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Legion 2.2 Review – ‘Chapter Ten’

April 11, 2018 | Posted by Wednesday Lee Friday
Legion - Chapter 10
8.5
The 411 Rating
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Legion 2.2 Review – ‘Chapter Ten’  

I bet if we met Noah Hawley in real-life, he’d seem quiet and boring. Like Haller, I’m guessing that his inner monologue is so incredibly vivid that he barely wants to venture outside it just to interact with other mortals. The visuals in Legion meld several different storytelling styles. There’s plenty of abstract art happening, as shapes and colors become a language unto themselves. Symbolism rages even if we could argue all day how the wheat field, the crystal ball, the color blue, and the eggs should each be translated. Even as we discuss the finer points, one thing is clear—whether we think it’s one thing or something completely different—we’re right. Reality is whatever we decide it is, which is why humans are the only animals that go mad.

“Chapter Ten” begins with swirly colors and kaleidoscopic imagery. Oliver and Lenny still seem to be having a blast in their diversion. But it’s a hollow, bitter sort of fun—like that time Key and Peele couldn’t stop partying. David points out that Lenny is so far from her original self that he isn’t sure if there’s anything non-visual left of the real Lenny. So long as I can keep watching Aubrey Plaza do her thing, I don’t care. David is “ultra-clear.” He’s helping Farouk find his body because Syd from the future told him to. Cary helped with this as he’s the one who built the orb. And no violence—David says. No one can get hurt. As we might imagine, the “no violence” agreement lasts roughly one second. We don’t always know if what we’re seeing is happening in any physical reality, but Lenny and Oliver do kill a bunch of people in the hospital, and turn a guy into a pic. We all enjoy Greek mythology, but that’s a little much.

What do we learn this week? Lots of things. Those mustachioed triplets are probably androids rather than mutants. We don’t know if there are three or a zillion, kind of like the Koenig family on “Agents of SHEILD.” They have data instead of memories, which seems to make them into an automatic Google you don’t have to intentionally use. They just provide information when it’s needed. One of these bits of knowledge is the 63% chance that David Haller is lying about something, or everything. Back at Division Three, we learn that Melanie is regularly using the vapor, and that Kerry is in s spot of trouble…right through the chest. A weird reverb made her come out, and she doesn’t like it. Most of us would be horrified to hide inside someone else most of the time. But Ms. Loudermilk has no interest in living a life every day.

Future Syd is visibly older than the Syd of today, which is accomplished with a subtle and effective makeup job. Sometimes a bit of dark dry brushing can bring out creases in the skin and make them look deeper. As a fan of “This is Us,” I can say that aging makeups have improved a lot in recent years. Future Syd has plenty of good info. David will kill Farouk in a hideously violent way. That’ll happen soon. But there’s a new problem. A new monster—bigger and more powerful than Farouk. Sure, Farouk killed some people, but this thing will kill everyone. Do we believe that though? As far as we know, the only being more powerful than Farouk is…Legion. Future Syd is also missing an arm, which David doesn’t mention at all. They can’t touch in the purple room, so why meet there instead of the white one?

David is arguing with himself with two distinct personalities. Like maybe one is a future David, or they’re in vastly different moods. I guess not everyone argues with their inner monologue, but plenty of us do. We might be trying to calm frantic thoughts in the brain, or talk ourselves into doing the right thing, or out of doing something dumb. But this doesn’t seem like that. This seems more like the kind of argument that might come to blows—which Dan Stevens could totally pull off because he’s an exceptional actor. When David asks if he’s dead in the future, he’s told it’s “complicated.” You don’t want to have the same relationship with life that you do with your on-again, off-again partner as described on Facebook.

Are the arguing Davids and multiple Syds connected to the new open with the crystal ball? When you see something through a crystal ball, it turns backward or upside-down depending on your angle. David was carried off in an orb, which impacted his perception. It allowed him to see and know things from the future. Is it real? What is reality? Tonight we heard the most concise definition ever: “Reality is that which, once you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” So we’d have to stop believing in [everything / delusions /Gods / other people] in order to find out whether or not they’re real. And if you check to see whether or not the thing you stopped believing in is real—that has to mean that you still believe in it, at least a little. These are the kinds of thoughts that would normally make my head hurt, but they’re happening in such a beautiful environment with such pretty people that I’m just plain digging the hell out of it.

Melanie’s experience is different. She’s having a terrible time, and has been reevaluating. She no longer things powers are a beautiful gift. They’re an obstacle to happiness. Mel takes an approach closer to the maesters on Game of Thrones -— sure, bad things happen and people will die, but it’s hubris to think any one person or group can save or destroy the whole world. But the world will be fine. Maybe he should just take Syd and go live a life somewhere. But that’s probably not going to be possible for someone like him. Melanie realizes that she followed Oliver in everything he wanted and did. So when she lost him, she had nothing to fall back on, nothing she’d chosen herself. It’s awful to see Jean Smart like that, because she seems so capable and poised in most things. Meanwhile, the Interrogator doesn’t feel like his questions are being answered truthfully. Screw Clark though, seriously. Kerry and Cary seem to work out their issues, so that’s cool.

Of course the big news this week is finally meeting Amahl Farouk. He’s bad, and powerful. We know he’s not honest, though we don’t know if he outright lies or merely misleads. He says that if David helps him find his body, that he’ll owe him a debt that must be taken seriously. But that could mean a lot of things. Lenny believed she’s help Farouk and then be set free, but we (and she) learns this week that she’s not going anywhere. Once you die, there isn’t anywhere to go without a body. Does that mean Lenny will try for another body at a later time? Farouk is a charismatic guy who speaks several languages. His main point is that reality is a choice—one we make every day. He invites David to sit at the adults table, that they two are Gods, the strongest mutants ever. If you’re that strong, it must seem ridiculous to see David dicking around with girlfriends and memories and books about the World’s Angriest Boy in the World. The fight between them is amazing, imaginative, and yes, a little homoerotic. LOL

What happens now? To find Farouk’s body, we must begin by finding one of the monks of the MiGo order. We don’t have long to wait, since he’s hiding out in that room full of chattering teeth people—only he’s not chattering. Up on the roof, we see that we were right about Syd switching bodies with that cat. Adorbs!

Tons to unpack this week, and I’m sure I’ll catch way more stuff upon repeated viewings. Is the color blue related to the corresponding chakra? Blue is #5, the throat, which is where brotherly love comes from. Or purple? The third eye chakra? Green was a big color last season, but we haven’t seen much of it so far in Season Two. Then again, we probably aren’t supposed to separate the seasons in terms of the sweeping arc. It’s clear that they want us to see this as one chapter coming after another without a division between Ep 8 and Ep 9. Is future Syd really Syd from the future? Is it even possible for Oliver to find his way back to Melanie? Is he doing that somewhere?

See you’s next week!

8.5
The final score: review Very Good
The 411
How long have we been waiting for this meeting? Well, this is Chapter Ten, so about that long. At the same time, we feel like we know Amahl Farouk by this point even though we've only seen him in borrowed visages. Kerry deals with an unpleasant surprise this week, Syd confirms a suspected use of her powers, and Melanie reveals a change of mind. Truth, trust, and the nature of reality all come into play in Chapter Ten.
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