Netflix binges: The Umbrella Academy season 1 recap

The Umbrella Academy season 1, episode 9: “Changes”

“Changes” begins with a flashback to 1993 and Vanya not wanting to eat her breakfast. It then shows her going through a number of nannies before he opts for creating Grace to take care of her. Seeing Grace get back up after being thrown into a cabinet convinces Vanya to eat her oatmeal. It’s not a crucial scene, but it’s one that cements Grace into the family.

Leonard takes Vanya home to clean her up and tells her that he’s the only one on her side. He continues to be pushy and forces her to say that she’s special twice. It’s ridiculous and he won’t even let Vanya have thoughts of her own at this point.

The brothers get Allison back to the house, where Grace will try to patch her up. Klaus wants to get high, but Ben punches the drugs right out of his mouth. Diego, Five and Klaus make Harold their number one priority. Thankfully, Vanya has finally found Reginald’s book in his bag, so she’s starting to piece things together.

Harold tries to talk his way out of trouble. He admits to having the first chair go missing and Vanya is realizing just how horrible he is. He’s taking credit for everything that Vanya is. When she won’t side with him, he basically turns into her father and then begs for his life. In this moment, it’s hard to not want to cheer for Vanya despite how cruel her power is.

Diego, Five and Klaus find Harold dead in his house. Vanya is nowhere to be found, but at least Grace is able to keep Allison alive. Five also puts together that the eye belongs to Harold. When Vanya isn’t at the house, the brothers all go their separate ways.

Hazel shows up and ends up being attacked by Diego. Five knocks Diego out just long enough to hear what Hazel has to say. Hazel even hands over the two guns that he and Cha-Cha had so Five can clear Diego’s name in Patch’s murder.

Vanya heads back to her own apartment for the first time in a while and has a message from Allison on her answering machine. She has no clue that Allison is still alive and feels overcome with grief. Allison tries telling Luther about Vanya’s powers and Pogo tells him that it’s time for the last secret to come out.

Vanya returns to the family home and Luther tells her that Allison survived. When Vanya tells Luther what happened, he believes her, but then he starts crushing her with him arms. He renders her unconscious and puts her back in the room she was in as a kid. Diego and Klaus disagree with Luther’s choice to put her down there. Even Allison wants Luther to let her go.

Hazel makes his way back to Agnes, to find Cha-Cha ready to kill her. Mary J. Blige did a lot of her own stunts, which we see a good amount of here. Just as she’s about to kill Agnes, the Handler shows up, putting a pause on the action.

Now that Five thinks the apocalypse is over, he returns Dolores to the department store. Vanya starts talking to her younger self, who says the rest of the siblings are just like their father. This conversation gets her emotions running wild again. However, this time she controls her power enough to get her out of the room and in the final shot, her eyes have changed color.