Diksha Sundriyal
Over the course of four seasons, Netflix’s ‘The Umbrella Academy’ creates a web of mysteries that unfold one by one, giving the audience a complete picture of the world inhabited by the Hargreeves siblings. Each season brings a new challenge in the form of the end of the world, but the apocalypse isn’t the only villain of the story. For the first two seasons, the Commission acts as an opposing force to the Umbrella Academy, specifically Five, who knows their ins and outs because he has worked for them before. In the fourth season, however, the Commission is nowhere to be found. The only mention of it comes in the final episode, which puts a lot of things into perspective. SPOILERS AHEAD
The Commission was Destroyed Following the Handler’s Death
The Temps Commission was introduced in the first season as an organization that is dedicated to preserving the course of events and is ready to do whatever it takes to keep things the way they are supposed to be. In the first season, it becomes a problem for Five and his family because he wants to save them from the apocalypse created by Viktor (then Vanya), but the Commission doesn’t want things to change. The Handler (played by Kate Walsh) emerges as the main antagonist, and in the second season, she even gets the Commission under her control. However, her past catches up with her, and she dies in the second season. Following this, Herb is given the responsibility of the Commission until a new board is elected.
At the end of the second season, Five and his family are given a briefcase, allowing them to travel to whatever point they want. When they go back to their original timeline, they discover that things have changed drastically. They are replaced by the Sparrow Academy. Moreover, the women who were supposed to give birth to the children comprising the Umbrella Academy died before that could happen, which means that all the Umbrellas are a paradox in this new world. This creates the Kugelblitz, which erases things from the universe with each blow, with the intention of eventually erasing every single thing.
To find a way to counter the Kugelblitz, Five and Lila pay a visit to the Commission but find it in tatters. A recording of Herb’s voice reveals that the Kugelblitz had also affected the Commission until, eventually, everyone working there was erased, and there was no one left to handle the place. The only surviving member of the Commission is its founder, who is a hundred-year-old man inside a breathing chamber, waiting for the end to come for him. On meeting him, Five discovers that the creator of the Commission is Five himself. This is particularly shocking to him because, for a very long time, Five had done nothing but evade the Commission because he considered them, and they him, his archenemy. To discover that he is the one who created it in the first place raises even more questions, all of which are answered in the fourth and final season.
Why did Five Create the Commission?
In the final episode of Season 4, Five ends up at a deli in the subway, which he uses to travel across alternate timelines. Here, he finds several versions of himself and discovers that they are all from alternate timelines. The common thing between them is all of their worlds have been destroyed by the apocalypse, though each is destroyed in its own unique way. His alternate versions tell him the reason behind the recurrence of the apocalypse wherever the Umbrella Academy goes is the Umbrella Academy itself. Their existence itself is an anomaly that invites the inevitable end of the world, no matter how hard they try to stop it.
The alternate Five reveals that one of them created the Commission to find a way to manipulate the timeline and figure out how to save the world while also keeping their family safe. This means that the old man that Five met in Season 3 was not an older version of himself but an older version of his other version. The fact that the old man’s hand was cut off and Five’s hand was back to normal when the universe was reset proves that they are not the same people.
The fact that the Commission was eventually destroyed and failed to find the solution to Five’s problem shows that it was never supposed to have worked in the first place. The Old Five tells him as much in Season 3. He specifically tells the original Five not to save the world. At the time, his words didn’t make any sense, but in the context of Season 4, his advice finally makes sense. This means that the Old Five had also figured out the same thing that the rest of the Five tells the original Five in the subway deli. He tells Five not to save the world because it would be a futile exercise. In saving the world, Five would try to save his family, which is exactly what mustn’t happen. They are all supposed to be erased by the Cleanse, and that is the only foolproof way to ensure that the apocalypse doesn’t happen over and over again.
As the creator of the Commission, the Older Five had tried every trick in the box to have things both ways. He had seen all sorts of timelines and possibilities, yet the result was the same. In the end, he had to accept the reality that he and his siblings were not supposed to exist in the first place. He tells Five as much when they meet in the third season, but it isn’t until the end of Season 4 that Five truly understands the meaning of his words.
Read More: The Umbrella Academy: What Happened to Sloane? What Happened to the Sparrows?
