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tomeandflickcorner · 4 years

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Umbrella Academy Recap 2x09

1x01 1x02 1x03 1x04 1x05 1x06 1x07 1x08 1x09 1x10

2x01 2x02 2x03 2x04 2x05 2x06 2x07 2x08

We’re nearing the end of the season now, and things are heating up! Number 5 convinced Luther to help him make a bargain with Old Number 5, who was also walking around 1963 Dallas to ensure President Kennedy’s assassination occurred as it was supposed to. This bargain involved Old Number 5 handing over his time traveling briefcase so the Hargreeves Siblings could return home to their time in exchange for the correct equation that would allow Old Number 5 to timejump back to the day of Reginald’s funeral and prevent the 2019 apocalypse, without undergoing an age regression. However, both Number 5 and Old Number 5 began to display the symptoms of paradox psychosis, an unfortunate sickness that could occur when a person interacts with their past or future selves while time traveling. And it’s possible that the two Number 5s might try to kill each other as a result of it. At the same time, because Lila abducted Diego and brought him to The Commission’s headquarters in the hopes of making him part of her security team, Diego was able to determine that the new apocalypse of 1963 would occur because the FBI captured and interrogated Vanya, whom they suspected of being a Russian spy. The FBI’s interrogation methods would ultimately result in the amnesiac Vanya’s memories to come flooding back, which would lead to Vanya’s powers bursting out of her, causing an explosion that would be blamed on the Russians, cumulating in a nuclear war. In the hopes of stopping this from happening, Diego, Allison and Klaus hurry over to the FBI building in order to save Vanya from the FBI. But it appears as if they may have arrived too late, as Vanya’s powers are already spiraling out of control.

Because of Vanya’s powers going out of control, Diego, Klaus and Allison are faced with the challenge of how to reach her without getting themselves killed. Eventually, Allison gets sick of Diego and Klaus’ whole ‘not it’ bit and decides to volunteer herself. Which is very fitting, given the sisterly bond the last season had been setting up. However, Allison ends up getting knocked out. Diego also fails to make it to Vanya, so it’s up to Klaus. And he almost makes it, due to the improvised firehose rope that Diego managed to set up before he was knocked out, too. But Klaus also gets thrown back. Of course, there’s still one last hope left. Because Ben is also there. And because he’s a ghost without a physical body, he isn’t affected by Vanya’s powers. Upon entering the room where Vanya was strapped to the interrogation chair, Ben manages to possess her, indicating the power of possession was actually tied to Ben and not Klaus.

Once he’d possessed Vanya, Ben is able to wander about inside Vanya’s mind, where he eventually makes contact with Vanya’s subconscious. Vanya’s Subconscious is clearly scared and upset, having remembered everything and knowing that she might end up destroying the world all over again. She bemoans over how she can’t control her powers like her siblings, and admits she doesn’t feel like she deserves to live, as she killed Pogo and almost killed Allison. Ben, however, isn’t deterred and begins to reassure her. He tells her that it’s not her fault she can’t control it, as Reginald hadn’t given her the chance to learn. Instead, he treated her like a bomb and forced her to keep it bottled up by drugging her and keeping her locked up. He goes on to tell her she has every right to be angry about how she was treated, but that she’s not a monster. She’s his sister, and the others are risking their lives at that very moment for her sake. He also tells her that’s she’s not alone anymore. In the end, Ben’s words are enough to reassure Vanya’s Subconscious and she begins to smile. But as she gets to her feet, they notice that Ben is starting to glow. Ben realizes that he’s finally crossing over. Vanya’s Subconscious is upset by this, feeling that this is her fault as well, but Ben tells her it’s okay. After all, he’d died 17 years ago. At least now, he can say goodbye properly. Before Ben can fade away, he asks Vanya’s Subconscious if she could hug him before he went, and she complies to the request without hesitation. As they hug, Ben gives Vanya’s Subconscious one final request. He wants her to pass on a message to Klaus, which he whispers into her ear.

Over at the farmhouse, Sissy notices that Harlan is acting strangely. Because, as last episode revealed, he and Vanya somehow have some sort of psychic link now. And therefore, Harlan is experiencing everything Vanya is right now. Of course, Sissy doesn’t realize this, but she is still alarmed when she sees Harlan sitting stock still in his chair, with his head tilted backward. As Sissy kneels down next to him, Harlan utters a single word- Vanya’s name. Obviously, this is a big deal, as this is quite possibly the first time Harlan has ever spoken in his life. But Carl, who had also witnessed this, doesn’t focus on how miraculous it is that his son is finally speaking. Instead, he accuses Vanya of doing something to him and immediately starts bringing him to the car with the intention of taking him to an institution. Sissy, on the other hand, is dead set against this, and she moves in front of the car, aiming her shotgun at Carl. She tells him that she’s not going to let him take her son from her, because if Harlan is brought to an institution, then they’ll never give him back. In response, Carl suggests Sissy doesn’t deserve him anymore. Of course, that was the wrong thing for him to say, as Sissy has had enough of the way Carl has treated her, and she does not back down.

The moment Ben crosses over, Vanya snaps out of her trance at the FBI building. Likewise, Harlan also snaps out of it in time to witness Sissy and Carl’s confrontation, with Sissy finally admitting that she’d fallen in love with Vanya, and she wants more than what she’d had with Carl. When Harlan gets out of the car, Sissy gets momentarily distracted, which allows Carl to try and wrestle the shotgun out of her hands. In the struggle, the trigger gets squeezed and the gun goes off. The bullet heads right towards Harlan, but right before impact, a sudden shockwave bursts out of the boy, which is eerily similar to Vanya’s power. The shockwave throws the bullet backwards, and it instead flies clean through Carl’s chest, killing him instantly.

Back at the FBI building, Vanya wakes up to take in the scene around her, with the bodies of the dead FBI agents lying around. After a pause, she hurries out into the hall, just in time to see Allison, Diego and Klaus also coming around. But then Diego consults his watch and concludes there’s still time to save President Kennedy, who will be driving by shortly. Allison tries to stop him, but he can’t be reasoned with, as he believes that, since they’d already stopped the explosion from happening, they’re npw in the clear, and President Kennedy doesn’t have to die.

Elsewhere, Luther is making his way to the grassy knoll with Number 5 and Old Number 5. And Luther is talking to Old Number 5 about his plan to kill Number 5, whom he claims is only a faulty doppelganger and not the real Number 5. Of course, our Number 5 already knows about Old Number 5′s plot. After all, he WAS Old Number 5, and he knows how his older-younger self thinks. And he doesn’t hesitate to confront Luther over how they’re conspiring against him. Which leads to his iconic ‘I'm the daddy here!’ line. (You gotta watch this clip for yourself. It’s classic.) Before long, they make it to their destination, where Luther notices that Old Number 5 is also experiencing paradox psychosis. Meaning his plan to kill our Number 5 may not have come from a sound mind.

As Old Number 5 gets ready to fire the bullet that will kill President Kennedy as his motorcade drives by, Number 5, due to the final stages of paradox psychosis, makes a mad lunge for Old Number 5′s briefcase, believing he can teleport over and grab it in time. But Old Number 5 spots Number 5′s movements in the reflection of the lens on his shotgun’s sight, so he is able to react in time. For a moment, it looks like the two Number 5s will turn on each other, but Luther steps in between them, trying to calm them both down. Of course, this has no effect, as Number 5 simply kicks him in the groin. And with Luther momentarily incapacitated, Number 5 and Old Number 5 begin to go at it. Eventually, Luther is able to break up the fight and gains possession of the shotgun. Immediately, Number 5 and Old Number 5 begin shouting at him, both ordering him to kill the other one. After some deliberation, Luther ends up aiming the shotgun at our Number 5. But after a tense moment, Luther turns and knocks Old Number 5 out with the butt of the shotgun. He then orders our Number 5 to open the time vortex portal that would lead back to the day of Reginald’s funeral.

At The Commission headquarters, Lila, having realized she’s lost Diego, heads into The Handler’s office. Upon arriving, she learns The Handler has already found out about how Diego broke into the Infinite Switchboard room and stole a time traveling briefcase, as she’d threatened Herb and forced him to tell her. The Handler reminds Lila about her earlier agreement, which stated that Lila would have to kill Diego herself if he stepped out of line. Lila instantly realizes that this was The Handler’s plan all along. As they begin to argue over the matter, Herb notices AJ the fish in a nearby fish bowl and tries to discreetly scooch over towards him, which enables AJ to silently give him a message. AJ has managed to write out the number 743 with the colored pebbles at the bottom of the fishbowl. The Handler then orders everyone out of the room so she and Lila could speak privately. Once they’re alone, The Handler tells Lila that she’s about to become the most powerful woman of all time, and she wants Lila to be her right hand. But she needs to know if she can trust her adopted daughter. And as she says this, she grips Lila's chin in an obviously threatening manner, making her meaning clear. So Lila assures The Handler that she can trust her.

Meanwhile, Herb, following the tip he got from AJ, finds Case File 743. Inside, he finds information that he clearly finds important, as he removes a paper from the file before placing it back in the filing cabinet. After leaving the case file room, Herb is confronted by Lila. She demands to know where Diego went, and Herb admits he’d helped him escape and return to his siblings. Herb also asks Lila if she’s really going to kill Diego, and Lila says she won’t. Because she loves him. (Though she also threatens to hurt Herb if he ever blabbed that to anyone.) Before Lila walked off, Herb showed her the paper he’d found in Case File 743. The information on the paper is enough to make Lila drop to her knees in shock.

Upon recovering from the shock, Lila storms into The Handler’s office to confront her. It turns out she’s now learned the truth. That her parents hadn’t died in a robbery, but had been executed by The Commission. The paper in her hand is a kill order against Lila’s parents. A kill order that Old Number 5 had carried out. But sadly, Lila seems she hasn’t figured out the full truth. Because The Handler had used AJ’s signature to approve the kill order, thereby covering up her involvement. Taking advantage of the fact that Lila doesn’t know she was the one who ordered their deaths, The Handler suggests that Diego might have been snooping around to get rid of the evidence that tied Number 5 to Lila’s parents’ deaths. At first, Lila doesn’t buy it, but The Handler is able to place a small seed of doubt in Lila’s mind, suggesting that Number 5 has been behind everything and Diego had been following his orders all along. As Lila numbly walks off, The Handler retaliates against AJ for his efforts at revealing the truth by killing him.

As the episode comes to a close, Old Number 5 comes to in time to watch our Number 5 opening up the time vortex portal back to 2019. So Old Number 5 gets ready to jump into the time vortex, with our Number 5 telling him what he’d got wrong about the equation, which involved a misplaced decimal. But unfortunately, right before Old Number 5 could depart with his math error corrected, Luther gets hit in the head with a fire extinguisher. (For those who have forgotten, Klaus threw it into the time vortex when it had appeared at the Umbrella Academy mansion in the pilot episode.) This results in Luther dropping the shotgun. And with Luther unarmed, Old Number 5 tries to make a dive for the briefcase. At the last second, fortunately, Luther gets back up and dropkicks Old Number 5 through the portal right before it disappears. So it looks as if things might work out, as Old Number 5 went back in time like he was supposed to, this time with the correct mathematical formula. And he also knows that the way to stop the 2019 apocalypse involves being nice to Vanya. But unfortunately, the time traveling briefcase was damaged when the time portal closed around it, so it’s now completely useless to Luther and our Number 5. Number 5 is not pleased by this, but there’s no time to worry about that now. President Kennedy’s motorcade is driving past right now, and they hurry over to the fence to watch. Likewise, Allison, Klaus and Vanya watch from the window of the FBI building.

Down on the street, Diego practically bulrushes 1963 Reginald, who has appeared on the scene as well. But he discovers too late that it’s not really 1963 Reginald, but someone who had been dressed up to look like him. The moment Diego realizes his mistake, the infamous gunshots are heard. Horrified over how he failed to prevent the assassination, Diego demands to know where the real 1963 Reginald is. In response, the Reginald impersonator hands him a note that simply says ‘I told you so.’

That evening, the real 1963 Reginald confronts the other members of the Majestic 12. It comes out that he’d made a deal with them that President Kennedy was not to be touched. And he is livid that they went back on their word and lied to him. He tells them that they are never to contact him ever again and turns to leave. However, the leader of the Majestic 12 isn’t bothered, simply saying that he expects 1963 Reginald to continue supplying them with his advanced technology. If he doesn’t, they’ll expose him for what he really is- an alien from another planet. 1963 Reginald doesn’t take kindly to the attempt at blackmail. In response, he sheds his skin a la Men in Black style, revealing his alien face (which we only see the back of) and proceeds to kill everyone in the room. Again, while we don’t actually see it happening, the sounds we hear are enough to conclude that their deaths were quite painful.

At The Commission’s headquarters, The Handler is notified of the appearance of an anomaly appearing in the timeline. When she goes down to the Infinite Switchboard room to see what’s up, she watches the footage of the new anomaly and promptly kills the man with her, after determining he hasn’t shown the footage to anyone else. She then makes an announcement to the rest of The Commission, stating that they’re going to war. And the episode ends with the reveal of what the anomaly is. It’s Harlan. Somehow, he now possesses the same sort of powers as Vanya. And it’s clear he can’t control them.

Closing thoughts/questions:

How did Harlan get Vanya’s powers?

What’s Lila going to do now that she knows Number 5 was the one who ended her parents’ lives? Does Number 5 even know? And will Lila figure out that it was The Handler who gave the kill order and not AJ?

So Reginald IS an alien! I thought so, as it was rather obvious since 1x10. But I never guessed he actually looked like one. I wonder if we’ll ever get to see what he really looks like without the human mask,

It appears 1963 Reginald didn’t want President Kennedy to actually be killed after all. But what exactly did he expect was going to happen? They said the plan was to get him out of the way, but how were they planning to do that without actually assassinating him? I’m genuinely curious.

I’m really proud of Sissy. She finally stood up to Carl and displayed the full extent of her strength at last. And while Carl’s death is unfortunate, he did sorta bring it on himself. I just hope Sissy doesn’t get in trouble for it. Because people are going to notice his sudden disappearance.

I’m also sad to see Ben go. But at least he’s at peace now. And he got to have one last moment and hug with both Diego and Vanya before he crossed over. It’s just a shame he didn’t also get to say goodbye to Allison, Luther and Number 5. I do wonder what their relationship to Ben had been. (Considering Ben was one of the people Number 5 called out for when he found the ruins of the Umbrella Academy mansion in the post-2019 apocalypse future, I’m guessing Ben and Number 5 had been somewhat close.)

#umbrella acedmy #umbrella academy 2x09 #tua

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