Legion S01E08 Review: The King

Legion, Season 1, Episode 8: Chapter 8

So, the first season of Legion ends, and it ends pretty amazingly. I don't think anything can really stand up to the trippiness and the masterful, genre-bending bit of the first few episodes, but it's still a pretty bizarre ride.

How does the episode start off? Well, by showing that Clark (a.k.a. mr burn-face) is a loving family man, which is a bit of a weird, cheap way to build up sympathy for Division Three just to make David's decision not to go murderkill everyone more meaningful. Which... okay? It felt a bit unnecessary, but on the other hand Clark does have so much more to do in this episode as a minor character than the Eye did, being a creepy stalker and all. We still see David create this hilariously creepy stuck-together-tower of Division Three goons, helplessly held together with psychic powers. Now, the question is to what to do with them. A nuclear strike is being ordered on the compound, apparently. Ptonomy wants to kill Clark and go to war. Melanie wants to read his mind and steal the secrets. David wants to act like his daddy and reason and try to coexist. Cary, the only sane man in the room, doesn't really give a shit about this missile malarkey, because he really wants to rip the fucking Shadow King out of David's head before he breaks free.

But he already has. Somewhat. Syd gets a mental visit from Lenny (Shadow King, Lenny -- Aubrey Plaza's performance is so strong that I kind of view Lenny as the primary being), who justifies it as their minds being connected after the body-swap thing. Lenny tells Syd about how she's been within David's mind since infancy, and ripping her out is something that will kill or irreparably damage David. Syd doesn't trust Lenny, but talks to Clark about the details in hopes of earning the Division's cooperation.

David is strapped into a machine that will identify all the brain waves in David's head and suck them out. Okay, science mumbo-jumbo stuff! No idea when Cary had the time to build all this, but since he produced the mental headband out of nowhere I guess part of his mutant powers is to create insane-looking sci-fi plot devices? This allows David to relive the opening of the first episode via a trip down the memory lane as the Shadow King's influence is burned away, before meeting Lenny once more. "Who am I without you?" David asks Lenny. Throughout the season Lenny has been compared to a disease, a tumour, a parasite, inner demons and an alternate personality.  And, yes, the question remains, and it's something that's chillingly similar to what people with mental problems may have -- will I be the same person after this part of my mind is literally exorcised?

And then Syd does something rather stupid, and gives the Shadow King that way out, by sucking him out with a body-swapping kiss. The Shadow King, now bereft of David's full powers, makes use of his/her own and jumps from Syd to Kerry. Ptonomy shoots the place up, but Kerry's martial arts skills allows Lenny-in-Kerry to whack Ptonomy down. We get an awesome bit when Lenny-in-Kerry and David charge each other, causing David to push Lenny out of Kerry... but the only other host Lenny can jump in? Oliver.

Oliver, who's mucking around the central power chamber helping to fix things, and just to be extra-cruel, he gets possessed just as he regains some memories about his wife Melanie... but possessed he is, and before anyone realizes what's happening, Oliver and Lenny are gone, driving down the road and going to get... something. Again, if there's one thing that I will criticize heavily about this season is that the Shadow King's motivations are never made super-clear when she does something that isn't just a power play for David's body. I guess they're now just hunting down Professor X, driving down the nice mountain roads on a sexy sports car?

Division Three leaves with some talk of possible cooperation (and the threat that shit David strongkt), and if nothing else Clark seems convinced that these dudes aren't completely evil. Besides, they have 

a common enemy to hunt in the form of the Shadow King now. The story ends -- the Shadow King escapes with Oliver, but at least he's out of David's mind, he's mostly sane, and Division Three are frenemies instead of outright enemies. In David's awesome ultimatum: "War is over... if you want it."

But this is a Marvel show, and Marvel shows have end-credit teases, and in one of the most bizarre ones ever, we have a giant silver floating Pokeball fly in and quite literally shrink David down and capture him and flying away. Is the villain for Legion's second season going to be Mewtwo? I highly doubt it. Is it going to be Mojo? God, don't let it be Mojo.

Still, despite some bits that feel like they could have been treated a little better, this absolutely bizarre show has quickly grown into one of my favourite stories. Once more, it's not for everyone, but it's definitely one that is worth checking out.