Umbrella Academy Recap: 1.09 ‘Changes’

With only one episode left now, the penultimate episode delivered the final reveal about who the Hargreeves children will battle at the end!

In the previous episode, Leonard and Vanya worked on controlling and exploring her powers, along with seeing flashbacks of a young Vanya using her powers under the tutelage of Hargreeves. As for the Hargreeves brothers, Luther got laid for the first time while Klaus tells them how Hargreeves planned his death to bring them together. The brothers then team up to go after Allison as she went to investigate Leonard/Harold Jenkins and to find Vanya. Unfortunately for Allison, she winds up getting her throat slit after remembering Hargreeves making her use her power on Vanya so she’d believe she was ordinary.

Revelations

We begin in 1993 where a young Vanya is being asked to finish her breakfast by her nanny and she tries cheering Vanya up with some singing. However, everything gets to Vanya and she throws the woman across the room. It appears to happen several times until she ends up with Grace (Jordan Claire Robbins), however, when she gets flung back into a cabinet, Grace just gets up with her head on backwards and Vanya then does what she’s told.

In the present day, Vanya (Ellen Page) and Leonard (John Magaro) return to his house and he helps get rid of Allison’s blood. He begins to tell her that her brothers will be coming for her because of what she did. Later on, Vanya finds Hargreeves’ journal and so Vanya confronts Leonard. He continues manipulating her when she asks about who Harold Jenkins is and she realises Allison was telling the truth. He reveals he killed the first chair violinist and begins to torment Vanya, but her powers begin to surge and it raises Leonard off the ground and he’s stabbed with multiple items. She then returns to her apartment and hears the voicemail from Allison, which causes her to cry.

The brothers arrive back at the Academy with Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman and Grace says one of them will need to give blood, so naturally Luther (Tom Hopper) says he will, but his blood is more compatible with Pogo’s now. Klaus (Robert Sheehan) then offers his, but it’s too polluted according to Pogo (Adam Godley), so Diego (David Castañeda) offers his and passes out at the sight of the needle.

Afterwards, Grace says Allison will live, but her vocal cords have been severely damaged and they’ll have to wait and see if she can talk again. Luther watches over and talks to Allison, and she later wakes up and he tells her not to talk and offers her a notepad instead. She tries to Luther that Vanya has powers when Pogo walks in and he says this is the last of Hargreeves’ secrets.

Time To Dance

Diego and Five (Aidan Gallagher) want to find Leonard, but Klaus wants to sit this one out until a knife winds up very close to his lower extremities. Diego, Klaus, and Five find Leonard dead and so Five places the glass eye into Leonard’s socket as it matches perfectly, but he believes it can’t be that easy and wonders who killed Leonard. They return to the Academy to see if Vanya came back, but she’s not there.

Klaus heads to his room and searches for drugs as he can’t be sober anymore and Ben acts as a voice of reason. Klaus agrees much to the surprise of Ben, however, he proceeds to put the pills into his mouth and Ben winds up punching him and knocking them out of his mouth. The pair are shocked that Ben made contact or ‘Patrick Swayzeed’ him, but Ben believes Klaus was the one that did it.

Enjoying a margarita, Five opens the Academy door to find Hazel (Cameron Britton) pointing a gun at him and invites him in. However, Hazel isn’t there to hurt them until Diego comes flying in and starts kicking the shit out of him and stabs Hazel in the leg. Oh, he also bites his ear until Five jumps and smashes a vase over Diego’s head and knocks him out. Hazel then tells Five he wants to help stop the apocalypse, but Five tells him Jenkins is dead so the impending apocalypse should be over. Before Hazel leaves, Five learns it was Cha-Cha who killed Patch and leaves his guns there in hopes to clear Diego’s name. Meanwhile, Agnes arrives at her motel room and finds Cha-Cha (Mary J. Blige) there.

Hazel returns to the motel and Cha-Cha intends on making Hazel watch Agnes die. The two assassins break into a fight to the tune of ‘Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows’while Agnes calls out for the both of them to stop. Cha-Cha then uses a garrote wire to strangle Hazel, but he breaks free while Cha-Cha goes to kill Agnes. Time stops and The Handler (Kate Walsh) appears, but now with scars on her face.

Reunited (Again)

Vanya makes the decision to return to the Academy and Luther tells her Allison lived. She confesses what happened in the cabin and he hugs her, except he’s actually strangling her. Her powers begin to flare and the Academy begins to shake, but she passes out before she can do any damage. She then wakes to find herself in the cell again with her three brothers watching on and Klaus and Diego are shocked by the revelation of her powers. Klaus and Diego want proof and want to help her when Allison appears and asks Luther to let Vanya go. Allison says it was her fault, but Luther won’t let Allison pass and they all leave.

As Smith Western’s ‘All Die Young’ plays, Luther tries to comfort Allison but she won’t have it; Klaus tries working on his powers; Vanya remains distressed; Grace cooks for Diego; and Five returns Delores to the department store and says goodbye to her.

While in the cell, Vanya sees a young version of herself in the reflection and she goads Vanya and says they must act against their siblings. Vanya begins to panic until she hears the sound of her own heart racing and her powers begin to flare causing the wall of the cell to fall. It seems her powers have taken over now with her pale skin and blue eyes.

Overall Thoughts?

As mentioned in another recap, I’ve read the graphic novels and while it was clear from the first episode there was going to be changes, I am incredibly glad they didn’t go full graphic novel with Vanya, especially since the other villain isn’t present in the television series. It was great to see that they kept it subtle with the pale skin and eyes, and teased it as she learned more about her powers. I think perhaps Klaus has been one of my favourite characters in the series, so it was enjoyable to see his powers develop, especially since he is capable of a lot more in the graphic novel, which can also be said for the others as well. That being said, I’m glad they didn’t include all of their powers in the series as it may have been a bit much to incorporate and see them in use.

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