Legion [Season 1, Episode 1]
Chapter 1 (90 min)
Shown 08 Feb 17
No, this is not a continuation of the movie
Legion
- that honour goes to the TV whow
Dominion
. Instead, it is based on a Marvel comic-book series by Chris Claremont.
The producers include
Brian Singer
, and the Executive Producer list has names like Stan Lee and Joe Quesada.
David Haller (Dan Stevens -
The Guest
) was institutionalised with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
He gets to hang out with gal-pal Lenny Busker (
Aubrey Plaza
), but soon falls for new patient Syd Barrett (
Rachel Keller
).
This is not a cheesy rip-off like
Mutant X
. It has a glossy sheen, like
Limitless
... but also illustrates how telepathy could be associated with mental illness (like in
Scanners
).
Legion [Season 1, Episode 2]
Chapter 2
Shown 15 Feb 17
David Haller (Dan Stevens -
The Guest
) is in a different mental health facility.
This one is much nicer, run by Melanie Bird (
Jean Smart
). She has her own telepath help dig up David's memories.
He had some bad experiences in his childhood,
and as an adult he spent a lot of time with a psychiatrist.
There is a nasty undercurrent to the story.
Much like the previous episode, we are left wondering which scenes are genuine memories.
Legion [Season 1, Episode 3]
Chapter 3
Shown 22 Feb 17
Melanie Bird (
Jean Smart
) and her minions continue to pry into the mind of David Haller (Dan Stevens -
The Guest
).
David has a Yellow-Eyed Demon living in his mind.
Not like the one in
Supernatural
- no, this one looks more like Slimer the Sedgewick Spud in
Ghostbusters
. It may be a subconscious manifestation,
or it may be a psychic parasite that has burrowed into his mind.
Strangely it seems to come out when he thinks about Lenny Busker (
Aubrey Plaza
). This is a pity, because she is easily the best character in the show.
David makes contact with his sister,
who is being held prisoner by the Men in Brown.
Legion [Season 1, Episode 4]
Chapter 4
Shown 01 Mar 17
David Haller (Dan Stevens -
The Guest
) is locked in a comatose state.
It turns out his mind is in the astral plane.
The others cannot find his mind.
They go on a road trip to find his ex-girlfriend.
As a result they make an amazing discovery about Lenny Busker (
Aubrey Plaza
).
David's sister is not the only prisoner.
His psychiatrist is in the next cell.
They manage to strike up a conversation,
and uncover yet more inconsistencies in David's memories.
Legion [Season 1, Episode 5]
Chapter 5
Shown 08 Mar 17
David Haller (Dan Stevens -
The Guest
) bonds with his love interest, Syd Barrett (
Rachel Keller
). It helps that they have realised their powers are limited to their physical bodies,
so she is able to touch him as long as they are in a shared psychic halucination.
David insists on rescuing his sister.
Lenny Busker (
Aubrey Plaza
) offers her assistance in the matter.
After all, it is obviously a trap so there is no point in getting the others killed too.
But will David and Lenny be able to take out the massive garrison of police?
And will they bother to save the innocent psychistrist who is also a prisoner there?
Melanie Bird (
Jean Smart
) and her minions go to the rescue.
They have worked out what is wrong with David.
The climax takes place in zone of almost absolute silence ...
Legion [Season 1, Episode 6]
Chapter 6
Shown 15 Mar 17
David Haller (Dan Stevens -
The Guest
) is trapped in a shared halucination with his friends.
They are inmates in a version of the asylum,
and their psychiatrist is Lenny Busker (
Aubrey Plaza
).
Melanie Bird (
Jean Smart
) is in the shared halucination too.
Ironically, this is the closest she has been to her husband Oliver (Jermaine Clement -
Moana
) since he was lost, years previously.
Legion [Season 1, Episode 7]
Chapter 7
Shown 22 Mar 17
Lenny Busker (
Aubrey Plaza
) has everyone trapped.
However, the man in the ice cube has a plan to save them.
As always, this show is a visual feast for the eyes.
This episode more so than the others,
because Lenny converts their reality into a monochrome silent movie.
David Haller (Dan Stevens -
The Guest
) is confronted by his rational self,
a version of himself that lives in his subconscious.
Since his rational self is an embodiment of pure logic he speaks in Recieved Pronunciation,
and since the actor has an English accent we can hear what he really sounds like.
Legion [Season 1, Episode 8]
Chapter 8
Shown 29 Mar 17
The interrogator from the first episode is back.
He managed to survive,
with forty percent burns and six weeks in intensive care.
Now he goes after the mutants.
Lenny Busker (
Aubrey Plaza
) is now the one who is trapped.
However, she has a plan for a breakout.
Legion [Season 2, Episode 1]
Chapter 9
Shown 15th April 2018
The new Season starts off in a somewhat confusing way.
If you watched Season One of the show,
you will already know that this story is basically about a war between telepaths.
If you have not watched it,
and thus know nothing about the characters or situations,
you will be incredibly confused about everything.
David Haller (Dan Stevens -
The Guest
) is informed he was missing for almost a year.
Now he is back, and gets told that the Mutant Underground
has teamed up with the MIBs to fight their mutual enemies.
The Shadow King is top of the list.
David gets his powers boosted so he can get into the Shadow King's head.
Oliver (Jermaine Clement -
Moana
) and Lenny are hanging out there, and he has a dance-off with them.
Oliver is there because the Shadow King isusing his body.
Lenny is there because she was the most popular character in Season One,
and they created a reason to not write her out.
Legion [Season 2, Episode 2]
Chapter 10
Shown 24th April 2018
David Haller (Dan Stevens -
The Guest
) leads the team into the desert,
in the hope they will catch the Shadow King there.
Meanwhile, the Shadow King attacks their HQ.
Kerry and Cary try to hold him off, but he messes them up.
David communes with a woman from the future.
She tells him that he will defeat the Shadow King,
but the monster that follows will destroy the world.
This is a standard set-up for a new Season,
although it usually comes towards the end of the previous one.
Legion [Season 2, Episode 3]
Chapter 11
Shown 1st May 2018
David Haller (Dan Stevens -
The Guest
) wants to get the Shadow King on his side, to prevent the future apocalypse.
To do this he must return the Shadow King's original body.
The only person who knows where it is hidden is a monk
who has been afflicted with the mysterious chattering sickness.
The good news is, the monk is quarantined with the other victims.
The bad news is, he escapes and infects everyone.
David can help cure people by entering their subconscious.
Once inside their mind-maze,
all he has to do is unlock their deepest desire.
Legion [Season 2, Episode 4]
Chapter 12
Shown 8th May 2018
David Haller (Dan Stevens -
The Guest
) is inside his girlfriend's subconscious.
She shows him images from her past,
but he cannot unlock her deepest desire.
It turns out that the virginal damsel in distress has a troubled past.
Her mother (
Lilly Rabe
) did her best, but to no avail.
Power corrupts, and that includes the superpower of possessing another person's body
without their knowledge or consent.
This means that the damsel is technically guilty of mysoginistic violence and date-rape,
although it could just be passed off as slut-shaming
and framing a man for statutory rape.
Legion [Season 2, Episode 5]
Chapter 13
Shown 15th May 2018
Lenny Busker (
Aubrey Plaza
) is in custody, and the regulars take turns interrogating her.
She is a hardcore junkie and mental patient,
so getting a straight answer out of her will not be easy.
Also, she was a fictional character so she should not have a body at all.
And the fact she now has blue eyes indicates
the body she is in was stolen from someone else.
Meanwhile, Oliver (Jermaine Clement -
Moana
) and the Shadow King go for a drive in the desert.
Their plan is to dig up the grave and create a new body for the Shadow King.
Legion [Season 2, Episode 6]
Chapter 14
Shown 22nd May 2018
This episode starts with a talk about paranoid delusions.
We get to see the classic American witch-hunt, that of Salem in 1692,
compared with Dr Frederick Wertham's crusade against comic-books in the 1950s.
Mention is made of Lenny Busker (
Aubrey Plaza
), now obviously planted by the Shadow King as a diversionary tactic.
David Haller (Dan Stevens -
The Guest
) is so incensed at what the villain has done
that he decides to discontinue their alliance.
Of course, this is at the expense of the future timeline.
As a result, Future Syd Barrett (
Rachel Keller
) must make other arrangements.
Back in the bunker, the regulars have gotten paranoid about their boss.
He normally only has three mustachioed psychic women as his security detail
but now there is an army of them.
These would have been useful a few weeks ago,
when the Shadow King launched a full frontal attack on their base.
David finally gets to fight an enemy that is apparently unrelated to the Shadow King storyline.
Unfortunately it all seems wrapped up a bit too conveniently.
Legion [Season 2, Episode 7]
Chapter 15
Shown 29th May 2018
We get to see various different versions of David Haller (Dan Stevens -
The Guest
), each living a different life.
One is a business executive, who uses his powers to protect his boss (
Molly Hagan
). Another is a crazy old homeless man,
harrassed by moder-day droogs in an homage to
A Clockwork Orange
. The third works in a warehouse, stacking boxes,
because the power-surpressing pills he takes have left him a virtual vegetable.
The fourth is being driven insane by the voices in his head, like in
Scanners
.
In each different universe, the Police have to deal with supervillains.
To cope with David's high-level telepathy and telekinesis,
they have drone aircraft.
They should use this as their first line of attack,
instead of sending in the usual expendable SWAT team.
Legion [Season 2, Episode 8]
Chapter 16
Shown 5th June 2018
David sets out to defeat the Shadow King.
This involves playing by the villain's rules,
inserting hidden commands in peoples' subconsciousness.
As usual, there is an inserted section where the narrator discusses philosophy.
It is incredibly profound, using the Ancient Greek parable
of the prisoners in the cave who can only perceive the outside world from its shadows.
Obviously there are parallels with modern life,
where people interact mainly through social media.
This leads on to solipsism, where people feel that they are in
The Matrix (1999)
. Unfortunately this is a form of extreme narcissism,
which means that society is composed of individuals
who literally believe that nobody matters except themselves.
This is far too profound an observation to be wasted in such an obscure show.
Legion [Season 2, Episode 9]
Chapter 17
Shown 12th June 2018
Melanie Bird (
Jean Smart
) has been taking it easy for a couple of episodes.
Now she is a major character again.
The Shadow King used Oliver (Jermaine Clement -
Moana
) to get to her, and now she is uncertain about the nature of her reality.
Just like the audience.
Lenny Busker (
Aubrey Plaza
) finally gets her chance to live the heck out of her new life.
But David needs her to help him on his mission.
Legion [Season 2, Episode 10]
Chapter 18
Shown 19th June 2018
David Haller (Dan Stevens -
The Guest
) gets his hands on the Shadow King's host body, Oliver (Jermaine Clement -
Moana
).
Melanie Bird (
Jean Smart
) has been affected by the Shadow King.
She kidnaps the blonde girl, Syd Barrett (
Rachel Keller
), and tries to convince her.
Lenny Busker (
Aubrey Plaza
) finally gets to make herself useful.
Legion [Season 2, Episode 11]
Chapter 19
Shown 26th June 2018
David Haller (Dan Stevens -
The Guest
) finally gets his climactic battle with the Shadow king.
This is played out like a 1980s music video,
with incredible comic-book visuals in the background.
The show gets a new twist.
The blonde, Syd Barrett (
Rachel Keller
), is convinced that David will become a monster.
Will he become the antagonist of Season Three?
Legion [Season 3, Episode 1]
Chapter 20
Shown 24 Jun 19
There is a new main character - a young Chinese-American girl.
She discovers secret advertisements placed by the guru, David Haller (Dan Stevens -
The Guest
). He is looking for a Time Traveller, and she fits the bill.
The Mutant Underground is looking for David so they can kill him.
Yes, they were the ones who thought he was the Saviour in Season One.
Not only are they still teamed up with the original villains (as of Season Two)
but they have now hired the arch-villain as their new Saviour!
Legion [Season 3, Episode 2]
Chapter 21
Shown 01 Jul 19
David Haller (Dan Stevens -
The Guest
) wants to learn how to time-travel for himself.
However, the girl is not powerful enough to help him.
He has a plan.
The hunters still have one of David's followers in custody.
They use him as bait to lure out Lenny Busker (
Aubrey Plaza
).
David has a confrontation with the blonde, Syd Barrett (
Rachel Keller
). She holds a grudge against him, and judges him morally.
This is in spite of the fact that she has done things
that are just as bad, if not worse.
She maintains that he is the one who will destroy the world.
However, he wants to time-travel in order to save the world.
Legion [Season 3, Episode 3]
Chapter 22
Shown 08 Jul 19
David Haller (Dan Stevens -
The Guest
) and the time-traveller go back to observe his parents.
Unfortunately this just asks more questions than it answers.
The parents met up in what looks like the 1950s,
although it could actually be the early sixties.
Charles was not the Dr Xavier that we know from
X-Men: First Class
. Instead he is young and foolish.
He goes off to look for other telepaths,
and leaves his wife alone with the baby.
The wife is actually more powerful than Charles.
She also has a history of mental illness.
The empty house echoes with voices, and she thinks it is haunted.
Somehow she detects the time-travelers' presence,
but the Shadow King manages to elude her repeatedly.
Legion [Season 3, Episode 4]
Chapter 23
Shown 15 Jul 19
The time-jumping that David Haller (Dan Stevens -
The Guest
) did in the previous episode now has consequences.
Some time-demons have been inadvertently unleashed,
and they start to eat away at time itself.
David himself is too busy visiting his mother to hunt down the demons,
so the good guys have to do the work.
The Shadow King actually turns out to be useful.
Supporting characters have some unusual encounters.
The blonde girl, Syd Barrett (
Rachel Keller
), meets her teenage self.
Lenny Busker (
Aubrey Plaza
) experiences the entire life of her adopted daughter.
Cary manages to save a certain girl,
making several references to sci-fi movies in the process.
The show itself has been incredibly surreal from the beginning.
The irony is that this episode,
filled with time-jumping and other surreal concepts,
comes across as relatively bland.
This was also true of the previous episode,
which was strangely linear compared to the average episode of this show.
Legion [Season 3, Episode 5]
Chapter 24
Shown 22 Jul 19
David is obsessed with getting his time-traveller back.
Lenny Busker (
Aubrey Plaza
) is heartbroken after the events of the previous ep, and opts out.
The good guys decide to switch to the defensive.
They take their airship into low Earth orbit,
in the hope they are outside the range of David's teleportation.
Unfortunately the Shadow King does not agree with this passive strategy.
David manages to do well against his former associates.
The blonde girl, Syd Barrett (
Rachel Keller
), manages to get inside his head ...
and she discovers why the show is called Legion.
Legion [Season 3, Episode 6]
Chapter 25
Shown 29 Jul 19
Oliver (Jermaine Clement -
Moana
) and Melanie Bird (
Jean Smart
) are living in a Nineteenth Century
Their neighbour is Wolf,
a living embodiment of temptation and corruption.
The happy couple discover a baby, and raise her as their own.
She grows up to be Syd Barrett (
Rachel Keller
).
Legion [Season 3, Episode 7]
Chapter 26
Shown 05 Aug 19
David leads an attack on the airship.
Legion [Season 3, Episode 8]
Chapter 27
Shown 12 Aug 19
David time-travels back to when his father first met the Shadow King.
Yes, after three seasons of a show that spans almost thirty hours
the climactic confrontation is basically a glorified flashback
featuring a few characters about which we know little and care less.
