In episode 5, Five located Pogo and Allison has escaped with Harlan to save him from a Sparrow fate after he killed two of their team. Klaus is also discovering the extent of his powers after being resurrected from his accidental death at the hands of Stan and a harpoon gun. Five and Lila found the Commission abandoned and Five watched his 100-year-old self die in an iron lung, cutting a strange tattoo off his chest before returning back to Hotel Obsidian. Read on to see what happened in episode 6, “Marigold!”
Pogo Had to Gogo
Unlike the Umbrellas, the Sparrow Academy is a Pogo-less institution. In a flashback scene, we discover that Pogo left after having an argument with Sir Reginald Hargreeves about his intentions for the children he’d become so fond of after watching a sparring match between Ben and Jayme. It’s clear Reggie has had an ulterior motive for the superpowered kids all along, something about “the other side.” We just don’t know what… After the disagreement, Reggie kicks Pogo out of the Academy permanently.
Back in the present day, Five tries to jog Pogo’s memory of their meeting in the 60s to no avail and follows him back to his camper in the woods.
There, he finally gets Pogo’s attention when he reveals the tattoo he cut off of his older self back at the Commission. Pogo recognizes his work and the meaning of the sigils. Project Oblivion, the words jogging Five’s memory of his dying 100-year-old self uttering the same word.
The pills Klaus has now weaned Reggie off of were from Pogo, a method of keeping the Sparrows safe from Reggie’s Oblivion kamikaze mission. Pogo warns Five that if Project Oblivion has restarted, it means danger for everyone. And Five takes his first step towards his destiny, getting the sigil tattooed onto his chest.
Freeing Harlan Once and For All
Viktor meets Harlan and Allison at the drive-in theater and the two begin to strategize how they can rid Harlan of Viktor’s gifted powers. Harlan has a much better grasp over his powers than Viktor does, explaining to him that it’s all about sound. He just needs to listen to the energy waves — every living thing has a distinct sound — and not the sounds that everyone else can hear. As Harlan tries to help Viktor see the extent of his powers, it’s not going well and Allison steps in, her own powers not able to breach the energy field surrounding the pair. That is until she also finds an entirely new level of strength as she’s brought into the energy field, knocking Harlan to the ground using her voice alone without even needing to utter her classic “I heard a rumor.”
Harlan details to Viktor what it was like growing up with this power he couldn’t control, naming it Marigold, and challenges Viktor to not listen with his ears, but his own Marigold. With the help of Harlan’s trusty headphones, he finally begins to understand what Harlan means.
Meanwhile, Allison is hallucinating Ray. Thankfully, she knows it’s a hallucination but it’s not making it any easier. She knows that her Ray died nine years ago, but she still details to him the pain she feels from losing both him and Claire until she notices the effects of Harlan and Viktor as the world goes dark, electricity crackling in the background.
Harlan and Viktor are in the air, energy swirling around them, and Viktor finally completes his task and removes the power from Harlan, freeing him from the prison he’d put him in. As Viktor recovers, Harlan makes the mistake of telling Allison the truth about their mothers — that he accidentally killed them — setting Allison off. He’s the reason Claire doesn’t exist and the world is ending.
That’s all the motivation Allison needs to kill Harlan to appease the Sparrows, bringing his body to their door, Luther in his new red suit standing outside with the Sparrow team.
Where’s Stan?
In a shock to no one, Diego and Lila have misplaced their child and worry he might have been Kugelblitzed. A trail of Slim Jim wrappers leads Diego to a secret door in the White Buffalo Suite, a light tunnel of light behind it. The two venture after him and find themselves in White Buffalo Suite … with a twist. Everything in the room is the backside of the one they’ve just left, including the buffalo … its rear end now sticking straight out at them. And Diego never forgets an ass, so this is definitely a different place.
When they get down to the lobby that looks exactly the same as the one they’re used to, they discover they’re in Hotel Oblivion, and ringing the bell on the desk is strictly not allowed. Then, Lila reveals the truth. Stan is not their son. He’s the son of a friend and technically she kind of kidnapped him.
As Diego tries to leave the hotel through the revolving door, he ends up right back inside. Something is definitely off about this place. So Diego, in all his well-thought-out glory, rings the bell that was explicitly stated should not be rung. A gong echoes, everything goes eerie and dark, and then they hear a chain clanging. It’s a very large armored man with a scythe who takes two of Diego’s fingers as a souvenir before the pair can escape back down the mystery tunnel. Thankfully, the two keep it from crossing over into Hotel Obsidian’s White Buffalo Suite and then Stan walks in with a Slim Jim and slushy only to be obliterated by the Kugelblitz right before Diego and Lila’s eyes.
Sparrow Family Meeting +1
Despite their best attempts to hide it, the Sparrows know they have a guest. Fei busts Sloane and Luther thanks to their shared wall and Sloane’s squeaky bed and invites Luther down to the family meeting called by Ben.
Luther finally explains why the Umbrellas are so obsessed with Sparrow Ben, citing a Jennifer incident as the source of their Ben’s demise, and that it’s just because they all miss Ben. Their Ben. Their Ben who was the exact opposite of the Ben sitting before him. Luther hopes that maybe some of Umbrella Ben is still lurking beneath Sparrow Ben’s rough exterior.
Then, he offers Luther a spot on the Sparrows, a shiny new red uniform and all. A plan of Ben’s that was not run by Fei and she’s none too pleased.
Klaus and Reggie, an Unlikely Duo of Chaos
The White Buffalo Suite has left Klaus back to Reggie, who has a painting of a white buffalo above the mantle in his office. He knows it must all be connected. Klaus wants help discovering more about who he is and why his own Reggie treated him the way that he did.
Step one of their work together? Killing Klaus … again.
The Umbrella Academy season 3 is now streaming on Netflix. Follow along with all of our coverage on the show, including episodic recaps and more.
