Warning: This article contains some spoilers for The Umbrella Academy season 4.
The Umbrella Academy are a bunch of f***-ups.
When we first met the Hargreeves family back in season one, they had all retired from fighting crime, unable to cope with the trauma their father had inflicted on them. And even when they did reunite to stop the apocalypse, it turned out that they were the ones who caused it in the first place.
A few more apocalypses later, the final season of The Umbrella Academy is essentially a big f***-up too, failing to give our faves the proper send-off they deserved. Except, that is, for Viktor.
While other story arcs came and went, blipping in and out randomly like Five on crack, Viktor's queer journey of self-love and acceptance has been anything but a f***-up, maintaining a powerful throughline across all four seasons that culminates into something beautiful, especially by the end.
Even in a family of bizarre misfits, Viktor was still the outcast growing up. A big part of that stemmed from his apparent lack of power, which it later turned out was due to Reginald's nefarious meddling. Still, that didn't stop Viktor's father from constantly belittling him as a child, othering Seven in ways that many queer viewers watching felt intimately familiar with.
So when Viktor fell in love with a woman named Sissy Cooper before he transitioned, it felt like a natural progression of what real love could mean to Viktor. Elliot Page came out as trans in real life soon after, but rather than reflect this using the kind of fantastical sci-fi tropes already so familiar to this show, Umbrella Academy instead rooted Viktor's journey in truth.
Read more: ‘The Umbrella Academy deserved a better ending’
Because Viktor had always felt uncomfortable in his skin, regardless of how he presented himself to the world. So when Elliot's character walked into a male hairdresser and cut his locks short in season three, it felt entirely natural, as if this had been the plan all along.
Viktor's siblings didn't seem too surprised either. In fact, everyone was very happy and accepting of his transition, congratulating Viktor before redirecting their focus to stopping the apocalypse. Again. Sure, Luther took a minute to get his head around it all, but when he did, he even asked Viktor to be his Best Man at his wedding. Allison also struggled briefly, only because she felt left out and somewhat selfishly wanted to know what Viktor was going through sooner.
There's almost none of the suffering that usually goes hand-in-hand with trans storytelling on screen — or the struggles so many trans people endure in real life for that matter either. While that might ring false to some, not every gay story needs to revolve around gay trauma, and the same argument can be made for trans storytelling as well.
That's not to say The Umbrella Academy actively avoids anything negative where Viktor is concerned though. In fact, he's suffered perhaps more than anyone else throughout these four seasons, something which the final run manages to touch on without dwelling purely on the pain.
Read more: Elliot Page is happy Viktor is 'more comfortable in himself' in The Umbrella Academy season 4
When we catch up with Viktor at the start of season four, six years have passed for him and the rest of the family who now find themselves powerless in a reset timeline. For Viktor, it's a chance to start anew, to finally live the life he's always wanted. And it turns out that what he always wanted was to freeze his a** off in Canada where he now owns a bar that serves local travellers in the middle of nowhere.
Inevitably, Viktor is pulled out of that refuge soon enough and reunited with his family, powered up and ready to stop yet another apocalypse. But what's interesting about this is how Viktor went so far off the grid initially, to the point where he and Allison weren't even friends anymore. They were always the closest, yet when the family broke apart at the end of season three, Viktor travelled further afield than anyone else, choosing instead to surround himself with a new chosen family of his own.
The show doesn't labour that point because there's only six episodes remaining to tell this whole story, an ensemble story no less. But Viktor is clearly dealing with something still, something that's stopping him from being truly happy.
It all inevitably comes back to Viktor's childhood trauma. Specifically, the way Reginald emotionally abused Viktor growing up, and hints of this start to surface in episode three when Viktor reveals there's an "endless cycle" in his head of all the things he wants to say to Reginald. Unfortunately, the man who raised him no longer exists in this timeline, but it's no less triggering when Viktor and the others visit an alternate version of their father in this reality.
Episode four begins with this other Reginald diving back into the group's memories when they come to realise a key event from their childhood has been erased. It's then that we discover Reginald was the one who killed Ben to prevent him from starting the apocalypse with Jennifer. But it's worth noting here how these memories also remind us of Reginald's disdain for Viktor too as we watch him cruelly disregard Seven pre-transition.
That's important because when we return to the present, tensions rise to the point where Allison throws a vase at Reginald's head and Viktor loses it completely, lashing out with all the pain and resentment his Reginald pummelled into him for all those years as a child.
"My whole life, all I wanted was for you to see me and make me part of the team!" shouts Viktor. "You saw me as broken and I believed you, but I know now you don't know s**t. You're the failure. You're the reason this happened… I won't let you kill Ben. Not now. Not ever. Am I clear?"
Reginald's wife eventually calms the situation, but not before Viktor got to have his say, and that's very important. Yes, violently using his abilities against Reginald isn't ideal, but it's vital that Viktor had a chance to reclaim his power, to push back against the man (or at least a version of the man) who abused him for so long.
This dynamic was born out of Viktor's perceived weakness as a superhero rather than his queerness, but the queer metaphor is strong here nonetheless. It's for all the LGBTQ+ people watching who have been beaten down by their families and weren't able to speak out or be defiant in the way Viktor is here.
This is also why Viktor is the only one who seems bothered enough to actually try and help Ben when he splits off from the group and starts mutating into a dangerous monster. Because Viktor too has always been the outsider in this family of outsiders, so he's not ready to give up on his estranged sibling just yet, no matter how others might perceive him.
The Umbrella Academy fails to save Ben by the end though. He and Jennifer combine to kickstart "The Cleanse", inadvertently destroying everything in their path. But Five has an idea to save reality. By combining their marigold, the source of their power, with "The Cleanse", the two energies can cancel each other out.
In doing so, every alternate timeline will unravel until there's just one reality left, a reality where the Umbrella Academy no longer survive. In fact, they'll be erased from history completely. No one will remember them at all.
Read more: The Umbrella Academy ending is 'exactly what it needs to be', cast says
And so the entire family perishes, Viktor included. But this isn't a sad, tragic ending. Because at last, Viktor has had his say and finally feels at peace with his siblings. "I'm where I'm supposed to be," says Viktor. 'With my family. I'm glad we're all together in the end."
The Umbrella Academy might have f***ed up the final season with a rushed, messy, and extremely haphazard arc that ignores some big questions while still raising a few more. But Viktor's journey towards that end remains beautiful despite all that. Just as previous seasons seamlessly incorporated Elliot's gender identity with grace and kindness, the final run brings everything full-circle in a healing moment for Viktor and queer fans of the show alike.
The Umbrella Academy is out now on Netflix.
This article originally appeared on Yahoo TV UK at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/umbrella-academy-viktor-trans-journey-elliot-page-131603928.html
