legion chapter 11 Television 

Five Thoughts on Legion‘s “Chapter 11”

By | April 18th, 2018
Posted in Television | % Comments

The episode may be titled “Chapter 11”, but Legion hasn’t gone creatively bankrupt yet. Sorry about that. But seriously, this week’s episode did have a couple uncharacteristic missteps, but on the whole it continues to be a fascinatingly straightforward heroes journey for David. As always, there will be spoilers, so please watch the episode before coming back and diving in with me. Now without further ado, let’s get delusional.

1. Cary Carrying Kerry

David and Syd may be the emotional core of the show, but don’t sleep on the affecting interplay that happens between Cary & Kerry Loudermilk throughout the series. “Chapter 11”, in particular, adds a new dimension to their pairing by beginning to deal with the idea that Kerry could experience life outside of Cary’s body, rather than only physically coming out from within when needed for one of her various skills, combat or otherwise. The best thing about Legion’s treatment of these characters and their unique quirk is the way it emotionally resonates without melodrama or really anything in the way of actual conflict, but rather a serene sweetness. Cary showing Kerry the way a normal person lives (right down to having to go to the bathroom) shows a different side of the show’s playfulness. Legion is a show that’s almost wall-to-wall trying to bend your mind or entrance you with action. That it takes time to breathe with a couple of characters sharing a cream soda and some dumplings is appreciated, at least by this viewer.

2. The Hamm Infection

This week Jon Hamm’s lecture series concerned the concept of the “nocebo” – a placebo-like effect wherein a negative outcome is produced in a subject by something that should have no effect at all. Unlike previous episodes that featured a lesson from Hamm, this one had an immediate application to the straight story of Legion that required no inference or metaphor. After the lesson, we were literally shown the nocebo effect play out through the Monk’s having infected all the inhabitants of Division 3 with the teeth chattering disorder. And yet, I can’t feel like because of this direct connection to the story, the Hamm lesson was a little, heh, “Hamm-handed” this time around. *pausing for laughter*

In the Hamm segment, this effect is played out in the story of a cheerleading squad who all became afflicted with the same unsettling facial spasms for seemingly no reason. Hamm explains that because one cheerleader developed this tic, and spent lots of time among the cheer squad, the rest began to develop it too, like a virus. But considering Legion viewers are a probably a smart bunch, I think this concept was already understood by watching the way the Monk’s “infection” spread through the people at Division 3. I think Hawley either just felt he had to have a bit of Hamm in every episode, because honestly this bit wasn’t needed at all.

3. Trust/Fall

For all its intentionally muddled storytelling, the emotional core that Legion keeps coming back to is the deep, loving relationship between David and Syd. It’s probably trite to say so, but it’s one of the only things on the show that seems concrete the whole way through. That doesn’t mean I’m not skeptical of Syd’s current state of mind, meaning the idea that the love between David and Syd is absolute and unwavering could change at any moment. I’m just saying that the bond between them has shown no visible cracks. This could be the exact setup that the creators behind the show want, which would make some sort of twist or betrayal that much worse – even if a betrayal would likely be the work of a higher power. It certainly feels like David is being set for a fall. This is the second episode in a row where he is vocally unwavering in his trust in Syd. She is his guiding light through his decision to help Farouk over Division 3 and if nothing else makes sense to him, that does. There’s no changing his mind.

Why might this be a bad thing? Well, aside from Syd being caught wearing yellow pretty much any time we see her (I’ll likely remind you of this every week), David’s staunch defense of her future self in front of the Monk causes the Monk to resign himself to a doomed future. David promises him that nothing bad will happen if the Monk tells him where the body is. “It already has” is the Monk’s only response in the face of a man willing to betray everything else for the love of his life. He knows his only recourse for preventing David from completing his quest is to throw himself off the roof. He, too, knows there’s no changing David’s mind.

Continued below

4. Farouk On A Leash

Farouk continues to be an absolute delight. He’s played as a man who is in complete control of the situation, even as he is essentially trapped. He needs David, this much is apparent at every turn. Yet he still controls the conversation with subtle suggestions meant to tease David’s mind about things. First is the suggestion that Farouk was a good, strong leader of his people who was manipulated by Charles Xavier many years ago. That his reign of terror is the result of the professor’s meddling, and not his own evil nature. He paints himself, convincingly, as a victim of a sort of colonialism. Next, is the suggestion that were he to return to his earthly body, he would simply live a life of luxury again, leaving his villainous ways behind. A deeper dive into the origin of the word “villain” helps sell David on the idea that Farouk may be more of a victim of circumstance. But the biggest of these suggestions is the one that perhaps confuses things most: the idea that if he helps future Syd, that version of Syd will cease to exist. This gives David pause, because the current Syd he knows and loves should still continue to exist, but her future would be saved. What could Farouk mean by this? David seems to ponder it later, wondering if future Syd and current Syd could be different people? As I mentioned earlier, his guiding principle seems to be that trusting Syd over everyone else is the right thing to do.

The Farouk vs. David standoff in “Chapter 11” was less confrontational and far less visually arresting, but it was no less fascinating to watch the Shadow King use his slick way with words to work his way around the perpetually confused David Haller.

5. Make Mind Marvelous

Instead of a visually inventive battle of the mind, “Chapter 11” featured 2 extended sequences of mind manipulation wherein David entered the corrupted minds of Ptonomy and Melanie Bird to save them from the Monk’s infection. Legion is really taking great pains to make sure that each episode has at least one memorable set piece that you can immediately call back to. In this case, we’re treated to two, and one works much better than the other.

In Ptonomy’s delusion, he’s a gardener, tending to the greenery in a massive hedge maze. Cary explains to the viewer that this fantasy offers Ptonomy, a man whose mutant gift is to remember everything in amazing detail, a way to “forget” everything. Cary’s explanation was another bit of narrative overstepping that I didn’t think was necessary, because we’re smart enough to pick up on these themes ourselves, though this was not as egregious as the aforementioned “nocebo” lesson. Working tirelessly and serenely in a hedge maze, there’s nothing about the outside world or the other people in his life that he has to know. He seems entirely secluded, in fact, and utterly content. But it’s not real, and so he must be woken up. Even though the thematic element was overly explained, it felt true to Ptonomy’s character and was visually satisfying.

On the other hand, Melanie’s delusion took place as a text-based narrative video game. While this one was the more visually taxing and impressive segment of the two (the characters end up on the screen, finding themselves pinned between RPG text giving them commands and insights), it really felt lacking in cohesive theme and actually kind of contrived. Cary explains that Melanie’s fantasy is that of a “dungeon master” of sorts for this RPG where she is in control. It’s a place where she doesn’t have to worry about losing Oliver again, or the perils that come with leading a burgeoning mutant movement. The problem is that the text-based adventure doesn’t really convey that in any meaningful way. Even with Cary’s hamfisted explanation of it, it doesn’t really resonate as a delusion specific to Melanie’s character in any way. It felt more like a neat visual trick the showrunners wanted to try out without the necessary character-work needed to get there. This one may have missed the mark, for me, but Legion has a pretty good batting average regardless.


//TAGS | Legion

Vince Ostrowski

Dr. Steve Brule once called him "A typical hunk who thinks he knows everything about comics." Twitter: @VJ_Ostrowski

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