Warning: spoilers ahead for ’s final episodes in season 4.
The Umbrella Academy fans are ‘screaming’, ‘crying’ and feeling as though they want to ‘throw up’ after an unsettling romance was revealed in the .
And honestly… same.
In season 4 of the show, which has been ever since it launched five years ago, Five (Aidan Gallagher) and Lila (Ritu Arya) end up trapped in a seven-year loop of travelling to different timelines as they .
At this point, Lila has kids with and is married to Diego (David Castañeda), who is Five’s adoptive brother.
Back in season one, it was revealed that when he was 13 years old, Five – who’s a teleporter – was able to travel to a post-apocalyptic future, where he wound up stuck for decades.
So by the time he reunited with his adult siblings in his child form in the present day, he had actually aged a significant amount mentally.
By season four, Five has the physical body of an 18-year-old, and the mind of a 64-year-old.
This argument might be the one that the writers of The Umbrella Academy would use to justify a romance being sparked up between Five and Lila in season four, who are played by actors aged 20 and 35 respectively.
But we’re not having it. And neither of plenty of other fans.
Not only does it feel strange for Five and Lila to get together when she first met him while he looked like a child, but she’s also married to and has children with his brother.
After fans were forced to watch the pair of them kiss, it was later revealed that they’d also slept with each other… and fans have strongly aired their grievances to the storyline.
‘I just.. can’t with that Lila/ Five stuff. I really can’t— 😭 why are they doing that. I wanna cry and throw up and scream and unsee that,’ @salkestis wrote on X.
‘Five and Lila are in love and I feel a little nauseous,’ said @fiveagni, while @stangussy added: ‘We need an apology from The Umbrella Academy writers for whatever that atrocity is between Five and Lila… I’m cringing so hard right now.’
Several fans pointed out that they would have been happy if Five and Lila had simply ended up best friends, rather than lovers.
Others added that Lila and Diego had a brilliant dynamic in previous seasons of the show and were one of the most cherished couples in the series.
‘I cannot BELIEVE the storyline with Five and Lila … not one person asked for it so why did it happen? Honestly ruined the show for me. I’m devastated,’ @emackenz1e stated.
Addressing the Five and Lila storyline, the show’s creator Steve Blackman admitted that he wondered if ‘the fans will love or hate me’ for it.
‘I felt that Five had to have a love story. I mean, he’s a 64-year-old man in the body of an 18-year-old. So we thought he could have a love story. And I thought, “How can he have a love story? He’s not the kind of guy who’s going to date,”’ he said.
‘I thought Five needed to be with someone, whether it be a boy or girl. We thought we had an opportunity with Lila. And we tried it. I don’t know how the fans are going to take it.’
Steve added that he wanted Five and Lila to kiss each other ‘because they’re extreme opposites and they hate each other’, but also they’re ‘remarkably similar’, due to their shared history of working as assassins.
‘I went and had them lost together for seven and a half, almost eight years together [to] see if something grows. And it did grow. By the time they kissed, they’re so sweet at that point,’ he said.
‘You could believe that they would be together. We wouldn’t let them rehearse the kiss. We got him to the point just before the kiss, and then we let them do [it] on the day and it was just perfect.’
Aidan added that Five’s character arc in the fourth and final season saw him going ‘from not having a purpose to the relationship with Lila giving him a purpose’.
‘It’s really a beautiful thing to see a character go through. And I think it’s really relatable as just a universal human struggle. That was definitely the emotional centre for the season,’ he said.
The Umbrella Academy is available to watch on Netflix.
