In the fifth episode of the third season of The Umbrella Academy, “Kindest Cut,” further depths of Klaus’ abilities are revealed, Harlan explains the tragedy he caused, Five and Lila return from their trip to the Commission, and the Umbrellas and the Sparrows each try to figure out what they’re going to do next with the Kugelblitz looming over them.

Actual-death experiences

Following his accidental death at the hands of Diego’s son, Stan, Klaus wakes up in the Void. He walks to a beach and enters a mausoleum. A younger version of himself is sitting slumped against the wall, and Reginald kneels down beside him, carrying on with his tests. Klaus finds himself back in a memory from his teenage years, in which he fell off of a roof, and then he sees Stan shoot him again. He realizes that these weren’t near-death experiences — he actually died. After he steps out of the mausoleum, Klaus finds his mother sitting at a table on the beach. She remarks that he’s died 56 times now, and she assures him that he doesn’t need to continue mourning her.

Harlan’s mistake

Following the devastating news that Harlan is the one that killed the Umbrella Academy’s mothers, Viktor chases after Harlan and demands to know the truth. It was an accident. On the day that Sissy died, Harlan felt Viktor again, so he reached out … but it wasn’t Viktor. He had connected to the mothers, who were currently terrified because they could feel something growing inside of their bodies. Harlan tried to break the connection, but he couldn’t. After that day, he hid himself away … until now, when he felt Viktor’s powers again.

Reconvening and resurrection

Viktor, Luther, Diego, and Allison meet in the lobby (the latter two looking a bit rough around the edges after their wild night of bar fighting), and Five and Lila come tumbling back after their trip to the Commission. Allison realizes that they have the briefcase, but it doesn’t appear to have survived the trip back. Lila hugs Diego, realizing that there’s no time for her to hold grudges any longer. Diego spots Stan sneaking by the lobby with his arms full of supplies, and he follows him back to the White Buffalo Suite, where his son shows him Klaus’ dead body on the carpet; he was going to use the chemicals to dissolve it.

Putting their heads together for a brilliant solution, Diego and Stan roll Klaus’ body up in the carpet and lug him down the hallway and into the elevator. The concierge barely bats an eye. Shortly after the elevator begins to move, Klaus comes gasping back to life, and Diego and Stan promptly lose their minds.

The Sparrows plot their next move

In the wake of the deaths of Jayme and Alphonso at Hotel Obsidian, Fei and Ben argue over what their next move will be. Fei wants to work together with the Umbrellas to solve their growing problem in the basement — because people all over the world are disappearing now — but Ben is more concerned with punishing Harlan first. Together, they join Grace in the basement and stand before the Kugelblitz, and they use her eye in an attempt to inspect it closer.

The Kugelblitz grows

The Umbrellas sit at the hotel bar and discuss the Kugelblitz, which Five describes as the end of everything. Their best plan would be to go back in time and eliminate the paradox, but it’s not possible considering the briefcase is kaput. Five doesn’t want to risk using his powers to fix things, because we all know what happened last time he tried that. Another wave from the Kugelblitz comes crashing through, taking more innocent lives, and Five calculates that they have 4 to 5 days left until — you guessed it — the end of the world. They debate what to do about the Sparrows and Harlan, and Klaus finally takes it upon himself to mention the “big, bad, glow-y thing” in the basement of the Academy. So at least they know where the Kugelblitz is.

Viktor heads upstairs to talk to Harlan, and Diego and Lila send Stan off as they finally start to rekindle their relationship (not realizing that an odd, glowing door has opened up in the White Buffalo Suite). Meanwhile, Luther and Allison have a chat. They embrace, and Allison is under the assumption that Luther still wants her, but that’s not the case at all. Angry that he’s leaving to go after Sloane, she uses her powers and compels him to kiss her. Later, Allison catches Viktor sneaking Harlan out of the hotel. He wants to try to take back his powers so he can save him, and Allison agrees to help.

The Mothers of Agony

Klaus and Five are still sitting in the lobby, and when Five shows him the tattoo that he cut off of his older self, Klaus tells him that it’s a symbol for a biker gang: the Mothers of Agony. Five immediately heads to the bar where the gang is located, and in the back room he finds none other than Pogo.

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.

In the fourth episode of the third season of The Umbrella Academy, “Kugelblitz,” Sloane spends some time with the Umbrellas, Five and Lila find the last thing they were expecting at the Commission, Klaus has an unfortunate incident, and the full story of Harlan is revealed.

Sissy and Harlan

We open with a flashback to when Sissy was driving away with Harlan at the end of season 2. They escape and find a new home, and Sissy seems to have found happiness with another woman. However, things turn sour when Harlan accidentally kills his pet rabbit with his powers, and they leave town. Harlan is bullied at his new school, and his powers go off again, hitting all of the kids surrounding him. While he was growing up, Sissy had to constantly move Harlan from town to town. Eventually, she passes away in the hospital on October 1, 1989. Harlan stands at her bedside, stricken with grief, and energy bursts from his chest as his powers go haywire.

The aftermath

Sloane wakes up on the floor at Hotel Obsidian, and she runs off when she sees what happened to Jayme and Alphonso. Sloane runs off, and when Luther finds her, she attacks him, convinced that he set her up. Diego and Allison intervene. Allison uses her powers on Sloane to force her to tell them where the briefcase is, and they learn that the Sparrows didn’t have it after all. Meanwhile, Viktor follows Harlan, who remarks that he hasn’t aged at all — which would make sense, considering it’s only been three days for Viktor since he saw Harlan. The older man explains that ever since Viktor saved him at the lake, he can hear people with powers … like a tuning fork. He explains that he doesn’t have control over his powers, though.

A strange discovery at the Commission

Five and Lila walk inside of the Commission to find that it’s been ravaged by the effects of the Grandfather Paradox. After Five finds a recording of what happened just before the timeline collapse, Lila brings him the master handbook in hopes that they can find some information inside of it. They make their way over to the operations bunker, and Five is suddenly very itchy and farting uncontrollably. Oddly enough, the bunker denies Lila’s biometric scan, but it accepts Five’s. They enter the room, which is mostly empty besides an old man laying inside of a chamber resembling an iron lung. Five realizes that the man is him; he’s the one who founded the Commission (and Lila is beyond amused). The room is paradox proof, which is why his paradox psychosis stopped once they entered. The older version of Five tells them that they must be there because of a Kugelblitz. If so, there’s no way to fix it, and all that will be left … is oblivion. He releases himself from the chamber to show the young Five what he has to look forward to, and he instructs him not to save the world. The old man dies, and Five cuts off the strange symbol tattooed on his chest.

It was Stan … in the White Buffalo Suite … with the spear gun

Diego brushes Klaus off when he tries to tell him about the “blinding orb of light” that he found in the Academy basement, and he tells “Uncle Klaus” that he’s babysitting Stan while he cleans the hotel in payment for destroying the lobby with a Molotov cocktail. The pair makes their way through the rooms, cleaning cart in tow as they dig into some heart-to-heart therapy while Stan tries to steal everything in sight. They find an intriguing room that’s not on the list, the White Buffalo Suite, and they break into it, mesmerized by its odd décor. Unfortunately, the fun and games end when Stan accidentally shoots Klaus right through the chest with a spear gun.

Diego and Allison’s night out

Allison is still keyed up over everything that she’s been through, so Diego takes her out for a drive and tries to get her to talk about what’s bothering her. Knowing that she’s in the mood for a fight, he parks in front of a rowdy looking bar with a Confederate flag hanging outside of it. A place that the two of them likely won’t be very welcome. It’s time to have some fun.

The Sparrows’ demands

In a turn of events, Sloane accuses Luther of using her to get information, but he’s able to convince her otherwise. Sloane joins Luther, Diego, Allison, and Viktor for a meeting in the lobby, and they debate what to do about Sloane and Harlan. Eventually, they agree to return Sloane to the Sparrow Academy, but in return, Ben demands that they hand over Harlan.

A dark secret

Harlan goes looking for Viktor, and he comes across the newspaper clippings with the Umbrellas’ mothers. He demands to know why Viktor has them. We flash back to Harlan’s meltdown after his mother died, and we learn that Harlan’s outpouring of power is what killed them all.

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.