'Legion' Recap: "Chapter 2"

Cameron Lee ’20 / Emertainment Monthly contributor

Spoiler Alert: This recap contains Spoilers for chapter 2 of Legion

After last week’s fast-paced and mind blowing pilot, Legion has decided to slow things down to focus on the story as a whole. This episode builds upon the groundwork set in the pilot and expands the show’s mythology in ways that feel less like a superhero show and more like a David Lynch film.
After being rescued by Sydney (Rachel Keller) from the government compound, David (Dan Stevens) is taken to Dr. Melanie Bird- played by Jean Smart who gave an excellent performance in Noah Hawley’s 2nd season of Fargo. Dr. Bird wants to teach David how to control his powers. She thinks that he is the key to winning the war. The war for what? The episode mentions it a few times, but what is she talking about? David continues to have difficulty keeping the voices in his head in check. Dr. Bird tells David to imagine a volume dial and to turn it all the way down. David does this and we are treated to a charming visual of David turning a dial. David begins his memory work with memory artist Ptonomy Wallace (Jeremie Harris) who has the ability to transport people into their memories.
The session starts with a memory from David’s childhood. Towards the end of the memory, we see David being read to in bed by his father- David tells Dr.Bird and Ptonomy his father was an astronomer. But, things soon get weird when the storybook David’s father is reading to him is revealed to be tilted The World’s Angriest Boy in the World which is about a boy who kills his mother. Not only that, but his Father’s face is missing from the memory. Even when David goes into his former body, the face is still missing. The room starts to shake as David starts to freak out and a freakish yellow devil appears from a closet. So what does this memory mean? Well, David’s father will probably serve as some kind of revel at a later point. Fans of the Legion comic know the identity of David’s father, but, for the purpose of this recap, we will not go into his actual identity until the show reveals it. Maybe the show will go down a different path, who knows? Let’s just say it’s someone very important. The yellow devil made several appearances in the pilot and he reappears several times in David’s memories. David is the only one who is able to see this figure; why is David afraid of this figure? What does this figure represent to David? David is brought through more moments of his life, including more drug exploits with the always charming Aubrey Plaza as Lenny Busker. It’s Aubrey Plaza being Aubrey Plaza, what’s not to like?      

David is put into an MRI to scan his brain and to get an understanding of how his brain works. While inside, he transports his mind to the hospital where he finds his sister being told by a government official that they have no record of David; she is captured by the evil military group that is hunting David. David, of course, does not take this well. He begins to freak out and accidentally blows up the MRI. David tries to leave the sanctuary but is stopped by Sydney who convinces him to stay and to get his powers under control first before he goes to rescue his sister. Where the story goes from here is unclear, but that’s one of the show’s strengths. David has no idea what’s real and what’s fake and we’re all in the same boat.

Episode Grade: A-