Why The Umbrella Academy Season 4’s Rotten Tomatoes Scores Are The Series’ Lowest (With Critics & Audiences)

Warning: spoilers ahead for The Umbrella Academy season 4.

Summary

• Season 4 of
  The Umbrella Academy
  disappoints with its six-episode run, leaving crucial plot threads hanging.
• This is reflected in its record-low Rotten Tomatoes scores.
• Critics and fans disagree on how bad season 4 is, but some criticisms are cited by multiple reviews.

The Umbrella Academy‘s graduation did not go as planned, with the final season tripping over and falling in front of the entire class. The chorus of disappointment over The Umbrella Academy‘s ending can be felt in its Rotten Tomatoes scores, with season 4’s Tomatometer currently sitting at 58% and its audience score slumping to a far harsher 18% – the lowest marks yet for Netflix’s superhero franchise. Based on the comic books by My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way and renowned illustrator Gabriel Bá, season 1 premiered to widespread acclaim for its unique quirkiness and the undeniable charm of The Umbrella Academy‘s cast.

The Umbrella Academy season 2 impressed even more with its retro setting, and while season 3 suffered a setback due to filming mid-COVID, its Rotten Tomatoes score remains respectable enough at 91% on the Tomatometer. The Umbrella Academy season 4’s Rotten Tomatoes ratings represent the show’s first real slump, with both critics and viewers acknowledging a sizable drop in form. As The Umbrella Academy‘s post-mortem begins in earnest, it becomes evident that a number of tangible factors contributed to season 4’s critical woes.

Related Every Hargreeves Sibling’s New Powers In The Umbrella Academy Season 4

The Umbrella Academy’s Hargreeves siblings regain their powers in season 4, but their returned abilities aren’t exactly the same as before.

The Umbrella Academy Season 4 Only Having Six Episodes Hurt Its Ending

Six Episodes Just Wasn’t Enough

The first three seasons of The Umbrella Academy each consisted of 10 episodes, whereas season 4 – arguably the one with the most narrative ground to cover – received a paltry six installments from Netflix. Sadly, the slimmed down episode count played a massive role in The Umbrella Academy‘s Rotten Tomatoes crash.

A number of important plot threads left hanging from The Umbrella Academy season 3’s ending were unceremoniously dropped. The vanished Sloane barely received a mention, the mid-credits scene featuring Ben on a subway went nowhere, and whereas Sir Reginald Hargreeves looked to have taken over the world in season 3’s final scenes, he was just Colonel Sanders with a monocle in The Umbrella Academy season 4.

It’s a jarring, frustrating shift, and very probably a consequence of The Umbrella Academy being asked to wrap its entire story up within six episodes. Storylines appear to have been sacrificed in the name of focusing on the Cleanse, how the original Ben Hargreeves died, and other elements crucial to bringing about The Umbrella Academy‘s ultimate conclusion.

Related Where Sloane Is During The Umbrella Academy Season 4

Sloane is conspicuous by her absence in The Umbrella Academy season 4, leaving major questions over her fate when she show draws to a close.

The truncated nature of The Umbrella Academy season 4 also gave rise to a number of disappointing character arcs. Lila’s romance with Five – already a controversial direction for the show to take – was rendered utterly pointless by the ending, as almost immediately after Diego discovered his wife and brother were having an affair, the entire Hargreeves clan sacrificed themselves. Viewers were deprived of any meaningful resolution or purpose to the love triangle, and the entire storyline fizzled out in a puff of confusion.

The same goes for Klaus’ relapse. Robert Sheehan’s character returned to his old self in episode 3, spent the next two episodes on a meandering side quest, then promptly died alongside his siblings, leaving audiences to ponder the point of Klaus relapsing in the first place. Elsewhere, the Cleanse and multiversal subway station explanations were glossed over at light speed, and tantalizing teases such as the Phoenix Academy timeline went annoyingly untouched. There is little doubt that The Umbrella Academy season 4 with ten episodes would have fared considerably better.

The Umbrella Academy’s Series Finale Was Always Likely To Prove Controversial

The Umbrella Academy’s Finale Backlash Could Have Been Predicted

The Umbrella Academy season 4’s poor Rotten Tomatoes performance is not entirely down to Netflix being stingy when handing out episodes. The season finale, “End of the Beginning,” made a creative choice to wipe the Hargreeves siblings from existence, killing off every single main character and altering the timeline so that, in effect, none of the TV show’s events actually happened. The Umbrella Academy‘s final moments were not just bleak, they retrospectively called the entire journey into question by reverting the world to what it would have been if “the Umbrella Academy” was never a thing.

Nowhere in our multiverse is there a version of events where
The Umbrella Academy
enjoys universal praise for killing off its entire cast and wiping the show’s events from existence.

The Cleanse’s universal retcon made the past four seasons of timeline-hopping, power-swapping, tentacle-flopping madness somewhat redundant in hindsight. A great deal of time and effort could have been saved if someone had realized in season 1 that the Hargreeves siblings were the real problem, and audiences can’t even take solace in the Umbrella Academy saving the world before they die, because that simply wasn’t how the finale played out. They saved the world by not existing, which is difficult to perceive as anything other than an anticlimax.

Even if The Umbrella Academy season 4 was granted 20 episodes, it wouldn’t have escaped the age-old TV trap of dropping an unsatisfying last episode. The shorter season can carry a portion of the blame, but nowhere in our multiverse is there a version of events where The Umbrella Academy enjoys universal praise for killing off its entire cast and wiping the show’s events from existence. Those creative decisions were always going to ruffle feathers for the wrong reasons, and season 4’s Rotten Tomatoes scores confirm as much.

What Else Critics Have Said About The Umbrella Academy Season 4

Opinion Is Mixed, But The Same Criticisms Appear In Multiple Reviews

While many reviews of The Umbrella Academy season 4 reference the episode count and underwhelming finale, other valid issues are highlighted too. Inverse questions whether The Umbrella Academy made the most of its allotted time, claiming season 4 “wastes large chunks of its first few episodes with lots of unpleasant infighting.” TV Guide raises a problem also mentioned by other reviewers, noting how “this season isn’t so very different from what came before.” With Klaus’ relapse, more timeline changes, a second alternate Academy, and another conspiracy to crack, it’s an argument that is not easy to counter.

Acknowledging that the lackluster finale dealt an especially hard blow to The Umbrella Academy season 4’s chances of success, Paste points out that “each episode is progressively worse than the last,” and TotalFilm elobarates, adding, “There are one too many plot threads seemingly forgotten, dismissed, or left by the wayside.” Those sentiments are echoed by TheWrap, which ponders, “Maybe we could ignore unresolved plot threads if we got a finale that was both emotionally resonant and true to the themes of the show,” exposing both the narrative and emotive failings of The Umbrella Academy season 4.

Several common threads emerge across the wave of critical reaction to The Umbrella Academy‘s final season. There is broad agreement that Netflix’s decision to drop the episode count was a significant issue, but also a general belief that The Umbrella Academy could have made more of what it was given. Abandoned plot points, confusing side stories, and baffling character arcs are all recurring criticisms that ring true after watching season 4.

The Umbrella Academy’s RT Audience Score Is A Backlash To A Disappointing End

There’s A Big Divide Between Critics & Audiences On Rotten Tomatoes

There is consensus that The Umbrella Academy‘s final season is the worst of the bunch, but critics and fans disagree on just how bad season 4 actually is, with a 58% Tomatometer score vastly higher than the 18% audience score. The latter, in fairness, is perhaps a little harsh, ignoring the various positives The Umbrella Academy season 4 undoubtedly brought to the table. The interplay and charm of the Hargreeves siblings has always been a major draw, for example, and that element still thrived throughout season 4, while Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally as Gene and Jean added a wonderfully kooky, extremely watchable new ingredient.

The action scenes sung too, with the Hargreeves siblings vs Reginald’s soldiers at New Grumpson proving particularly effective as a battle sequence. And even if question marks will forever hang over how the final timeline came about, The Umbrella Academy‘s closing frames, set within an idyllic 2019, at least succeeded as a poignant and moving parting shot. The 18% audience score fails to take these positives into consideration, with such a low rating typically reserved for disastrous releases with nothing worthwhile to offer. The Umbrella Academy season 4 might be disappointing, but it isn’t a travesty.

Related WTF Was The Umbrella Academy Thinking With Five & Lila’s Story In Season 4?!

The Umbrella Academy season 4 serves as a somewhat disappointing send-off for the show, and Lila and Five’s baffling story makes it even worse.

It’s possible that The Umbrella Academy season 4’s rock-bottom audience score is more of a protest against the unsatisfying ending. Audiences are increasingly using Rotten Tomatoes as a way of making their feelings clear, and 2024 has seen The Boys and The Acolyte both subjected to review bombing for various reasons. The Umbrella Academy isn’t caught up in some cultural or political protest, but frustration and anger from invested viewers may have contributed to season 4’s dismal audience score being far lower than the critics’ reactions.

18% may be a touch reactionary, then, but one could counter by claiming that 58% is too kind, and a poor final episode should carry more weight compared to brighter moments from earlier in the season that aren’t as crucial to the story. Opinions will likely shift as the dust settles on the Hargreeves siblings, but one thing is clear: The Umbrella Academy has failed to avoid the long list of beloved TV franchises that fell at the final hurdle.

Sources: Rotten Tomatoes, Inverse, TV Guide, Paste, TotalFilm, TheWrap

The Umbrella Academy

4.0

The Umbrella Academy is based on the comic book of the same name created by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá. The Hargreeves — collectively known as The Umbrella Academy — were born with superpowers, and their adoptive father utilized their abilities. However, as they grew older, the siblings grew apart as they dealt with their trauma. They are brought back together after their father dies and Five returns from the future with grave news: The world will end, and The Umbrella Academy has to stop it before it happens.

Cast Colm Feore , Cazzie David , Genesis Rodriguez , Robert Sheehan , Aidan Gallagher , Elliot Page , Emmy Raver-Lampman , Jordan Claire Robbins , Jake Epstein , Mary J. Blige , David Castaneda , Justin Cornwell , Justin H. Min , Britne Oldford , Adam Godley , Tom Hopper , Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton , Ritu Arya , Cameron Britton , Sheila McCarthy

Release Date February 15, 2019

Seasons 4

Expand