The following contains spoilers for The Umbrella Academy Season 3, now streaming on Netflix.
One of the most uncomfortable elements of The Umbrella Academy is the romance between siblings Allison and Luther Hargreeves. While the pair aren't related by blood, resorting to technicalities doesn't make it any less off-putting. Both were raised in the same home from an extremely young age, and certainly seem to regard their other siblings as just that: siblings. Season 2 moving away from the pair's romance was a breath of fresh air, especially since Allison's relationship to Raymond was a core part of her arc throughout the season.
Unfortunately for Allison, Season 3 turns that dynamic on its head as the Umbrella Academy is pulled back to 2019, decades after her life with Raymond. The Academy quickly runs into their current-timeline counterparts, The Sparrow Academy, and Luther falls head-over-heels for their Number 5, Sloane. Meanwhile Allison is left to spiral deeper and deeper into sadness, nihilism and rage. This might evoke some amount of sympathy from fans, but Allison more than crosses the line in the season's fifth episode, when she rumors Luther into kissing her.
This isn't an original concept created for the show, as Allison does the same thing in the comic's first arc, Apocalypse Suite. The pair muse on the kind of lives they could have led up on the roof of the Academy, and Allison casually mentions to Luther that she heard a rumor he's wanted to kiss her since they were eight. He does so, and the pair don't seem affected much by it, for better or worse. It's also shown in Hotel Oblivion that she used her power to make her husband fall in love with her, eventually leading to their disastrous marriage and divorce.
Season 3 of the show almost synthesizes the two moments, borrowing context from one and tone from the other. Allison is left reeling after the twin losses of her husband and daughter, and she tries to find an answer at the bottom of a bottle in Hotel Obsidian. Luther finds her in her drunken sorrow and tries to comfort her, leading to a moment where the pair almost kiss, before he pulls away and decides he wants to be with Sloane instead. Insulted and enraged, Allison says she could force him to stay. Luther takes this as a bad joke initially, confident in the belief she would never do that to him.
However, she does, first rumoring him to stay and then to "want her," even against his increasing protest. While her power seems to provoke a real response, Luther seems to fight against it so hard that his body seizes up, choking and sputtering before Allison lets him go. She flees the scene, doesn't apologize and shows no remorse throughout the rest of the season. She has only acid words for him the next time they meet, and when he tries to bring it up they're interrupted before the conversation can continue.
A lack of consent isn't funny. It's not a joke, or a moment to be played for romance or tenderness. The Umbrella Academy lays it bare for the horror it is, a part of the simmering rage and resentment that sees Allison lash out at the rest of her family. Her assault of Luther is one of her greatest sins during the season, along with Harlan's murder. Eventually choosing to save her siblings at the end of the season might go some way toward redeeming Number Three, but Season 4 should continue to explore the wrongs of what she did -- and show that redemption isn't so easy.