Originally published March 23, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
Rachel Bellwoar reviews the seventh episode of Legion…
Thinking back on when Legion started, how is it that we’ve reached a point in the show where we can say ‘we get it already. Enough with the clarification?’ Syd interrupts Cary’s explanation of the plan because she figured it out for herself. A lot of ‘Chapter 7’ could be interrupted this way and it’s as close as the show’s come to spinning wheels. Legion is making sense. That’s an achievement!
A comedic achievement, too. Where many penultimate episodes go the dramatic route, Legion‘s warms up with Flight of the Conchords‘ Jemaine Clement, and gets a kick out of using Dan Stevens’ British accent to remind Downton Abbey fans they haven’t forgiven him. With Lenny in control and David restricted to a coffin space in his head, it’s not the outward makings of a comedy, but the night’s biggest reveal comes early. Lenny’s real name is Amahl Farouk, the Shadow King. This feels like a big deal, and might provide insight if you’ve read the comics, but non-readers were alerted Lenny had it out for David’s dad last week. It’s a name to go with the face(s), not much else.
The crux of Oliver and Cary’s plan is to move everyone in David’s childhood bedroom to safety, so they can wake David up and not get shot. They fail. Carey puts the halo on David’s head and the bullets are coming at Syd, unchanged. The episode is a time-filler, but time is what David needs to build-up confidence.
Everyone but the Eye, and the guy the Eye impersonated, stays alive. As both Kerry and Syd were in Lenny’s grasp, this doesn’t seem likely. Syd probably needed to survive for David but the illusions were gunning for Kerry. Cary has been nursing bruises since Kerry’s fight in ‘Chapter 4’ but that’s nothing to the emotional scars she’s going to have from his abandonment this episode. Those scars aren’t going away any more than the hospital illusions would once Kerry’s glasses fell off.
Wearing glasses becomes Legion’s version of ‘Hush,’ where Buffy proved it could make an episode without dialogue. Legion went soundless in ‘Chapter 5’ but glasses remove color and chaotic visuals from its repertoire, adding silent movie title cards instead. Watching David bash through his coffin with a jolt adds some punch to the musical interlude and through it all Jean Smart is cleaning house with her performance as Dr. Bird. Reunited with her husband, Oliver, her barely contained joy is another place where Legion seems needing of a sacrificial lamb to separate them but doesn’t. Farouk and Division Three aren’t wiped out but the mutants are physically intact. They stand a fighting chance in the finale.
Rachel Bellwoar
