The Umbrella Academy Season 3 continues its wave of success at the peak of Netflix’s daily Top 10 TV shows, having held the spot since beating out the first part of Stranger Things’ record-breaking fourth season. Which presumably means millions upon millions of Netflix subscribers have watched the third season’s premiere and beyond. And if you were one of the fans who picked up on the lapse in continuity between Season 2’s bonkers finale and its follow-up, you’re not alone, and you’re absolutely correct. Ben Hargreeves somehow went through a magical hairstyle change mid-scene!
Of course, the character didn’t actually flip his bangs up really quick within the sequence itself, as Ben’s tentacles probably aren’t so savvy with clippers and hair gel. (Although if they can light a cigar…) In any case, The Umbrella Academy star Justin H. Min and showrunner Steve Blackman revealed that Ben’s hair switcheroo wasn’t a random editing snafu, but was rather a purposeful continuity error for reasons both practical and emotional. In that Min did not want to rock that look the entire season. Here’s how he amusingly explained it to TVLine:
You know, they talk about the happiest day in your life. The bangs had a great run, but they had to go. They kept falling out. It was going to be a nightmare to film with that, so the hair went up, and we called it a day.
While it’s likely The Umbrella Academy’s hair stylists could have made Ben’s hair work in the super-emo hanging-bangs mode, Justin H. Min might not have needed to act very much to pull off the character’s surly demeanor. Especially if it would have remained a logistical issue as far as problems with the hairpiece went.
Thankfully, the mild horrors that came with filming the Season 2 finale weren’t replicated for the most current season, which was not only pleasing to Min, but was clearly the best choice in hindsight. I cannot imagine that Ben would have remained such a likable assbag throughout the season had his eyes been partially covered by his bangs the whole time. Would it have led to some amusing moments involving Umbrella members pushing Ben’s hair up and away from his eyes? One can only hope.
The way Steve Blackman puts it, he wasn’t all that into the bangs entering the equation back when the previous finale was filmed. In his words:
We shot that [original] scene on the very last day of Season 2, and I did not want them to do that to his hair. It’s supposed to be continuous [into Season 3], but… I wanted to change it. So did Justin, so we did a little flip of that.
Nobody wanted to point fingers too directly, so let’s just blame the bangs on the extraterrestrial Reginald Hargreeves, since he never truly has the best interests of his children in mind, regardless of what timeline he’s in.
All three seasons of The Umbrella Academy are currently streaming on Netflix, and be sure to check out our 2022 TV premiere schedule to see what’s worth diving into after all the nude fights and kugelblitzes have gone away for the time being.
