The Umbrella Academy introduced viewers to a very different group of superheroes, each with their own demons which end up affecting their powers and other aspects of their lives, and among those is Klaus, also known as “the Séance”. Klaus has a heavy drug addiction, but he finally got his act together towards the end of the first season, and a fan theory suggests it was, in big part, thanks to his dead father, Reginald Hargreeves. Based on the comic book series of the same name by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, The Umbrella Academy was released on Netflix in February 2019, and it wasn’t long until it was renewed for a second season.
The Umbrella Academy follows the dysfunctional family of adopted siblings, the Hargreeves. All of them, along with other 36 kids, were born on the same day and under the same mysterious circumstances: none of their mothers were pregnant when the day began. Seven of those kids were adopted by the mysterious billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves, who after they began to develop unique sets of powers, trained them and formed a superhero team called “the Umbrella Academy”. Reginald wasn’t a good father figure, and each kid had their problems with him, and ended up going their separate ways.
Of the remaining members of the team, perhaps the one with the most personal demons was Klaus (played by Robert Sheehan), who has the ability to summon and communicate with the dead and can temporarily make them corporeal. Klaus’ powers in Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy haven’t reached their full potential due to his drug problems, but by the end of season 1, he was more sober than ever, and it might be all thanks to Reginald.
The Umbrella Academy: Reginald “Cleaned” Klaus In The Afterlife
In season 1’s episode “The Day That Was”, Klaus follows Luther to a rave, where he’s knocked out and dies for a couple of minutes. Klaus then has a spiritual experience and reunites with Reginald in the afterlife. His father then proceeds to shave his face, which sparked the curiosity of some viewers, who began to wonder why Reginald did that, especially as he never really acted like a father with any of the Hargreeves siblings. However, some viewers have pointed out that the shave might have represented something else.
Reddit users have suggested that Reginald shaving Klaus was a “cleaning” act – not in a literal sense, but more like a detox. Klaus actually uses this time to express his disagreement to Reginald about how he raised them, which was a very therapeutic moment for him. Meanwhile, Reginald “cleaned” Klaus with the shave, allowing him to move on and stay sober enough to manifest Ben when the day of the apocalypse finally arrived. How long will Reginald’s detox last is unclear, but viewers will get an answer once The Umbrella Academy season 2 arrives – and, hopefully, all the trauma of the apocalypse and the time jump at the end won’t send Klaus back to his old ways.