The fourth and final season of Netflix's offbeat superhero dramady The Umbrella Academy is available to watch now, and while we found some things to like about the show's swan song, fan reception has been dismal. To give you an idea of what I mean, for the first three seasons, the lowest rating for an episode on IMDb is 6.9, with many getting respectable scores in the 8+ range. In the fourth season, the ratings drop and finally crater with a score of 5.1 for the series finale.
Fans have taken aim at plot holes, sloppy writing, and one particular subplot where the character of Five (Aidan Gallagher) starts up a relationship with Lila (Ritu Arya), who happens to be married to Five's brother Diego (David Castañeda). "So I finished watching the last season of The Umbrella Academy and to say I'm disappointed is an understatement," said one fan on Reddit before going on to write their own ending. "I mean what was that?" Another simply concluded, "Lets forget season 4 ever existed." And another was convinced there was chicanery afoot:
"I’m almost positive AI wrote season 4. It literally feels like someone typed a vague explanation of the characters and story lines into something like ChatGPT and it pumped out a basic script and they just ran with it.
It feels like a punch to the face to the fan base and cast and crew of the show. Not only does the fan base want a better story to end out the series, but I feel like the cast and crew deserve one."
David Castañeda revealed that he also wasn't a fan of the plot twist involving Diego and Five. “I didn’t understand – I was pissed off,” Castañeda told Us Weekly. “I was angry. I talked to Steve a few times. I was like, ‘Hey, does this really have to happen?’” Castañeda tried to convince the showrunner that Lila had to end up with Diego in the end. Did I mention that they have children together? "‘Who’s going to win?'" he remembers asking. "'Come on, Diego’s going to win, right?’ And he would say, ‘Well, we don’t know, maybe Five, maybe Diego, maybe both.’ And I was like, ‘No, no, no, no. She’s got to be with Diego.’"
Ritu Arya also weighed in with Lila's perspective, saying she could see why her character might develop feelings for Five. “It wasn’t working with Diego, but he is the father of her children, and it’s all about the children really for her.”
Whatever the writers intentions, clearly the plot twist didn't go over well with fans, nor did the season as a whole. You can stream all four seasons of The Umbrella Academy now on Netflix.
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