Every season of The Umbrella Academy has shown unique ways for the group, especially Five (Aidan Gallagher), to travel through the show’s expanding multiverse. From Five’s time-traveling abilities to his future self’s Commission briefcases, these methods have helped the super-powered group save the world in various ways.
In Season 4, when the Hargreeves lose their powers, Five discovers a new, mysterious way to navigate the multiverse. This new method plays a key role in saving the world for the final time.
How Does the Subway Work in The Umbrella Academy?
After the Hargreeves drink the Marigold potions and regain their powers, Five accidentally ends up in a strange subway system. He exits the tunnels and finds himself in the same location and time but in a different universe.
Unlike Five’s powers and the briefcases, which allow traveling within the same timeline (past and future), the subway system serves as a link to alternate timelines.
When Five tells Lila (Ritu Arya) about this, she quickly suggests they explore the subway systems. This leads to a sequence where they get lost in the maze-like tunnels, taking eastbound and westbound trains, trying to find their way home without success. This shows how complicated and tangled the timelines are, leaving the pair stranded for seven years.
When they finally return to their original timeline, thanks to a book left by an alternate-timeline Five, the seven years amount to only a few hours in their time. The subway system, as a link between timelines, seems to operate outside of any reality, hinting at a significant decision made in the Season 4 finale.
What Is the Diner Five Finds in the Subway Tunnels?
After being turned away by Lila upon their return to reality, Five returns to the subway system, wandering through its vast expanse. He finds a peculiar diner — with bright reds and lights out of place in the rundown stations.
The diner is filled with different versions of himself, who have given up on saving the world and created the diner as a place to lament their failures. Talking to one of these Fives, our Five learns that they had tried to save the world over 140,000 times, indicating that many timelines are now in ruins.
Here, Five realizes that the “Cleanse” is actually beneficial and will restore the original timeline, removing all the broken ones. Thus, this in-between space becomes vital in saving the world, marking the end of the favorite characters.
The Subway Map Shows The Umbrella Academy Multiverse
The subway system does not appear in the comics by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba that inspired the series, though it might be added in future issues. This mode of travel seems to have replaced the Televator. Although Reginald (Colm Feore) used a Televator in Season 3, it hasn’t been seen since.
The subway system may be a better option for the story at this point. The subway map is crucial in visualizing the endless alternate timelines, helping us understand how they intersect and interact. This also explains how “artifacts” from one timeline can end up in another.
The map also aids in visualizing the Cleanse. In the finale, The Umbrella Academy members send Lila’s and Allison’s (Emmy Raver-Lampman) families into the subway system to protect them from the extinction event, as it seems to exist outside of reality.
During the Cleanse, we see each link in the subway corrode, leaving a single line that represents the original timeline. This might explain how their family survived and ended up in a scenic glade, as Lila’s and Allison’s daughters could not exist in the timeline where the Hargreeves do not.
Thus, the subway system becomes more than just a way to travel across the multiverse; it also plays a role in the series’ bittersweet conclusion. The Umbrella Academy is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
