Legion S02E06 Review: The Weird Alternate Universe Episode

Legion, Season 2, Episode 6: Chapter 14

This is a... different episode. It shows us several seemingly unrelated scenes before revealing that it's all different universes, different possible ways that the events of Legion could've taken place, if things had gone differently. I don't think Legion is the type of show to go straight-up comic book and embrace things like alternate earths and multiverses, and the way that this is done is ambiguous enough on whether this really is looking at different universes/timelines or, once more, if this is all just in David's head.

We've got several timelines, one of them showing David and Amy growing to a very old couple who live like, well, an old couple in a house, where Amy takes care of David like a man-child all the way until they're one foot in the grave. Another timeline shows David rising to power (albeit implied that this David never broke free from Farouk), working as a secretary and a coffee boy, before using his mind-reading to help his boss gain more power in business deals, eventually supplanting the boss... at the cost of his relationship to Amy, which sours. Another timeline shows David as reduced into some random hobo, that blew up a bunch of bullies, before eventually deemed as a mutant menace put down by Kerry and the rest of Division Three. Yet another timeline shows David as a somewhat mild-mannered, if neurotic, man who accidentally unleashes his superpowers when he is accosted by policemen, causing the death of Amy.

In the middle of it all, we've got a scene of David and Amy talking about the actual multiverse theory, there's a dancing rat, and there's a recap of the self-destructive David that ends up trying to commit suicide and gets admitted to Clockwork. It's a pretty interesting storyline and episode, if a little self-indulgent and I suppose it serves to make Amy's exit from the show far more than just a sudden "oh by the way this character from season one? She's dead. She's been dead." It's a bit weird to have this character focus for Amy -- who is consistently a caring sister for David whatever happens to him in these alternate timelines -- happen after she's gone, but eh.

One interpretation for this episode might just be that David is straight-up going through other realities and living in those Davids' shoes. The two pieces of dialogue that seem to be the center of conflict for David -- Farouk's insistence that David embrace his godhood powers and "what you believe is, will be" mentality, and Amy's gentle words telling David that "this isn't what is supposed to have happened, but it is". Ultimately we just find that all the alternate universe Davids aren't anywhere as happy as "our" David. It's a weird episode that leans a bit too much into weird symbolism, I'm not sure if this deserves the huge amount screentime that the show gave it... but making it anything but a self-contained episode would be way too erratic. Ultimately, though, while it is kind of a filler episode, it's at least a well-written and well-executed filler episode, showing us that it's healthier to grieve than to try and create another reality. Or something, I guess.