World’s Biggest Ball of Twine
Episode 2 of The Umbrella Academy Season 3 starts with Luther heading out for a run. Only, the Sparrows attack and stop him in his tracks. Ben proceeds to kick him in the face and knocks the big guy out. Meanwhile, Allison returns to Hotel Obsidian after a failed attempt to see Claire overnight. Despite entering her home in Beverly Hills, Patrick is with someone else and Allison is crushed to learn this reality is completely different. As for Vanya, she does some research and notices that the Umbrellas are colloquially known as the Kennedy Six here. Still torn up about the ghosts from the past, she arrives at the barber’s and decides to make a change, cutting off her hair, signifying removing the sins of her past. He’s also to be known as Viktor now, which is who they’ve always been. Viktor encourages the rest of the Umbrella’s to go ahead with this meet, so they can go back and fix the timeline. Five is having none of this and decides that, because there’s no apocalypse here, he’s officially retiring from messing with time. The thing is, that swirling orb is generating shockwaves and appears to be wiping things out from the timeline. After being knocked out earlier on, Luther awakens to find himself in the Sparrow Academy. The Sparrows are all super nice to him, giving him food and drink. Essentially he’s being kept prisoner until they get Marcus back, whom they believe the Umbrella Academy are keeping captive. The thing is, Luther enjoys the Sparrow Academy and their various perks. This also allows him to get to know Sloane, with the pair giggling and bonding after running on treadmills together. There are cameras all over the place though, and as Sloane asks about where they’re staying, Luther believes she’s trying to honeytrap him and immediately stays quiet. While this is going on, Lila tries to leave and go to Berlin but there’s a problem. The Briefcase isn’t working and as a result, she begins cursing and slamming it against a bench. Meanwhile, Klaus and Five head off to Pennsylvania to find the former’s birth mother. Five is not happy, believing it was just going to be a care-free road trip. With everything going awry, including ties with Hargreeves and the Sparrows, Klaus believes there’s never been a better time to find out who his mum is… and why she sold him for $3000. Klaus eventually follows the address and finds an Amish community. While asking questions about Rachel, one of the men, Caleb, steps up and forces Klaus out. Klaus is relentless though and learns that Sarah-Beth (the woman he questioned earlier) is actually Rachel’s (his mum’s name) sister. Rachel died on Klaus’ birthday, which seems to indicate that she actually passed away before he was even born. Sarah-Beth hands over a whole stack of papers to confirm as much, as Five and Klaus leave the area. Just then, another shockwave ensues, wiping out all the cows in the field. Five actually sees this happen this time, groaning as he realizes they’ve got another world-ending threat on their hands. Another subplot here involves Diego, who heads to the shop to pick up ear medication for Stan. Only, Alphonso happens to be there too, and a big fight breaks out between the two . Stan tries to get involved too, but it eventually falls to Jayme, who uses her weird hallucinogenic spit, to try and take out the pair. Thanks to the power of tins though, the pair take both Sparrows down and head off to safety. When Alphonso returns, Ben decides to let Luther go, on the pretense of returning Marcus unharmed. When he leaves, Lila uses her powers to bring the briefcase from the basement, hoping that this is the ticket back to Berlin. Five returns to Hotel Obsidian, along with the rest of the Academy (minus Luther, for the time being.) Five opens up the stack of papers and reveals big news. All of their mothers died on the exact same day – October 1st 1989. That was originally their birthday but it seems they all died before they were born. In layman terms, jumping to this reality has caused a time paradox – the grandfather paradox to be precise. As for Luther, he leaves the Academy but Sloane ushers him to come over to her while she’s hanging out the window. She apologizes for earlier and admits that she meant very word she said. A big smile crosses Luther’s face, as the pair start kissing.
The Episode Review
The long-awaited return of The Umbrella Academy sees a new threat now in the form of this Grandfather Paradox. Not only that, but it seems the Sparrow Academy are hellbent on stopping the Umbrellas, believing they’re causing chaos and responsible for Marcus’ disappearance. That’s obviously not the case but it’s incentive enough for them to lash out. The transition from Vanya to Viktor is pretty well-handled as well and there’s a particularly poignant narrative about looking in the mirror and seeing one’s true reflection, which is a nice touch. It’s clear that the Umbrellas are fractured and the only way to resolve this is going to be working together as a team once more to try and resolve this paradox. But will more people go missing in the process? We’ll have to wait and see!
