The Umbrella Academy, Ep. 2x08 - The Seven Stages
Real life intruded hard the last few months and, wow, this is not a show to stop watching in the middle of a season. Fortunately, this episode was more straight forward then others, so it didn’t take to long for me to remember what was going on. It also means this will be a shorter recap.
Now that his plan has gone sideways, Five is pissed. Well, more pissed then usual. Luther tells Klaus to go find what happened to Allison, while Luther deals with Five. Turns out, Five has another plan. However, it’s very risky as it involves meeting up with his younger (older) self and convincing him to let them use the briefcase. However, crossing your own timeline has dangerous side effects and it’s very clear that both of them are suffering from those side effects by the end of the episode. See, older Five tells younger Five why they need the briefcase and, in exchange, he’ll give younger Five the correct calculations in order for him to go home. However, in the bathroom, Luther lets it slip that the apocalypse was caused by Vanya’s trauma. Younger Five tells Luther that the best thing would be for the two of them to travel back before the apocalypse and try to help Vanya. And that’s where this part leaves off.
Meanwhile, Lila convinces The Handler to take Diego in as a new recruit. The Handler makes it clear that, if things go wrong, it will be on Lila’s head. Lila takes Diego to the new recruit training class. So, Diego is in this class, a film is showing, and the teacher is asleep. The film, which is showing the different parts of the Commission, brings up The Switchboard; which basically shows all of time. Diego leaves the class and goes to the switchboard. There, he comes in contact with another worker who is part of the resistance against The Handler and also seems to be a fan of The Umbrella Academy. Diego asks the worker to bring up the day JFK is assassinated; but something is wrong. History is changed because a nearby building blows up and JFK is whisked away to safety. This building that blows up is what cause the nuclear fallout between United States and Russia. Diego asks to see a different view of that building and discovers that the explosion comes from Vanya.
See, while this is going on, Vanya has been captured by the FBI; who think she’s a Russian spy. They douse her with LSD and start to torture her. However, the LSD sends her on a journey into her mind where she finds herself at dinner with her family whose about to dine on brains.
Back at the Commission, Diego and the worker are able to procure a briefcase and land in Allison’s living room (Lila will later discover Diego has fled). At the beginning of the episode, Klaus meets up with Allison and Ray and now the three (er, four as Ben is there) are trying to get rid of the body of Swede number two. Fortunately, the worker says he can get rid of the body for them. Diego tells Klaus and Allison about what they learned. Allison tearfully says goodbye to Ray and they go the FBI building.
As the trio ride up the elevator, the FBI agent is currently using electricity to torture Vanya. And, because she’s not responding, he turns it up. Meanwhile, in her mind Hargreeves is telling Vanya that her amnesia is because she doesn’t want to remember and he keeps pushing for her to eat the brain in front of her. Which she does. This causes her memories to start to come back. However, due to the memories returning and the electrical current flowing through her body; her powers activate tenfold. What’s more, we keep cutting back to Harland and it becomes clear that whatever flowed through Vanya into him has connected them. As her body starts having seizures, so does his. And suddenly his eyes change color and he starts to yell no.
The episode ends with, the three Hargreeves siblings trying to get to Vanya; but are trapped because of Vanya’s growing powers.
Before I end this, just a few more things to mention that are going to be important (most likely) in the last two episodes. The one surviving Swede has come to the realization that the cannister they thought was from The Commission was fake and that The Handler had set them up. Meanwhile, Grace finds Hargreeves’ secret room and plans about JFK. She confronts Hargreeves about these plan, but he can’t tell her what’s really going on and so she decides to leave him.
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Kassandra Hargeeves' Scenes, S01E10: The White Violin
The house comes crashing down, with the world soon to follow after
Collapsing
Suddenly, the entire house started shaking. All doors flew open at once. In an instinctive reaction, Luther, Klaus, Diego and Kassandra almost ran into each other in the hallway.
“Yo, what the hell is going on?” Diego asked tensely.
Klaus looked around in confusion and fear. “Are those explosions coming from-”
“Vanya”, Pogo said grimly, appearing behind them. “We need to get to safety. Outside the academy.”
The noise wouldn't cease. Explosions, crumbling walls, grinding of bricks and groaning of beams…
“I knew this was a bad idea”, Kassandra whispered.
“Don’t forget Mom”, Luther told the others.
With a decisive nod, Diego, Klaus and Kassandra started running for the exit. Around them, the walls started to crack. Dust rained down from the ceiling. Suddenly, Kassandra stopped dead in her tracks.
“I need to talk to Vanya”, she declared.
Both Klaus and Diego stared at her in disbelief.
“You’re crazy”, Diego stated. “Vanya is about to bring the whole house crashing down and you think talking to her will fix things?”
“I need to try”, Kassandra insisted.
“Listen, Kass”, Klaus cut in, “I’m usually all for crazy things but this is just downright suicidal. We need to get out of here!”
“Then you get out. I’m going to find Vanya. She’s listened to me before, there’s a chance she’ll listen again.”
“Kassandra…” Diego said firmly and took her by the arm to pull her onwards but she yanked herself free.
“Look, Diego, I’m sorry”, she sighed with pleading eyes, “but I need to do this. I promise I’ll make it out alive.”
With that, and without looking at her brothers again, she hurried down the hallway. Thoughts were racing through her mind, her own just as stressful as those of others, her feelings tearing her up from the inside. She had to be there for Vanya because she had always been there for her, because she had been through so much and because she had to be so lost and confused. On the other hand, she knew Diego and Klaus were right. This was madness. Especially in the light of their recent losses, she felt horrible putting her life on the line. On top of that, she was scared. Scared of the state she would find Vanya in, scared of dying, scared of losing her family again. Still, she forced herself to focus. She found Vanya’s thoughts and followed them to their source. Soon, she could hear voices. Vanya and Pogo.
As she stepped into the salon, her blood went cold. There she was. Vanya. Her skin had turned sickly pale and her eyes were like alabaster, cold as stone. Wind and vibrations swirled around her, reaching into Kassandra’s body to stir her soul. On top of this, Vanya was not herself. Her mind had become unreadable, ice cold. But what was the most terrifying was what was happening in front of Kassandra this very instant. Pogo was lifted up into the air as the winds grew stronger. Then, he shot through the entire room, right into the large antlers along the wall. A wave of nausea hit Kassandra as she saw their scarlet tips tear through his chest. The fabric of his suit turned a deep red. Then, his eyes met hers. The noise of the collapsing house faded for a moment. Kassandra wanted to go to him, hold his hand as he went, but-
“Kassandra.”
Vanya’s voice pulled her gaze away from him. Kassandra had to be wearing her emotions clearly on her face, despite how much she tried to be strong.
“Vanya, I… I’m sorry”, she stammered. “All of this has gone far out of control.”
“You mean you can’t control me anymore.”
“No, I-” She realized she had no clue what to say. All this time she had had to prepare and now nothing came out. “We never should have done all those things to you. We’ve given you a horrible life. To know the truth now… I can’t imagine how you feel right now, but… I could if you let me try…”
Shakily, she pulled off her gloves and reached out her hands to the white being that her sister had become. There had to be a way out of this. A peaceful solution. This couldn’t be the end.
“You knew about my powers all along and you didn’t tell me”, Vanya said coldly.
“Yes, I knew, but you know that I couldn’t tell you even if I wanted to!” Kassandra cried out, her voice breaking. “Please, Vanya, this situation is messy enough as it is. Let me try to help you. The amount of mistakes that has been made is too big to just forgive and forget, I know, but we can try to take this one step at a time. I don’t want to lose my sister. I still love you! I-”
Her words got stuck in her throat as she felt herself be lifted off the ground. Her lungs felt like they were being compressed, her throat sewn shut.
“Vanya, please-”
But it was no use. With a shock wave, Kassandra was hurled backwards and crashed through the front doors. As glass shards and splinters flew around her, everything went black.
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Breaking Down
“Kass! Kassandra!”
Hurriedly, Diego picked her motionless body up from the ground, cold shivers running down his spine. It felt like time went in slow motion. But when he finally heard quiet breathing, a sigh of relief escaped him.
“Hey, she kept her promise!” Klaus remarked in a tone that sounded scared, incredulous, glad and like he was trying to lighten up the situation somehow.
His attempt failed but… it was good to know at least one person had made it. Allison leaned against Luther, holding on to his arm. With a quiet groan, Kassandra’s head moved slightly.
“Take it slow”, Diego whispered.
Her eyes fluttered open, first filled with drowsiness, then confusion, then gratitude.
“Diego, you’re alive!” Kassandra gasped.
She sat up slowly and looked around, a smile spreading across her face as she looked at each of her siblings.
“You all made it!”
But then, her smile faded. She had to have already picked it up from the others’ thoughts. Still, Luther took it upon himself to deliver the bad news to her:
“Mom and Pogo didn’t make it.”
Kassandra’s eyes went hollow. She nodded lightly and got up, only to stumble and almost collapse. Immediately, Diego and Klaus were at her side to catch her.
“Let’s sit you down somewhere”, Klaus suggested.
They moved her over to one of the pieces of the entrance gate still standing. As they walked, even these few steps, they noticed she was shaking. Her breathing was becoming more shallow. Then, she choked. The moment they sat her down on one of the stones in front of the entrance, they noticed she was crying. Kassandra, who had always been there for others, who had always taken the others’ pain, who had always listened to them cry, who herself had never cried in front of them - or anyone as far as they knew - since she was five years old. But now it had happened. Crumbling her face in pain, Kassandra covered her mouth to muffle the sound of her cries. She doubled over as if trying to spit out her heart right then and there.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay”, Klaus said quickly, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Let it out.”
But her breathing kept getting shakier and more and more shallow. Klaus recognized too well what this meant.
“Breathe, Kass, breathe. It’s okay, we’re all okay. We’re safe. Just breathe.”
Quickly, Allison wrote down some things on her notepad and held it up to Kassandra. When she realized she wouldn’t read it, she nudged Klaus. Breathe. 3 in, 3 hold, 3 out, 3 pause.
“Okay, let’s do a little exercise. Kass?”
But Kassandra wouldn’t listen. Suddenly, a voice cut through the chaos.
“Guys!” Five called, running to the group. He had a newspaper clutched in his hand.
“Not now, Five”, Luther said dryly.
“This is it. The apocalypse is still on, the world ends today.”
“Five, this is not the time.”
“Of course, it’s the time, we- Oh, shit.”
Kassandra’s state had only gotten worse at his words. Diego took a deep breath. This could either make things worse or make things better and he had no idea what this would be like but he had to try.
“Kass… I’ll take your hand, okay?”
He took off his gloves and carefully wrapped his fingers around her wrist. Immediately, he could feel a surge of panic come on. So the telepathy did work the same both ways, Kassandra had just always locked her feelings away. Now, she couldn’t anymore. To his surprise, Kassandra moved her hand, allowing him to hold it. Her panic swept over to him even further, but knowing that it wasn’t his helped him deal with it and he hoped that his state of mind would somehow help Kassandra too. If not, hopefully at least the touch of his hand would. He tried to be gentle, just like she always had been, and just like he remembered himself doing with her time and time again, she squeezed his hand, looking for support.
“There we go… Now let’s breathe together, okay? Three seconds in… three seconds hold… three seconds out… three seconds pause… And again. That’s it.”
Really, her panic slowly started to ebb away. Her breathing became calmer, deeper, less stiff.
“You’re doing great, Kass”, Klaus encouraged her.
Finally, she swallowed the lump in her throat and wiped off her tears but she didn’t let Diego’s hand go. Gently, he rubbed his thumb across her skin. They didn’t talk, but their connected minds gave them a special kind of bond. For the first time since their birth, Diego felt like he truly understood his sister - and he felt sorry, but also very grateful. Grateful that she had gone through everyone else’s troubles and sorry that she had gone through hers alone. But not anymore.
“Are you feeling better, Kass?” Five asked, hands in his pockets but still looking genuinely concerned.
Kassandra nodded with a sigh.
“Good, because I’ve got bad news. I was wrong. The apocalypse happens today. This newspaper I found in the future the day I got stuck. The headline hasn’t changed.”
“No, that doesn’t mean anything”, Diego said quietly, half in the moment, half in his mind - or their mind. “Time could’ve been altered since that newspaper came out this morning.”
“You’re not listening to me. When I found it I assumed this place came down along with everything else. But here we are, the moon’s still shining, the Earth is in one piece, but not the Academy.”
In the distance, a helicopter whirred and sirens blared. Klaus pulled the newspaper out of Five’s hand, mumbling: “I’m confused.
“Then listen to me, you idiot”, Five insisted. “Vanya destroys the Academy before the apocalypse. I thought Harold Jenkins was the cause but he was the fuse. Vanya is the bomb. Vanya causes the apocalypse.”
With those words, Diego could feel Kassandra’s mind be whirled up again. He squeezed her hand lightly.
“We have to find her”, Luther declared.
Suddenly, they were in the middle of a searchlight. Bright, blinding almost, and pointed directly at them. Immediately, a jolt went through Diego’s body
“We gotta go”, he announced. “Now!”
He jumped up from his seat and pulled Kassandra up with him, tightening his grip on her hand. This was no state to leave her alone in, especially not in a situation like this.
“Regroup at the Super Star”, Luther ordered. “Go!”
With that, everyone started running off in different directions.
“Take care of her!” Klaus called after Diego and Kassandra.
“I will!”
He would. He had sworn it.
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The End
“What’s the worst that can happen?”
“You’re looking at it. A 58-year-old man inside a child’s body, so there’s that.”
“Well, I think that’s not too bad”, Kassandra remarked, her heartbeat thumping against her chest at the thought of the chunks of the moon raining from above. “I liked being a child. It’s a lot better than dying, that’s for sure.”
“Oh, what the hell, I’m in”, Diego declared.
“Yeah, whatever”, Klaus shrugged. “I’m in too.”
“Me too”, Luther said. “Allison?”
Allison nodded.
“What about Ben?”
“Great, yeah, he’s in”, Klaus announced.
“Okay, great. Luther, grab Vanya”, Five ordered.
This was it. It was time travel or nothing.
“Wait, should we be taking her?” Luther interrupted. “I mean, if she’s the cause of the apocalypse, isn’t that like taking the bomb with us?”
“A bomb can be defused”, Kassandra said, putting a hand on Vanya’s forehead. For now, she was unconscious. Peacefully asleep. “If we take her with us, we get a chance to undo the mistakes we’ve made, or at least try to mend them.”
“Kass is right”, Five declared. “The apocalypse will always happen and Vanya will always be the cause, unless we take her with us and fix her.”
Kassandra took another look up at the moon. Its fiery image made her shiver. Quickly, everyone gathered in a circle, taking each other’s hand. Their tenseness flooded into Kassandra, but for once she made no effort to hold hers back either. Instead, she let herself ease into the fact that this meant she wasn’t alone. She didn’t have to go through this all by herself. Above them, blue light flickered and thunder crashed. That crack in the sky that had given them Five back would now take them away. Kassandra didn’t care what the consequences of this would be. As long as they made it and as long as she kept her family, she would accept anything. Finally, maybe in their last moments on this Earth or at least in this time, she could feel everyone’s hearts beating in the same rhythm. Finally, after all these years, she could feel a seventh presence again. Ben was here, he was back. Finally, the entire Umbrella Academy was back together.
With a loud whooshing, Kassandra felt herself be lifted off the floor, up into the light. Then, everything disappeared.
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