The Umbrella Academy · Season 2 · Episode 4 · 31 July 2020
S2E4 The Majestic 12
THE MOMENT Five's briefcase negotiation with the Handler - one of Aidan Gallagher's best scenes, playing an old man's cunning in a teenager's body.
The season's conspiracy thriller layer thickens as The Commission and the Umbrella Academy both manoeuvre for the same information. Allison's civil rights arc reaches a turning point; Five's corporate-espionage subplot delivers the season's best comedic setpiece.
Full episode analysis below. Spoiler-light verdict above.
Updated
The Umbrella Academy Season 2 Episode 4 'The Majestic 12' dropped July 31, 2020 on Netflix. Season 2 holds 91 percent on Rotten Tomatoes from 89 critics; IGN called it one of streaming's most exciting finales in years. The episode is the season's mid-point at which the conspiracy machinery becomes visible: the Commission's objectives, the Umbrella Academy's scattered counter-manoeuvres, and the Dallas historical context are all running simultaneously. Allison's civil rights subplot - which critics cited among the strongest character choices of the season - reaches a turning point that gives the episode moral weight beyond the genre plotting. Five's negotiation with the Handler, an extended comedic setpiece built on Aidan Gallagher playing ancient intelligence in an adolescent body, is executed with a timing precision the show had not attempted in Season 1.