In last week’s review I got a little too invested in the life story of Syd (Rachel Keller) and I forgot to mention the very big plot point the episode left off on: with a handful of Division 3 goons having captured a VERY disheveled Lenny (Aubrey Plaza), who appears to have wandered in on her own in a desperate attempt to speak to David (Dan Stevens).
It seems as though she’s free of Farouk, The Shadow King (Navid Negahban), which means she’s alone – unlike last time she showed up with Oliver (Jemain Clement), seemingly just to wreak havoc. Now that she’s a free agent, she was quick to get caught by the guards and she’s graduated from being a captive of Farouk to being a captive of Division 3.
The big question of the episode is how Lenny came to be independent. Her body was pretty much destroyed all the way back in the very first episode, and every time she’s shown up since then, it’s been as a projection created by The Shadow King. He’s basically been using Lenny as his puppet while she’s begged him to either kill her or give her her body back, and the fact that she now exists completely independent of him is a little bit concerning. She went from being a disembodied consciousness to a living, breathing person. At one point, she chalks it up to Farouk being God. But David knows better; Farouk is a mutant with psychic powers, but he is not a god.
The word mutant – that explicit link between the world of Legion to the X-Men universe – is used so sparingly on this show that it absolutely elicits a response from me when someone drops it. The world of Legion can sometimes feel so overwhelming and trippy that it’s easy to forget where these characters fit into the bigger picture, and even just a small throwaway comment like that one can do a lot to ground the action.
So can a fourth-wall break, incidentally; in a scene where Farouk is discussing the concept of morality and how it only applies to mankind, he mentions that he and Oliver are not merely human, they are something more: Homo Superior. Oliver’s look directly at the camera says a lot with very little. For an episode that veers into some pretty upsetting territory, this lighter moment was also a welcome break in tone.
As for what Oliver is doing the rest of the time, it’s a little bit tense. He’s starting to exhibit signs that he is outwardly uncomfortable and maybe even a little nervous with the role he’s been placed in. It almost wasn’t clear to me what his motivation was for going along with Farouk’s plan despite the fact that there doesn’t appear to be any benefit to it for him, until he uses their aforementioned conversation about morality to think about Melanie (Jean Smart).
It seems like that brief glimpse of her in his head is enough for him to regain his will to live and possibly protect his loved ones, and announce that he is going to kill Farouk. Regardless of whether he will or not, he’s still stuck with going along with his plans: being his literal driver as they travel through the desert digging up bodies but being driven physically and mentally by Farouk’s control.
As they’re digging up bodies in the desert that don’t belong to Farouk and setting out on unclear missions, the Division 3 crew are scrambling to make sense of how Lenny could be sitting in front of them. Clark (Hamish Linklater) attempts a more bureaucratic approach that ends with him walking out on a desperate Lenny in disgust.
Ptonomy (Jeremie Harris) tries to access her memories and experiences an unpleasant experience instead: he sees what appears to be a hallucination of the weird little delusion monster from earlier in the season. It seems like the “no physical contact permitted” sign on the upside down wall might be something he should have paid attention to. He loses control of himself, and storms out in horror.
Finally, David has a chance to get to the bottom of Lenny’s reemergence and what her motivations are. What is clear is that she was sent by Farouk – although maybe not – and she wants to warn David about what’s going to happen, but she doesn’t actually know anything. It takes a little bit of prying into her mind, but when he does, David learns the truth about where her body actually came from. In addition to genuinely not wanting to spoil the reveal, I also don’t really want to talk about it because it upset me in a big way.
What I’ll say is this: Lenny and Oliver’s visit to Division 3 a few episodes ago was actually a part of a very important mission to steal a device that can replicate someone’s body with a small sample of DNA, a device that seems pretty vital to the quest to reunite Farouk with his body. Once David is aware of where Lenny’s new body came from, it’s pretty clear to him that Farouk is toying with him.
Why Farouk is toying with David, who was already on his side, feels unclear. I’ve posited a few questions throughout the last few weeks but I’ve steered clear of trying to answer any because I hate being wrong, and I know that the conclusion to this story is going to be anything other than expected. But for Farouk to torture David and his family the way that he did is so aggressive and hostile that I can’t imagine he actually wants his help.
Given the fact that Future-David’s whereabouts are unknown, I’m willing to lean a little harder into my theory that what he’s saving the world from might be himself. But I really don’t know. We’re halfway through the season and I’m still just watching in awe, waiting for someone to show their hand. There are a lot of mind games being played between characters who can all communicate telepathically/nonverbally, and I’m about to re-watch the first five episodes so I can read between the lines better.
