World’s Biggest Ball of Twine
Luther is out for a run when the Sparrows attack. Ben proceeds to kick him in the face and knocks him out.
After a failed attempt to see Claire overnight, Allison returns to Hotel Obsidian. Despite entering her home in Beverly Hills, Patrick is with someone else and Allison is crushed to learn this reality is completely different.
Vanya 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. ..
The child who was once known as Viktor has now been given a new name, and he is happy with it. ..
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. Five has retired from messing with time because there’s no apocalypse here- an orb is generating shockwaves and it appears to be wiping things out. ..
Luther wakes up to find himself at 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. ..
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.
Lila is trying to leave but the Briefcase isn’t working. As a result, she curses and slams 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 hits the area, wiping out all the cows in the field. Five actually sees this happen this time, groaning as he realizes they have a new world-ending threat on their hands.
In another subplot, Diego goes to the shop to pick up ear medication for Stan. However, Alphonso is also there 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. Ben decides to let Luther go in order to return Marcus unharmed. However, when Alphonso leaves, Lila uses her powers to bring the briefcase from the basement-hoping this will be enough proof for Ben that she is trustworthy and allow her back into his life. ..
The five students at Hotel Obsidian are all returning to the Academy after a year away. They open up a stack of papers and find out that their mothers all died on the same day - October 1st 1989. This was originally their birthdays, but it turns out that they all died before they were born in this reality. In layman’s terms, this jump to this reality has caused a time paradox - the grandfather paradox. ..
Luther and Sloane kiss as she apologizes for earlier. Luther is happy to see her and kisses her passionately.
The Episode Review
The Umbrella Academy returns with a new threat and it seems the Sparrow Academy are hellbent on stopping the Umbrellas. Marcus’ disappearance is not the cause, but they are motivated by this Paradox. The Umbrella Academy must find out what is going on before it destroys everything.
The transition from Vanya to Viktor is well-handled and there’s a particularly poignant narrative about looking in the mirror and seeing one’s true reflection, which is a nice touch.
It is clear that the Umbrellas are fractured and the only way to resolve this is going to be working together as a team once more. But will more people go missing in the process? We’ll have to wait and see!
