Legion: Chapter 8   Show Only 
March 29, 2017 8:36 PM - Season 1, Episode 8 - Subscribe

 
h o l y s h i t
posted by christopherious at 11:34 PM on March 29, 2017 [6 favorites]


AAAAAAAAAAAAH
posted by tracicle at 11:48 PM on March 29, 2017 [3 favorites]


Worth pointing out that after the 93 seconds of fantastic credits there's 52 seconds of, er, important content.
posted by christopherious at 11:56 PM on March 29, 2017 [15 favorites]


It's just so good. My husband and I are having a running conversation of how Legion is dealing with mental illness. He really, really wants for David to be and/both; yes he has powers, but he's still schizophrenic. I think that's more or less likely the case; if not schizophrenic, David is still royally messed up, and obviously still mentally ill.

From the interview with Noah Hawley: In the last hour [of the season], there’s a scene with David and Syd, where he’s saying the most dangerous thing about being schizophrenic is your disease convinces you you don’t have it. There were conversations about cutting that scene for time, and I just said, “No, that’s the most important scene in the episode, really.”

I agree. David doesn't know if he's schizophrenic or not. But he knows what it means to be schizophrenic. He knows the terrain; he knows the pitfalls; he knows how hard his brain will try to convince him that he isn't sick, and how hard he has to try to stay well. How normalcy isn't an option.

Also from the interview: We wanted to have a moment where we would play with the idea of, Well, hold on, before we go any farther: Was any of this actually real? And yet, I didn’t want to do the gimmick episode that you just mentioned.

I so appreciate this. My least favorite gimmick show type is the "is the hero actually in a mental ward and all of this is delusion?" I hated it in Buffy, I hate it in everything. I hate it because I spent time in a psych ward and I've never been able to put aside that fear, not completely. (Along with walking into a room where I'm alone and worrying that I'm not really alone, there are people in there that I can't see because I'm crazy again. I turn off the light and walk out and they're shouting at me for turning off the light. I don't hear them.) But Legion approaches this kind of material with real style, and made it some of the most compelling parts of the season.

I just can't say enough good things about this show. It's fabulous.
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 5:22 AM on March 30, 2017 [14 favorites]


I need to rewatch the scene, but it seemed like they played a little fast and loose with Syd's powers and the Shadow King's embodied presence when Syd steps in to help David.
posted by kokaku at 6:18 AM on March 30, 2017


Perks of working for Division Three:

-Top-notch healthcare plan
-Motorized suit rack in your locker
-Plenty of ominously-named countermeasures
posted by Iridic at 7:46 AM on March 30, 2017 [10 favorites]


Perks...

Pay is evidently competitive as well - Clark either lived in a pretty swank home or the D3 rehab facility is amazing (or maybe his husband is the breadwinner and Clark is an underpaid civil servant).
posted by kokaku at 7:55 AM on March 30, 2017 [2 favorites]


The scene were he talks about the most dangerous thing for a schizophrenic was very Thomas Covanent, I thought.
posted by empath at 8:28 AM on March 30, 2017 [4 favorites]


The timing in the season is very confusing to me after this episode. Clark would have been out of action for at least six months, right? So where did David and the others spend six months?
posted by tracicle at 9:18 AM on March 30, 2017 [1 favorite]


Yeah, they unwrapped him and he already had this perfect scar tissue? Did they soak the guy in Bactine or what? I too was questioning the timeline.
posted by komara at 9:45 AM on March 30, 2017


You could see the MRI machine from Episode 2 in the foreground of a few shots. It's partially overtaken by weeds, IIRC. That suggests Hawley was indeed paying attention to continuity and time elapsed, which could mean that the sense of impossible compression was a deliberate choice.
posted by Iridic at 10:18 AM on March 30, 2017 [1 favorite]


It's just so good. My husband and I are having a running conversation of how Legion is dealing with mental illness. He really, really wants for David to be and/both; yes he has powers, but he's still schizophrenic. I think that's more or less likely the case; if not schizophrenic, David is still royally messed up, and obviously still mentally ill.

Even if he isn't schizophrenic he's obviously suffering from an entire lifetime of constant PTSD.

I'm looking forward to seeing Jemaine Clement/Aubrey Plaza on a rampage.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 11:47 AM on March 30, 2017 [6 favorites]


Clark would have been out of action for at least six months, right?

Clark actually said 6 weeks. So I guess one of the perks is super healing?

Clark either lived in a pretty swank home or the D3 rehab facility is amazing (or maybe his husband is the breadwinner and Clark is an underpaid civil servant)

I'm pretty sure he was in the war room back at D3 while Clark was hanging out with the mutants, so I guess they're both working for D3. Double income household explains the swanky pad.
posted by LizBoBiz at 12:27 PM on March 30, 2017 [1 favorite]


Wow. I'm convinced that this is the best thing to be made out of a superhero property ever. And I laughed three times in succession at the end: When Children of the Revolution started playing, when Jermaine went "Aaow!" and when it panned across the back of the car to show it's a President.

And ending a first season on a double cliffhanger just shows fantastic confidence.
posted by Grangousier at 3:33 PM on March 30, 2017 [4 favorites]




Ok so I just realized -- the crazy flourishing dance that David does when he's destroying Division 3? It's the same dance that Lenny does in her amazing Nina Simone number. Or very similar. I need to rewatch.

Also, did anyone else get the feeling that the Interrogator's husband may be up to no good even as compared to the rest of Division 3?
posted by KathrynT at 11:24 PM on March 30, 2017 [4 favorites]


This fucking show!
posted by slimepuppy at 6:26 AM on March 31, 2017 [1 favorite]


Just watched. Holy. Shit. holyshitholyshitholyshitholyshit gaaaahhhhh what

I can't.

Wow.
posted by rtha at 9:24 AM on March 31, 2017


The season finale was something of a letdown after episode 7, which was probably the best single episode of a TV show I've seen in a few years... but by no means bad, so maybe better to call it a comedown?

I've been avoiding hitting up the Internet for information about what's going on, but the WTF in the stinger after this episode is sorely testing me.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 9:34 AM on March 31, 2017 [3 favorites]


I kind of feel like that's not uncommon with great TV these days. The penultimate episode is usually better than the finale.
posted by LizBoBiz at 11:14 AM on March 31, 2017


Yep, the "penultimate peak" really achieved true greatness in recent seasons of Game of Thrones, although the latest season breaks that somewhat. The whole Bolero sequence in ep 7 was magnificent, and I don't think anything in this ep quite matches up; instead we had a lot of (arguably necessary) setup for the next season.

I'm glad I saw this thread, because otherwise I would've skipped the after-credits bit, which was just so ridiculously comic booky and yet in keeping with the craziness of Legion that I didn't mind it. What I will mind is if the showrunners continue imprisoning David in increasingly weird prisons in order to nerf his godlike powers.
posted by adrianhon at 12:53 PM on March 31, 2017 [1 favorite]


instead we had a lot of (arguably necessary) setup for the next season.

With over a year to wait until the next season, this isn't adequate compensation. I'd like the end of the season to leave viewers feeling awesome.
posted by amtho at 1:39 PM on March 31, 2017 [2 favorites]


What I will mind is if the showrunners continue imprisoning David in increasingly weird prisons in order to nerf his godlike powers.

Suspect that will keep happening, a la the Doctor still usually starting off a Who episode by getting separated from his TARDIS. David, like the Doctor, will get to keep the sexiness of his deus ex machina... he just won't get to use it to resolve the plot that often.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 1:48 PM on March 31, 2017 [2 favorites]


At a certain point when Oliver was messing with the power supply, I suddenly remembered "...oh fuck, he's supposed to have some level of David-like powers oh god she's totally gonna take him!"

Now that we have the reveal of what Division Three is all about - I mean, fucked up though the U.S. govt may be, was it really necessary to keep David's sister in that horrible cell? I mean, what were they hoping to get out of that?
posted by showbiz_liz at 3:40 PM on April 1, 2017 [1 favorite]


He really, really wants for David to be and/both; yes he has powers, but he's still schizophrenic. I think that's more or less likely the case; if not schizophrenic, David is still royally messed up, and obviously still mentally ill.

I really hope this is the case. I think "this guy was essentially sane all along, he was just possessed" would be kind of cheap.
posted by showbiz_liz at 3:46 PM on April 1, 2017


I gotta say: we're watching this, The Expanse, and The Magicians right now, and holy crap is Legion just head and shoulders over everything else. The writing is solid, but the direction and cinematography are off the charts great -- taken on their own, but also in how well they evoke Sienkiewicz. I didn't read his work on Legion, but I've ready plenty of his other books, and there's a texture here that's undeniably his.

I don't remember another comic adaptation that's done this so well. Snyder thought he was doing it, I guess, with how slavishly he preserved the framing and look of Watchmen, but it fell flat because he was just aping the page instead of translating it to motion. This is different.

Also, IN LOVE with Clement. We also just watched (finally) What We Do in the Shadows, too, and he's just as awesome there.
posted by uberchet at 7:00 AM on April 3, 2017


What a satisfying short little TV show run. Enjoyed it a lot, almost entirely for the stylistic elements. This last episode felt less exciting to me, just because it had more conventional narrative structure and less weirdo stuff like the silent movie scene or the Bolero sequence. Also not thrilled with where they're taking the plot but I guess it's probably necessary.

I'm super-confused about Summerland. Is that a thing that exists in the comics and has a deep backstory? Or did they have to make it up entirely because of X-Men licensing problems?
posted by Nelson at 8:38 AM on April 3, 2017


I think I figured out where the fast-and-loose power swap falls down...

Syd kisses David
David + Demon is now in Syd's body
Syd is in David's body
[previously Syd had David's powers and busted up Clockworks]

David + Demon as Syd touches Kerry - right there is a weird stretch of what we thought she could do but I guess we never saw David-as-Syd touch someone in the first swap?

David + Demon is in Kerry
Kerry is in Syd's body and Syd is still in David's

it looked like Kerry now had David''s telekinetic powers, but before it was David's body that had the tk power when Syd swapped - so that's where they seem to have played fast-and-loose and hoped we wouldn't notice (unless, of course, I've missed something obvious)

also, after being a rampaging killing machine at D3, the Demon seemed less powerful this time around when it had swapped bodies
posted by kokaku at 1:16 PM on April 3, 2017


Syd kisses David
David + Demon is now in Syd's body


Is that how it went down, though? I got the impression that the demon just hopped out of David and into Syd, sort of hijacking Syd's powers so that the demon made the swap instead of David.
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:28 PM on April 3, 2017


that makes a kind of sense - i haven't rewatched yet but it seemed like kerry had telekenetic powers beyond her usual strength - is that from the demon too?
posted by kokaku at 3:53 PM on April 3, 2017


"Send the Equinox" is the order spoken in the control room where D3 is monitoring the situation and the Shadow Prince begins to appear in the video feed.

I assume that orb is the Equinox.
posted by hippybear at 3:37 AM on April 5, 2017 [3 favorites]


I assume that orb is the Equinox.

My one quibble with that theory: all the Division Three gear we've seen so far is about five years ahead of the engineering curve . Tablets, fabric display screens, artificial camera eyes, that kind of thing. Nothing that would look out of place at a Consumer Electronics Show in our world.

An autonomous floating orb with an onboard shrink ray is another order of tech altogether. Maybe D3 owns it, but I don't think it was created in-house.
posted by Iridic at 10:20 AM on April 5, 2017


I really like how the Shadow King assumes there will be no consequence to infecting Oliver. Oh, yes, let me infect the one reality-altering Mutant who has had my number all along. That will not in any way backfire.

On the one hand, I'm disappointed the Big Bad isn't Mojo. On the other hand, I'm glad, as the Shadow King's piss-antery isn't even a millionth of the demented, destructive erasive-of-self evil that is Mojo. That's Season Three. Broadcast LIVE as a SPECIAL television event!

(You saw the shrink's forced smile, too, right?)
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:48 PM on May 14, 2017 [1 favorite]


The first season of Legion is finally back on Hulu!

The second season is supposed to start in February.
posted by elsietheeel at 4:54 PM on December 9, 2017


Thank god. I was wondering what happened.
posted by middleclasstool at 4:00 PM on December 10, 2017 [1 favorite]


Season Two of Legion is premiering at 10 PM on Tuesday, April 3!
posted by elsietheeel at 10:10 AM on February 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


I have watched this show twice and am currently partway through a third viewing with a friend, who I roped in because I NEED someone to watch with IRL for season 2.

I think at this point it's fair to say that Legion has become one of my all-time favorite shows. There truly is nothing else like it.
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:35 AM on February 16, 2018 [1 favorite]


I can't even count how many times I've rewatched it. It's definitely one of my all-time favorite shows and I was bereft when it wasn't on Hulu AND I had a broken computer.

Also I just started a rewatch through Fargo and Jeff Russo is the composer for both shows, but it wasn't until the second season of Fargo that I noticed a very Legion-esque musical sting, the one specifically related to Farouk. It was very interesting.

And it also made me want to watch Legion again. So I guess that's up after Fargo. Noah Hawley runs my TV.
posted by elsietheeel at 2:59 PM on February 16, 2018


Legion deleted scene reveals another consequence of David's power (autoplays)

Everything to Remember About Legion Before Watching Season Two

The new season starts tonight. My inner DJ has been playing Fauxlero all day in anticipation.
posted by homunculus at 1:42 PM on April 3, 2018 [2 favorites]


I hope season 2 continues the creative use of musical pieces. From season 1:

Happy Jack (The Who)

She's a Rainbow (The Rolling Stones)

Pauvre Lola (Serge Gainsbourg)

Fauxlero (Maurice Ravel/Jeff Russo)

Breathe & On the Run (Pink Floyd)

Children of the Revolution (T. Rex)

Am I forgetting any others? They briefly sampled Jane's Addiction's Up the Beach when David manifested his powers in the interrogation room, but it was too short to really count.
posted by homunculus at 2:57 PM on April 3, 2018


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