Legion S02E11 Review: Stand Music Battle

Legion, Season 2, Episode 11: Chapter 19

Yeah, that was a bit of a clusterfuck of an ending, isn't it? I'm not going to complain about the opening fight scene, where apparently someone on the Legion production staff apparently watched a bit too much JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, had David and Farouk's mental abilities manifest as what can be best described as shape-shifting CGI Stands, and the two of them straight-up have a music battle and sing out loud as they fight. It's insanely surreal, and honestly quite appropriate for such a mind-fuck show like Legion. The resulting scene ends up erring more on the side of hilariously silly than epic, mind you, but I'd be damned if I said it didn't entertain me. Oh, and Lenny gets to help, using her sniper rifle to shoot the Choke and disabling Farouk long enough for David to get the upper hand.

We get David finally manhandling Amahl Farouk man-to-man, until Syd arrives with the head of the beheaded minotaur (whatever is that thing?) and holds a gun on David. Apparently, since the previous episode, Syd has been thoroughly set into the "David is the true villain"  camp, although, again, the show doesn't really deliver this particularly well via pacing or emotional development. Sure, David does look pretty deranged now, but Syd has also just ripped the minotaur's head off, whatever the minotaur is. David rightfully calls Syd out that she might be lashing out due to her own abandonment issues, while Syd goes on a rant about how David sometimes doesn't even know about truth and lies, attributing David's general confusion to his psychosis. And then there's a gunshot.

David then finds himself in the childhood room where the delusion-is-an-egg video is played over and over (did it just imply that David -- or one of his personalities -- caused the whole delusion egg chicken demon bit? Or is it just a weird distraction?), while David argues with two other Davids about how he's deluding himself that he is inherently good. There's the same argument between whether David's craziness and unique way of viewing the world is thanks to real schizophrenia or godlike mutant powers, and at this point it seems frustratingly like repetition. None of it really end up mattering (seemingly), though, because Lenny takes the show to knock Syd's gun off-course,  and Syd seemingly gets shaken out of her trance and is all fine and happy with David. Lenny and Farouk are both captured, and Cary has a weird science-thing that negates Farouk's powers.

Unfortunately, the rest of the episode, acting as more of the meat of the episode disguised as an 'epilogue', is pretty damn... inconsistent. I've always praised how Legion pushed the limits of storytelling conventions, but the second season pushed it a bit too hard and instead of being refreshingly weird, it devolves into just a bit of a weird mess.

Take the random "three years later" bit, with Oliver and Melanie with a slight memory loss in the Ice Cube, talking about 'poor Syd' and 'David's Turn' and stuff like that. Wasn't very necessary, honestly, especially with cryptic FutureSyd already being a constant presence throughout the entire season. (Who, honestly, may or may not be the real Syd but no one involved with her even questions her). Or the likewise not-quite-necessary slideshow about "what if the fools are the sane ones", when Cary repeats it in monologue in the exact next scene.

And also the bit where Farouk seemingly finds a brief enough moment where part of his power-nullifier crown malfunctions, and he speaks to a rat who then crawls through the building to speak to Syd, just to throw in a layer of ambiguity on whether David and Syd's sex is consensual or if Farouk makes Syd think it's rape. And that rape bit is pretty... unnecessary, yeah? Again, without getting too political, it's a weird shoehorn into the story so late in its run, and the whole sexual-encounter-under-possible-mind-control, thrown with a huge shade of did-he-didn't-he, just feels emotionally manipulative for no real reason other than shock value. There certainly wasn't a shortage of horrible things that David does in the name of his crusade, like, y'know, the whole torture of Oliver. Add the many, many hints that this might all just be Farouk playing both David and Syd, and it's just a layer of frustration to it all.

Yes, the season has had this theme of "what if David is the real villain?" but the show doesn't really do the legwork involved to really make this journey compelling. And especially not when it's dropping huge hints that David might just be misunderstood once more. 

Anyway, the season ends with David being captured in a forcefield, with David's "treachery" being put on trial. Apparently Fukuyama and the Vermilion have listened to Farouk and Syd's stories about how David Haller becomes Legion, World-Killer, in the future, and have decided that David has to stand trial for his future crimes... and also they let Farouk walk around unsupervised in the trial... just because? Yeah, no wonder David flipped out, goes crazy, has a huge argument with Syd ("you'll let them kill me if I don't turn into something clean and easy?"), goes out with a defeated "I'm done" when he realizes that he's not even sure if he's guilty of the date-rape with Syd, then breaks out with Lenny.

Turning David Haller from a misunderstood protagonist to a maybe-villainous-main-character is a brave move and one that I would happily follow this series through. But on the other hand, it's done so insanely sloppily in this episode with a climactic confrontation that honestly is only salvaged by the always intense performances of Dan Stevens and Navid Negahban... but this is a chunk of the series that really feels like they dropped the ball more than anything by the very inconsistent motivation and character development for Syd and David. Hopefully season three will be better?