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Legion 2.10 Review – “Chapter 18”
Loading...“The greatest monsters are the ones in human clothes.” Anyone who consumes fiction probably agrees with this week’s defining statement. This week’s episode is one that is bound to separate comic readers from not. Since I’m somewhere in between, the bulk of this review will contain NO comic book spoilers. But there are a few things we should mention, and I’ll save that for a clearly marked paragraph at the end. Presume the usual spoilery content for Legion 2.10.
I would swear I’ve seen a comic cover with tonight’s opening shot on it, but I can’t say which issue. David looks like if the guy from Eraserhead was the Goblin King. Holding a crystal sphere with the image of his love is…almost too iconic to bear. We see Syd reminding Clark, and us, that saving love is what needs to happen if we’re going to save the world. But here’s the thing—whenever a story talks about saving the world, it’s like watching a prequel to a story we already know. Of course the world gets saved. It’s the world. We live in it. If there was no world, we wouldn’t be around to hear the story in the first place. But in Legion, this is one instance where the world could actually end and we might not even notice. Perception. Patterns. Delusion. Masks.
Syd literally falls into a trap which leads her down a hole which is inhabited by…Melanie. The giant pink cork stopper injects whimsy where none should be—which is one of those things Legion does so well. It’s like a visual representation of nervous laughter. But the bigger question here is—what’s up with Melanie? Why does she want to turn Syd against David? Is she a bitter old woman who wants everyone to suffer as she has? She’s bitter, but not a malicious person. Does Mel think she’s helping Syd by letting her down easy? Another overused trope Legion throws out with utter confidence is the—pensieve, scrying mirror, reflecting pool or whatever else you’d call an object that lets you watch things you weren’t there to see. Just because Melanie is bitter, that doesn’t mean she’s wrong about David, or men, or love.
Is insanity a gift or a curse? We probably all have guesses that vary greatly depending on who the people in your life with the insanity are. Simply being insane might be easier than being a sane person loving or living with (or both, gods help you) someone whose sanity is lacking. Ever been the only sober person in a room full of drunks? Multiply that by 30. David has a bunch of people inside him, some of whom are monsters. That’s probably not a gift, but Melanie thinks it might be.
Meanwhile, David is looking for Syd. Oliver knows where she is, but he’s not talking. Cue a level of drill torture the likes of which I’ve not seen since 80s slasher flicks. Ew. Some ladies think it’s romantic when men fight for your honor and whatnot. Syd is not impressed or amused when she sees what David does to get information from Oliver. Well, “Oliver.” They’re not in reality, though that probably doesn’t make it hurt any less. Elsewhere, Lennie is in the desert with her long-range rifle looking for the monastery. A bunch of dudes with safes on their heads point her in the right direction. Because they have knowledge, in their heads, get it? Safes?!?! They’re the monks, but this isn’t confirmed until later. Once again though, we’re in awe of Aubrey Plaza’s ability to completely steal the show with about 3 minutes of screen time in the episode. She’s just magnetic!
We see yet another popular hero/villain trope this week. Yes, it’s the old “You made me what I am!” These are always sticky. Because whether it’s Batman or the Joker, Deadpool or Dexter Morgan, or even a good-guy like Harry Potter—nobody can make us anything unless we let them—at least a little. People can make you do things, but as “Melanie” so eloquently states: They can’t make you enjoy it. Most things we’d call an Origin Story are probably more accurately referred to as Inciting Incidents. If a spider bites you and you get spider powers, you’re just a guy with spider powers until you decide to be a hero. David has a bunch of people inside him, some of whom are monsters. But that doesn’t mean he has to be a monster if he doesn’t want to. What we’re getting from this week’s episode is that sometimes, somewhere, he kinda wants to.
I was surprised to see Brubaker this week, who we’ll recall was his doctor at Clockworks. David spent five years with that dude, and that relationship ended with Brubaker being utterly terrified of David. Not in a Sam Loomis, he should never get out kinda way. But more in a ‘JFC he’s got a human face but don’t you believe it for a second’ kinda way. By the ¾ point of Chapter 18, Syd largely agreed with Brubaker.
People are in hot pursuit of Lennie, David, and Syd. The Loudermilks are still tracking Lennie and the car. Clark and the Vermillion are close behind. There’s a monk fight, a monster, Cary is briefly kidnapped (watch for him to hilarious trot away from the monster saying “Oh dear, Oh dear, Oh dear.” It’s pretty adorable. Kerry makes a tremendous descent down the rabbit hole to find Cary, and does a fair bit of badass fighting this week to the tunes of Jane’s Addiction. Lennie stays up top, waiting for “the big reward” which has to mean she’s also been working for the Shadow King whether she realizes it or not. When Syd and Kerry fought the minotaur together, I totally thought Syd was gonna lose her arm via that comma (or was that a scythe?). She didn’t though.
Finally, Oliver relents and tells David that Syd is with Farouk. But Syd is with—GASP! That’s been Farouk the whole time, and in fact, Melanie takes the last steps to unite Farouk with his body, just after making Syd believe that David killed himself because he knew he was a monster. But see, many people who kill themselves feel that way—it’s one of the things mental illness makes people think. It’s not usually true, because most people aren’t Legion. The evil resurrection music when Farouk resurrected? Whoa. Kind of amazing. And again, something you’d normally see in the finale.
Setting us up for the finale next week, we have David outed as Legion versus Farouk in his right body with his exceptional powers in full swing. We’ll be kidding ourselves if we don’t prepare to lose at least one major character. It’s probably not going to be like, Infinity Wars bad, but I predict that either Syd or Lennie, one or both Loudermilks, a fleet of Vermillion, and probably Clark will all die. Melanie seems doomed, and David is the only character I’m confident will make it through alive—mainly because he’s gonna be the one they’re all trying to stop next season. No wonder future Syd wanted to kiss him goodbye.
IF YOU DON’T WANT ANY COMIC BOOK INFO—TURN BACK NOW!!
Comic readers all knew going in that David Haller, Legion, is a villain. Sure, he’s one of the more complex and fascinating villains Marvel has given us. His lineage is such that his villainy may come as a surprise to readers—kinda like how in DC, Jim Gordon has a sadistic psychopath for a son, and a daughter who is pretty much the antithesis of that. It’s easy to guess how having Professor X as a father might mess a kid up. He’s wicked powerful and that whole mind reading thing would get annoying really quickly. But Xavier is also an absent dad. One could argue that he was too busy tending to other mutant kids while his own son suffered largely alone.
Now, this week’s Legion implies that David is the villain and Farouk, AKA the Shadow King, is the hero. Shenanigans on that concept. I don’t know that the show itself was asserting it so much as specific characters were. But let’s be clear—David’s emergence as Legion, as a WorldKiller (through a combination of awesome and practically unstoppable power and unchecked psychopathy and rage) in no way makes the Shadow King a hero. He’s still evil as evil gets.
Okay, that’s all for now. I should mention that these are my takes on the show. The nature of Legion may mean that you see everything differently—which is fine. Doesn’t mean anyone is wrong or right, only that the show is so friggin’ brilliant that brilliant minds will see it in myriad ways. At best, we can only be pretty sure of what we’re seeing.
See you’s next week!
