Legion 3×1 Review: Chapter 20

“Chapter 20” marks the beginning of the end for Legion.  This mind trip of a show is entering its third and final season.

I’m going to miss Legion and its epic weirdness so damn much, guys.  I really don’t want it to be over. “Chapter 20” reminded me why I love this show and made me realize that the conclusion is barreling towards me way faster than I’m prepared for.  It’s rare for a show to feel like a work of art with every single frame like Legion does. The last time I felt this way was with Hannibal, which was cancelled before its time.  I supposed I should be grateful that Noah Hawley gets to end this masterpiece on his own terms instead of having it ended by the network.  It makes the idea that this is the final season just a little bit easier to handle.  But ugh, it still sucks saying goodbye.

Our first episode spends the first seventeen minutes with a new character, a time traveler who is following clues scattered in her own timeline that eventually lead her to David.  For the first minute or so, I wasn’t sure I was watching the right show, but soon enough the incredibly unique stylization of Legion took hold.  It couldn’t possibly be anything else.  Nothing on TV looks like this and nothing ever will again.  It’s one of a kind.

“Chapter 20” catches us up to speed once our time traveler, Switch, meets up with David. Once again, enemies have joined forces to face an over powering common foe – this time the combined power of Division 3 and Summerland are teaming up with our two seasons long antagonist, Amal Farouk, to take down David.  Honestly though, David doesn’t seem to be outwardly harming anyone with his God-like existence. He defends the cult he built up around himself with his weird disintegration power, but if he wasn’t being directly attacked it seems like he’d be a rather benevolent Godlike being.

It’s possible things aren’t quite what they seem at his commune.  While everyone may seem happy in the outside, it’s hard to gauge how genuine that is and if they fully consented to being David’s companions when they accepted his gift. But for now? It looks pretty damn great and his opponents look like the bad guys, desperate to take him out for his potential instead of his actions.

While I am prepared to have this season completely change my view of the situation, I’m having a hard time enjoying anyone on Team Summerland/Division 3/Farouk.  Despite how much I adore Kerry and Carey as characters and found their scene on the blimp amusing, they are part of the team trying to take out a benevolent hippie God that just wants to make people happy, so I just can’t enjoy them. I hate feeling that way about them, but until the story hints at any actual ill will from David, I’m fully on his side.

By proxy, this makes me Team Switch and Team Lenny, too.  Lenny has shown to be more Chaotic Neutral than anything,  Switch is too new to really place.  She’s protecting David, but beyond that?  Who knows.  I look forward to seeing her true nature get revealed, though.  I’m already captivated by her.  Introducing a new character that’s central to the plot this late in the game is risky, but I have faith here.  This show has never let me down before and I don’t expect it to now.

We’re only an hour into the third and final season, so there’s a lot more to learn about the overall arc.  Right now we’ve just had the time set, the new characters introduced, and the newly formed teams introduced.  There’s a lot more to come and I’m prepared to have my mind blown each and every week until the finale.

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They identify as queer.

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