"Meet the Family" is the first episode of The Umbrella Academy's third season.
The Umbrella Academy are introduced to the Sparrow Academy, the children Reginald had adopted instead after being so repulsed by the Umbrella Academy in 1963. In this new timeline, the Sparrow Academy are a popular superhero team. In numerical order, they are comprised of Marcus, who has Super-Strength like Luther; Ben, who has the same eldritch tentacle powers; Fei, who can manifest ravens through which she can see; Alphonso, who can mirror any damage he takes onto the enemy; Sloane, who can manipulate gravity; Jayme, who can generate hallucinogenic poison from her mouth; and Christopher, a mysterious floating cube. The two groups fight throughout the mansion. Though the Sparrows have the upper hand for most of it, Vanya manages to incapacitate five of them at once, leading to what is more or less a draw. During the fight, Luther hits it off with Sloane. Grace brings the Commission's time-traveling briefcase to the mansion basement and is enamored with a mysterious floating ball of energy there.
The siblings reconvene at a nearby park to figure out their next move. Five despairs that he has left the briefcase at the mansion; the group eventually makes their way to the Hotel Obsidian, an old downtown hotel, and secure rooms for themselves. Allison leaves to find her husband Patrick and daughter Claire.
Back at the Hargreeves mansion, Marcus is disappointed that they were so quickly beaten by Vanya, but considers that the Umbrellas might be good for the team's reputation. Marcus meets with Vanya and agrees to hand over the briefcase.
Five genially reports that the new timeline seems to be clear, and reminds his brothers not to interact with their doppelgangers. Lila arrives at the hotel and drops off a kid named Stan with Diego that she claims is his son. Grace shows Marcus the energy ball; when he touches it, it lets out a wave of energy that takes the hotelier Chet's dog, as well as himself.
Tropes:
- Alternate Self: Sparrow Ben is an alternate timeline version of the already known (to the protagonists and the audience) Umbrella Ben.
- Answer Cut: When Allison asks Five where the briefcase is, the scene cuts to Grace in the basement with the MacGuffin in her hand.
- Big, Stupid Doodoo-Head: When Luther tries to insult the Sparrows, the best he can do is "stupid smug smugness", and that's only after encouragement from Klaus.Luther: Look at 'em with their... stupid smug...
Klaus: You can do it. You can do it.
Luther: ...s... s... smug... smugness.
Klaus: Keep working on it, big guy. You'll land one, eventually. - Continuity Nod: During the hallucinatory dance battle, Luther performs the same crab dance he did back in the first season's iconic dance sequence.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Luther aptly sums up the Umbrella Academy's brawl with the Sparrows as the former getting their asses handed to them.
- Dance-Off: Jayme uses her hallucinogenic Super Spit to make Diego imagine the two Academies trying to one-up each other with takes on "Footloose", before eventually getting along in a big party. He snaps out of it soon enough and the two groups brawl instead.
- Express Delivery: The Korean girl in the opening scene gets pregnant and instantly delivers on the subway.
- Foreshadowing: Chet saying he doesn't recognize Klaus foreshadows the fact that the Umbrellas don't exist in this universe.
- Jabba Table Manners: Klaus complains that he has "brothers who eat like barn animals"; cut to Diego and Luther hunched over their takeout boxes with noodles falling out of their mouths.
- Knuckle Cracking: Ben cracks his neck before the fight between the two groups breaks out.
- Mama Bear: Or grandmother in this case; when Reginald approaches a Korean family to try and buy their baby, the child's grandmother grabs a meat cleaver and threatens to chop Reginald in half if he touches her grandson.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: When Five warns the group about Never the Selves Shall Meet, Diego suggests killing their doppelgangers.
- Never the Selves Shall Meet: Five alerts his siblings to the fact that meeting their doppelganger in this timeline could have bad consequences.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Invoked when Diego demands to know who the Sparrows are and Reginald tells him point-blank that seeing and hearing what kind of messes the Umbrellas got into convinced him to just adopt a different pack of kids instead.
- Pass the Popcorn: Alphonso is content to snack on popcorn as Fei fights Allison. After Fei is incapacitated, Alphonso steps in and easily deals with her.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Marcus and Mr. Pennycrumb are introduced in this episode and apparently absorbed by the mysterious glowing ball of energy at the end, setting up its threat.
- Schmuck Bait: Alphonso invites Allison to punch him in the face. For some reason, she does so and learns the hard way about his damage reflection ability.
- Screw Yourself: Although Five reminds everyone of the Never the Selves Shall Meet rule, Klaus's first instinct upon seeing his other self would be to sleep with him.Klaus: Oh, come on. As if you wouldn't climb Luther Mountain.
- Sink or Swim Fatherhood: Diego is thrust into the role of having to care for his newfound son.
- Spontaneous Choreography: Despite only being a group for about 20 days, and dealing with preventing the apocalypse, the Umbrella Academy pulls together a dance routine to "Footloose" in a matter of seconds. Then are able to coordinate with the Sparrows, despite literally just meeting them minutes ago. Justified in that Diego was hit with a substance that makes him hallucinate that happening. When he comes out of it, barely any time has passed and everyone is where they were when he was hit.
- Workout Fanservice:
- It's part of Marcus's routine to work out on a roof and toss his used towel to his crowd of screaming fans.
- The Sparrows are all seen on treadmills in color-coordinated maroon athleisure. The girls are in sports bras and tight leggings, while Ben and Marcus are shirtless.
