Welcome to the Legion!

Nightmare on David Haller Street

Legion takes a cinematic approach to fear and horror as David and company explore some of the worst parts of his memories. The second episode, we come to find out, was merely a sample tasting of what we really are in for when it comes to unraveling the darkest corners of our protagonist’s fractured mind.

“Chapter 3” begins with a collection of sequences with the words “Shall we begin?” — the very last line in last week’s episode — looping throughout. There are brief flashes of David’s childhood memories, the coffee machine reciting a story about a woodcutter to Melanie, and Amy being tortured with leeches. Together they make an almost serene yet menacing tapestry of images juxtaposed with a meditating David. Is this his version of a train of thought? Is he seeing all of this happening in his mind?

From there we go back to memory work with Ptonomy and Melanie. There’s more of an urgency this time compared to Episode 2’s attempt to find out what makes David tick. His sister is being held captive, and they first need to understand how David’s power works if they want to succeed in retrieving her from Division 3. But that’s easier said than done when something is David’s mind is resisting their every attempt.

The yellow-eyed monster assumes a larger role here. No longer is he a motif lurking around the corners of David’s field of vision. The show is starting to coalesce around him, making him out to be David’s biggest hurdle to get past if he wants to unlock his troubled past. The problem, however, is that only David and Syd can see him. He makes first appearance in the episode by clawing his way into the kitchen memory. Neither Melanie nor Ptonomy can see him, making the monster’s entrance even more unnerving. Pure and genuine horror movie moment right there. One of many to come, actually.

The second problem is the Angriest Boy in the World. It manifests into its own form this week and pursues Young David and Syd. When Melanie is the last person inside David’s mind, she finds herself exploring David’s childhood home (we also get a better, though faraway, look at the father). She finds The Angriest Boy in the World and starts reading it. The book closes on her, severely mangling her hand. Before she can turn around, the yellow-eyed monster appears behind her. She doesn’t see him, but it’s enough to give us the willies.

What’s interesting about this particular scene is that it’s being shot differently from the rest of the episode. The shot is wider and darker, creating an ambience we really only see in good horror movies such as The Conjuring, or Babadook, etc.

David himself also seems to be in his own way, but might not even be aware of it. His subconscious mind seems to be working hard to shut down Ptonomy and Melanie’s involvement. David wants to cooperate, but something in him doesn’t. Or his deep fear is too strong. Whatever is happening, David’s mind seems to be at odds with nearly everything. Contradiction on top of another contradiction, and so on. Whenever we get close to uncovering the tip of the iceberg that is David’s true identity, a kind of fight or flight reflex activates with David always choosing flight.

“What are you?” is one of the biggest questions asked. Is David the most powerful mutant in the world? Signs point to a definite “yes.” But is David really crazy? It might not have started out that way, but that may be the case for him now.

And then there’s Lenny. She appears while Cary is scanning his brain again. This scene gives me the distinct impression that there’s a unique layer within David’s psyche, or possibly in the physical world, in which no one is able to perceive (except maybe Syd in certain circumstances).

As for Lenny, I’m starting to think this is not the same zany, free-wheeling, lovable junkie from before. She is much more antagonistic towards David, and she sews seeds of paranoia and doubt towards his new friends, specifically Melanie: “That bitch’s secrets have secrets.” Her insinuating that Amy is being raped by her captors gives me the feeling that Lenny is just the extension of the darkness brewing inside David, and it’s just using her likeness so he would listen to her. Whatever she is, she’s certainly doing her job well.

If Melanie is indeed untrustworthy, she certainly hides it well. Nothing we’ve seen from her so far suggests duplicity beyond what she’s willing to confess to David. Her ultimate goal, as we know it, is to win some kind of secret war waged between the shadow government and her own people. But they’re losing terribly. So while the initial reason for David’s accelerated therapy sessions is to get him stable enough to save Amy, I can’t help but wonder if Melanie’s sense of urgency comes from her own desires as well. She wants David to be “happy and healthy,” but she also wants to use him to fight Division 3. When Melanie gets a taste of the hostile environment within David’s mind, it seems she’s beginning to think her task will be next to impossible.

By the end of the episode, David is still stuck inside his own mind and alone. Before going in, Melanie sedates David so she, Ptonomy and Syd can explore his mind unfiltered and without the previous blocks they kept running into while his rational mind was awake. The side effect is that they now only have child-David to guide them, and he doesn’t talk. What worse, is that David’s fears are now more active and more terrifying than before.

“Everyone keeps saying I’m sane,” David tells Syd. “What if they’re wrong?”

It might have been true that David was completely sane when his powers manifested, but years of being told that you’re crazy and then taking (and mixing) heavy drugs can certainly change how your brain works. Schizophrenia is most definitely a misdiagnosis since no one knew that David is actually a psychic. But what if he has another mental disorder? In the comics, Legion/David has a dissociative disorder due to the countless of personalities he’s absorbed or developed. He’s also supposed to have a form of autism. It’s very possible this iteration of David Haller is victim to both. We just don’t know it yet.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

  • The exchange between Syd and David about their personal experiences in each other’s bodies was surprisingly grounded and honest. It’s a testament to the show’s ability to turn the most fantastical elements and turn it into a nice little study on human relationships.
  • Cary: “Could you maybe not break everything this time?”
    David: “I’m not gonna promise that.”
  • David discovers that he has the ability to shift between dimensions. Sort of. He and Syd are able to travel to where Amy is and observe what is being done to her. At the same time, they are incorporeal “ghosts” that no one else can see, except for maybe the sadistic mutant with the perm and one milky eye.
  • Cary and Kerry are indeed the same person. Kerry is likely a completely separate/sentient personality within Cary who can manifest herself whenever.
  • The voice we hear throughout the house is Melanie’s late husband whose motives closely resembles Professor Xavier’s in collecting, training, and providing a safe haven for mutants. He also sounds suspiciously like Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Concords.

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Christina E. Janke

Christina is the co-host of “Intro to Geek” on Shauncastic and Editor-in-Chief at Agents of Geek. Her love of all things Mass Effect knows no bounds. She also carries an obsession with comic books, video games, and quirky television shows. Her heroes are Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Gail Simone. She hopes to be just like them when she grows up.