open/close all folders
Season 1:
General
- The flashbacks to the more traumatic parts of the Hargreeves siblings' training qualify, like Viktor being locked in the soundproof room or Klaus being locked in the crypt while being haunted by the dead.
"Number Five"
- Diego ordering Klaus to return to the car by saying, "If I don't come out in two minutes, that means I'm probably dead." This after Dave had just died in Klaus' arms just hours before, of which Diego vaguely knows. Klaus' response is to clutch his brother's arm for a couple of seconds before appearing to reluctantly obey. And, of course, if Klaus had indeed complied, they both would have gotten killed.
- Viktor's Relationship Upgrade with Leonard after revealing that he got First Chair. It's Viktor's first intimate relationship, and he believes that Leonard truly loves him. We already know that Leonard is up to no good, but then we see Helen's body in the attic, along with the journal that Klaus threw away. Viktor's first time is not only with a manipulator, but a very sick person.
"The Day That Wasn't"
- When Luther is going through the packets of research and reports he sent down from the Moon, we briefly see one with “REMINDER: PLEASE SEND MORE FOOD” written on the label. One has to wonder just how low his food supplies were at that point, and how long he had to wait before Reginald finally remembered to send more, as he would have had no other food source.
"I Heard A Rumor"
- Allison recalling the times she's abused her power starts with the seemingly harmless ("I heard a rumour that you love broccoli"), goes on to the decidedly immoral ("I heard a rumour that I was perfect for the part") and ends with the chilling "I heard a rumour that you loved me."
- Through a series of flashbacks, we see Viktor struggle to develop his powers, gradually becoming more and more powerful until he begins to realize his full potential. Reginald's response is to lock the child up in solitary confinement before having Allison brainwash him into thinking he was powerless. Allison doesn't understand what she's done at the time, and doesn't realize her part in things until the current day.
- Allison confesses to Viktor about what she did as a child at possibly the worst conceivable moment, causing Viktor to become enraged at her just as he's figured out how to use his powers. Allison attempts to brainwash Viktor again out of desperation, but Viktor lashes out at her, slashing Allison's throat.
- Leonard's reaction to walking in to Viktor crying over his mortally wounded sister? He grins.
"Changes"
- As Viktor apologizes to Luther about hurting Allison, he seems to be understanding and pulls his brother in for a hug. After a while, however, he starts to slowly crush him. Viktor begins to squirm and panic, trying to make Luther let him go until he falls unconscious.Viktor: (gasping) Luther... you're hurting me...
- It's worse when you consider things from Viktor's perspective - he has been through several traumatic ordeals in the last 24 hours, is trying to cope with resurfacing trauma, his emotions are all over the place from having forcibly gone cold turkey on the mood altering drugs he had been on for over 20 years, is crushed by the guilt of what he did to Allison with powers he does not know how to fully control, and is trying to atone for that by coming home to the Academy to explain himself. Luther manipulates him into thinking he's safe, that he understands, offering him some much needed comfort which he has been long starved for... and begins suffocating him. Viktor then wakes up in the noiseless torture chamber Reginald used to test him as a child (which as the previous episode showed has given him some severe claustrophobia).
- Luther's single-minded efforts to contain Viktor, despite the protests of their siblings, and Viktor's obvious distress at the isolation chamber, end up making everything much much worse.
"The White Violin"
- Viktor calmly going through his Roaring Rampage of Revenge, destroying the whole mansion as he walks by and even coldly murders Pogo after he reveals he played a part in what made Viktor who he was today.
- In the climax, Viktor, completely Drunk on the Dark Side, is performing a concerto that will allow him to channel his energy and destroy the world once finished. When his siblings intervene, he catches most of them, levitating them in mid-air while he proceeds to slowly sap their lifeforce away as they're painfully writhing in agony.
Season 2:
General
- Crossing over with Tear Jerker at times, what happens to Sissy throughout the season. Even before Viktor comes into the picture, she is shown to be in a loveless marriage with a man who only wants to spend time with her to have sex (most of which seems to be coerced, and due to the laws she can't go to anyone with her distress at this). Her only son, Harlan, has a disorder lying somewhere on the Asperger's spectrum - the lack of information of which Sissy likely blames herself for, and could be another reason why she's hesitant to be intimate with Carl. Carl's brother is also shown to be a local cop, and that mixed with society's views and expectation of wives at the time, would have been a terrifying life. Then she hits a man downtown and takes him home (it seems that it wasn't reported to the police at the time) and likely for the first time in her life, she has someone she's close to and begins the painful, scary experience of realizing that there might be another reason why she doesn't feel close to Carl. Still, she begins to fantasize of escaping with Viktor and Harlan, the two people she cares about the most. No doubt an extremely hard life, one woman, a trans man, and a mentally ill child trying to make it on their own.
- When Carl tries to punish her by taking Harlan away, which results in them struggling for a shotgun that discharges...at Harlan, who deflects it with his new powers. The ricocheting bullet kills Carl.
"Valhalla"
- The opening shows Pogo as a juvenile chimp being trained for space travel. Just as he seems to break orbit during a launch, the rocket burst into flames, and agonized ape screams run over the intercom.
- Reginald's Pet the Dog moment is creepy. Without hesitation, he injects a serum into Pogo, the way he did into Luther. This turns Pogo into the Undying Loyalty servant we know.
"A Light Supper"
- Allison falling into 1960, and when she defends herself from a group of white men, all she can do is run until she finds a hairdresser store to hide in. The women inside protect her, but Allison is visibly shaken as the women help her sit down and calm down.
- Raymond demands Allison prove to him she has superpowers, and the couple start getting nice clothes from the white stores. Raymond asks why Allison doesn't use her powers for the movement, and they stumble upon the diner they had their sit-in at and Allison walks in, with Raymond trying to tell her to stop. But too high on her power trip, Allison starts not only abusing her rumor powers, but also the server who had poured hot coffee on her lap and she ends up burning his hands. Raymond has to tug her away while hurriedly telling her "you've made your point" as they leave and the man is freed from Allison's control. This is a short example of why Allison is not only scared to use her powers now, but also why she shouldn't be using it for the civil rights movement.
- Leading up to this is the riot breaking out in front of the diner, and Allison using her power to save Ray from a cop beating, and he hears her (but due to not being the target, he remembers it) and is visibly scared and runs off. This is the second time that she's used her power around her husband and has ever since been terrified of using her powers or telling anyone about them. Now, she's being forced to because she saved her husband, and has no idea in that moment how things will turn out.
"Öga for Öga"
- Five hacking up the Commission board with a fire axe. The scene starts with him stopping a woman from calling security by lopping her arm off and only gets worse from there, with several others losing limbs, someone thrown into the light fixture and at least one person having been partially disemboweled. It's made worse by his completely flippant and casual attitude toward the whole affair, stopping to eat and drink from the refreshment stands between cutting people down as AJ and the rapidly dwindling board members watch on in silent horror.
- By the time Diego and Herb beam in the Chestnuts' living room, Raymond is dealing with a dead white guy and the fact that his wife had experience in transporting dead bodies. Not to mention he knows by now who Allison and her siblings really are. And, of course, Diego is yet another sibling and is presumed to be Cuban, telling Allison that their sister is about to blow up the FBI building, causing a nuclear holocaust. Not to mention Herb's comment that his employer offers body removal services. And on top of that, JFK is supposed to be killed. While that part of the scene is Played for Laughs, it is obviously very disturbing for Raymond to hear.
"743"
- While it would undoubtedly be traumatic for anyone to witness live the assassination of a president, it must be especially so with Viktor as that being one of the first things he sees after regaining his memories. And, of course, stated memories revealed to him of how destructive he was before, following being tortured and drugged by the FBI. Not to mention Ben fully transitioning to the afterlife in his arms.
Season 3:
General
- Allison's descent into villainy, which once again leads to highlighting how terrifying Compelling Voice is as a power, with special mention going to when she tells Luther to want her and nearly rapes him, and later when she tortures Viktor. What's more, as time goes on, she loses the one weakness she had (the "I heard a rumor" activation method), allowing her to immediately compel people by just raising her voice, giving them no ability to prevent or defend themselves.
- Fei's powers, putting aside ornithophobia triggers with the ravens she summons, but the result of them seems to have resulted in her eyes being clawed out to better enable her ability to see through her birds.
- The Sparrow timeline in a nutshell is a False Utopia where the Hargreeves children of this timeline are an actually effective superhero team who have successfully quashed any threat, but that doesn't mean they're good people. Their posters and billboards around the city have fascist implications ("Watch yourself, because we're watching you"), and the Sparrows themselves have zero care for the common people, with their leader Marcus referring to them as sheep while Jayme and Alphonso casually abuse their power to bully people and allow themselves to act like teenage hooligans without repercussions. It's more-or-less the kind of Beware the Superman setting seen in The Boys (2019), but unlike that show, the Sparrows are more realistic in their corruption, which actually makes them more concerning.
"Pocket Full of Lightning"
- Although the instructional video about the Grandfather Paradox is the Commission's Story Within a Story and Played for Laughs, a Commission employee watching this must have to wonder how Elmer believes that his grandfather is responsible for his father's death. Elmer's grandfather wouldn't have killed him accidentally or on purpose, or he would be in prison, so people might conclude that his father committed suicide.
"Kugelblitz"
- The montage of the Umbrella Academy mothers (sans Ben's, due to him and Harlan never meeting) dying due to Harlan inadvertently using his powers. Each one just suddenly begins to have their face contort in pain and horror and begin to bleed from their eyes and mouths before High-Pressure Blood bursts out of their ears, nose, or mouth. In particular, Allison's mother is shown teaching in some sort of classroom, likely meaning that some poor kids had to watch their teacher die suddenly and gruesomely.
"Marigold"
- The Hotel Oblivion. Diego and Lila investigate the secret passage in the White Buffalo Suite and wind up finding an eerie, empty, Japanese version of the hotel. Things only get worse when Diego rings the bell, which is marked with a note saying not to ring, and suddenly the lighting changes to something more threatening as an unknown assailant attacks, cutting off a couple of his fingers! Diego and Lila are full-on panicking as they scramble for the door back to Hotel Obsidian all while the mysterious attacker chases them all the way back to the White Buffalo Suite.
"Oblivion"
- If you have trypophobia or can't stand cockroaches(or both) then good luck seeing the unmasked Guardian.
- The aforementioned Sparrows timeline was concerning, but the final shot revealing the "Hargreeves" timeline is even more concerning, with Reginald casually and openly owning everything in the city. A particularly terrifying idea if you're someone with concerns about billionaire oligarchs and unchecked monopolies.
