The Umbrella Academy finally reveals what the Jennifer incident is all about

Summary

The Umbrella Academy's biggest secret, the Jennifer incident, is finally revealed in season 4.
The children of the Umbrella Academy were brainwashed to forget the incident and the circumstances of Ben's death.
The incident was ultimately a necessary situation that once again highlighted how heartless Reginald Hargreeves was as a father.

One of the biggest questions fans of The Umbrella Academy since Season 1 has been, “What in the world is the Jennifer Incident?” It's such a big question that not even the Umbrella Academy itself has the exact answer. Instead, they only have a bland explanation for how they failed as a team, leading to Ben Hargreeves' death as a child. Everything will be revealed in the fourth and final season The Umbrella Academyjust as another version of Jennifer appears in the new timeline.

The Hargreeves siblings have been living as normal a life as possible between seasons 3 and 4, but that normalcy is interrupted by a new man in town named Sy Grossman. Sy recruits the Umbrellas to find his daughter named Rosie. When they find her, they discover that her name is neither Rosie nor is she Sy's daughter. Her name is Jennifer, and she is protected by a small town of bodyguards hired by Reginald Hargreeves. The reason she is so well guarded is not to protect her from Gene and Jean's guards, but from the Umbrella Academy itself. It all references the Jennifer incident in the original timeline.

Reginald Hargreeves killed Ben and Jennifer

Reginald Hargreeves stands over the bodies of Ben and Jennifer in “The Umbrella Academy”

The Umbrella Academy: Cast and Character Guide for Season 4

The final season of “The Umbrella Academy” offers a large cast of characters that bring lots of joy, chaos and drama to the Hargreeves siblings.

Halfway through season four, the Umbrellas piece together that the Jennifer they were sent to save may be the same Jennifer who was involved in Ben's death. The only person to work out the details is Reginald and, unexpectedly, his wife Abigail. To understand how important Jennifer is in the current timeline, The Umbrella Academy Season 4 features flashbacks to the days of the Jennifer incident. Mainly because the Umbrellas can't remember the exact details of that day. The Umbrellas are, as usual, teenagers preparing for a new mission. Ben, who has no interest in the mission at all, is forced by Reginald to come along.

Reginald makes it clear to the team that they must retrieve a deadly weapon from a Moldovan arms dealer, but they must not open the container. When you're dealing with teenage superheroes, one of them is bound to go rogue. Inside the container is young Jennifer, whom Ben wants to help escape against Reginald's orders. Luther informs her father that Ben has aborted the mission, which is the first sign of trouble for Reginald. When Ben and Jennifer touched hands, their hands glowed red and pulsated. Before the team can plan their next steps, Reginald kills both Ben and Jennifer.

Jennifer's powers made it impossible for Ben to survive

Ben and Jennifer talk in a diner in the Umbrella Academy

Luther, Viktor and Diego hatch a plan in season 4 of The Umbrella Academy

The Umbrella Academy Waypoint, Explained

In season 4 of The Umbrella Academy, the franchise's most important MacGuffin is revealed in the form of a unique location that Five calls “Waypoint.”

Reginald's reason for killing Ben and Jennifer is legitimate, but cruel nonetheless. As Abigail explains, she was the original creator of the substance known as Marigold, which gave each of the siblings their powers. At the same time, she inadvertently created Marigold's counterpart, known as Durango. When Durango and Marigold come into contact, they trigger a physical phenomenon known as the “Purge,” which destroys the broken timelines and the multiverse.

For some reason, Jennifer has Durango in her body. When she touched Ben's hand, her Durango interacted with his marigold. Reginald had to kill them before they destroyed the world, which was proven by their monstrous creature that performed the purification in The Umbrella Academy Series finale. However, the Jennifer incident happened in the original timeline, so what's going on with Jennifer in this new timeline? Jennifer's origins are left intentionally vague to obscure the mystery, but they still hold great significance. She still has Durango in her body and is being hunted by the Keepers, who rightly believe that the Purge will restore the timeline.

Gene (Nick Offerman) and Jean (Megan Mullally) practically worship Jennifer as their savior, but they quickly discard her when she proves to be worthless to them. Jennifer herself knows nothing about the Purge, nor does she know that Reginald has created an entire town to protect her. All she knows is that she was found inside a giant squid as a child and that no one claimed to be part of her family. The only answer she gets is from the Umbrellas, as they are connected to them in another timeline.

Why the Umbrella Academy couldn't remember the Jennifer incident

The star of “The Umbrella Academy” explains the post-credits scene of the last season

David Castañeda interprets the final post-credits scene of The Umbrella Academy as a hopeful symbol of the Hargreeves' continued presence in the universe.

The tragic accident surrounding Ben's death is the link between all the seasons to specifically unravel the mystery. The revelation of the Jennifer incident could only have been done properly if it had been explained why the Umbrellas never talk about it. It turns out that they don't even know what the incident was. Reginald brainwashed her to forget the incident and replaced her memories with a banal statement:

“It was a tragic accident. Ben died because we failed as a team. No one was responsible, and yet we all are responsible. Ben Hargreeves represented the best of us.”

To get their memories back, they had to use a reverse brainwashing machine to restore them. Of course, Reginald has this technology. But restoring their memories is all this version of Reginald can do for the siblings. Since the original Reginald in The Umbrella Academy In Season 4, the siblings will never get a precise answer as to why he brainwashed them. It's pretty obvious, though: Reginald didn't want the kids to distrust him. If they knew they were as easily expendable as Ben, they would all quit their jobs as superheroes, which they eventually did as adults. The blanket platitude gave the kids hope even after Ben's death. They carried on in his memory and tried to be the hero Ben was when he died.

As relieving as it is to learn the context of the Jennifer incident, several plot holes open up. One of them is that this version of Ben Sparrow is Ben, who previously encountered Jennifer and survived the incident. Even though they met as children, he would have recognized her given how obsessed he was. Another disappointment is how one-dimensional The Umbrella Academy leaves Jennifer as a character. There are many unanswered questions that aren't answered in the series, like why she was inside a giant squid, why she mentioned the purification, and where she came from in general. There's not even an explanation for why she's the only host for Durango. It simply exists. While it is great that the Jennifer incident has been closed after The Umbrella Academy ended, it would have been better if the character had not been a MacGuffin to add an element of danger to the fourth season's plot.

Season 4 of The Umbrella Academy is now streaming on Netflix.