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Five Thoughts on Legion‘s “Chapter 3”

By | February 23rd, 2017
Posted in Television | % Comments

The pacing of the first two episodes of Legion had been rather frenetic, which had been a big boon to making the show unlike anything else on television. “Chapter 3” slows things down a considerable amount and deliberately goes about filling in a lot of the holes from previous episodes. Actually, it’s surprisingly conventional storytelling, so if you felt lost after 2, I’d give the show at least until the end of episode 3 to hook you. Up to this point, there had been a few lingering questions about things we’ve seen in David’s past: what was happening before David got into a fight with his girlfriend and destroyed his kitchen? What’s the deal with David’s drug-addled days? How close had he been to his sister, Amy? David and the members of Melanie Bird’s woodsy mutant haven quite literally retrace a lot of those steps in “Chapter 3” – let’s join them:

1. The Girlfriend Experience

Ptonomy finally gets to the bottom of the missing pieces in their trip through David’s history by doing some solo digging without David’s knowledge. Strangely, nobody seems to be bothered by that, when Marvel Comics has made entire overlong event comics out of such intrusion. Anyway, it helps David string an explosive incident with he and Lenny’s drug use together with a fallout between he and “Philly”, a prior girlfriend that we’ve seen in each episode so far. It was her finding out about his drug use and the impending argument that led to David ripping apart their kitchen with his mind. This event is continuously pointed to as a major turning point in David’s self-realization of what he is, and is more confirmation for Melanie Bird that David is not simply a telepath, but can move things with his mind. There’s greater power to be untapped here. Is there even more that we as viewers don’t even realize yet?

2. Shopping Carts & Recreation(al Drugs)

That’s an Aubrey Plaza joke, folks. I haven’t talked much about her character in this column as of yet, but I think it’s time to dig a little deeper. Lenny has been something of a deranged comedic conscience for David Haller. In fact, based on her skewed view of the world, the fact that she’s been by his side since before Clockworks, and the ominous messages that she often brings, there’s reason to believe that she could be imaginary. She was there egging him on for the low-point of his drug abuse, and she enters his mind now at the most inopportune times. In “Chapter 3” she brings a message of caution against Melanie and things aren’t what they seem at Summerland, but I think Lenny is the one we should be more suspicious of. Whenever she comes into David’s mind, it’s usually to disrupt his exploration of his mind or healing process. And, though not an absolute constant, also never seems to be too far away from the Devil with Yellow Eyes. I have to say, I also just love what Plaza is doing with the character. She brings an off-kilter perspective to any scene she’s in and I can’t imagine anyone else selling it the way she does. She’s also the most hilariously vulgar presence on the show. Plaza’s gusto has been something to see.

3. The Yellow King

The creepiest anthropomorphic goiter ever returns in “Chapter 3” and as time goes on we’re getting to physically see more and more of him. Here, we saw him full-bodied, looming over Melanie while she was in David’s memories. There’s been some speculation that this is the Shadow King from Marvel’s “Legion” comics and it’s looking like that’s more likely every time we see him. While acting as a horrifying spectre in earlier episodes, in “Chapter 3” it is quite clear that this Devil with Yellow Teeth is in some kind of direct battle with Melanie Bird and her team for David’s mind. Every time David makes progress, the Yellow Guy shows up to wreck things, literally crumbling things in David’s mind. It’s also worth noting that up until this episode, David appeared to be the only one aware of his presence. In “Chapter 3”, he directly interferes with Melanie. Though she does not see him, she is hurt by him and knows there’s something going on that only David has been aware of up to now.

Continued below

4. The World’s Angriest Boy 2: Traumatic Childhood Boogaloo

The titular character from the children’s book in “Chapter 2” returned and played a major role in “Chapter 3.” What was a particularly creepy story that stuck in David’s mind has now become larger than the page, and manifests in David’s mind as a character wearing the oversized head of a mascot. He reminded me of a life-sized Morel Orel or, probably more accurately, Frank from the movie Frank.

Much like the Devil with Yellow Eyes, The Angriest Boy chases our characters and disrupts them within David’s memories. However, he can be seen by everyone and interferes a lot more directly. This lends credence to the idea that the Devil character is an outside agent with great power to conceal himself from everyone but David. The Angriest Boy, on the other hand, remains as one of the only remaining mysteries teased about David’s past. With much of the questions about his adult life cleared up, what went on with him as a child that led to all of this? Who is his father and why is his father’s face obscured in memory? Why read him the angry stories at night? Another memory (repeated from the 1st episode) shows David in the middle of a group of people who are all pointing and yelling at him. Were his powers active as a child? Was there another major incident that we’ve not seen yet?

5. The Crane Wife

Noah Hawley couldn’t resist using a storytelling tactic that he’s used more than a time or two in his career: one character telling a fable to another as a means of imparting a moral that the recipient must figure out for themselves. In “Chapter 3”, the story comes from Melanie’s steampunk coffeemaker, imbued with the golden tones of Jemaine Clement as voice of her lost husband Oliver, the creator of Summerland. In the variation of the story told by Oliver, a woodcutter and his wife rescue a wounded crane. The next day, a girl comes to their door and stays with them. She weaves them beautiful cloth that could be sold for a high price and promises to keep doing this for them as long as they never inquire or try to see how she accomplishes this. One day the woodcutter peeks in to see that the girl is the crane he rescued and as a result, the girl leaves and never returns. Hipster garbage that I am, I prefer this story as told by The Decemberists, but nevertheless, let’s explore what it could mean:

One of the essential morals of the story is to appreciate what you have. Thankfulness, I suppose, in one word. On the other hand, it could mean that you’re better off not knowing how the sausage is made, but that interpretation is a little callous to be a good moral. In the context of Legion, is David the crane? He’s been rescued by Melanie and has an incredible gift, but now she’s prying in to the how’s and why’s of it all. Is Oliver’s message to her through the coffeemaker one of caution in the way that she’s dealing with the mutants they take in? A reminder for her to be thankful that the “students” are on her side and to not pry too much? To understand the dangers of provoking someone like David, as opposed to nurturing him? Later in the episode, David tells Melanie that he wants to leave the program and rescue his sister, as she is currently being tortured and is the only thing he cares about right now. Melanie pauses and considers that her mission might benefit from helping David rescue his sister, instead of restricting him and potentially alienating or angering him. One can’t help but think that she thought of David as the metaphorical crane.


//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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