Legion Chapter 4 Recap: Question Reality

03/01/2017 11:00 pm EST

Legion's fourth chapter begins with a somewhat rambling address from Oliver Bird (Jemaine Clement). He eventually lands on the competing ideas of empathy and fear.

Syd takes over the narration, hinting at things to come and questions about reality. David is unconscious, his mind trapped on the Astral Plane. Melanie believes they've triggered a kind of guardian in David's mind. Melanie sends Syd, Carrie, and Ptonomy to investigate what happened to Legion before he was in Clockworks.

They head to Dr. Poole's office and find it abandoned. Syd notes how different it is from David's memory, and Ptonomy tells her it is because memories are unreliable. Syd wonders if they're still in David's mind. Ptonomy at first tells her this is definitely real, but his confidence wanes a bit when he considers.

Ptonomy taps into the memory of Dr. Poole's recording device. The vision they see shows that Dr. Poole found David robbing the office. David apparently put Dr. Poole in a coma. Syd wonders if David has somehow altered his own memories, hiding his real ones behind fake ones. She fixates on the question, "What did the stars say?" She wonders if his real purpose in the office wasn't robbery, but destroying evidence.

After the break, Syd returns to the discussion of stories and what they mean. Amy is still a prisoner of Division 3. David's therapist from Clockworks, Dr. Kissinger, is in the cell adjacent and they speak through the wall. Amy admits that she suspected David had powers since they kid and that the dog he supposedly spoke to never existed.

We catch up with Syd in the forest. She's remembering what she saw in David's memory and then sees the World's Angriest Boy. Carrie shakes her out of her reverie and tells her that they've contacted David's ex-girlfriend. Carrie explains her and Kerry's history and says they're two people sharing one body. He does the boring stuff and she gets all the action.

At the Summerlands, Melanie is surprised to see a spectral diver. She and Kerry wonder if this means David is waking up. Noting how Carrie only ages outside of Kerry's body, Kerry wonders what happens to her when he dies. They go downstairs and find Oliver Bird's body in a diving suit in a freezer. And alarm goes off and Melanie believes Oliver is trying to contact them.

Meanwhile, David is trapped in his mind with all of his voices yelling at him. He emerges in a luminescent field and sees the man in the diving suit beckoning him forward, so he follows, climbing up a series of rings like a ladder leading into the ice cube first seen in Oliver's drink in the opening. Once inside, Oliver removes the diving suit and offers David a drink. Oliver has shaped the ice cube's interior into a kind of stylish living room and puts on some music. It annoys David. Oliver says he's been in the place for a long time. David realizes that he never actually woke up. Oliver explains that David is trapped in the Astral Plane, but at least he isn't alone anymore. Oliver tells David that "he" can't find him where they are. When David seems confused, Oliver realizes that the monster makes David forget. David wants to leave, but Oliver warns him that the monster is waiting outside and that it is something akin to a parasite. David decides he'll figure a way to use his mutant powers to get out, but Oliver just opens a door to the subconscious, warning David that what he'll see is not real unless he makes it real.

Another break, and more narration from Syd. It seems they've been captured by the Eye and the Division, but we also see her on the bus as she passes the Angriest Boy again.

They find David's old girlfriend and Syd tries to keep her busy while Ptonomy explores her mind. He sees a day that Philly returns home and both David and Dr. Poole. They mention David's childhood dog named "King," the one that Amy says never existed. Philly notes that David doesn't keep pictures, that there's basically no evidence that David had a past. Ptonomy notices the memory "skip" and rewinds to see what is underneath. Philly visits Dr. Poole's home.

Ptonomy is ready to leave, but Syd asks Philly straightforwardly about David. Philly thought she could fix him, and that he was always nice to her, but he went off his medication and that his friend was a pusher, a man named Benny, not a girl named Lenny. Syd asks if Philly wants them to give David a message. She just warns that "they're" watching.

They visit Dr. Poole's lighthouse home. Poole tells them he doesn't talk about his patients, but they press him. Poole remembers Benny as a bad influence. Poole says David had doubled his sessions before the break in. Syd asks what the stars said. Poole says he's like to see David again. He wants to ask why David ruined his life. Poole knows about Melanie Bird. Carrie sees Division soldiers approaching and realizes its a trap. Poole becomes the Eye and the soldiers open fire on the house. The three of them head upstairs and the Eye follows at his own pace, seemingly unconcerned with the hail of bullets. Carrie says it's her turn and jumps through the wall of the lighthouse.

Carrie fights outside, and Kerry mimics her motions at the Summerlands. The Eye takes out Ptonomy with some kind of psychic power. Carrie finds herself surrounded and Kerry's creams. The Eye approaches Syd, but she takes off her club and touches his hand before he can touch her head. Apparently having swapped bodies, "Syd" falls unconscious as the soldiers begin beating on Carrie.

"Syd" comes to and "The Eye" knocks her back out then order the soldiers to put her and the others in the truck.

David hears Lenny's voice and then sees her in a vision of his room. David asks who she truly is. She only suggests that maybe they can get out of this place together. She shows him Syd in the Eye's possession. It builds up his rage and power until he teleports in front of the Division truck. He free "Syd," who tries to stab him the back. "The Eye" throws something to stop her.

The run down the road. David tackles the eye just before Syd swaps places. Carrie runs after them and the Eye shoots her. The Eye runs and Carries begins bleeding out and Lenny rests on David's back.

Notes:

- The introduction of the Astral Plane and the fact that David's non-existent dog named "King" hints pretty heavily that the Yellow Eyed Demon is, in fact, the Marvel Comics villain called the Shadow King. The Astral Plane is the dimension on which the Shadow King does battle against other telepaths.

- Lenny clearly isn't what viewers were led to believe. It seems that she, and Benny, and King come from inside David's mind. Have they always been aspects of the Shadow King? Were they other personalities that he conquered? Others seemed to be able to see Lenny, so does the Shadow King need David to give him physical form?

- Foreshadowing the capture by the Eye and the subverting audience expectations was very well down. The tragic end really drives it all home.