Legion Review: Chapter 13 (Season 2 Episode 5)
On Legion Season 2 Episode 5, “Chapter 13,” Lenny returns to the real world to facilitate a shocking twist.
There are times when Legion is unbelievably simplistic but executed in a way that is purposefully oblique. Other times, it truly is a dense piece of work. “Chapter 13” blurs the lines between those two modes.
On the face of it, “Chapter 13” is a fairly cut-and-dry hour of television. It’s not terribly ambitious on a plot level.
Lenny (Aubrey Plaza), now back in the real world, is being interrogated by Clark, Ptonomy, and David in an upside-down room while, at the same time, the Shadow King and Oliver (Jemaine Clement) are off to get the former’s body.
The reveal that occurs at the end of the episode is almost secondary to the thing that “Chapter 13” does nearly flawlessly: exist in these practically static environments with compelling conversations and dialogue filling the scenes.
The reveal itself is interesting, but ultimately overplays its hand a bit.
It spends so much time throughout the episode pointing to Lenny’s new body and asking whose it is, since her eyes are a different color now. Once you catch onto what the show is doing (which doesn’t take long) you realize it has to be someone we know. Otherwise, the answer wouldn’t matter.
Instead, the best parts of the episode are the smaller scenes that are essentially performance pieces (but in the best way).
On the one end, you have Lenny playing off against the Division 3 types in various interrogations, each existing with their own sense of off-kilter strategy towards Lenny and how best to break through.
There’s a kind of fire and electricity that fills all of her engagements — it could have easily been a solid hour of just this.
On the other side of the episode, you have Oliver and Farouk waxing poetic on the existential state of the universe in one scene and, in another, finding a completely different groove with Oliver claiming that he’ll kill Farouk one day. They’re wildly different conversations, but also with a loose thread of metaphysical meaningless that rings especially true on this episode.
It’s a masterclass of performers bouncing off of each other, and it’s completely riveting, mainly due to the strength of all of the actors involved.
When the episode hits an altogether different mode, however, what came before feels a bit quaint in comparison. What we’re left with is akin to a body horror film.
It’s one where we’re forced to watch Amy not only be attacked by someone who helped rescue her brother and was therefore a trusted figure to her (despite her no doubt knowing that he’s possessed by Farouk), but to also see her mutilated and altered to look and essentially be Lenny in such a way that is purposefully cruel.
There’s not a lot of emotional weight that can be laid at the feet of a character that we haven’t seen this season yet and only popped up sporadically in the previous one. But, even at that, the twist still lands with a solid weight to it, despite the fact that it is a classic case of fridging a female character.
“Chapter 13” takes some good twists and turns, but it’s ultimately the interactions that make it all worthwhile.
What did you think of this episode of Legion? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Legion airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on FX.
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Drew Koenig
Drew has an ongoing, borderline unhealthy obsession with pop culture, but with television in particular. When he's not aggressively trying to get out of a perpetual state of catching up, he can be found passionately defending the ending of Lost. More of his online work can be found at The Lost Cause and he also co-hosts The Lost Cause Pod.