Spoilers for The Umbrella Academy season four lie ahead.
The fourth and final season of The Umbrella Academy has arrived, and with it comes a brand-new storyline. In the season three finale of the Netflix superhero series, the Umbrellas found themselves in an alternate universe, in which their adoptive father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, was extremely powerful. After going their separate ways at the end of season three, Luther, Viktor, Ben, Five, Lila, Diego, Allison, and Klaus reunite at the start of season four for a new adventure.
Having lived relatively normal lives for several years, the Umbrellas are approached by a strange man named Sy (David Cross), who claims his daughter Jennifer has been kidnapped. The team decides to help find Jennifer, but quickly ends up in a ton of trouble. So who is Jennifer, and how is she related to Ben and the rest of the Umbrellas? And what exactly was “the Jennifer incident”? Here’s what you need to know about The Umbrella Academy’s incredible final season.
Who is Jennifer in The Umbrella Academy season four?
In episode two of season four, the gang travels to New Grumpson, Maine, where the Umbrellas start searching for Jennifer. After a disagreement, Ben leaves the group and ends up in a diner where he’s rude to the owner, Rosie, and a patron who is not only Rosie’s step-uncle, but also the town sheriff. Ben gets kicked out of the diner, but Rosie takes pity on him, and they begin to talk. She reveals she once wanted to leave town, but has since come to terms with her circumstances. “Folks died when I was young,” she tells him. Ben says his family life was far from normal, too, and they start to find common ground.
Meanwhile, a violent battle breaks out in town, and it is revealed that all of the residents are armed. The Umbrellas start using their newly regained powers (thanks to a bottle of marigold—more on that later), and the disturbance makes it all the way to the diner. There, Rosie’s step-uncle Gary grabs her by the arm and says he needs to take her to safety. Sensing a threat, Ben steps in to defend Rosie, only to get Tasered, which causes his tentacles to appear, flailing wildly. The townspeople urge Rosie to get away from Ben, but she chooses him and they escape.
The Umbrellas deduce that Rosie is Jennifer, and that the fake town must have been set up to hide her. However, their getaway van is involved in a crash, and Rosie is kidnapped by Gene and Jean (Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally), conspiracy theorists known as the Keepers. The Keepers have become aware that multiple timelines exist, after aspects of different realities start to converge. As a result, they believe they need Jennifer to incite an event known as “the Cleanse.”
At the beginning of episode three, a vintage news report reveals Jennifer’s origins. Two crabbers have discovered a giant squid, which starts to move on camera. They cut it open and find a young girl inside. When a reporter asks her what happened, she simply replies: “The Cleanse.”
In the present day, Ben leaves the rest of the Umbrellas and starts experiencing a strange phenomenon which causes his skin to glow like hot lava. He then has a premonition of Jennifer asking for his help. Gene and Jean question Jennifer about the Cleanse, but she has no memory of it. Then they show her the giant squid carcass, which they have somehow preserved, and she is understandably traumatized.
What is “the Jennifer incident”?
In the third episode of season four, the Umbrellas visit their father, Reginald, and his wife, Abigail, who is alive in this timeline. The group realizes they have been forced to repress Ben’s death, as none of them remembers how their brother actually died. Allison, Luther, and Diego agree to use a device that allows them to retrieve their memories of the event, and Viktor takes part too, despite not having been present when Ben died.
The Umbrellas recall being sent to stop a Moldovan arms dealer from acquiring a deadly weapon. In the memory, Reginald tells them the weapon is in a shipping container, and that they must not, “under any circumstances, open the container.” But once in the warehouse, Ben hears movement in the shipping container and does open it. Inside, he discovers the young girl from the vintage news broadcast. He helps her out, despite pushback from the rest of the team. “I don’t give a fuck what Dad said,” he tells them. “We need to help her.” As soon as Ben has helped Jennifer out of the shipping container, they are both shot and killed by Reginald. “I told you not to open the container,” he tells the rest of the gang.
In the present day, Reginald defends the actions of his alter ego, explaining that Ben and Jennifer “would have set off a cataclysmic chain of events, leading to the extinction of all humanity.” Abigail subsequently reveals that she is responsible for Ben and Jennifer’s deaths. “Years ago, I synthesized a new element,” she explains. “The very essence of the universe.” Reginald confirms his wife invented the “particle we know as marigold,” which was responsible for the births of the Umbrellas and their powers. “And at the same moment, unbeknownst to me, a second particle was created,” says Abigail, who says the second particle is called durango. “When marigold and durango interact, they cause a reaction, a physical reaction,” she explains. She calls it “the extinction of everything we know.” This event is what became known as the Cleanse.
Jennifer’s arrival in season four was foreshadowed in the show’s third season. After viewers learn that the original Ben died in the Jennifer incident, it’s revealed that Sparrow Ben has drawings of a mysterious woman on his walls. In one of the pictures, the name Jennifer appears, according to Tudum. The Jennifer incident is also referred to in the show’s source material. One of the original Umbrella Academy comics shows a newspaper clipping on the wall of Luther’s base on the moon, curiously mentioning “the Jennifer incident.”
What happens to Ben and Jennifer in The Umbrella Academy season four?
After explaining why Ben and Jennifer were killed during the Jennifer incident, Reginald says that it’s incredibly dangerous for any of the Umbrellas to come into contact with Jennifer. Knowing that Ben is pursuing her, Reginald tells the group, “One of the hosts must be eliminated before the reaction is complete.” Otherwise, the world will come to an end.
As they travel together, Ben and Jennifer’s relationship turns romantic, and they discuss escaping the country. Viktor speaks to Ben on the phone and tries to explain the dangerous physical reaction taking place with Jennifer. But Ben won’t listen to his brother, believing his family simply resents his newfound happiness.
But the more time Ben and Jennifer spend together, the worse the reaction becomes. When Viktor tracks them down, they’ve both become pulsating blobs, with huge, awkward boils growing out of their skin. Their limbs start extending like tree roots, growing up the walls, their blood a boiling, glowing red substance spurting from their bodies. Filled with anger, Ben lashes out. But the more people fight Ben and Jennifer, the more powerful they become—every bullet or burn, every punch or stab, only helps them to multiply. Viktor attempts to pull the durango out of Ben’s body, but it is too powerful.
As the monster Jennifer and Ben have become starts destroying the world, the remaining Umbrellas join together. Rather than stopping the Cleanse, they realize they must sacrifice themselves, as the marigold is responsible for the fractured timelines. Only by destroying every ounce of marigold can they restore the original timeline, and stop the dreadful events fated to occur. As Ben and Jennifer consume the ground around them, the Umbrellas use their powers to erase themselves from that timeline, therefore cleansing the world of marigold. At the end of the episode, we’re shown a picturesque place in which many of our favorite characters from the entire series reappear, but not the Umbrellas—that is, until some shimmering marigold flowers sprout below a tree.
How are Jennifer and Ben connected?
Jennifer and Ben’s unique connection is first seen when the Umbrellas recall the Jennifer incident. As a child, when Ben reaches inside the shipping container to help Jennifer, electricity crackles between their hands. As Abigail explains, this is the reaction between the elements marigold and durango. She describes the link between these particles, and between Jennifer and Ben, as “unstoppable,” “irrevocable,” and world-ending.
In the present day, Ben runs into Sy, who tells him to find Jennifer by listening to his body. “She can't be out there on her own,” Sy says. “You’ve got to see this through. You have everything you need to find her within you.” It’s then revealed that Ben and Jennifer’s connection is somewhat telepathic, and their bodies respond with a red, glowing, pulsating rash when one thinks of the other. With this sixth sense, Ben is able to find where Jennifer is being held captive and rescue her. But there’s a negative side to their connection too, which quickly spirals out of control, causing the apocalypse.
