Umbrella Academy Recap: 1.06 ‘The Day That Wasn’t

Well, episode 6 of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy series will certainly frustrate some! There’s plenty of character progression…until there’s not. This episode sees Five begin work at The Commission, while Leonard and Vanya get closer and it seems she isn’t so powerless as she was raised to believe. As for the other Hargreeves siblings, they’re discussing the apocalypse, but most of them have other stuff they would prefer to do than saving the world.

In the previous episode, we’re introduced to The Handler and The Commission who employ Five for a period of time until he returns to the Academy, while Klaus returns from his little time travel trip, except he isn’t the same man that he once was as he travelled to 1968 Vietnam. It’s revealed that Vanya isn’t so ordinary, and that it has something to do with being off her medication and Leonard is all for it. In exchange for his siblings to live, Five agrees to work for The Commission once again, but he most definitely has some kind of plan…

A Trip To The Past

We begin in A Shau Valley, Vietnam in 1968 when Klaus (Robert Sheehan) arrives with a flash of blue light and the sounds of bombs and sirens overhead. The troops are called into action, and Klaus is forced to don a uniform and handed a gun to prepare for battle. Next thing we know Klaus is enjoying drinks and dancing to ‘Soul Kitchen’ by The Doors and kissing a fellow soldier by the name of Dave (Cody Ray Thompson). Returning to the present, Klaus flushes his drugs and Luther (Tom Hopper) gathers the siblings for a meeting about the impending apocalypse. He ends up having to spill the beans that they all fought together and ended up dead. Great chat.

Meanwhile, Five (Aidan Gallagher) finds himself with The Handler (Kate Walsh) in 1955 and he’s introduced to The Commission’s headquarters and to Dot, the person who managed his reappearance and helped coordinate Hazel and Cha-Cha. The Handler gives Five a particularly challenging case—Hindenburg. However, it seems Five might have other ideas and tries sending a message to kill Karl Weber, but The Handler intervenes except it seems Five may have solved the case. He then steals the case file off Dot’s desk and tries to read it in the bathroom, but The Handler interrupts him and then invites him to lunch.

Family, Who Needs Them?

Leonard (John Magaro) convinces Vanya (Ellen Page) to invite her siblings to her first performance, and so she takes him to the Academy and she finds her siblings all discussing the apocalypse. Upon seeing Leonard, Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) says they’re discussing a family matter, which only upsets Vanya and she calls them all assholes. Leonard claims he left his jacket and heads back upstairs, but he also takes the figurine of Hargreeves. As Vanya and Leonard walk the streets, Vanya is angry and in the background there are cars moving and lamp posts bending. Leonard points out the destruction, and Vanya doesn’t believe it could be her.

Meanwhile, Luther says him being on the moon for so many years must have something to do with it, so he wants to find Hargreeves’ research. As for the others, Klaus isn’t looking so well and leaves along with Diego (David Castañeda), leaving Allison and Luther behind. However, Allison wants to be with her daughter and leaves too. Later on, Klaus asks for Diego’s help as he’s trying to get sober and Diego realises that Klaus is doing it so he can see Dave again before the apocalypse. Klaus has a flashback again to being on the frontlines and realising Dave has been shot, but Klaus ends up conjuring and seeing Dave.

Allison is preparing to leave when she looks at the heart locket with A+L on it. She has a flashback to a night they snuck out to enjoy snacks and dance, however, Hargreeves (Colm Feore) found them.

Luther then searches for his father’s moon related research and Pogo (Adam Godley) points out that it’s hidden beneath the floorboards. It seems Hargreeves never looked at the research as he thought sending Luther to the moon would give him purpose after his accident. Allison finds a disheartened Luther and he tells her about the research, so she decides to take him up their secret spot and continue their feast from that night Hargreeves found them. He notices the necklace and the pair decide to head out into the world for some fun. They end up at the park, but Allison needs to leave for her flight and so Luther chases after and asks her to dance. Entering a dream-like sequence, they’re all dressed up with the park covered in lights, Luther with his normal body, and dancing to Toploader’s ‘Dancing In The Moonlight (2001 Remix)’. Back to reality, the pair end up kissing and she invites him to come with her.

Diego is surprised to see  Grace (Jordan Claire Robbins) up and walking again and so Diego asks her what the last thing is that she remembers. She notices Pogo in the distance and she says the last thing she remembers was over a week ago. Diego and Grace venture outside for a walk and she confesses her and Pogo have been lying.

At Leonard’s house, Vanya discovers Hargreeves’ notebook under Leonard’s bed and she reads about herself. Hargreeves says she is dangerous and recommends mood altering medication to keep her sedated.

Rewind

Hazel (Cameron and Britton) and Cha-Cha (Mary J. Blige) have their contract to kill Five cancelled and Cha-Cha really isn’t happy. When Hazel heads out, Cha-Cha receives another message saying she can terminate Hazel for immediate extraction. They later head to the woods and Hazel suggests perhaps they help to stop the apocalypse. She points a gun to his head, but she’s unable to go through with it.

Afterwards, she sees Hazel with the waitress and she’s not happy. She returns to the motel and it’s revealed, to the sounds of Gin Wigmore’s ‘Kill of the Night’, that Five was responsible for the terminating Hazel message and also sent one to terminate Cha-Cha. The Handler isn’t happy and she tries to shoot Five, but he ends up throwing a grenade at her and blowing her up. He grabs a briefcase, destroys the others, and the day begins again… Ultimately, Grace’s near-confession is gone, the moment shared between Luther and Allison never happened, Vanya doesn’t discover the notebook, and Klaus doesn’t conjure Dave.

But now, according to Five, it appears they must stop Harold Jenkins.

Overall Thoughts?

Learning more about The Commission was interesting, even though it appears the knowledge might not be required after Five destroying parts of the headquarters. That being said, I’m sure they’ll be back. Yet again, Robert Sheehan delivered a wonderful performance with trying to sober up and remembering his time in Vietnam along with Dave. This is an episode that will probably frustrate many others, as it did for me a little with the whole rewinding time and losing the character and plot development that happened. Perhaps it was actually Five that royally screwed the timeline, we’ll have to see!

What did you think of the episode? Tell us in the comments below!