Diksha Sundriyal
The fourth season of Netflix’s ‘The Umbrella Academy’ revolves around something called the Cleanse. The phenomenon is first mentioned by Gene and Jean Thibedeau, who treat it as something to be welcomed and actively worked towards. At the same time, Reginald Hargreeves treats it as something that must be evaded at all costs. The question of the Cleanse remains unanswered until the final episode when it is finally revealed what the term means, and it turns out to have severe implications for the Hargreeves siblings, who had hoped to have their normal lives and finally live in peace in the world reset by Reginald in Season 3. SPOILERS AHEAD
The Cleanse Marks the End of the World in Season 4
In each season of ‘The Umbrella Academy,’ the Hargreeves siblings have battled one or the other form of the apocalypse. In the fourth season, it comes in the form of the Cleanse, and like every other time, the siblings eventually have to accept that they can do nothing to stop it. For Reginald, the Cleanse brings the end of the very world he had worked so hard to create. At the end of Season 3, at the cost of the lives of his children, he decided to reset the world so that this new world would have his wife alive and by his side. This is all he had wanted all along, but with the Cleanse, his hope of living a safe and peaceful life with Abigail turns to ash. However, for people like Jean and Gene Thibedeau, this is the way to get things back in order.
The Hargreeves siblings have traveled across space and time and have found themselves in alternate timelines as well. In Season 4, it is revealed that they are not the only ones to have done that. People like the Thibedeaus have memories from a different timeline, which they believe is the timeline they belong to. They want to go back to where they came from, and they believe that the Cleanse is the only way to go about it. They become convinced of it when a young Jennifer appears from inside a giant squid and talks about the Cleanse. Though there is no context to her words, Gene and Jean believe that this is the only way to get back their original timeline. This is why they are ready to do whatever it takes to make that happen, even if it means they will die along the way.
What Causes the Cleanse?
If you hadn’t realized it already, it is confirmed in Season 4 that the reason behind every apocalypse is the Hargreeves siblings. Every time, they have been the reason behind the triggering of the end of the world, and this time, as well, this task is put upon their shoulders, which they unfold without fail. It turns out that the reason they attract the apocalypse wherever they go is the Marigold inside of them. This is the compound created by Abigail, which was later released by Reginald, which gives the Umbrella Academy its powers. While Abigail had intended to make the Marigold, she also unintentionally created the Durango. The two compounds act as anti-matter to each other, which means if they come in contact, a terrible reaction will take place, which will kickstart the end of the world. This reaction and the apocalypse caused by it is the Cleanse.
Despite all warnings and efforts to keep them away, Ben (Marigold) and Jennifer (Durango) end up together. It is the simple act of touching each other that triggers the reaction between the compounds in their bloodstream. The more time they spend in each other’s vicinity, the stronger the reaction gets. Eventually, things get so far that Ben and Jennifer become a deformed version of themselves, completely unidentifiable. In the end, they merge into each other and become one monstrous entity that threatens to destroy everything it comes in contact with.
It isn’t until the very end that the rest of the siblings realize that they must meet the same fate because the Cleanse is meant to cleanse the world of Marigold so that all the split timelines (caused by the birth of the Marigold kids) merge into one, the endless cycle of the apocalypse is stopped, and the world goes back to being the way it was supposed to be, without Reginald Hargreeves interfering in the order of things and creating the Umbrella Academy. All in all, the Cleanse is the phenomenon of all the Marigold merging with Durango, with both compounds destroying each other once and for all and putting things back on the normal track for the rest of the world. This means the end of the world that Reginald Hargreeves created by resetting the timeline to suit his own purpose, the complete removal of the Umbrella Academy from existence, and people like Gene and Jean finally getting to go back to the timeline they originally belonged to.
Read More: The Umbrella Academy: What Happened to the Commission? Who Created it?
