What. The. Hell?
First off, I'm going to review the episode quite simply.
And then try to explain what I think we just witnessed.
Yep. 4.5/5. I may have given it an extra .5 for the rat dancing to Roxy music.
This episode was stellar.
I subtract .5 simply because it's hard to follow and is slow-paced.
However, this is quintessential Legion. Now for my terrible explanation.
Spoilers ahead...
This show has been consistently unpredictable since its very first episode.
And while most of the episodes this season have been linear and understandable (for the most part), here we are treated to something completely different.First off. What exactly is going on?
We're seeing multiple different versions of David Haller, in different time periods of his life.
Or are we?
As homeless meth-addicted David explains to his random homeless friend in the diner:
the universe consists of multiple simultaneously existing multiverses branching out at every decision point in one's life.
So, are we witnessing different multiverse's versions of David at different time periods in his life?
The answer seems to be yes...
Because we see old homeless David cut in half. And young crazy David shot in the back and crippled.
And then the events leading up to David being committed, which is where the first season starts.
And finally, we're treated with the mindscrew of the final two minutes.
Clarity:
We see that ALL OF THIS must be what Lenny Busker showed him when he read her mind in the previous episode.
I LOVE when TV shows do this.
It reminds me of an old show: Steven Spielberg's Taken.
In that, when anyone would look into the eyes of a grey alien, they would immediately be flooded with a vision of the path their life could have taken, and the paths it has yet to take, which inevitably caused them to go mentally insane.
The same premise seems to be at work here...
But it's complicated by the question of WHY the shadow king is showing him this.
Perhaps that was the intent. To act as a mental psychic bomb, hidden in Lenny's mind, set to explode when David read it, to drive him into madness.
Or... I'm hoping it's more than that.
That this is a demented peace-offering from the Shadow King.
He's reaching out, showing him what his life resulted in, in the other dimensions where he inhabits/inhabited David's body.
Rich David seems rid of the Shadow King. But ultimately he is also an unhappy human being, delighting in the resentfulness of retaining his former boss as a dutiful servant.
Homeless David seems to have carried the Shadow King with him to his demise.
Other David killed himself.
In this one, however, something different is taking place.
Namely, David is in love. And that love has contributed in fighting back the Shadow King's influence, shown by the kiss causing the explosion at the end, which likely is a scene we didn't see towards the end of last season and part of David's missing memories.
... And he's arguably become a better and more likable person as a result of that love.
I think, the Shadow King is recognizing that fact, and reaching out to David to better him, and form a truce. A request to coexist in this world because it's better for both of them.Sucks that he showed him that he killed his sister and gave her body to Lenny.
Hard to see how David will take that. Guess we'll find out next episode.