The weirder Legion becomes, the better it gets.
So, David has decided to go all in on trusting future Syd and helping the Shadow King find his body in the second episode of Legion season 2, “Episode 10.” Still not convinced he won’t eventually come to regret this decision, but let’s see where it goes.
We start back in David’s mind. I think. Sometimes it can get confusing whether events are taking place in reality or not, but that’s just Legion being Legion.
David has arranged a meeting with Oliver and Lenny, both of whom we know are trapped in David’s mind and are forced to operate under the rule of the Shadow King. He agrees to help them find the body, as they come up with a plan for where to begin.
The plan is simple: They’ll create a diversion that requires all of Division 3 to leave the building for awhile, giving the Shadow King — who, at this point, begins to once again be referred to as Farouk — to search the building. We’re still not entirely sure what he’s searching for at this point, but it’s got something to do with all those people who are standing still with their teeth chattering.
The plan works perfectly — if by perfectly you mean a whole bunch of people end up dead. David leaves everyone out into the desert, saying he’s had a vision that Farouk is out there. Oliver and Lenny arrive in Division 3 and begin tearing up the place, turning whoever stayed behind into fish and other animals.
After another brilliant dance routine, Oliver sends the child soldiers away without hurting them and Farouk approaches Cary (Bill Irwin) and Kerry (Amber Midthunder). He does some weird mind like stuff to them, that we later find out takes away their power to join bodies. Actually, scratch that, they can still join together — only this time Cary is the one who’s stuck inside Kerry. Not complaining though, because Amber Midthunder is incredible in this series and she gets more to do in “Episode 10” than she ever has in the past.
Farouk leaves and the rest of the gang returns. David gets another lecture from Clark who, at this point, is probably on to what David is doing. David doesn’t care. He knows he’s alone. But now, he wants to know why it has to be this way.
That’s why he convinces Kerry, with the inner-voice of Cary of course (confused yet?), to help him get in contact with future Syd again. All he has to do is enter the giant orb and, if Kerry does it right, she should be there.
And to Kerry’s credit, it works. David meets future Syd and asks the question that is on everyone’s mind: why should he trust her? Why help Farouk, the evilest force out there, get what he wants?
Luckily, future Syd can speak this time. Unluckily, she doesn’t have the answers that David wants to here. While being as vague and non-descriptive as possible (it is only episode 2 after all, what did you expect?), she tells David that there’s a force out there worse than Farouk. A force that kills everyone at D3 and pretty much the entire world. Farouk, while evil, can help defeat this force.
She also tells David that one week from now, at least in the timeline she’s in, David will kill Farouk in the desert. She’s unable to tell David whether he’s alive in this timeline, but there’s something she’s clearly hiding — she looks at David with a kind of sad longing. This is more than David just being dead. Something is going on here.
Future Syd says goodbye and David leaves the weird bubble. The good news is that Cary finds a way to separate from Kerry, they’ll just have to live separately for a little bit while Cary figures out how to fix all of this. Melanie, who has really been down in the dumps lately, also receives a message from Oliver that lets her know what Farouk was looking for at D3: a monk.
All we know about this monk is that he may or may not know where Farouk’s body is. We don’t know what he looks like or what he’s doing in D3. Not the most helpful information in the world, Oliver.
Doesn't matter, because David is ready to meet with Farouk again. David’s ready to tell him whose boss — he’ll still help, but no more killing.
Enter a crazy wrestling match/samurai battle/tank war that all takes place in David’s mind. Once again, have I mentioned how cool this show is? Also, we get to see the real Farouk — not Oliver, not Lenny, not the demon with the yellowed eyes, but the real actual Shadow demon who is played by none other than Navid Negahban. And boy oh boy does he got some charm.
The two hash it out over a battle of wits, eventually ending with Farouk agreeing there’ll be no more killing as long as he gets his body back and that he’ll be in David’s debt if it actually happens. David leaves, and Farouk is left alone with Lenny. Lenny pretty much begs Farouk to let her out of here, to give her a normal life and all, but Farouk isn’t having it. In this world, he’s in control.
At this point, David makes the smartest move he’s made yet this season and decides to actually tell someone about future Syd. Because, you know, that’s probably not the kind of thing you want to keep to yourself. Who does he choose to tell? Present Syd of course. She agrees that they should listen to future Syd, and agrees to help Farouk find his body. So now David at least has a partner in crime for this stupid plan of his.
The last shot of this Legion episode ends with a tiny, little guy hiding in-between the bodies of the chattering people who we are then left to assume is the Monk. Guess we’ll have to tune in next week Tuesday on FX to find out who, exactly, this guy is.
Here’s my theory: David from the future obviously isn’t dead. Future Syd’s interactions with him made that clear. I’m thinking David went fully insane or something like that, and he’s the one who wiped out the entire population. The reason they need Farouk alive is because he’s the only one who actually poses a threat to David. That’s why future Syd is so sad to see past, innocent David. It hurts become she knows what he’ll become.
But who knows, this show is full of twists and turns so anything could happen.
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