Legion Season 3 Episode 3 Review: Chapter 22

| July 9, 2019 |

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This Legion review contains spoilers.

Legion Season iii Episode 3

We were never supposed to get Charles Xavier on Legion . When the show was adult, FX and Fob made information technology quite clear that though a passing reference may be made to David's famous mutant male parent, the character was unlikely to appear on screen. In Flim-flam's optics, having Patrick Stewart or James McAvoy announced equally Professor X on the FX series would just further muddle the already complicated Ten-Men timeline, and Noah Hawley's wigged out vision for his series didn't quite marshal with their prized X-Men franchise cash cow, and so having another role player portray ane of the main leads of their series wouldn't be preferable either.

With the Fob-Disney merger, all of those hang-ups and worries would disappear. Fox's X-Men franchise took a bow with the disappointing, under-performing Dark Phoenix, and without having to shepherd the mighty mutant IP for some other round of films, Trick allowed Noah Hawley to play with one of their prized toys, this time casting Game of Thrones alum Harry Lloyd as the powerful telepath. It'southward a wonderful development for the series, as the introduction of Charles Xavier and his lover Gabrielle Haller leads to i of the series' finest hours.

Per Hawley'due south style, Charles and Gabrielle'south origins aren't cut and copied from comic volume lore to the screen, just core elements of their backstory remain in place. Charles meets Gabrielle, a Holocaust survivor, in a mental establishment, instantly mirroring the meet cute of David and Syd in Season i. For a show that has delighted in masking what era the events have place in, this is the first solid conformation that the late 60s/70s aesthetic of David's world isn't but a stylistic selection. Anyway, Charles uses his ability to help the most catatonic Gabrielle (played past Mr. Robot's Stephanie Corneliussen) clear out the debilitating trauma she experienced. Charles knows that his powers are intrusive and can exist easily abused, highlighted in a brilliant, unsettling black and white scuffle in a foxhole during Charles' apparent fourth dimension equally a soldier, so he makes it articulate that he only uses his powers to help.

Charles and Gabrielle fall in love within the walls of the institution similar some quirky indie dramaedy, and Charles then uses his telepath abilities to free them from hospital. The two have David together, only after sensing Amahal Farouk with an early version of Cerebro, Charles leaves in search of the man that shares some of his abilities. During her fourth dimension lone, Gabrielle longs for Charles and also struggles equally Farouk torments her and tries to infiltrate the torso of David. Throughout all of this action, we watch equally Gabrielle sees visions of the developed version of David and hears his cries for his female parent. Using Switch's abilities David has time traveled to witness his parents' history and prevent Farouk from entering his body as an infant, only for some reason, Gabrielle cannot quite encounter or hear David despite his attempts.

Toward the episode'due south end, David is able to make himself visible during i of the Shadow Male monarch's agonizing tricks on Gabrielle, but Charles returns only in the nick of time to interject and dispel David from the by. Withal, in the aftermath, Gabrielle is returned to her catatonia as the Shadow King takes reward of a distracted Charles and swoops into David. It's withal unclear how fourth dimension travel exactly works in this story, so it's possible that David's interactions with his mother from the future are and always take been partly to blame for David'due south essential possession. Some other interesting contraction is the presence of the Earth'south Angriest Male child doll. I took information technology to be a physical representation of the trauma or mental health issues that people pass downwardly to their children, but it could besides stand for that the memories or past that we are witnessing take already been distorted by the Shadow Rex.

Regardless, after David is driven out of the past, he's drastic to render, simply Switch is too tuckered to help him. She loses another tooth, which seems to be a consequence for using her time traveling abilities. At that place's no telling how David will react to Switch not beingness able to aid him in the way that he envisioned. We're left with the lingering, fantastically creepy paradigm of Amahal rocking babe David on his knee.

"Chapter 22" is a fine reintroduction to Charles Xavier, merely an even better episode of Legion . It's able to tell a compelling honey story while working in some patented psychedelic and disconcerting imagery. Utilizing not-linear storytelling, nosotros're able to watch as Charles makes the fault of engaging a monster and how that monster takes away all that is truly important to him. I also love the cinematography in the episode and how Legion is always irresolute up its expect based on the tone or setting of the story. Every bit someone who has been annoyed with this show at times in the past, an episode like "Chapter 22" reminds me why I savage for this serial in the showtime place.