Legion

Legion – Chapter 27

  • Title: Legion – Chapter 27
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Legion - Chapter 27 television review

Legion comes to a close with a final episode that features Kerry (Amber Midthunder) fighting time demons, Switch (Lauren Tsai) evolving into something more, David‘s (Dan Stevens) squaring off against the younger version of Farouk (Navid Negahban), Charles Xavier (Harry Lloyd) coming to an understanding with the older Farouk, and David being granted his most fervent wish for a second chance. More linear than many episodes of the series, “Chapter 27″‘s low-key tone feels a bit underwhelming as the show’s finale. That said, it wraps up the existing plot points and offers a much happier ending than any of these characters had a right to expect. Subverting expectations by making the final confrontation with the Shadow King ultimately non-confrontational allows David to grow further (although I don’t know if I accept the growth necessary in either version of Farouk to make this ending possible). Still, for what it was, Legion offered a host of memorable moments over its three seasons which ends (not unexpectedly) with a song.

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Legion – Chapter 24

  • Title: Legion – Chapter 24
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“I am Legion!”

Legion - Chapter 24 television review

As Legion moves one-step closer to its series finale the show dispenses with several supporting characters. Once again, several members of David‘s (Dan Stevens) flower child army are used as canon fodder but the episode is also notable for several other deaths including Lenny (Aubrey Plaza) and Clark (Hamish Linklater). The former, distraught over recent events, takes her own life while Clark becomes one of many casualties when David attacks Division 3’s air ship in search of Switch (Lauren Tsai). During the attack Syd (Rachel Keller) also manages to use her powers and take control of David’s body, although she’s unprepared for the numerous other split personalities still walking around his head as the show’s title is uttered by the left-over shards of David’s conciousness.

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Legion – Chapter 20

  • Title: Legion – Chapter 20
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“Why don’t we have a time traveler?”

Legion - Chapter 20 television review

Legion opens its Third Season not with David (Dan Stevens) but with the introduction of a time traveler who we will come to know as Switch (Lauren Tsai). Going even more psychedelic and strange in the first 20 minutes, “Chapter 20” oddly becomes more linear once its storyline becomes less so as Switch travels back in time to save David’s life and the singular point-of-view splits from her to several other characters. Most of the first-half of the episode involves Switch following clues which lead to a hippie commune and an eventual meeting with David, a man she never completely trusts. The sudden attack by Division 3 on David’s compound not only leads to Switch traveling back in time in an attempt to save his life but also forces her to chose a side in a war that, until now, she didn’t even know existed.

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Legion – Chapter 19

  • Title: Legion – Chapter 19
  • wiki: link

Legion - Chapter 19 TV review

Fans of the comic character knew this was coming. The Second Season finale of Legion sets up David (Dan Stevens) as villain (or at best anti-hero) heading into the show’s next season. While I don’t have any issues with how the episode concludes, I do have some quibbles over how it gets there. First, no matter how much Division 3 is afraid of David or how much Syd (Rachel Keller) feels violated by his deplorable behavior, the group of David’s friends choosing the Shadow King (Navid Negahban) as an ally makes no sense. The Shadow King being less of a threat than David doesn’t all the sudden make him a hero. (Ted Bundy murdered more women than Jack the Ripper, but that doesn’t make Jack “good.”) This is, after all, the man responsible for David’s current mental state, not to mention his sister’s death, and various mind-fucking and murdering he’s done along the way. Is David a good person? That’s a central question to the episode. However, even if you conclude David is a bad person (or has the potential to be one) that, in and of itself, doesn’t all the sudden make Farouk a good or trustworthy person.

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