Why the controversial scene of the assault of ‘The Umbrella Academy’ ruins the entire history of a character

Here are spoilers for the third season of ‘The Umbrella Academy’

‘The Umbrella Academy’ is one of Netflix’s favorite series for a reason. Beyond his fantastic and strange world, their stories are wonderfully human and, even, it could be affirmed that he was born to stand out.

At the beginning of the first season, no one focused on this as much as Allison, alias #3 or El Rumor, depending on who you ask. Gifted with the ability to bend people to his will With a simple whisper of “I’ve heard a rumour…”, he found himself fighting against his own power, and finally rejected it completely to live a successful career as an actress, and a life with her daughter, even when her marriage began to fall apart.

But as the third season, something almost irremediable happens to this previously self-confident character, and this is never more evident than in a specific scene, in the middle of the fifth episode. Enraged by rejection, attempts to sexually assault his “brother” Luther.

The relationship between Luther and Allison has never sat well with fans, and the possibility that they were or were not adoptive brothers in the first season was quickly ruled out when the second premiered. It turns out that no matter how sweet a romantic dance sequence among the stars, viewers will consider them brothers Nonetheless. By the way, here is a ranking not to get lost with the brothers of ‘Umbrella Academy’ ordered according to their powers.

It’s fair. The common thread of the family story only reinforces this point. They may not be blood relatives, but they’ve been raised from birth as if they were, so a relationship is rare, if not technically illegal.

But Ray’s introduction in season two, just as Allison, a confident black woman, finds herself in the midst of the civil rights movement in Dallas, Texas in the 1960s, set her story at least on a much more hopeful and positive path.

Yes, she was trying to get back home to her daughter (not that she mentioned it much at the time), but she was also finding the kind of stable home life she’d always longed for, a man who kissed the ground she walked on, and a cause The one she can fight for with all her heart, not just because her adoptive father forced her to.

However, it seems that the happy ending is not intended for any of the members of the Academyand when he returns to the present in season three, he discovers that his presence in the 1960s timeline has meant there is no Umbrella Academy…and worse, no Claire.

With Ray dead in this future version of life, Allison is left aimless by the amount of change around her and decides to become selfish. We get it, hurt people hurt people, so yelling at her gang of misfit brothers makes sense.

However, a look at Twitter shows that the scene of the fifth episode It fell like a bucket of cold water. Not only was he out of place for Allison, but I was out of place for a series that – despite relying on a funny dance number or certain touches of humor to offset the horrific violence – nI had never touched on this type of topic in historyand never needed it.

Luther, worried about his sister, who has had too much to drink, approaches her at the Obsidian Hotel. He is sympathetic before telling her, “I know you, Allison, and I know when you’re drowning.” For a moment, she opens up, admitting that she was getting tired of losing her loved ones with each new timeline change and struggle to prevent the apocalypse. One pities her as her bravery fades.

However, when Luther gives her a hug, she mistakes his affection for romantic attention and tries to reciprocate, only for him to politely decline, enjoying her own happy relationship. Instead of accepting it, she turns on him, and when she tries to get away from her, she forces him to stay.

Despite the pleas from him not toshe orders him: “I heard a rumor that you want me” and with that he begins to climb on top of her, before his weight becomes too much for her and she yells at him to stop. Horrified with himself, he turns away from her, part of him knowing that she has forced him, and part of her that knows. feel guilty for having done it anyway.

It’s this very moment that really separates Allison from the rest of the group. In narrative terms, you can’t come back from a sexual assault, whatever the reasons. As of this moment, it seems like a bull’s-eye was on her back so she wouldn’t survive the season. If you become an aggressor, it’s usually a code for a quick and abrupt exit not too far away, and never forgets.

But beyond being a cheap ploy to turn viewers completely against Allison, it does a disservice to the character of Allison herself, someone who up to that point may have been slightly selfish, but who fiercely defended her family. even when things went catastrophically wrong.

She was the sister Klaus turned to when he fell off the sobriety bandwagon, someone Diego could find a way to vent his frustrations on (even if that meant deliberately going to a bar full of racists just to get into a fight and feel something). More than anything, Allison was the solid foundation of love that Viktor needed to feel ready to navigate his own powers and find love with a woman in season two before finally coming out as transgender. In fact, in this season, ‘The Umbrella Academy’ includes the transition of Elliot Page in the best possible way.

It’s fair to understand that Allison feels hurt and looks down on her when she’s let down, but turning her into a wannabe rapist seems to go too far, and has tarnished what was otherwise a remarkable and fascinating story of resilience that stood out from the rest of her family. And doing it to Luther, possibly the most vulnerable and innocent of them (despite having the body of a gorilla) seems like a deliberate attempt to destroy a character.

There are other ways to fall on the side of the villains.

The worst thing is that the assault is barely mentioned again. Certainly not to the other members of the Academy, and at most in passing between Luther and Allison. Ultimately, when she gets what she wants and is reunited with Ray and his daughter Claire (in what we can only assume is some kind of afterlife, since their lifelines never crossed) her victory. it does not feel in any way earned. If she is dead, there is no mourning for her. If she’s alive, then she’s proven that being the bad guy really pays off.

Whether or not Allison is really dead is still up for debate.. A Netflix banner that reads “I’ve heard a rumor someone doesn’t survive this season” suggests that he has wandered away from this mortal world to a plane where he can have his happy ending. Anyone who knows ‘The Umbrella Academy’ knows that it really doesn’t take much for someone dead to show up every once in a while (heck, Ben for the first two seasons was literally a main character while he was dead).

But there’s something about that ending that feels final, to say the least, regardless of how it got there, despite some behavior that culminated in this single, incredibly disturbing scene.

And that shouldn’t be the proper ending given to this great character.