'Legion' Recap: "Chapter 6"

Cameron Lee ‘20 / Emertainment Monthly Contributor
Spoiler Alert: This recap contains spoilers for Chapter 6 of Legion
If this episode was any indication, the final two episodes of ‘Legion’ will all come down to David (Dan Stevens) battling his inner demons- more specifically the Devil with Yellow Eyes/ Lenny (Aubrey Plaza), who is controlling him. This episode mainly stayed inside a recreation of the Clockwork hospital teased at the end of last week’s episode which provided a chance for the show to slow down a bit. Everyone is unaware they are stuck inside David’s psyche at the beginning of the episode, but they gradually begin to understand that something is very wrong.

The episode starts with a montage of Lenny acting the part as the hospital’s psychiatrist, interviewing everyone, including the villainous Eye. Every character has a certain problem they are trying to deal: with Dr. Bird (Jean Smart) is waiting for her dancing husband Oliver to return from the astral plane; Memory Man (yes, we will continue to call him this until the end of the season) keeps time traveling back to his mother’s death when he was a child (really screwed up childhood, Memory Man). Even the Eye has problems as we learn he had difficulty growing up when he was a teenager. It’s a very long intro, but it gives context to the tone of the episode.
Following the intro, we then transition to one of the strangest scenes the show has ever done- which says a lot, considering how many strange moments the show has had so far! Lenny is just casually in her office when some badass music suddens begin to play. Lenny begins to start her own, amazing dance sequence/montage through different moments of David’s life; she aggressively shreds a bed, and James Bond-style titles intercut with flashing lights and extreme use of the color red. Lenny then walks through a door and the music abruptly stops, and the show continues like nothing happened. The trippy sequence adds nothing to the plot, all it did was make Aubrey Plaza even more awesome, but this is fine considering Aubrey Plaza killed it in this episode.

Elsewhere, Cary (Bill Irwin) is teleported to the astral plane and finds Oliver walking around in his old-fashioned diving suit. The other Kerry (Amber Midthunder) is being watched by the Eye, who is the only one to fully know that the Clockwork hospital is an illusion. Dr. Bird somehow gets transported to David’s house where time is frozen, and even the tommy gun bullets have all been frozen (great detail with the hot bullets). David goes to Lenny for another talk, which then leads to the creepiest scene of the episode. Lenny very sinisterly tells David about the lifecycle of herself, and the brain-eating fungus that is living off David to survive. We learn that Lenny/Devil with Yellow Eyes knew David’s father, and that the only reason David was given away for adoption was to hide from her/it. The show continues hinting at the revelation of David’s father’s identity sometime in the near future- whether the show will do something different, or stick to the comics is a toss-up at this point. Lenny explains these revelations while on David’s lap, switching between Lenny and the Devil all while trying to make-out with him (Emmy clip for Aubrey Plaza perhaps?). David then gets teleported into a box deep into the dark corners of his mind.

The episode ends with Syd (Rachel Keller) who understands that something is wrong, as she saw the dead Lenny from the pilot and she notices that David is having gaps in his memory. Oh, and she finds flies in her pie which simply disappear after she notices them. She gets visited in the night by who we are supposed to believe is Oliver in his diving suit, but is revealed to actually be Cary. The episode ends there; with two episodes left, the battle over control of David’s mind is in full force. Reality is going to get crazy, but that’s what we expect from Legion at this point, and all we can do now is let the show finish the crazy ride it’s been taking us on.
Episode Grade: B+