I’m happy to ignore 1 The Umbrella Academy senior plot hole (because the casting is so perfect)

Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Umbrella Academy Season 4.

I found myself trying to ignore many errors with The Umbrella Academy Season 4, but one brilliant casting decision allowed me to look for at least one of those mistakes. The Umbrella Academy Season 4’s cast was one of the few saving graces for the superhero show’s final run. When the story was lacking or the loose plot was a little too much to handle, I found solace in the brilliant chemistry between the actors. In fact, one character was so perfectly cast that it allowed me to forgive the plot hole his presence created.

At the end of The Umbrella Academy Season 4 sees the various members of the Hargreeves family combine to create an even more dysfunctional spin on the found family dynamic. From alt-kit aging to multiversal copies, The Hargreeves siblings experienced a traumatic journey like no other. That being said, I was very focused on one of the season 4 arcs that stood out to me for being weird, but I was also okay with it at the same time.

Five should look much older in the Umbrella Academy season 4’s second half

Number Five spent 7 years lost in time with Lila

I like the concept of Five being an old man in a much younger form, but the fact remains that he’s conventionally aged since the reveal in The Umbrella Academy Season 1. In the final season, it is already a little unusual that he did not look older, despite the five-year time jump, but by the end of the saga, Aidan Gallagher’s character is 12 years older As he was at the end of The Umbrella Academy Season 3. However, the only physical difference is that his hair is longer.

Lila and Five’s lost-in-time arc is, I think, a rare, well-executed facet of season 4 — weird romance notwithstanding. What I found frustrating was that there seemed to be no consideration for the fact that Five would continue to be played by Gallagher during the alternate timeline sequences. Lila also fails to age appropriately for this stretch of The Umbrella Academy Season 4But I found that more forgiving than the character is a fully grown woman. Of course, they still should have made more effort to sell the illusion, but it worked better than with five.

Aidan Gallagher is perfect as Five (and I’m glad he wasn’t recast)

Having a new actor playing a slightly older five would have been a bigger mistake

Despite my claims that Five is not old enough for his future with Lila, I also think it would be a crime to bring him over. Gallagher is the perfect fit for his Umbrella Academy CharacterAnd he does a brilliant job of adjusting his performance to account for his apparent change in age. His replacement would also mean he was absent from the finale – which would have been very unfair given his service to the show.

After all, the makeup department didn’t exactly go out of their way to age Gallagher for the final part of the season’s story. Instead, his hair just keeps getting longer and there is an implication of him now being able to grow a beard. It very much feels like a token effort that could have been executed much better. If it weren’t for the expositional dialogue and Gallgher’s inspired acting choices, Five’s story in The Umbrella Academy Season 4 would have ground to a confusing halt.