In the third episode of The Umbrella Academy‘s third season, “Pocket Full of Lightning,” we open with a presentation by the Commission about the Grandfather Paradox (and why they must be avoided). Meanwhile, Luther returns to Hotel Obsidian, Five and Lila team up, Klaus has a chat with Reginald, and the identity of the man with the briefcase full of cassettes is revealed.

Luther returns

On top of the world after his time spent with Sloane, Luther leaves the Academy, and he stops at a vendor in the park. Another whoosh of energy pulsates through the city, and the man that he was speaking with disappears. He gets back to Hotel Obsidian and is baffled to find that none of his siblings noticed he was gone. The Umbrellas discuss the fact that things have been disappearing and the disturbing news about the deaths of their mothers, and Diego suggests that Reginald is probably the one that did it.

Two failed briefcases

Five runs into Lila in the bathroom, and after fighting with one another, he informs her that the Grandfather Paradox is happening. He sees that she has not one, but two of the Commission’s briefcases with her, and she tells him that neither of them work. The odds of both of them failing are astronomical, so they begrudgingly team up in an attempt to get to the bottom of things. Diego runs into them in the hallway, and though he tries to talk to her, Lila makes it clear that she’s over it. There’s no relationship between them anymore.

Five and Lila get to work in the hotel’s utility room, doing their best to hotwire one of the briefcases, though it doesn’t appear to be working. Lila gets an idea, and she mimics Five’s powers. Together, they’re able to jump start the case. They find themselves in a snowy wasteland, standing in front of the remains of the Commission.

Making deals

Unaware that Lila has the briefcase, Allison, Viktor, and Luther try to figure out how they can resolve the Marcus issue with the Sparrows. Viktor and Allison meet up with Fei and Ben, and instead of telling them the truth, Allison lies and says that they kidnapped Marcus. Viktor tells them about the Grandfather Paradox, and they agree to trade the briefcase for Marcus (although Grace already told them that “God is in the basement” and “Marcus isn’t coming back” because “God took him.”).

Paying a visit to dear old Dad

Klaus sneaks into the Academy and finds Reginald, demanding to know if he killed their mothers (he didn’t). However, they’re interrupted, and Klaus has to hide when Alphonso and Jayme come in to give Reginald his pills and force him to sign a paper. Reginald is hesitant, and Alphonso threatens to get Christopher. When they leave, Klaus sits down with his father and teaches him how to fake taking the pills that his children are forcing upon him. Later, Reginald falls asleep while they’re watching television, and Klaus follows the sound of Grace’s singing into the basement. He sees the pulsing ball of energy.

Harlan

The Sparrows show up at Hotel Obsidian in full costume, ready to battle. They tell the Umbrellas that the deal is off. Ready to save the day, Stan comes in with a Molotov cocktail and sets the lobby on fire. The man with the briefcase full of cassettes — who checked into the hotel earlier — comes down the stairs. A burst of energy comes shooting out of his chest, killing Jayme and Alphonso. It’s Harlan.

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 second episode of The Umbrella Academy‘s third season, “World’s Biggest Ball of Twine,” we meet Viktor Hargreeves, Allison is met with devastating news, Luther is kidnapped by the Sparrows, and Klaus makes a disturbing discovery while in pursuit of his birth mother.

Where’s Claire?

Worried after not hearing back from Claire, Allison goes home to see her. Unfortunately, the little girl that’s in her daughter’s bedroom isn’t Claire. Patrick and another woman run into the room. Defeated, Allison returns to Hotel Obsidian.

Meet Viktor

Vanya finds a book in the hotel and flips to a page that refers to the Umbrellas as the Kennedy Six, a group of communists. She sees that Sissy died on October 1, 1989. She reflects back on something that Sissy said to her, “You don’t even notice the box that you’re in until someone comes along and lets you out,” as she approaches the hotel barber.

In the lobby, Five, Klaus, and Diego are discussing Lila and Stanley when Vanya approaches with a new haircut. After casually correcting Diego when he refers to him as Vanya, he corrects him and says, “It’s Viktor, […] it’s who I’ve always been.” His brothers are all quick to accept the news supportively, and Viktor discusses his meeting with Marcus and his plans to get the briefcase back. However, Five isn’t interested in messing with time anymore. There’s finally no doomsday or apocalypse looming over them. He’s retired.

Despite what Five may believe, trouble is certainly brewing in the basement of the Academy. Another pulse ripples out from the ball of energy, and the lobsters in the tank in the hotel lobby disappear.

Five and Klaus are baffled to find out that Stan’s mother is Lila. Diego has a fresh haircut… and so does Vanya. Vanya corrects Diego and says, “It’s Viktor. It’s who I’ve always been.” Viktor explains that Marcus agreed to handover the briefcase, though his brothers aren’t convinced it’s actually going to happen that way. [Need to rewatch this scene]. Five makes a point that he’s retired. They’re done messing with time. Because there’s finally no doomsday, no apocalypse. Another pulse ripples out from the pulsating ball of energy in the Hargreeves mansion (name for the house).

Despite the fact that she’s still upset over Claire, Allison insists on joining Viktor when he goes to meet up with Marcus to get the briefcase. On the way, Viktor tells her how being with Sissy opened up something in him and showed him that he’d never be free by hiding from who he really is. After losing her, he realized he can’t live in that box anymore.

As they sit in the diner waiting for Marcus, Allison becomes overwhelmed by memories of her daughter. She steps outside for air and sees a man with a briefcase and headphones. When she notices that he’s staring at her, she begins to follow after him, but she eventually loses him.

Kidnapping Luther

Luther wakes up at the Academy after being kidnapped by Ben, Fei, Sloane, and Christopher, and though he’s initially on the defensive, he calms when he sits down to eat with the Sparrows. They all introduce themselves, and when Luther asks where Marcus is, he finds out why they took him. Marcus disappeared, and the Sparrows believe that the Umbrellas kidnapped him. Luther offers to go back to Hotel Obsidian to talk to his siblings and see what’s going on, but they won’t let him leave.

Despite the situation, Luther manages to settle in amongst the Sparrows quite comfortably. Given the difficult relationship between the Umbrellas, he enjoys how close the Sparrows are as a family. Sloane spends time with him and flirts with him, and while he likes the attention at first, he eventually becomes suspicious that she’s trying to honey trap him.

The Sparrows eventually agree to let Luther go home (with a tote bag full of goodies). However, after he walks out, Sloane calls out to him and floats him up to her bedroom window. She apologizes to him for earlier and explains that although they were being watched by her family, she meant everything she said. Luther kisses her.

Stolen briefcase

Lila tries to jump to Berlin, but she’s furious to find that her briefcase won’t work. After spying on the Sparrows, Lila copies Fei’s powers and uses one of her birds to swipe the Umbrellas’ briefcase from the basement of the Academy.

An eventful trip for ear drops

Diego talks Stan to the store to get ear drops, and they run into Alphonso and Jayme. He learns how Alphonso’s powers work the hard way, getting injured himself for each blow that he deals against the other man. Stan tries to help him, but he gets hurt as well. Diego and Stan begin chucking random items at them in retaliation before they eventually retreat.

A road trip with Five and Klaus

Five eventually gives in and agrees to join Klaus on a road trip, but he’s not pleased when he discovers that Klaus has roped him into another scheme instead of a relaxing vacation full of odd and zany roadside attractions. They’re going to Pennsylvania to find Klaus’ birth mother, and he wants Five to be there for emotional support. Klaus found his mom’s information in Reginald’s office, and the address leads them to an Amish community.

Klaus asks a woman where he can find Rachel Herschberger, but a man approaches him and threatens him, forcing him to leave. He runs into the woman in the woods afterward, and she explains that Rachel died on October 1, 1989. The Amish end up finding Klaus again and chase after him. When he gets back to the car, he sees that Five has been drawing calculations all over the windows. The woman frantically finds Klaus again and shoves a book in his hands, telling him that his mother’s death was unusual. And there were others. As they’re driving away, Klaus is flipping through the book, and he finds disturbing news.

When they return to Hotel Obsidian, Five and Klaus share their findings with Diego, Viktor, and Allison. They explain that all of their mothers died on October 1, 1989 … before they were born. When they jumped back to the future, they created a time paradox. A grandfather paradox.

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.

After an exhausting battle to save the world from yet another apocalypse, the Umbrella Academy has finally returned to the current day after their tumble through time in the 1960s. However, the choices they made along the way seem to have changed the universe as they know it …

Meet the Sparrow Academy

Taking things right back to where it all began, we open with a flashback to October 1, 1989. Shining dust pours down into a subway car, and a woman mysteriously becomes pregnant and gives birth within seconds. However … the story has changed slightly this time. Instead of the original 43, only 16 women around the world gave birth at the same time with no prior signs of pregnancy. Reginald Hargreeves gathered seven of them, and he created … the Sparrow Academy: Marcus, Ben, Fei, Alphonso, Sloane, Jayme, and Christopher.

Picking back up where season 2 left off, the Umbrellas have returned back to the current day, but they’re confused to find that the future changed slightly while they were gone. Their house is now occupied by the Sparrow Academy, and both Ben and Reginald are alive, the latter of which remembers the Umbrellas from their meeting in Dallas in 1963 (and those events are what made him decide to adopt the children that would become the Sparrows instead, oops). Meanwhile, downstairs, a pulsing ball of energy forms in the basement.

The Umbrellas and the Sparrows begin to argue, and they decide that they’ll need to settle things the old fashioned way — with a dance off to “Footloose.” The entertaining scenes ends up being nothing more than a hallucination in Diego’s head, courtesy of Jayme’s powers. In reality, Ben punches Klaus, and a wild brawl breaks out across the house. The Umbrellas have their work cut out for them as their counterparts show off their own special powers. The Umbrellas eventually retreat, but Five loses track of their time traveling briefcase in the process. Elsewhere, we see Grace carry it downstairs into the basement, and she pauses to look at the ball of energy.

Welcome to Hotel Obsidian

No longer welcome in their own home, the Umbrellas need a place to lay down and avoid drawing any unnecessary attention. Klaus suggests what he believes to be the perfect place: the Hotel Obsidian. After pawning off Luther’s watch to the unimpressed concierge, they manage to book two rooms. Diego is immediately itching to get back into the fray and figure out how to fix things, but Five beckons him to let him relax for a least a little while. They need a break from saving the world. In the other room, Allison and Vanya lament over Ray and Sissy.

A peace offering

Marcus and Vanya secretly meet up at a diner to chat and discuss their situation. Given that the Sparrows are the only superhero team in town, they don’t want the Umbrellas to cause any issues for them. Vanya, confident that she can beat him in battle, threatens to show up and fight him in front of all of his doting fans (because she’s ended the world twice, after all). He gives in, asking her what she wants, and she tells him that the Sparrows are in possession of something she needs … and she wants it back. Outside, one of Fei’s crows flies off and back to the Academy, and Fei tells Ben that Marcus is making a deal with the Umbrellas.

Daddy Diego

Five, Diego, Klaus, and Luther are eating in the lobby and discussing the fact that there are likely versions of all of them in this alternate universe. A knife discreetly lands in the back of Diego’s chair, and he turns around and sees Lila. He chases after her, but she’s not there to stay. She’s just popped in to drop off their son, Stanley. Apparently Diego is a dad, which is news to everyone, including him.

The man with the briefcase

While it’s not entirely clear who he is at this point, it’s worth noting that a man with a carefully packed suitcase and a briefcase full of cassette tapes is shown travelling on a bus after he leaves his small cabin home. Frustrated by the sounds around him, he puts a tape with the sound of bees droning into his cassette player.

A message from God

Marcus walks into the basement and finds Grace drawing symbols on the floor in front of the pulsing ball of energy. She tells him that it’s a message from God, and she’s worshipping. Marcus teaches out to touch it, and a wave of energy shoots out; he disintegrates. Meanwhile, the concierge’s dog at the Hotel Obsidian also disappears. Something is very wrong here.

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.