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Legion 2.3 Review – ‘Chapter Eleven’
Loading...If the first season of Legion is any indication, the show takes on far greater meaning in later viewings. After all, we don’t fully understand much of what we’re seeing. But once we have a clearer idea of what the colors mean, where the symbolism is leading, or what Farouk was trying to tell us all along—everything will look and feel differently the next time we watch. One of the most frustrating aspects of Legion is having to wait a whole 7 days for a new episode. Why couldn’t this be a Netflix show? Actually, there’s an answer to that. We’re better off having to ponder everything for a week before we get to see something new.
This week, the nature of reality is parsed once again. How is Syd different when she’s a cat? We thought all that chattering was confined to one room, so why isn’t it now? Who the hell is that one monk, and why is he more important than the rest of the monks? Is future-Syd right about the need to spare Farouk, or to let him have his body? Or are the mustachioed chicks right, and he needs to be destroyed because it’s the only way to save the world? Expect spoilers, such as they are, for Chapter Eleven to follow.
The term “nocebo” was new to me, but it makes sense. The idea that thinking something negative will happen can make us feel like it already is. That’s why we fear that we have new diseases after we read about them, or are sure we have cancer when serious depression sets in. The mind can screw with us, and for most people, it screws with us in ways that make our lives worse. If we’re told a medication will make us vomit, it eventually will even when there’s no physical reason for it. Cheerleaders are used as a visual aid here: Go Ditch Devils! Later, we see that the black muck of wrong ideas is still creeping around…and right into the head of our beloved Ptonomy.
We get a glimpse of Farouk in life. It’s the typical life of a rich D-bag. “Look, I’m awesome because I’m flanked with hot chicks and have a bunch of expensive shit.” YAWN. His death seems like no great loss to anyone but him, even after his body is shipped off to monks. At Division 3, things aren’t going so well. The monk is loose and is infecting everyone with chattering teeth syndrome. We knew that the people locked behind that door were sick somehow, and that the non-chattering monk was hiding among them. His escape leaves multiple people, including the mustachioed chicks, Melanie, Kerry, and Ptonomy all chattering. David and Cary go one at a time retrieving everyone from inside their minds…which are all different, and all referred to as mazes. Their minds reflect their inner most wishes. Ptonomy wants to live in the moment without recalling everything all at once. Melanie really had a dream after all. Getting rescued from mental anguish happens to these people so frequently, it doesn’t even feel happy when it does.
I really enjoyed Cary trying to help Kerry be more independent. She doesn’t understand food really, and doesn’t see why she needs to. The idea of waste coming out of your butt is distasteful if you’re not used to it. So that was funny. Legion often talks about food in quirkily humorous ways, so it was also funny to see that Kerry loves crème soda. Good on her, because a good crème soda is a joy to behold…and consume. Seeing these fun moments between them made it even more upsetting to see Cary’s reaction to his chattering counterpart.
In the grand scheme, none of what’s happening can be codified until we answer one question: Is Farouk a villain? But see, Legion is part of the X-Men mythos, which has the most moral relativism in any comic universe outside of maybe Sandman. (pause for the internets to shred this hasty assertion) Just as Professor X (remember, that’s Legion’s dad), and Magneto are both right and wrong, Farouk and David Haller are both valuable and intensely dangerous. They’re both well-meaning as they see it. They both believe they can do what they need to without catastrophic consequences…even as they can’t really agree what catastrophe is or who should be saved from it. Farouk’s claim that he can’t be a villain because of semantics is false. Besides, anyone who reads comics knows that the Shadow King is a bad guy. But then, Legion isn’t exactly a hero either.
For me, Lenny is the best example of Farouk’s lack of humanity. It’s probably true that the older you are, and the more of the world you’ve seen, the less tragic every individual death feels. We see this on Doctor Who, and if we ever went inside the mind of George RR Martin, we’d no doubt see it there too. Part of humanity is valuing each human as a unique miracle. Lenny is clearly suffering, engaging in self harm, attempting suicide. She didn’t do anything to deserve this, and yet Farouk has no problem with letting her suffering continue. He can’t even offer empathy, just questions and the occasional condescending insult.
The monk wants The Weapon, which of course, is David. We’ve known that since Chapter One. He’s the most powerful, most dangerous mutant around. Everybody wants him. We’re left with this insane conundrum. Division 3 needs David to stop the Shadow King. But David, as much as he’d like to, now can’t because the woman he loves has, from the future, told him he couldn’t. That something worse is coming and only Farouk can stop it. So if Farouk is dead, they’re all doomed. But according to now, if Farouk is alive, we’re all doomed. But wait though—because what if the worse thing that’s coming in the future is David? Or rather, Legion? That would make the most sense, except that in this show we’re supposed to like David and think he’s basically well intentioned. We’d all like to think that good intentions are the difference between heroes and villains, that intent is everything. But if you’ve ever said the wrong thing on Twitter, you already know that plenty of people think intentions don’t mean shit.
The monk seemed unaware that David was working with messages from the future. Upon learning this, he jumped to his death. It was quite an impressive fall too. Were these things connected? We can’t be sure. Maybe he was always going to suicide himself after talking to David. Finally, we get Syd’s latest message—HURRY. Well thanks for that, Syd. Maybe next time don’t take a whole hour letting us know that time is a factor. David wants to keep bad things from happening, but the monk says they’ve already happened. What was it? Where? Who was impacted? When will we know?
As always, Legion is a feast for the senses. It’s beautiful. The sound design is disturbing and immersive. I love the music, and the cast is all TV pretty but still intense and believable. At the same time, there’s a dark whimsy that permeates every element. Like Harry Potter, one of the major themes is that being powered doesn’t fix all your problems. In fact, it may create far more issues than it solves. Also, I kind of want to punch Farouk in the face. Who’s with me? Do we think David will stop the Shadow King? Will he join him? Will he and Syd know each other in the future? How far? What happened to her arm? When will David notice? Plenty more Legion to come.
See you’s next week!
