LEGION Season 3 Review: Chapter 26


Chapter 26 begins with David going back in time with Switch to change the past. Cary, Kerry, and Sydney follow him into the time portal and appear in the same time as David, but in a different place. 

Just as we were previously shown, going back in time has some dangerous consequences. Throughout the entire episode time glitches and jumps around. It is just chaotic enough to get the point across without making the episode hard to follow. 

Time is getting a lot harder for Switch to navigate through and her and David become separated in the endless tunnels of time. Although David is able to make it to the past quickly, Switch has a much more difficult time and it takes a heavy toll on her body and teeth. 

As Sydney and the others come through the time portal into the past, they are greeted by David’s mother. Sydney eventually comes to realize what time they are in and whose house they are at. 

Sydney and Kerry debate the morality of killing David as a baby and come to the conclusion that David can be changed to grow up to be a peaceful and non-violent man. They believe they can help David grow up to become better. 

The three of them stick around in the past and the more time Sydney spends with David’s mother, the more she realizes David is truly mentally ill. It is not his fault - it’s just hereditary. 

Sydney doesn’t seem too bothered by this, but if David grows up with a severe mental illness, he will still be just as powerful and dangerous as he is in the current timeline. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in future episodes and I hope the concept of changing David as he grows up is explored more. 

Across the world, Charles Xavier, also known as Professor X, arrives in Morocco on his quest to find a mutant he believes to be like him. As he arrives, he finds a strange man waiting to pick him up and bring him to Farouk, or the Shadow King. 

The two powerful mutants finally meet and it is painful watching Charles slowly piece together that Farouk is a monster when the signs are all in front of him. 

However, it may have been Charles didn’t want to see the signs. The two bond quite well over their powers and loneliness. I can understand why Charles would want to give Farouk the benefit of the doubt; he is probably blinded by his emotions. 

Charles starts to get suspicious during a show Farouk puts on for the children in his palace. Here we learn where Farouk got his name as the children cheer on The Shadow King because he uses shadows to tell a story. 

After the show, David walks out of a time portal to meet his father. In a very interesting scene, David feeds his father a cake full of knowledge. 

As Charles takes a bite of the cake, he is filled with David’s memories. I was disappointed that this scene was so short because it was an intriguing concept. I was hoping to see Charles piece together his son’s life as he takes bites of the cake. 

It felt like a wasted opportunity, but it did its job and moved the plot forward. Charles sees all the darkness and damage that Farouk has done to his son. David then explain she plans to fight The Shadow King side by side with his father. 

David and Charles play it cool the next morning and Charles introduces David as an old friend. The three awkwardly eat breakfast as Farouk tries to evaluate David to ensure that his plan to kill Charles isn’t meddled with. 

Seeing Farouk scared was a side of him we’ve never seen before and it was oddly satisfying, especially with David’s cocky smile and attitude. Farouk excuses himself so he can go figure out what to do and suddenly Switch appears in the past. 

Switch is in very bad shape and Charles is a little haunted by the fact that David sees Switch as a tool rather than a person. To Charles’ horror, he begins to see similarities between Farouk and David. 

The set piece used to display David’s mind was beautifully done. It was displayed as a circular room that only consists of doors on the wall and a table in the center. I didn’t realize what an important role the set piece would play later when LEGION takes control of David’s body. 

David grows more and more impatient while being questioned by Charles and he soon loses control and Charles is introduced to LEGION

Charles puts his son on hold and leaves David’s mind to think. However, he only discovers David was correct and Farouk is truly a monster. Farouk uses people however he chooses and if they disagree with him, he traps them inside the mind of a single little girl. 

Suddenly, I am much more interested in Charles than any other character in the show. I wish we got to explore more of him as he figures out how to stop Farouk and his own son. Hopefully we will get to see this in the next episode. 

The episode ends as time begins to fall apart and time demons wreak havoc. The time demons are as scary as ever and still displayed incredibly, I’m so excited to see them at their full power now that they are all released. 

I like LEGION’s version of reading minds. Rather than just hearing voices, we get to see an actual face-to-face conversation in the Astral Zone. 

This leads to some amazing imagery throughout the episode and I wish LEGION utilized this in previous seasons. 

As we near closer and closer to the series end, the past and present versions of The Shadow King meet. I can only imagine what LEGION will do next but I’m sure they won’t disappoint.

Written by James Philbrick, LEGION Beat Writer

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