We start off this week essentially where last week ended: with Ptonomy (Jeremie Harris) adapting to becoming a part of the computer, or “mainframe” after he was nearly killed when a giant bug monster hatched out of him. I may be wrong here, but it’s still slightly confusing as to who, exactly, set him up to get bugged. Was it Admiral Fukiyama acting of his own volition or was it The Monk – who we now learn has himself connected to the main frame and hacked Fukiyama’s brain?
There are also some quick flashbacks to show Fukiyama’s origin story. As a boy, one of his educators discovers that he has mutant gifts and more or less guilts him into donating his brain and becoming the power source for a massive computer. I have to imagine it was The Monk, although I’m still not clear on his motivation for implanting those delusions into everyone’s minds.
After making this realization about The Monk, Ptonomy quickly learns how to possess one of the Vermilion androids to warn David (Dan Stevens). In addition to seeing The Monk, he has seen enough of his memories to learn where Farouk’s (Navid Negahban) body is located. David needs more information, though, and goes into his sensory deprivation tank to gather the rest. He runs into a roadblock of not being able to inform the others, since Farouk will be able to read their minds, and so he comes up with his own strategy.
One of the most frustrating parts of the show can definitely be the fact that most of David’s actions make sense only to him, and we as the audience are rarely let in on his plan. This isn’t frustrating enough to ruin the experience, since we’re always treated to a pretty satisfying payoff, but it’s certainly the case here that whatever David dreamt up is not going to be revealed to us until the last possible minute.
His plan begins with a visit to Lenny (Aubrey Plaza), who is still in disbelief about having her body back, and a little worried that it’s all a dream and she is in fact still with Farouk. David promises her she’s safe in his hands and with a kiss on the forehead, the entire breadth of his plan is implanted in her head for her to presumably access when the time is right. He similarly implants a plan into the heads of Cary (Bill Irwin) and Clark (Hamish Linklater) and then leaves Syd (Rachel Keller) a note saying he’s “gone to kill the monster.”
Meanwhile, Farouk and Oliver (Jemaine Clement) have already learned where his body is, and are currently en route. At this point I’m very curious as to how Farouk plans on actually returning to his body. Is he going to use Oliver in the same way they used Amy (Katie Asleton) to house Lenny’s consciousness? Is Oliver starting to resign himself to that fate? There’s a moment in the episode where he says, in reference to Melanie (Jean Smart), “she’s mine. Ours. Mine.” I don’t know if he tipped his hand or not when he used the word “mine,” as if letting it slip that he’s got his own desperate plan to rid himself of Farouk and possibly save his own life. Whatever is happening here, I am worried about Oliver and I kind of just want him and Melanie to be happy.
Parallel to the tragedy that is Oliver and Melanie’s star-crossed romance is Syd (Keller) and David. Syd is reeling from David leaving her, again, and she finds comfort in Clark (Linklater). Their “girl talk” moment is extremely satisfying to me, for a number of reasons. First, these small relationship-building moments between characters are sorely lacking on Legion, and I welcome them every single opportunity we get. It’s clear that most of these character don’t engage with each other beyond a “we’re stuff with each other” mentality, and a moment to both ground Syd and humanize Clark is very fulfilling. There’s a moment where Clark, in an attempt at comfort, tries to put his hand on Syd’s, much to her discomfort. There’s so much said in that brief interaction: Clark doesn’t know her well enough to know better, despite the fact they’ve had an entire year to get to know each other while David was missing.
Syd is a romantic at heart, despite everything that she’s been through, which is as inspiring as it is tragic. She is aware that her relationship with David was based a lot on the romanticized idea of them meeting in the hospital, when she needed to be seen, and that the danger they were in for most of their relationship was addictive.
Their circumstances weren’t necessarily conducive to a strong interpersonal bond, but they did go through a lot together, and though that can create a pretty strong bond, it’s clear Syd is starting to question whether it’s enough for her. Like Melanie and Oliver, Syd and David are constantly hopping from one problem to another, and they aren’t getting to enjoy each other’s company. Regardless of whether Syd wants to end it – and Clark lowkey advises her NOT to end it, lest she upset David enough to go crazy and end the world – she wants to find David, and she vows to go after him. How? Using the compass he gave her in the beginning of the season that can track him. Pretty convenient that she has that right now!
Speaking of Melanie (Smart): where the hell has she been? She’s been in a drug-induced stupor for the majority of the season, but here we see her for the first time in a while, eavesdropping on Syd and Clark. You can tell she feels both for Syd, and knows all too well what she’s going through. Melanie stops by again late in the episode to, as far as we know, completely derail David’s masterplan and potentially put him and the rest of our heroes in jeopardy. If I’m right on my hunch, she’s acting on behalf of Oliver, who may have his own masterplan on how the day can be saved without anyone getting hurt. I hope that’s true, because after Clark’s dream activates the plan David implanted in his head, and Melanie knocks him unconscious, I was genuinely very frustrated and upset knowing what her actions are going to cost everyone else.
As David wanders the desert trying to find the house where Farouk’s body is – a difficult task, given that the house is constantly disappearing and reappearing somewhere else so that Farouk cannot find it – he is visited by Syd, who drops in via airplane. She is enraged that David left her again, and that he would go on with his plan without inviting her to be a part of. Despite what Future-Syd told him about wanting to help Farouk, this Syd knows better, it would seem.
After wandering together, they come across a tent that they can use as shelter from the storm. Inside they find two skeletons, and based on the compass one of them is wearing, they discover these are their own skeletons. Syd speculates something about being stuck in a geographic abnormality (a very suspiciously astute observation), and realizes that no matter what happens, their stories are going to end the same way: with them dying.
This episode is paced so beautifully that it’s almost frustrating. It seems like season two is following a similar pattern to season one, where the first few episodes were jaw-dropping and genius, the middle episodes felt like they weren’t coalescing into any kind of plot, and then the last few episodes moved briskly through what it feels like could have been paced out better. I still don’t know how the story ends so I don’t know how much there’s left to tell; the pacing could end up being fine in hindsight. I think this is my slogan when talking about Legion: it could all either be fine or great in hindsight. Which, of course, isn’t to say that it’s not fine or great now. This episode might be one of the best of the season. This is an episode that shows you just how much the storytelling has finally found it’s groove.
But in true fashion, it doesn’t let you get too comfortable in that groove. Right as the action was picking up and I thought for sure we would get a huge reveal at the end of the episode, it shifts gears completely to return to Jon Hamm’s narrative device. This time he’s teaching us about the biggest delusion of all: the idea that other people don’t matter. I’m always wary of people trying to sell us “technology is bad” takes, but this one is well done, and also touches on a really good point about how the anonymity of technology can result in lower empathy and create such a bubble of isolation from the world at large that it starts to look unrecognizable.
The episode also ends with an extremely unsettling shot of the minotaur from Melanie’s mind maze, the one she was trapped in after The Monk got loose in Division 3. Melanie’s core desire was to be omnipotent and all-powerful. Is she the one in control here? Am I right? I really hope I’m right about something.
Last week’s episode played out like a self-contained movie, and this one played out like its sequel. Aside from the misdirection with the Jon Hamm segment, which may not have appealed to everyone, I can’t identify a single flaw in the narrative element of this episode. Even the acting is as solid as ever – Hamish Linklater gives such a great, subdued performance as Clark. He seems to be almost in tears listening to Syd talk about her relationship struggles, which is further insight into Clark’s character – scared of David and empathetic towards Syd all at once. Navid Negahban is kind of the breakout start of this season, and I am in constant awe of him. He plays Farouk which so much elegance, confidence, and menace that he is impossible to take your eyes off of and fills you with a genuine sense of dread.
We are extremely near the end of the season with only have two episodes left. A week or two ago I might have been nervous about what we have left to wrap up, but at the pace we’ve been moving the last two weeks, I’m so much more confident and so amped to see what happens next.
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