Legion, Season 2, Episode 2: Chapter 10
It's another pretty strong episode of Legion, and one that delves a bit more into the huge uncertainty of David Haller's journey in this season. He's sure of himself now, he's sure of his allies, and he's exorcised the mysterious parasite, revealed to be another mutant, that has been fucking with his memories. But now he has to struggle -- is the mysterious future!Syd really his ally? He's in contact with the Shadow King to some degree, but how much should he trust the other mutant? The episode ends up being a bit more... mundane in some parts, as even putting David and Farouk into weird fencing uniforms and samurai suits don't really hide the fact that it's trying to exposit, but it's perhaps to this episode's favour. After such a huge shakeup of the status quo, this episode sorts of lays things somewhat in order. Whether this will make Legion more easy to follow or just a generic superhero storyline in the future is something to be seen.
Regardless, the interaction between David and Farouk is pretty interesting. David and Farouk apparently have had a deal before to help Farouk find his body, with the caveat of Farouk "not killing anyone" -- something he flagrantly disregards with impunity when he strolls into a Division 3 base. David later confronts Farouk in a field with a little stand, and basically tries to get Farouk to cooperate -- including, pretty hilariously, transforming into a tank to blast Farouk in a mental battle. Farouk is willing to play ball, but keeps reminding David that they are gods, so why do insects like the humans matter?
There are some interesting bits. David ends up convincing Cary/Kerry to boost the Not-Cerebro to send him through time, and basically they need the Shadow King to stop a bigger threat? Very X-Men plot. I approve. David also confides in Syd about all that's happening, and while Syd finds it a bit weird, she adapts relatively quickly, noting that, hey, they have to trust each other, right? Meanwhile, Melanie tells David and Syd to just bugger off and live in a nice cabin somewhere because 'the world is in danger, fuck it, someone will save it'.
There's the neat little parable of how ticks, dogs and human perceive the world (with some black humour when the kid in the parable steps into the road because 'green means go' and gets splattered offscreen), and who's to say that David's not being duped like that child in the parable? The question is, who is duping him?
Of course, it's not quite as simple as that. The Lenny persona begs to be let out from the mental amalgamation that is David Farouk and be allowed to die, which he expressly refuses to honour. The mysterious Admiral Fukuyama and the bearded robot-ladies (identified as 'the Vermilion') are still weird and I'm not sure who they are allied to. There is the weird black goo in David's room that we last saw... with the weird psychosis chicken from the previous episode? Future Syd even notes that David used to be 'so sweet', and that David in the future is not dead, but 'not here'... so maybe David becomes the mysterious threat that wipes out humanity? There is a continued talk about Farouk's body being hidden by the Mi-Go Monk, who is apparently hiding among the teeth-chattering victims in Division Three, which is... okay? The teeth dudes are still creepy as hell.
We've got a weird subplot where Carry and Kary get their body-swapping routine strangely mixed up thanks to Farouk-Lenny's spoon trick. Clark gets a bit more screentime in asking David some armour piercing questions. Overall, though, the focus of the episode is still David and his interactions with the people around him. The mysteries are peeled back a bit, the story and the world is expanded a bit, and it's pretty dang neat.
Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:
- While the Mi-Go Order is original to Legion (if anything, they're from the Cthulhu mythos) the Shi'ar is briefly mentioned by Cary as possibly being involved. The Shi'ar is a highly advanced alien race that's heavily involved in X-Men comics.
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