Legion Chapter 3 Plot Summary:
Determined to save his sister (Katie Aselton), David (Dan Stevens) begins using his newfound abilities at an accelerated rate, opening himself and the team up to more danger.
The third episode of Legion is like Inception, but ten times more complicated, and far more dangerous. David’s mind is like World 8: Dark World in Super Mario Brothers 3. This is one screwed up place, but fascinating as hell. This was a big episode for Legion. As much as I’ve enjoyed the introspective style, it needed to feel like it was going somewhere. They delivered. The show finally calms down with its over stylized artistic vignettes, and delivers actual scenes with sustained back and forth dialogue.
Many of those scenes continued to build on the great relationship between David and Syd (Rachel Keller). They’ve had a strong connection from the beginning, but now they’ve added some real humor. Their playful banter on what it’s like to share bodies not only was funny, but it’s a great insight into the extent and psyche of what using these mutant powers actually means. The X-Men films are fantastic, but they don’t have time to really sit down and think about what it means to be a mutant. Legion has that luxury. Not only was the chemistry between David and Syd great, but Rachel Keller is really coming into her own as this character. Her sarcastic, but tough exterior is definitely starting to blossom.
The other character who continues to intrigue is Ptonomy (Jeremie Harris). I love this guy. He’s clearly grumpy, cynical and jaded, but you know there’s a hell of a lot more going on there. Jeremie Harris has found a great balance with this character. He’s dry, but charismatic at the same time. You want to know more about this guy.
We also get some information on the curly haired villain dude (Mackenzie Gray), which was mildly interesting. The better villain though seems to be this tease inside David’s head. This monstrosity looks like a cross between Jabba the Hutt and Mojo from the 90’s animated X-Men series. Who knows if this is an actual villain, or just some figment of David’s mind he has to battle, but either way, I’m intrigued. Unlike Heroes, this show isn’t very focused on side characters. The Lab Guy (Bill Irwin), random girl who helps a lot (Amber Midthunder) and the mentor, Melanie Bird (Jean Smart), haven’t really done much.
It’s all about David, as he continues to show more powerful abilities. This has its ups and downs. While watching David try and control this immense amount of power is fascinating, it may hurt them in the long run. He runs the risk of becoming totally uninteresting, much like Neo, or Peter Petrelli when they became too powerful. For now, wandering through David’s memories is one hell of a ride. Despite all the warped and depraved crap that always seems to pop up in David’s head, they still manage to infuse some very touching moments.
The writing and direction on this show continues to be carefully crafted. The story still feels like it’s moving too slowly. The plot description on this episode could have easily been the same from last week. Legion is also showing early symptoms of Lost syndrome. There’s a lot of random crap that will surely have unsatisfactory explanations for many, so if that stuff pisses you off, I’d get out right now. As long as David remains fascinating, I’ll go easy on those shenanigans.
This episode made the improvements it needed to make from last week in terms of settling into more traditional scenes of conflict. While the last scene is strange as hell and quite the cliffhanger, next week needs to significantly start progressing the story.
Rating: 8 out of 10 (Great)
