‘The Umbrella Academy’: [Spoiler] Makes a Huge Sacrifice to End the End of the World (RECAP)

The Umbrella Academy

Jello-Time

Season 2 • Episode 9

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The End of Something

[WARNING: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for The Umbrella Academy Season 2 Episode 9, “Jello-Time.”]

Can you be in mourning for a ghost?

That’s the question we’re asking ourselves after this episode of The Umbrella Academy, which saw Ben (Justin H. Min) leave the spiritual world behind to pass into the great beyond after using the last of his ghost-energy to possess — and have a really sweet heart-to-heart with — his sister, Vanya (Ellen Page).

Meanwhile, Sissy (Marin Ireland) puts her foot down when Carl threatens Harlan, Diego (David Castenada) refuses to give up on his mission, Lila (Ritu Arya) learns the truth about her family and the Fives face off.

The End of The End of The World

The siblings each try to push their way toward Vanya with little success; Allison (Emmy Raver) is first to fall, then Diego, then Klaus (Robert Sheehan). This leaves only Ben, who, since he’s not really human, is able to make his way toward Vanya and possess her, entering her hallucination and finding her in the basement of the academy house.

She’s bereft, realizing “it’s happening again” and that she can’t stop it. Ben reassures and comforts her, saying the way Hargreeves treated her was “messed up” and that just because he couldn’t handle her anger doesn’t mean she can’t. “It’s a shitty world full of shitty people sometimes,” he says. “You’re not a monster. You’re my sister. You aren’t alone at the table anymore, Vanya.”

He starts slowly disappearing in glimmering blue lights, but he’s not upset with Vanya — as he says, he died 17 years earlier, and the rest was “gravy.” He asks her to hug him while he leaves, and once he’s gone, Vanya awakens and makes it to Allison, Diego and Klaus. We’ll miss you, Ben, you golden-hearted ghost!

Dancing With Himself

The Fives and Luther (Tom Hopper) all head to where Five (Aidan Gallagher)’s supposed to handle — or rather, not handle — the Kennedy job. Predictably, fists, and flashes of teleporting light, start flying as the Fives battle with each other, set to “Dancing With Myself” by Billy Idol. Five opens the portal to 2019 and the duo eventually force his old self to go through, but the case is catastrophically damaged.

Lila’s Family, The Hander’s Truth

Well, this was awkward. From a few well-placed rocks in A.J.’s tank, Herb finds Lila’s family’s file from the Commission and gives it to her. She learns A.J. approved the mission that ended their lives, and Five pulled the trigger.

Except that’s not really how it went down: The Handler was the one to give the order, and she stamped A.J.’s name on the file. But The Handler was never much for valuing the truth above her personal interests, so she’s plenty happy to tell a despondent Lila, “your family is right here.” She then sends her after Diego and Five, saying he probably sent the knife-thrower to the Commission to destroy that file. Lastly, The Handler fishes A.J. out of his tank and swallows him whole — a disgusting power move.

Lastly, Sissy’s situation escalates rapidly when Carl decides he’s sending Harlan to an institution, no matter how she feels about it. He loads their son into the car and starts driving away, but Sissy stops him… at gunpoint. They fight, Carl wrenches the gun from her hands and he fires, but the bullet misses her and heads for Harlan, who’s gotten out of the car. Amazingly, it ricochets off an energy field — a very Vanya-esque energy field — and hits Carl instead.

Hargreeves Wins

From their vantage point across from the grassy knoll, Five and Luther — and above them, Allison, Vanya and Klaus — all watch as Kennedy turns the fateful corner. Diego sprints toward Hargreeves in an attempt to save Kennedy, but he’s too late; Hargreeves sent a double to the knoll in his place, and the president dies.

Then, at a meeting with the Magnificent Twelve, Hargreeves tries to back out of the rest of their dealings, which doesn’t sit well with the officials present. They’ve been keeping his “interests on the dark side of the moon” quiet, and they demand he still supplies them with weapons technology. Hargreeves doesn’t like that idea much, so he peels off his face, revealing a slimy, alien countenance beneath — and proceeds to destroy them all.

As the episode ends, The Handler’s coronation (er, promotion) is interrupted by an “off-the-charts anomaly” in the timeline. She thanks the attendant who told her about it and then kills him, then calls in their agents from the field. The Commission is going to war!

The Umbrella Academy, Season 2, Streaming Now, Netflix