The Tipping Point
After last week’s visually impressive spectacle, Legion returns this week with a much more methodically paced slice of hedonistic bliss. At the centre of this conflict is David, whose important talk with Syd acts as the catalyst for our protagonist finally losing control. We begin with the rules of time travel explained again and more specifically – the consequences of this gift. David and Switch discuss what happened before, prompting David to ask about her gift again. She obliges with his request, showing him the squared portals she can conjure as he watches on in awe. Onboard Farouk’s airship, the man the Division kidnapped last week, Squirrel, is interrogated. They want to use him as bait to get to Lenny and David, promptly dropping him to the ground below. As predicted, Lenny arrives with a minivan and drives him to a remote location. With more Alice In Wonderland imagery, he pleads with Lenny for drugs as they sit at a table drinking tea. Crawling across the table, the initial blue liquid turns to red as she pours the liquid into a China Doll. Wisps of white smoke curl into the air from its mouth as Squirrel hungrily laps up the fumes. At the same time, David reaches out to Syd and talks to her about time travel and changing the past. She rejects his idea, telling him that any man capable of drugging her and taking advantage will always have those traits regardless of how much the past is changed. This pushes David over the edge; the mental shackles holding him back dissipating in the wake of Syd’s rejection. Ever one to spoil a party, the Division show up and storm the party, dropping a net on the girls and capturing Squirrel again. However, Lenny sneaks away and drives off with an unsuspecting Cary in the back. She takes him back to David’s hideout where he proposes he build a tool to help Switch head back in time. After a well written segment involving Cary mirroring a servant’s movements, we end the episode with the Professor in his laboratory, beginning to work. Visually, Legion has always pushed boundaries and delivered an artistic spectacle to accompany its script and this week is no exception. Some of the camera work is beautifully done too, with a conversation between the Division guards typifying this with a one-shot swinging camera. While the episode doesn’t quite match up to the excellent opener this season, there’s enough urgency injected here to feel like things are moving in the right direction. Last year’s season oftentimes felt slow and methodical, with a plot that felt like it was meandering slowly toward the finish. This season there feels like a deliberate push toward the end and this really helps give the artistry more depth and meaning. With the pieces slowly slotting into place, the prospect of David traveling back in time to undo the wrongs he’s caused is certainly an exciting one. If Legion can execute this correctly in the same vain as Netflix’s Dark or 12 Monkeys, we could be in for a real treat here.
