Umbrella Academy fans slam Season 4’s “gross” age gap relationship

Umbrella Academy fans have slammed Season 4’s inclusion of a relationship with an age gap that made them very uncomfortable.

The Umbrella Academy Season 4 is the last ride for the dysfunctional Hargreeves family, and some fans are not satisfied with how the series ended.

While some struggle to accept a few notable deaths, others have fixated on the uncomfortable relationship between Five Hargreeves and Lila Pitts.

“Me after watching Five and Lila kiss when she’s known bro since he was 13 and is in a relationship with his brother. WITH KIDS,” one fan wrote on X/Twitter.

Another called the relationship “sick” and “gross”, but also claimed that its inclusion robbed the show of a potentially great plotline.

Five and Lila met in Season 2 when the latter came onto the scene to spy on the Hargreeves family on behalf of The Handler.

Despite being enemies at first, Lila came to become part of the group due to her romantic relationship with Diego, Five’s brother.

Throughout Seasons 2 and 3, Five and Lila are shown to be great friends as they are both incredibly powerful beings who live for the thrill of going on dangerous missions.

Their platonic love was shown at the beginning of Season 4, but after a snafu where they were lost in time for over seven years without the other of the Hargreeves siblings, Five and Lila fell in love and shared a passionate kiss.

Netflix

While the idea of a time-traveling love story normally wouldn’t put people off, this relationship is unique because the pair have known each other at wildly different ages across different universes.

Technically, a teenage Five met baby Lila when he was tasked with murdering her parents by The Handler. But Lila met 14-year-old Five in Season 2 as his future adult consciousness was transported into his younger body in Season 1.

The age gap is wrong on both sides because both characters are at once too old and too young for one another, depending on how you look at it.

Their age gap doesn’t even begin to cover the fact that Lila married and had children with Diego between Season 3 and 4, so Five acted like the ultimate home-wrecker in Season 4.

This was seen as an extremely out-of-character move for the youngest Hargreeves as he continuously preached the importance of sibling loyalty since the show began.

Because of the age gap and the duo’s complex history, viewers have been vocal about their dislike of their Season 4 romance as one fan commented, “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.”

Another posted, “Don’t want to hear a single argument that Five is old mentally because Lila watched him living in a preteen body for years so there is no reason at all that should’ve happened.”

A third viewer wrote, “They could’ve settled with Five and Lila being besties, or they could’ve not developed any relationship between Diego and Lila at all, but no, they chose a cheating arc at the season FINALE. I’m livid!”

The Umbrella Academy Seasons 1-4 are streaming now. For more, check out our guides to Netflix’s Virgin River Season 6, Stranger Things Season 5, and Heartstopper Season 3. You can also check out other TV shows streaming in August.