“Apparently on Legion.” Is the first line of this episode.
It’s so weird to have a show flat out tell you that what you’re watching may not be real. It’s been happening throughout the entire season, and while it’s fun to feel the mysteries build, at some point you got to expect the other shoe to drop at some time. I have a guess that everything that’s been happening in this show is real, and everything that you’ve seen happen, has happened… but in one person’s perspective. Because that’s the lesson that’s being taught to us throughout the season by Jon Hamm. Every lesson has been about perspective, and what if we are seeing everything through the wrong perspective. This would simultaneously tell us that we haven’t wasted our time, but at the same time have been told the truth to not trust anyone. Even Jon Hamm’s lesson on Conspiracy for this episode, telling us how humans are pattern seeking animals, and if something is coincidence, we see it as conspiracy. Even that lesson is telling me that we may be looking to far into the shows meaning. I may also be going crazy thinking about this show.
Lenny returns, and is captured by Division 3. Half of the episode is interrogations, in a room that is meant to bee seen as both upside down, and right side up. It’s the most unnerving room I’ve ever seen, and I kind of want it. First she gets in with Clark. We find out a few things, Firstly, Lenny’s name is actually Lenore Busker (after her Gran Gran. Who was a salty broad.) She claims that she was Farouk’s hostage. We find out a bit about her past, like all the alcoholics in her life, and how that led her to drugs. Her past is fascinating, and its fascinating to see her avoid questions to tell her back story. She then she gives information about Farouk, telling him that he knows where his body is. Clark’s final question is “Who’s body is that?” to which the answer is unknown for now.
Next, Lenny gets interrogated by Ptonomy, who asks her a few questions, talks bout how there is no such thing as the present, only past and future (which is a pretty compelling case), before sifting through her memories. We find out that Lenny has a different eye colour than what she once had. They were once brown, but in her new body, they’re blue. What’s weird is that her body is the same as Lenny’s, but there are very subtle differences that unnerve you. It almost feels like its not just the eye’s that are different, but that’s the only thing I could see. I feel like Jon Hamm’s speaking to me again. Ptonomy then sifts through her memories, but there is a problem, he still has the hatchling of delusion in his brain. I feel like this thing is real, and while it may have come from an egg, I’m not sure where the egg came from. Ptonomy is having issues sifting through memory, seeing what may be under Basket Head there, and kind of wakes up, choking Lenny. Ptonomy can’t really be trusted anymore it seems, even though he doesn’t know it.
Finally, David comes in to question Lenny. We find out that Lenny isn’t not working for the Shadow King, but anything comes up is not Lenny’s idea, and she seems to genuinely want to help, even though she doesn’t know any of his plan. She’s remembering stuff, but they don’t seem like her memories… Almost like… Let’s get to that in a second.
First let’s talk about the other half of the episode, Farouk and Oliver on a road trip. We see them dig up a body, use a device that they stole from Division Three to get some DNA from a body. We think that it’s Farouk’s body at first, but the body seems to fresh for that, but Farouk gives the dead hand a kiss after.
Next time we see them, they are watching a bunch of miners in the desert get donuts from a submarine (real sentence). While watching, Oliver and Farouk have a discussion about morality, and what it means to them. The idea of after the big bang killing entire worlds that may or may not have existed, and that the atoms of that wreckage exist now to make us, then the idea of life and death is obscene (he goes off on a bit of a tangent here, as this show is oft to do). But I think what he’s trying to say is that the fact that everything is so finite, then the idea of morality is almost pointless, should be pointless. But Oliver is a moral being, thinking of his wife, and threatening Farouk by saying “I’m going to kill you, you know.” Later Farouk asks for a hint on how he’s going to die, Oliver says “What is one plus one…” “Two?” “Incorrect!” Oh dear, what mysteries await us with that riddle.
We see someone that we haven’t seen in a while, David’s sister Amy. She’s in a witness protection program, hiding with her new husband(?) Ben. They have this conversation about the dream she had where it seems as though she was one of the mustachioed women of Admiral Fukuyama, to the point where she sings a song that they sung from an earlier episode. Is her mind somewhat melded with them some how? We may or may not find out, as Ben’s feeling “That something bad is going to happen, but it hasn’t happened yet… There’s a word for it… Dread.” (I love this shows way of explaining words.) What follows is a legitimately terrifying scene where the witness protection guards are gone, Ben goes away to get dusted (there seems to be a lot of dusting happening with Marvel lately), and Oliver and Farouk come in, Oliver singing Happy Birthday. We find out that Farouk didn’t find his body, but Lenny’s. Farouk telekinetically lays Amy on a table, and uses the device to “Find the sculpture in the stone.” What we find out is that Lenny’s new body is actually Amy’s, in the most heartbreaking scene I’ve seen in this show. What works is that I didn’t really see this coming, and was shocked by the final reveal of this. The only thing about this is that I wish we would have seen Amy earlier in this season, so we got a bit of context when she shows up. But as the scene plays out, it’s incredibly effective.
What’s going to happen now that we know the truth about Lenny? Is the plan so that the Shadow King can keep David off balance? Is that all? Can we trust Lenny? Can we trust what we see? This whole show is one of secrets as development, and does so in a better fashion than most. But as much as I love this show, the secrets can gets to be too much as they pile up, which is why this episode was kind of refreshing. It asked one new question “Where did Lenny get her new body?” and answered it right away “Hi again, Amy!” I’m not saying that this show should stop making us ask questions, but I feel that some should be be answered to keep us sated. But this show should stay weird, that’s a given.
