’s strive to be something in his fathers eyes as compared to Luther, who was seemingly given extra attention and praise. As Vanya wrote in her book, they were all starved for attention, but Diego was in such close proximity to Luther, that the extra weight attention that Luther had was in stark contrast to Reginald’s neglect. This explains both his obsession with the numbering system and his connection with Grace. In an attempt to be noticed by his father and to prove himself upon comparison to Number One. Diego pushed himself harder and harder towards more and and more impossible standards of what he thought would achieve his father’s love. But Reginald has no love and Diego broke. He began to resent Reginald and what he believed was a rank system. Before the dinner we find that Diego still believes that number is associated with rank. He appoints them as Team Zero, because the number one/number two bullshit would divide them in the face of Reginald. There is no proof that any of the others believed in the rank system.( Luther obvious believes that he is the leader, but in no way does he use his false authority as a palanquin over the other others.)

Grace supplemented Diego the attention that he lacked from his father. To all the children she was fair, gentle, calm, and understanding. She was a guiding hand and beacon of love in a cold and isolating household. To Diego she was salvation. A chance at be given love and support that he so obviously was missing. Grace probably spent more time with Diego. Both from the boy’s own choosing and from the duties given to her by Reginald, A cold, commandeering, traditionalist. Diego’s stuttered was stamped out of him out of him by all means. While corrections and punishment would come at anytime, Diego’s real speech therapy most likely given out by Grace, who is the only governess the children the remember and is seen reciting tips to him when he struggled. This extra attention validated Diego and strengthened his connection with Grace. This connection opened his eyes a bit faster to Reginald’s narcissism. Grace is Diego’s mother, she is the only thing in his life that provides unconditional love. He has seen her beyond Reginald’s programming. Seen her think and feel. Shes a person him. A person that Reginald mistreats as severely as he does the children. He treats her like an object despite her humanity and she is oblivious to Reginald’s abuse of her and the others. It makes him hate Reginald even more. Grace’s treatment is confirmation of Reginald’s. He wants to save her, but until he can he will hate Reginald for her.

As I’ve said before Luther, Diego, and Allison were the golden trio, the jocks, the children which Reginald placed most of his attention as they were the first 3 and therefore the three most manipulable. Like Luther, Diego’s emotions and his powers (which require Reginald’s shaping to be a more than average threat) earned him the title of second useful.

Diego was the third wheel among the 3. When he first began training Diego was most likely like Luther. Eager to learn, eager to help, however he was most likely motivated by fitting his father’s expectation. Later on trying to exceed his fathers expectations in order to compete with Luther. Luther was his rubric, but as it become more and more frustrating to become equal to him in his father’s eyes as well as more and more apparent that Grace was tool rather than a person Diego began to hate Reginald. Luther refused to see their father’s cruelty and Diego began questioning authority as result of this blindness. He saw Allison in a similar light. At this point she was self absorbed denier according to Diego and both Luther and Allison’s relationship (they were not subtle) reduced them to moon-eyed freaks. further fueling Diego’s self isolation and defiance.

Saving Klaus is saving people. To Diego, Klaus is a civilian that should not be. They are a victim much like Grace and their(Diego and Klaus’) siblings are to Reginald, but they have the ability to do more. Klaus is representive of Diego’s frustration with the inabilty to respond to the academy’s greater purpose.

Diego shed tears on his missing brother, but there were few good memories behind it. Five is a self assured asshole, he’s pretentious and spends little time with the siblings (except maybe with Vanya). He’s also able get to dads attention with little effort which Diego wants. His powers allow him shortcuts too. Diego was bound to be jealous and feel slighted. Diego does not instigate competition with Five because Five does not bathe in the attention nor acknowledge it. Diego also thinks the attention is less of something he compete with as such attention comes from the meeting of minds.

Ben was a great friend. They had quiet and limited friendship, though as there was a rift between their motivations. As much as both hated how they were used by Reginald, Diego focused on Reginald and his experiments rather than the powers and crime fighting (which was where Ben directed his ire) but they had great times.As we know Ben and Diego played at least one prank on Allison as children however it is implied that this was a common occurrence. These pranks could have been a form of rebellion or simple play by them that didn’t involve their powers or Reginald. I’ve chosen to believe that Ben was actually a large part of these pranks creating them and doing a lot of heavy work with them, and that Diego was the enabler, willing to help, and coming up with wackier and wackier ideas. Luther, Allison, and Five were the likely targets because they were the ones that refused to have fun on their own time, or chose to eat out of Reginald’s palm.

A lot of people think that Diego hates Vanya, for some reason. He doesn’t. He loves her. She’s his (little) sister. She sweet and timid. And she’s an innocent and a bystander to the teams greater responsibility to the innocent. When Hazel and Cha-Cha broke in, Diego is mad at Vanya for being there. Not because she’s there but because she is unable to protect herself. She has no training and she is at very very dangerous site. She is still his (little) sister and he still is obsessed with protecting the innocent. The reason people think he hates her is he feels betrayed by her. He is short and sharp, but that’s his defense. It keeps her away and keeps him from showing any other emotions. To him, she first banked on their trauma. Not only is this grossly upsetting and violating. Having all your scars presented in a public sphere is wrong especially without your consent, especially when you refuse to be vulnerable. The book is also dramatic from Diego’s point of view. Diego shuts down any extra emotion that isn’t rage. In his mind Vanya should have dealt with it and kept dirty laundry unaired or at least have been direct in her grievances, especially since she had nothing to complain about. He (and the others) believed that Vanya had it the easiest. She has no training, she was not put in the ways of violence, he believes she was never subjected to experiment. She is ordinary. She has no greater responsibility. She should be fine. His distrust is granted and validated in the second season. Born of further betrayal and fear. Vanya has gone against Diego’s raison d‘etre, she has also wiped out entirety of earth and after years of underestimating her. Shock and distrust, (but not despise) are bound to arise.

#diego hargreeves #the kraken #tua #The umbrella academy #character analysis #analysis #ik this is super over due #the one on #luther #is already out #reginald hargreeves #grace hargreeves

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rappaccini · 4 years

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idk i like to think that the dynamics between the siblings changed throughout their childhood. i mean... they would? your relationships to people change as you get older, and it’s important to acknowledge that.

and it’s more interesting to assume that the siblings had evolving preferences for one another. that at one point, diego and vanya actually got along, that at another point in time, ben and luther were close. obviously they would forget most of this, being young children when it happened, but it Did Happen.

and it also makes who they favor now more impactful, because it hadn’t Always Been That Way, and it’s a reflection of how much they’ve changed.

and so i guess here are my hella biased thoughts on who favored who when:

so initially, given that... toddlers are toddlers, they all tend to meld together without much preference.

there’s only so much they could have been logistically expected to train. most of their toddler education would’ve probably been based in behavior and not killing yourself with your powers, rather than physical practice.

age 4-6: just after vanya gets rumored and loses all awareness of her powers, when training really starts, and they’re getting used to their new reality. they’re very young children and would have very little memory of this time in their lives as adults, so there’s also a lot of leeway in terms of who favored who. this is largely a ref to their relationships in the comics, but i’m arranging them as such:

luther and ben.

two boys who want to please, whose powers are based on brute strength, who would’ve spent a lot of time training together, and having to come to terms with that training, together.

allison and five.

lil attention monsters who are desperate for validation, but cleverer and more reliant on their intelligence to get to it.

who also need to be brought to heel fast before their powers enable them to either escape the house altogether or become completely uncontrollable.

diego and vanya.

the one getting excluded to force him to try extra hard for approval, and the one who’s just gotten kicked out of the group and doesn’t understand why.

she believes she’s Just Ordinary, but she still has memories of being included, and they don’t add up.

initially, in that beginning period where vanya was Suddenly Excluded and didn’t know why, she’d have been very angry about it.

that sense of sadness and self-blame has to have time to set in, and before it does, she’s going to be very angry. and diego being diego, is probably going to encourage that anger.

in order to get diego to be so hungry for family approval, he has to lose it, so reg rejects him and throws him in a similar boat with vanya. while similarly isolated, and angry about the new status quo, he bonds with her for a while.

and then, after enough time has passed to have left diego lonely, uncertain and desperate for approval, reginald comes in and tells him that, being Number Two, he has to prove himself by working extra hard and supplanting number one.

ultimately, that drove a wedge between them, and led to diego’s outright abandonment of her as he got older. he had to choose between being friendly with vanya and having the approval of his father and the rest of the group, and he chose the latter. and that was that.

i like to think, for the sake of adding a bit of depth to the relationship, that vanya might’ve been diego’s first crush, and vice versa. it didn’t go anywhere, and won’t, but it was there, and maybe as adults they vaguely remember it.

and that diego’s tendency to bully vanya, in addition to being a way to vent his own anxieties and frustrations on someone who can’t stand up against him, has a vestigial element of ‘‘i’m ashamed that i used to be so close to the lowest member on the family totem pole. but hey, look at how much i dislike her now! see? i don’t like her too! i’m not like her! i belong! i’m not weak!’’

and klaus on his own, but not necessarily isolated.

he probably just drifted freely between the groups. he’s got the kind of personality for that to work.

had his fun with luther and ben, played dress-up with allison, joked around with five and diego. didn’t have much in common with vanya, but didn’t outright ignore her yet.

age 8-10: training ramps up before the debut, and they resort themselves according to their father’s assignment of them. probably around the time when they get their names, and five rejects his.

luther, allison and five.

the ones who are confident, who have an excellent grip on their powers, who want to succeed and prove themselves. the golden children, who have egos to satisfy if they’re going to be kept in line.

diego, ben and klaus.

the ones who are less passionate, who are less in-control, and still have to tag along.

after a while, ben’s fear of his powers led him and luther to branch off from each other, and led ben closer to klaus, who is similarly fearful. and, as i already mentioned, diego left vanya behind to try and fit in, but because of the nature of how reg manipulated him, he never quite will.

klaus still drifted a lot, still got along well enough with everyone, and still ignored vanya, but he’s starting to develop some worrying habits that are going to put most of them off.

and diego, being definitively Below Allison And Luther and definitively Above Vanya, needs to feel like he can have some command over someone, or that interacting with some of his siblings won’t lead to social consequence. ben and klaus are that. they’re not a threat to him in the way that allison, luther and five are. he can have fun with them and he won’t be punished for it the way he would have been with vanya.

vanya on her own.

completely isolated, only seeing her siblings at mealtimes and when she’s asked to assist in training. starting to get into the violin. losing that initial anger, which has rotted into bitterness, and been directed inwards at herself.

age 11-13: they’ve debuted to the public. they’re regularly going out and being put into life-and-death situations. they now know What The Academy Is. they’re also hitting puberty.

luther and allison.

the remaining golden children, now that five’s switched priorities, who are determined to keep their status.

... crushing hard and trying to act on it.

diego and klaus.

the one who isn’t enough no matter how hard he tries, and the one who doesn’t want to participate. they’re both bitter, and disillusioned but still obligated to join in.

diego, for his part, still wants to.

they’re more prone to lash out/engage in wild behavior for the sake of rebellion, even though they ultimately fall into line. probably start sneaking out together, going to places they shouldn’t, doing things they shouldn’t, covering for each others’ risky behavior.

ben, five and vanya. the quieter, nerdier ones.

ben’s interests align with five and vanya’s better than they do diego and klaus, so he’d probably prefer them at this point in time. he probably still gets along with all the others fairly well.

five is over the academy, and he’s starting to rebel.

the vanya separation policy, if anything, makes her a more alluring option to confide in, because it’ll piss dad off.

then he gets to know her, and his preteen heart goes doki doki and he starts getting close to her for a Very Different Reason that he himself hasn’t figured out.

and vanya, similarly in the throes of puberty, similarly developing Certain Feelings and needing an outlet for them, suddenly has someone who is interested in her, who cares about her, who listens to her, who happens to be a handsome, confident boy.

five and vanya, slowly circling the same conclusion luther and allison already came to. they’re not There Yet when five leaves, but they’re pretty damn close, and had he not gone, they’d have probably split off from ben and gotten there.

after age 13, probably to about 17/18: the relationships get a bit more complex, as they tend to do with age. the academy’s heyday is behind it, and they’re all starting to rebel and express their individuality in their own ways. it’s only a matter of time before the academy breaks up for good, and everyone but luther knows it.

luther and diego’s rivalry heats up. especially on diego’s end.

luther and allison remain close, and those feelings are still there, and now that they know what they are and that they can’t act on them because of reginald’s rules, they’re a lot more nervous around each other.

luther tolerates klaus’s eccentricities, and klaus doesn’t seek luther out much. that’s the extent of their relationship.

diego keeps bonding with klaus: that sense of non-competition is still there, and the rebellious shit they did when they were younger continues and intensifies. also, add a dose of sexual tension.

the band, if it hasn’t started already, happens between the two of them.

we have to make vanya’s isolation consistent, so her saying that she was left alone by everyone but five, yet being in a teen emo band with her brother... doesn’t add up. therefore, she can’t be a part of it in show-tua. diego’s emo band is with someone else. that someone is most likely to be klaus.

(see: the guitar he was fooling around with in ep 1. what’s it for and why is it here?)

+ his personality is... very extroverted and he’d probably be down for it

+ .... going to gigs is a way to get drugs

salt in vanya’s isolation wound: vanya, music lover, wants to join and has all these ideas about how to help, and she’s rejected by them.

diego and allison are constantly trading barbs at each other, but have moments of occasional camaraderie. probably over how they’re increasingly getting angrier and angrier with their father, and want to leave home.

allison and klaus are prone to spending a great deal of time bonding over traditionally feminine activities (see, painting each others nails as seen in vanya’s book).

they always have a more emotionally intimate bond (see, holding each other after being tattooed), but they spend more time together as they get older and begin expressing their individuality, and find they have a lot in common re: their personal styles and interests.

ben is friendly with everyone.

luther and allison are fond of ben in a protective way, diego chugs too much toxic masculinity juice every morning to admit that he feels the same, but that big soft bitch does.

klaus enjoys his company when they’re together, but for the sake of better dramatic progression, they aren’t That Close, until after ben dies and has no choice but to stay with him, bond with him, come to deeply understand him, and fall for him.

there’s a reason why his death has to break the family, and it works best if everyone had some kind of positive relationship to him. and bc ben’s death Breaks The Family, it’s probably around the time diego mentions he ran away, at 17.

could diego have left before ben died? sure, and man it’d be juicy for him to be dealing with a suppressed sense of ‘if i had been there, would he have lived’ but right now we’ll just assume otherwise.

it’s the cleanest way to break the family up all at once: Ben Dies, on a mission or in another way (tbh i prefer the idea that he might have committed suicide or accidentally overdosed on some of klaus’s drugs), and the fallout from his death triggered the academy breakup.

vanya has very little interaction with anyone.

luther is formal with vanya. she’s his sister, but not a member of the team, and since luther always has to be Number One, he can’t be too close to her. he’s polite, and not mean, but he doesn’t seek her out or show her much affection. he cares for her, but distantly.

diego goes out of his way to bully her. she’s the lowest ranked member of the family, and an easy target when he needs to feel better about his own inadequacies.

allison ignores vanya mostly, but whenever they interact, allison’s snapping at her. occasionally, vanya’s girlness outweighs the rest, but those instances of bonding are few and far between, and always with a layer of ‘well it’s not like i have any other option than to do this with you’ attached to it.

klaus totally ignores her. steals a few skirts. steals her room.*

*this is a probably mistake with the sets, but if it isn’t, then the simplest answer to ‘where did vanya sleep’ is that vanya was probably sent to boarding school, like she was in the comics (in show-tua, probably around when she’s 14-18. after five leaves, before ben dies).

and that she stayed at school during shorter breaks, and was sent to some kind of summer camp over the summer, and only occasionally was allowed to come home.

if this was the case klaus probably absorbs her room into his while she’s gone, and she returns for a few days, and finds out about that. which would make the ‘rejection’ flashback especially meaningful, because it isn’t just ‘ben said ‘go away’ to me once,’ but ‘i came home and all my things were gone, and my bedroom was taken by klaus. he knew i would be coming back, but he didn’t care, and he wasn’t guilty about it at all, and even ben didn’t have a problem with it.’

also, the especially juicy idea that ben dies while vanya’s away at school, and that she spent years being guilty that she wasn’t there to turn the lights on to wait for five is just a real interesting prospect that i think could be great to explore.

plus the additional resentment from both ends: the kids are all envious of vanya getting to go to Actual School with Actual Teenagers, and getting to be away from their father (Look How Easy She Has It), while all vanya wants is to be allowed to come home.

ben gives vanya the time of day, and is rarely rude to her, but that’s about it. he was friendly with her because five was friendly with her, and now that five’s gone, that relationship doesn’t have much weight anymore.

maybe there’s some mutual romantic attraction there, but if it’s there, it’s very, very subtle, and likely unconscious. it’s not going to be acted on, or even realized before ben’s dead and it’s Too Late.

and then of course, ben dies, the academy fractures, diego runs away, allison books it to hollywood, and everyone goes their separate ways, and that’s that.

#harkids #tua hc #viego #fiveya #alluther #kliego #horrance

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tomeandflickcorner · 4 years

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Umbrella Academy Rewatch 1x06

1x01 1x02 1x03 1x04 1x05

Well, it’s time to buckle your seatbelts, as we’re over halfway through. And there’s now only three days left to stop the apocalypse.

This episode starts off with the explanation of what went on during Klaus’ accidental trip to 1968. When he unwittingly used the time traveling briefcase at the end of episode 4, he was whisked back to Vietnam, right in the middle of the Vietnam War. Specifically an army encampment’s sleeping quarters located in A Shau Valley. Seconds after his arrival, he gets thrown right into things, being dragged along with a squadron getting shipped off to the front lines. One of the soldiers, a young man named Dave, takes notice of Klaus’ dumbfoundedness and reaches out to him, assuring him that he’ll adjust to how crazy things are. We then get a montage of Klaus and Dave getting closer, culminating in them forming a romantic relationship. (Which was a risky endeavor in itself. Unless I’m mistaken, back in the 1960s, Klaus and Dave would have faced being discharged or even court-marshaled if their relationship was found out.)

Back in the present day, Klaus is seen discarding his pills in the toilet, indicating that he’s going to try to stay sober. It’s possible he’s taken what Diego said last episode to heart and figured that, if he stops using drugs to stay high, he might be able to see Dave’s ghost. But as Klaus tries to settle in for his withdrawal to start, Luther pokes his head into the bathroom, just about ordering him to come downstairs for an emergency family meeting. When Klaus complies, joining Allison, Luther and Diego downstairs, they start discussing the approaching apocalypse, which is scheduled to occur in three days, and how Hazel and Cha-Cha had been after Number 5 because he was trying to prevent it. Luther also admits that, according to Number 5, they all died in their attempt to stop the apocalypse the first time around.

At Hazel and Cha-Cha’s motel room, they receive word that the termination against Number 5 has been lifted, meaning he’s cleared things up with The Commission. Cha-Cha is not pleased that Number 5 seemingly got off so easily. She starts venting that they need to do better on their next job, so The Commission will still see them as valuable. This leads to an argument between her and Hazel, as Hazel is getting tired of the constant flow of assignment after assignment. The argument ends with Hazel walking out, stating he’s heading for the vending machines. After he leaves, Cha-Cha receives another message from The Commission. Upon reading it, she sees she’s been ordered to terminate Hazel.

Meanwhile, Number 5 and The Handler have arrived back at The Commission's headquarters. Number 5 is eager to discuss the details about how his siblings will be kept safe, and how he can get restored to his actual age, but The Handler insists he be patient. Instead, she shows him to his new office. In the process, we get to see a bit more of how The Commission operates. Basically, each major event in history is assigned to a case manager. Field agents on the ground are tasked with making sure the event will happen as it should. Whenever an individual seems to be making a decision that could prevent that event from happening as it should, the field agent sends a report to the case manager, who decides what must be done to remove the problem individual from the equations, with orders being sent to temporal assassins like Hazel and Cha-Cha. Number 5 asks which case manager was assigned to the apocalypse, so The Handler introduces him to Dot. As his first task as a case manager for The Commission, Number 5 is assigned to the Hindenburg Disaster.

Back at the Umbrella Academy mansion, Vanya stops by with Leonard, with the intention of inviting her siblings to her first concert as first chair. However, Vanya is not too happy when she finds Luther, Diego, Allison and Klaus discussing the apocalypse, angry that they’re having a family meeting without her. Allison assures her that she’ll fill her in later, but to no avail, as Vanya is convinced that her siblings are jerks for always leaving her out, and she storms off. Leonard follows after her, but then states he forgot his jacket and goes back for it. But it turns out this was just a ploy for him to steal a figurine of Reginald Hargreeves from a display case containing action figures of the Umbrella Academy Siblings.

Back with the other Haegreeves Siblings, Allison tries to go after Vanya to either explain or apologize. But Luther stops her, saying there’s no time for that as they need to determine what exactly will cause the apocalypse. He theorizes it might have something to do with the moon, since Reginald must have sent him up there for a reason, so he intends to try and find out where Reginald stored all the research he’d been sent from Luther’s mission on the moon. Diego and Klaus, however, are not on board. Klaus points out that they apparently failed at stopping the apocalypse the first time, so why would they have any more luck this time? What’s the point of even trying? And Diego insists on going after Hazel and Cha-Cha, announcing that if he’s going to die anyway in three days time, he wants to make sure that Detective Patch is avenged before then. Allison also elects to not even try, since they have no hope if they don’t have the full force of the the Umbrella Academy Siblings on board. So, if there’s no hope left, she just wants to take advantage of the time she has left to be with her daughter, Claire, regardless of whatever custody restrictions there are.

Elsewhere, Vanya and Leonard are heading down the street, with Vanya venting angrily about her frustrations towards her siblings. After a few moments of this, Leonard interrupts her rant to direct her attention to the section of street they’ve just walked down. All the streetlamps they passed have been bent, and the parked cars’ alarms are going off. Leonard suggests that Vanya might have been responsible for the damage, but Vanya insists that’s impossible. After all, she’s just the ordinary one. She doesn’t have any special powers.

We then briefly cut back to the Umbrella Academy mansion, with Diego getting ready to head out after Hazel and Cha-Cha. He asks Klaus to help him with his bootlaces, as Diego’s arm is still up in a sling, having been injured in the last episode. Klaus agrees, as long as Diego agrees to tie him up afterwards, as Klaus is trying to sober up and wants to make sure he keeps up his resolve when the withdrawals hit.

Back with Number 5, he’s hard at work at The Commission. But it turns out he’s got ulterior motives, as he attempts to send a message through the pneumatic chutes. But The Handler stops him, announcing that’s not part of the procedure. Only Gloria is permitted to operate the pneumatic chutes. The Handler then looks at the scroll Number 5 was trying to send out, which ordered a hit on a man named Karl Weber, the owner of a butcher shop. Through a long, complected explanation, Number 5 explains that, with Karl’s death, the butcher shop will be passed on to his son, Otto. And since Otto doesn’t follow proper hand-washing procedures, the Hindenburg's captain, upon ordering his usual roast from the butcher shop in question, will develop food poisoning. Which will make him late for work and, in an effort to make up for lost time, he’d sail the Hindenburg right into a weather front, ensuring its inevitable explosion.

Of course, this is all just a clever ploy on Number 5′s part, as he manages to steal Dot’s case file on the apocalypse when the lunch bell rings. He tries to duck into the bathroom to read it in secret, but he’s once again interrupted by The Handler, who also steps into the bathroom. (Guessing its a unisex bathroom?). She goes on a long spiel about how one faulty cog can disrupt the whole system. And then, for some reason, she looks in at Number 5 over the door of his bathroom stall, inviting him to join her for lunch in her office. (Sheesh, lady! Ever hear of a thing called privacy?)

Hazel and Cha-Cha drive out into the middle of the woods. It seems that Cha-Cha told Hazel that The Commission sent word that their briefcase had been located out there. Of course, we can surmise this was all a ploy, as Cha-Cha plans on executing Hazel out here, so she can dispose of his body in the woods without breaking a sweat. After they’ve entered the woods, Hazel, seemingly oblivious to Cha-Cha’s secret orders to kill him, asks her if it would really be so bad if they didn’t find the briefcase. He suggests they should just try and settle down where they are and try and forge a new life for themselves. Cha-Cha reminds him that the world will essentially end in three days, but Hazel is not phased, suggesting they try and stop it. However, Cha-Cha is not swayed, stating they can only do what The Commission tells them to do, as there’s no way around it. She then raises her gun to shoot, with the screen fading to black. But then it’s revealed that Cha-Cha didn’t go through with it, simply driving them both back to their motel room, with Hazel offering to go get them some dinner from a Chinese restaurant.

Elsewhere, Luther is ransacking Reginald's old office, looking for the reports and samples he’d sent down from the moon. As he’s searching, Pogo enters the room, enabling Luther to question him about their whereabouts. Pogo initially seems reluctant, but upon Luther’s urging, he directs Luther to a hidden compartment beneath the floorboards. When Luther opens up the trapdoor, he finds, to his dismay, that Reginald had never even opened any of the reports he’d received. This leads to Luther having an emotional breakdown, believing that Reginald sent him up to the moon just to get him out of the way, and had believed he hadn’t been good enough to be Number 1 after all. Pogo tries to comfort him and offer him reassurance, but Luther turns him away, stating he just wants to be left alone.

On the other side of the mansion, Allison is packing her bags, getting ready to leave. As she packs, she comes across a locket that’s been engraved with the inscription ‘A+L.’ This leads to a flashback, where Young Luther and Young Allison had a secret late-night picnic in a secluded room in the mansion, where Luther had given her the locket as a present. They then begin to dance to a record player, only to be interrupted by Reginald, who forbids them from ever coming up there again.

While all this is going on, Diego is tying Klaus up, as he requested. Klaus admits that he’s trying to get sober enough to see the dead again, so he can see Dave. This leads to another bonding moment between the brothers, as Diego can relate to Klaus’ loss, having both lost Detective Patch and their mother, Grace. (Because Diego isn’t aware Pogo reactivated her yet.) But then, in a humorous moment, the moment Diego finishes tying up Klaus, he realizes that he needs to pee.

Back at Leonard’s place, he and Vanya discuss the possibility that Vanya had powers of her own that have been lying dormant all this time. Vanya is highly skeptical of the notion, stating that she would have been an active member of the Umbrella Academy if she had been special.

At The Commission, The Handler informs Number 5 that they’re already hard at work at constructing a new body for him. She then shows him her collection of items she’s secretly collected from various eras, such as a grenade from the Vietnam War and the very pistol Hitler used to kill himself. Number 5 takes a moment to admire the weapons before suggesting a change of protocol for The Commission, asking if it would be easier if case managers got to send their own messages instead of leaving it to Gloria. The Handler replies that Gloria had been with The Commission for years and is on the verge of making pension, so it would be a horrible thing to let her go. Besides, Gloria is well liked and people would not respond well to her dismissal Before more could be said, they are interrupted by Dot, who wants to discuss something with The Handler in private.

Allison checks up on Luther, stating she couldn’t get a flight to L.A. until later and plans on waiting at the airport for the next available seat, but couldn’t leave without saying goodbye. Luther informs her of his discovery of how Reginald never bothered to look at any of his moon research, indicating that their father didn’t care about what he was doing up on the moon. Luther now feels that he doesn’t have what it takes to stop the apocalypse, as it’s clear he doesn’t deserve to be the leader of the Umbrella Academy Siblings. To try and cheer him up, Allison brings Luther up to the room where they’d tried to have their late-night picnic, with them finding their makeshift tent is still standing. They then try to drink the sodas they never got to drink, which have naturally gone bad. However, Luther notices Allison is now wearing the locket he’d given her. They decide to spend a little more time together before Allison leaves for her flight.

Back at the motel, Cha-Cha is burning the order she’d received to kill Hazel, having decided to not go through with it. She then heads over to Griddy’s Donuts, where she catches Hazel visiting Agnes. It’s clear this discovery doesn’t sit well with her.

Klaus, meanwhile, has finished his bathroom break. But when Diego is preparing to tie him up again, Klaus begins to have second thoughts, saying he’d like one last hit before getting tied up. But Diego is not having it, forcing Klaus into the chair and proceeding to tie up the struggling Klaus. In desperation, Klaus offers to help conjure up Detective Patch for him, but Diego insists he doesn’t want to see her until he can tell her he took out the people who killed her. Before departing, Diego gives Klaus a bucket, saying that if he needs to pee again, he can just use that. When Klaus is left alone, he has a flashback to his final moments in the Vietnam War. During a fierce battle, Dave was hit by enemy gunfire and mortally wounded. In desperation, Klaus called out for a medic, but no help arrived, and Dave died in his arms.

Before Diego steps out, he is shocked to see Grace walking around. Only she doesn’t seem to remember anything that happened throughout the week, although, she also notices Pogo lurking in the background, so it’s possible she was only pretending to throw him off the scent. Grace then states it seems like a perfect day to go to the park. Diego reminds her that Reginald never let her off the grounds, but Grace retorts that Reginald isn’t around anymore. So Diego agrees to take her to the park. When they reach the park, Diego states that Reginald was wrong to keep her cooped up in the mansion. Grace then admits that Pogo and her have been lying to them all about something.

As for Luther and Allison, they are still spending their time together, until Allison decides it’s time she left to catch her plane. But as she starts to walk off, Luther runs after her, asking her to dance with him. They then begin to dance, with the scene giving them an imaginary dress change. As their dance ends, they end up kissing and confessing their true feelings for one another (icky, icky, ewwy WEIRD!!!!). Allison then suggests they fly out to L.A. to see Claire together.

Klaus, in turn, starts coming out of his drug withdrawal, achieving sobriety at last. As such, he is able to see Dave’s smiling ghost standing over him, a sight that visibly elates him.

Leonard and Vanya are about to head off to bed together. But when Leonard steps out of the room to takes some clothes down to the laundry room, Vanya leans over to pick up a stray sock up off the floor. In the process, she finds Reginald’s journal under Leonard’s bed. When she starts to read it, she discovers that Reginald actually knew she had an unfathomably powerful ability, but had decided that it must be kept a secret, and had started giving her her medication in order to keep her sedated and her powers under lock and key.

As the episode comes to a close, Number 5 overhears Dot telling Gloria that The Handler knows he’s up to something, and that she has to get a message to Hazel and Cha-Cha immediately. Before Gloria can reach the pneumatic chutes, however, Number 5 jumps her,knocking her out and stealing the message she was about to send off, which turn out to be instructions to protect a man called Harold Jenkins. Taking this information as a new lead in his ultimate mission to stop the apocalypse, Number 5 beings to execute an escape attempt. First, we get the revelation that Number 5 was the one who sent Cha-Cha the order to kill Hazel, which she appears to have gone through with after seeing him with Agnes, as she sneaks up on him in the shower and fires off a few bullets through the shower curtain. But it’s then revealed that Number 5 also sent a separate order to Hazel, which he’d received when he visited the motel vending machine. Hazel’s order was to kill Cha-Cha. But Hazel was planning to ignore it, until he saw Cha-Cha’s attempt to kill him. He wasn’t actually in the shower, but had set things up to look that way to trick Cha-Cha. When he catches her trying to kill him, Hazel comes up behind her and knocks her out.

After Number 5 sent out those orders, The Handler confronts him, and a gun battle begins between them, with Number 5 managing to dodge out of the way of her bullets with his teleport ability. Before long, The Handler runs out of bullets. Taking advantage of this, Number 5 takes her out with one of her own grenades. He then steals a briefcase from the storage room, destroying the others in the proceeds. Number 5 uses the stolen briefcase to travel back in time to the start of the episode, arriving at the Umbrella Academy mansion right after Vanya stormed out in annoyance over being excluded from the family meeting. He announces to Luther, Allison, Diego and Klaus that they have a new lead. To prevent the apocalypse, they have to find and stop Harold Jenkins.

Final Observations/Questions:

Who is Harold Jenkins?

So everything that happened in this episode, with Klaus becoming sober enough to see Dave again, Diego being reunited with Grace and helping her be able to set foot outside the mansion for the first time and Luther and Allison being able to get together, not to mention Vanya finding her father’s journal that revealed she actually had powers this whole time, never happened because Number 5 essentially hit the reset button on the entire day. Well, that stinks. (Though I’m not exactly comfortable with Luther and Allison being romantically entwined, seeing as they’re adopted siblings. That’s still a bit too incestuous for my taste.)

I guess the secret Pogo wanted Grace to maintain is out- Vanya also has powers of her own. Although, that leaves the question as to why Reginald didn’t want anyone to know about it.

While I don’t entirely fault Vanya for being angry about not being included in the family meeting, a part of me still feels she was a bit unreasonable. Wasn’t she staying at Leonard’s place? Do her siblings even have his number? Besides, Allison did say she’d fill her in, and it seemed like her implication was that she’d fill her in once Leonard wasn’t around. Especially considering Allison has already made it clear she doesn’t trust him. (A mistrust that clearly is warranted, given he clearly murdered Helen and also stole that figurine for unknown reasons.) In any event, Allison does seem to be trying to be there for Vanya, but every time she tries to be a sister, Vanya practically bites her head off. Talk about a vicious cycle.

What’s Hazel and Cha-Cha going to do, now that the trust between them is broken?

#umbrella acedmy #umbrella academy 1x06

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sad-space-monkey-boi · 5 years

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Wish I Was Like You (Blue-Eyed Blondie, Perfect Body)

A Fem!Luther drabble

(Lucille=Luther, Desiree=Diego, Aaron=Allison, Klemintine=Klaus, Bree=Ben, Vance=Vanya)

Tw for self-esteem issues, sexual assult, and bulimia

Title from Prom Queen by Beach Bunny

Lucille Hargreeves was not the most feminine of her sisters, that prize went to Klemintine 100%. But no matter how feminine you are, losing your wonderfully maintained body would absolutely suck.

So saying that Lucy was having a hard time would be an understatement.

She would sit on her bed trying to put on makeup, but eventually she would get frustrated and wipe it off again. She would try the dresses that her mother made for her, but they always ended up abandoned in the corner and replaced by a high collared shirt and overcoat. She tried to style her golden hair, but it ended with her cutting it into a dull bob.

The first time she felt normal again was when she danced with Aaron in the park. In her imagination she was normal again, and swinging around in a star speckled midnight-blue dress. But after "Dancing In The Moonlight" ended, she saw reality again. Now, it never happened.

The second time, she was high and she could vaguely feel lips press into her own. When she woke up, not only did she see reality, but she felt dirty.

(When Desiree realized what had happened, she found the guy and "dealt with him.")

She sometimes found herself thinking back to what she used to look like. Bright blue eyes, long blonde hair, washboard abs and muscular limbs. Now, her bright eyes were dark, her long hair was short and dull, and her body was a bloody monkey body.

For awhile, she avoided interacting with anyone. Comparison's a b*tch, and she could almost feel her family's eyes on her, judging her, pitying her. Those thoughts usually spiralled into binging and ended with her in the bathroom for an hour.

Eventually, her siblings refused to let her be alone. Klemintine insisted on makeovers, Bree wanted someone to talk about books with, Desiree wanted a workout buddy, Aaron wanted a companion, Vance wanted someone to go on coffee dates with, and Five wanted her twin. Lucy suspected that they figured it out, but that was besides the point. It's not like they could help.

Bree caught her one time, then they decided to stop her. The occasional company became constant, and if she was being honest, she didn't mind. Whenever those thoughts came back, she had people to vent to.

But still, if Pogo did find a way to reverse the syrum, she would take it in a heartbeat.

#concept: genderswap #luther hargreeves #Luther Angst #The Umbrella Academy #tua #tw: eating disorders #tw: rape #fanfics #my fics #diego hargreeves #Allison Hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #number five #ben hargreeves #vanya hargreeves

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tomeandflickcorner · 4 years

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Umbrella Academy Rewatch 1x09

1x01 1x02 1x03 1x04 1x05 1x06 1x07 1x08

Last episode left us with a pretty big cliffhanger, with Allison grievously injured. So how does this episode resolve that?

Before we get to that resolution, the episode gives us a flashback to 1993, before Reginald started suppressing Vanya’s powers with her medication. Back then, Vanya appeared to be a bit of a picky eater, absolutely refusing to eat her oatmeal. Can’t say I blame her, of course. I never cared for oatmeal, either. But, rather than meet her halfway and come up with an alternative nutritious breakfast that she would eat (because it’s completely okay to not like certain foods), the nannies Reginald hired to take care of the Hargreeves Siblings’ daily needs attempted to use every trick in the book to force her to eat her oatmeal. This always led to Vanya’s powers bursting out of her, resulting in the hired nannies all meeting an untimely end, much to Reginald’s disappointment. So, after losing an undetermined number of nannies, Reginald ended up constructing Grace, who the Hargreeves Siblings would eventually view as their mother. When Grace attempted to get Young Vanya to eat her oatmeal, she was sent flying across the room like all the other nannies. But, since Grace was a robot, she could simply get back to her feet and dust herself off, completely unfazed. The sight of Grace being able to readjust her head, which had been knocked 180 degrees around when she collided with the far wall, manages to scare Young Vanya into obedience, with her wordlessly eating her oatmeal as Reginald looked on in satisfaction.

We then flash forward to the present day. Harold/Leonard has brought Vanya back to his place after the incident at the cabin. He announces that they have to hurry and pack up their things, as they’re going to have to go on the run. Although, when he notices that Vanya is still in shock over what just happened, he brings her into the bathroom to clean her up, seeing as she’s still covered in Allison’s blood. As Harold/Leonard washes the blood off Vanya’s hands, he tells her that the other Hargreeves Siblings will surely view her as an enemy now and come after her to avenge Allison’s death. Vanya is still a bit shell-shocked, but she doesn’t share that viewpoint. She’s sure that, if she just explains to her brothers that it had just been an accident, then they’ll understand. Harold/Leonard, however, tells her that he’s the only one on her side, the only one who sees how special she is, and how her brothers will never understand. Which is a pretty chilling line, considering working to completely isolate someone from their friends and family is practically the first chapter in the abusive relationship handbook.

Elsewhere, the Hargreeves Brothers have brought the injured Allison back to the Umbrella Academy mansion. Which doesn’t seem like the most logical destination. Why didn’t they just bring her to the hospital? Considering Allison was losing a a lot of blood, time was clearly of the essence. I’m willing to wager that hospital we saw in the last episode was closer to Grandma Jenkins’ cottage than the mansion was. Regardless of how it doesn’t make much logical sense, they carry Allison inside, where Grace is quick to start administering first aid. Grace announces that, for Allison to survive, someone is going to have to donate some blood. Immediately, all the Hargreeves Brothers volunteer. Though Pogo informs Luther that, due to Reginald’s serum that had given him his ape body, his blood is more compatible with Pogo than to Allison. Pogo also states Klaus’ blood is likewise off the table, as his blood is too contaminated with drugs. (Question- does Pogo not realize Klaus has achieved sobriety? So doesn’t that mean his blood is clean now? Or do the chemicals from drugs remain in the blood for a longer period of time? Granted, I do see from the website for the American Red Cross that people who used intravenous drugs must wait three months before they can be allowed to donate blood, but I don’t recall any evidence that Klaus took heroin or anything like it. We only saw him popping pills.) In any event, Diego is the one who is selected to donate his blood, even though he faints at the sight of the needle. Which is rather unusual, when you think about it. The man whose entire schtick is throwing knives can’t handle needles? How’s that for irony?

A little while later, Klaus is in his room, searching for something. Ghost Ben appears and is clearly disappointed when he learns that Klaus is looking for more drugs. And he doesn’t hesitate to voice that disappointment, stating that Klaus has finally managed to achieve sobriety for the first time in a while and questions why he’d just throw it all away. To this, Klaus vents his frustrations. Yes, he managed to get sober, but what’s the point of staying that way? He hasn’t been able to make contact with Dave and his siblings still treat him like a screwup. (Perhaps Pogo turning down his offer to donate his blood for Allison hurt him more than he let on.) Klaus says that if nobody takes him seriously anyway, then he’d rather just be numb. Ghost Ben tells Klaus that he’s tired of seeing him give in to defeat and that he’s better than that. He even goes so far as to say that Dave knew he was better than that, too. But Klaus still doesn’t listen and ends up popping some pills into his mouth. Before Klaus can swallow, however, Ghost Ben punches him hard across the face, resulting in the pills flying out of his mouth. This act visibly stuns both of them. Because, as we’ve already established, Ben is a ghost. He’s not physically there, and therefore cannot make direct contact with anyone. Episode 7 even highlighted this fact by showing us that Klaus could walk right though him. So how was Ghost Ben’s fist able to connect with Klaus just now? Ghost Ben surmises that it must have been Klaus who made it possible. Does this have something to do with Klaus’ true potential that Reginald hinted at during Klaus’ out-of-body experience?

Downstairs, The Hargreeves Brothers are discussing their next move. Diego is fully ready to go after Harold/Leonard, believing that he was responsible to Allison’s injury, and that it’s imperative that they do whatever they can to save Vanya from him. Number 5, on the other hand, while he does say he’s concerned for Vanya’s safety, believes their first priority should be taking down Harold Jenkins, as the apocalypse is supposed to happen that very day. And if they can’t stop it, Vanya will die anyway, along with everyone else in the world. So Diego and Number 5 start to head out to find Harold/Leonard. Klaus, still trying to wrap his head around what had happened with him and Ghost Ben, tries to duck out. But Diego indirectly threatens him into tagging along by throwing one of his knives at him, with the knife just barely missing Klaus’ crotch.

Over at Harold/Leonard’s place, Vanya is unable to stop reliving her last terrible interaction with Allison. Trying to settle her nerves, she heads over to the sink to splash some water on her face. But when she reaches for a towel to dry off, she ends up knocking Harold/Leonard’s bag off the counter, causing Reginald’s stolen journal to slip out. When Vanya opens the journal to read it, she finds all the information Reginald had written about her. She instantly realizes that, if Harold/Leonard had that journal in his possession, it means he must have known all about her powers this the whole time. And that means he was just manipulating her from the very start. So she confronts Harold/Leonard about the matter. Harold/Leonard tries to worm his way out of it by spouting off a bunch of flowery lines, about how Reginald had been afraid of her and put her on those pills because he didn’t believe she could learn to control him, how he was the only one who believed in her and embraced her for who she really was, etc. etc. But it seems that Vanya’s trust in him has been broken. Remembering what Allison had tried to tell her before, she asks him who Harold Jenkins is. Realizing the jig is up, Harold/Leonard drops the nice guy act and, when Vanya tries to get away, he physically stops her while angrily asking her what her family ever did her her, as well as asking her who helped her get first chair in the orchestra. He asks if she really believed the spot opened up on its own, all but directly admitting that he murdered Helen to pave the way for Vanya. Naturally, Vanya is horrified by this revelation and tries even harder to get away from him. In the end, when Harold/Leonard realizes that he’s forever lost his physiological grip on Vanya, he begins deriding her, stating that perhaps Reginald had been right. Perhaps she really was too weak and pathetic to control her own powers. As you might expect, Harold/Leonard’s cruel berating leads to Vanya tapping into her powers, with her creating a whirlwind of multiple sharp objects that collides with Harold/Leonard, resulting in his death. Vanya looks coldly down at his body and walks out without even shedding a tear.

Sometime later, Diego, Klaus and Number 5 find Harold/Leonard’s body. Number 5 tries out the glass eye he’s been carrying around for all this time by inserting it into Harold/Leonard’s empty eye socket. In doing so, he confirms that this is indeed the man who was supposed to have brought about the apocalypse. So, now that he’s dead, it looks like they don’t have to worry about that anymore. But Number 5 isn’t satisfied. He can’t accept it had been this easy, and wonders who killed Harold/Leonard. He then teleports off as Klaus suggests finding Vanya so they can ask her about it. Diego figures she might have headed back to the Umbrella Academy mansion, so they decide to go back there.

Back at the mansion, Grace has finished tending to Allison’s injury, as Luther keeps vigil nearby. It seems as if Allison will live, but Grace announces her vocal cords were badly damaged, and there’s no way to tell if she’ll be able to talk again. Pogo suggests that Luther go get some rest, but Luther snubs the advice, announcing that Pogo is the last one he’d take advice from. It’s clear he’s still angry at Pogo for keeping so many secrets from them. Once they’re alone, Luther apologies to the unconscious Allison for not being there when she needed him, realizing that, if he had gone with her, Diego and Number 5 when they headed out to find Harold Jenkins instead of staying behind to look for his old moon mission reports, Allison wouldn’t have had to go off on her own.

Meanwhile, since they’ve determined Vanya hadn’t shown up at the mansion, Diego decides to head off again. He still wants to settle his score with Hazel and Cha-Cha. After he leaves, Number 5 starts grilling Klaus, asking him if Reginald told him anything more about the apocalypse when he’d spoken to him during Klaus’ out-of-body experience. However, Klaus only wants to figure out more about how to continue to advance his ability, as he’s concluded that the fact that Ghost Ben was able to punch him had something to do with Reginald’s hint that Klaus’ true power went beyond simply communicating with the dead. So he tries to ask Number 5 how he managed to figure out how to time travel on top of his ability to teleport. As this conversation continues, Klaus informs Number 5 that they’re both addicts. Number 5 denies this, but Klaus insists it is true- Number 5 has become addicted to stopping the apocalypse. So much so that, now that it looks as if they’ve successfully stopped it, Number 5 is unable to accept that, as he no longer has a purpose in life.

Of course, we can’t forget we also have the subplot with Hazel, Cha-Cha and Agnes to deal with. Agnes arrives back at her motel room at the bird sanctuary. Hearing someone in the bathroom, she grows elated, thinking that Hazel had returned. Only for her to find it isn’t Hazel. Cha-Cha has managed to track her down. Valiantly, Agnes tries to tell her that Hazel left her and isn’t coming back, but it’s clear Cha-Cha doesn’t buy it.

Hazel, not knowing the danger Agnes is in, comes to the Umbrella Academy mansion to seek an audience with Number 5. Number 5 allows Hazel to come in and they begin to talk civilly for a bit. But right when Number 5 asks him directly why he’s there, Hazel doesn’t get a chance to answer. Because Diego appears quite literally out of nowhere and begins whaling on Hazel. At first, Number 5 tries to tell Diego to calm down and just give Hazel a chance to speak, but Diego is past the point of being reasoned with. So Number 5 just sits back and watches the fight continue for a bit. (Hazel, to his credit, manages to get a few good hits in himself.) Eventually, though, Number 5 decides things have gone on long enough, and he interferes, breaking up the fight by smashing some glass object over Diego’s head, knocking him out. Now that he’s able to get a word in edgewise, Hazel announces that he’s left The Commission and wants to volunteer to help stop the apocalypse. Number 5 tells him that it’s too late, as the apocalypse has been successfully prevented with Harold Jenkins’ death. So Hazel breaths a sigh of relief, knowing he can now have a long, happy life with Agnes. He and Number 5 then elect to part ways in peace, with them wishing each other luck with the rest of their lives. Before Hazel leaves, however, Number 5 announces that he has one last question for his former adversary- which of them killed Detective Patch. Hazel states that Cha-Cha was the one who murdered her. He then gives Number 5 the gun Cha-Cha used to kill her so Diego’s name could be cleared. When Diego wakes up again, Hazel is long gone. Number 5 tells him that, now that the apocalypse has been prevented, its time to stop fighting. But Diego’s rage hasn’t subsided, still wanting to go after Hazel. Even after Number 5 tells him that Cha-Cha was the one who killed Detective Patch, Diego insists it doesn’t matter, as Hazel was also there that night. Therefore, in Diego’s eyes, Hazel is equally guilty. But in the end, Number 5 is able to talk sense into Diego by helping him remember that the thing he liked best about Detective Patch was that she always saw the good inside people. So him killing Hazel and Cha-Cha would be a poor way to honor her memory. With his point made, Number 5 leaves the room with Delores, leaving Diego with Cha-Cha and Hazel’s guns, which could be used to clear his name, as ballistics would match the bullets found at the crime scene with the ones used in Cha-Cha’s gun.

We then see Vanya has returned to her apartment, Upon her arrival, she listens to the messages on her answering machine. As a result, she finally is able to hear the voicemail Allison left her a few episodes ago, about how she only wanted to be a good sister to her, and that she loves her. Hearing this message, combined with the fact that Vanya thinks she killed Allison, leaves her devastated, especially when she sees the strings on her violin bow are still stained with Allison’s blood. She breaks down into tears, sobbing openly.

Back at the Umbrella Academy mansion, Allison has regained consciousness. But because of the damage to her vocal cords, she cannot speak, as Grace predicted. So she signals to Luther, who is still keeping vigil at her side, for a pen and paper. When he complies, Allison hurriedly writes him a message, attempting to inform him that Vanya actually has powers. Luther doesn’t really understand what Allison is trying to say, but Pogo, who had been within earshot, decides that there’s no point in keeping it covered up anymore. So he tells Luther the truth about Vanya.

So, by the time Vanya is able to bring herself to return to the mansion herself, Luther knows all about what really happened. And he is the one who meets her upon her arrival. He tells her that Allison survived, and Vanya is relieved by this. She then explains that she and Allison had gotten into an argument and things had simply gotten out of control. Vanya tells Luther that she hadn’t meant to hurt Allison, and that it had been an accident. Luther assures her that he knows it was an accident, and then holds out his arms in a clear invitation for a hug. Tearfully, Vanya moves into the hug, once again saying she was sorry.

But then, things abruptly go downhill, as Luther immediately starts squeezing Vanya, utilizing his super strength against her until she passes out. When Vanya comes to again, she is nothing short of horrified to find herself in the same soundproof room Reginald placed her in when she was 4. When she sees Luther, Diego and Klaus standing outside the room, she tries to call out to them. But because the room is soundproofed, they cannot hear what she’s saying, and she also can’t hear them.

Outside, it seems that Luther has already told Diego and Klaus about Vanya’s powers. They are both in disbelief at the revelation. However, it soon becomes clear that they are both against the idea of keeping Vanya locked up like this. After all, this is their sister, who always cried when they stepped on ants as kids. Diego declares that if Vanya does indeed have powers, it’s obvious that she needs their help now. And they can’t help her if she’s locked in a cage. Klaus is in agreement with this sentiment, adding that Vanya is most likely struggling with her new power, which must be scary for her to deal with after years of believing she was ordinary. Allison, who has also made her way down to the soundproof room, states through written message that she wants Luther to let Vanya out of her cell, too, stating that what happened had been her own fault, not Vanya’s. But, despite all of this, Luther digs his heels in, stating Vanya is a danger to herself and others. So she must stay put until they know how to deal with it. He then all but forces Allison and his brothers to walk away, leaving Vanya alone as she pounds on the door, screaming that she’s sorry.

Okay. I gotta say this. I was pretty much on the fence about him up until this point, neither liking or hating him. But this moment made up my mind about him. Out of all the Hargreeves Siblings, Luther is the one I like the least. I don’t care if he was trying to think about what was best for everyone. I don’t care if he was just trying to keep everyone safe. At the end of the day, Luther is supposed to be the leader of the team. But this scene made it clear to me that he is the worst candidate for team leader. Because a real leader isn’t just about being the one in charge and forcing everyone to go along with your decisions. A true leader also has to listen to the rest of their teammates. And if the rest of your team is all in agreement about something, you don’t get to just overrule them as if your word automatically vetoes theirs. So much for sentiment they had back in Episode 4, when they were deciding things with a vote. Because if they were still honoring those rules, then Luther would be outvoted. Yes, Number 5 wasn’t around to voice his thoughts on the matter, but I have a hard time believing that Number 5 would be okay with Luther’s decision to lock Vanya up like this. Especially since it was established in the first episode that he and Vanya were once pretty close themselves. After all, when Number 5 disappeared when he got trapped in the future, Vanya was the one who left the lights on for him in case he ever came back during the night, also leaving out a peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich for him every night. And it was Vanya who Number 5 sought refuge with following his run-in with the first batch of temporal assassins at Griddy’s Donuts. But even IF Number 5 sided with Luther on this one, it would still have been three to two in favor of letting Vanya out. But instead, Luther is all ‘I’m team leader, so I get to have the final say in everything.’ As far as I’m concerned, Luther is going to have to perform a pretty epic makeup for this before he can be redeemed in my eyes.

Anyway, another drama is going down elsewhere. Hazel arrives back at the bird sanctuary to rejoin Agnes. But when he enters their motel room, he is met with a chilling scene. Cha-Cha has tied Anges to a chair positioned in front of the hot tub embedded in the motel room floor. All Cha-Cha has to do is pull the rope she’s holding, and Agnes will be pulled back into the hot tub to drown. Hazel tells Cha-Cha that she can do whatever she wants to him, as long as she lets Agnes go. To this, Cha-Cha states that she fully intends to kill him, but first, she’s going to make him watch as Agnes dies. Before Cha-Cha can do anything, however, Hazel lunges forward and a full-on fist fight erupts between him and Cha-Cha, with both of them during a deaf ear to Agnes’ pleas for them to stop. After this goes on for a while, Cha-Cha manages to get the upper hand over Hazel, wrapping a cord around his throat until he no longer has the energy to fight back. She then leaves Hazel lying on the floor, gasping for breath, and heads back to Agnes, instructing him to watch as she forces her back into the hot tub.

Before Agnes can hit the surface of the water, however, time suddenly stops and everything freezing in place, with only Hazel and Cha-Cha being able to move about. As Hazel and Cha-Cha look around in confusion, the door to the motel room opens and The Handler strides in, announcing they really screwed things up. Not sure how she survived the exploding grenade with nothing but a scar, but whatever.

As this episode comes to a close, we see the Hargeeves Siblings as they try to take stock of everything that’s happened. Luther tries to convince Allison that he did what he had to do, but she’s not having it, proceeding to give him the cold shoulder. (Good! He deserves it!) Diego is sitting alone in the kitchen playing with a lucky rabbit’s foot that I guess belonged to Detective Patch, only looking up when Grace places a plate of smiley faced pancakes in front of him. Klaus is in his room, attempting to play pat-a-cake with Ghost Ben in an effort to try and make physical contact with him again. And Number 5 brings Delores back to the department store where he found her. As he gets ready to leave her there, he makes a heartfelt goodbye speech to her, with him talking about how they’d been through a lot together and that he’ll never forget her. As he turns and walks away, he requests one of the people working at the department store to give Delores something new to wear, stating she likes sequins. Naturally, the department store worker is visibly confused by this but says nothing.

But then, as the episode wraps up, we see Vanya down in the soundproof room. As she gives into despair, she has some sort of mental breakdown, with her reflection on the glass door being replaced by the image of her younger self. The Young Vanya Hallucination declares that the others are still scared of them and their power. The hallucination, apparently voicing Vanya’s darkest thoughts, encourages Vanya to accept the fact that the other Hargreeves Siblings are just like Reginald and will keep her down there forever, so the only thing they can do is embrace who they are. That’s when Vanya notices there is one sound the soundproof room cannot muffle- the sound of her own heartbeat. So she ends up using that sound to activate her power, successfully breaking herself out of her cell. The sound of the door to the soundproof room crashing down is so loud, it can be heard throughout the mansion, with Luther instantly realizing what it means.

Final notes/questions

Seriously, how did The Handler survive the explosion?

What’s going to happen with Hazel and Cha-Cha? And will Agnes make it out okay?

Boy, Luther really botched that one. He should had listened to Diego, Klaus and Allison. Now Vanya is on the warpath.

No, I’m sorry, I’m still peeved with Luther. After all the indications that Reginald was the worst person in making judgement calls (sending Luther up to the moon for no real reason other than just giving him something to do, committing suicide and making it look like a murder mystery to trick everyone to reunite and lying to them all about Vanya’s powers, among other things), and was therefore not someone anyone should be emulating, he still thought copying his methods by locking Vanya up in the soundproof room was the way to go?

Is Klaus going to be able to master his new ability?

#umbrella acedmy #umbrella academy 1x09

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