Let’s Talk About Legion Season 2 Episode 9, “Chapter 17”

We keep saying it but Legion remains a high point of episodic television.  It’s trippy, very psychedelic, and strangely addictive.

The story of mutants and mental powers being told in the rich visceral era the original Chris Claremont X-Men stories were placed in was a genius move, and one that sets the show apart on FX from any of the other comic book based properties.

If you didn’t see last week’s episode “Chapter 17”, you can catch up here.

Season 2 episode 9 “Chapter 17” has another simple synopsis (seriously, sensing a theme here):

“Inner demons take control.”

Things that happened in Legion s2e9: (we live update as the show airs)

• The episode begins with a closeup on Melanie (Jean Smart), while the clip clop of Clark’s steps echo down the hallway.
• She beams him over the head with a bar, and drags him into her room
• Oliver’s voice says “it’s done, she’s ours”.
• Thirteen Days later flashes on the screen
• A montage shows Melanie in her room, smoking her elephant, dancing around and eventually being visited by Syd
• They talk about David’s return, control, and the things that matter
• “Destiny calls, what kind of bitches would be to stand in their way?” Melanie says to Syd about their men
• She’s woken from sleep by Oliver sitting at the edge of her bed, singing to her
• She points a gun at him, and accuses him of leaving her alone
• Melanie turns to look at herself in a mirror, and sees (I’m assuming) her younger self there
• Farouk is lounging next to a pool, speaking to young Melanie.
• He asks her if she remembers the monk, remembers where his body might be hidden
• Oliver mentions to Melanie that she should have burned his body, since he’s still tied to it
• Kerrie visits Melanie too, and Melanie questions if Kerrie is ‘real’
• She’s questioning whether or not the reality she’s experiencing is real
• Melanie goes so far as to suggest that maybe Dr. Loudermilk is Kerrie’s delusion
• “There is no world to save, it’s all in my head,” Melanie says while reaching for more drugs
• Back in the lab, Dr. Loudermilk and Kerrie are given a vision of putting something in a trunk of a car, the idea implanted in their minds from David
• They escape Division 3, and drive away
• Ah back with Lenny- who is in a flop house with a young blonde woman shooting up
• One of the other junkies recognizes her, even with her new body
• They throw a party, and it’s unclear if Lenny or the junkies is more messed up because she’s seeing visions of the woman who’s body she’s taken
• She takes the blonde into a back room with her, and the two get friendly
• Lenny wakes up from sleep, and David’s sister Amy Haller (Katie Aselton) is there in the room. Lenny apologizes for what she’s done with her body, but compliments the skin
• The hunt for the electric octopus is on- Amy reveals Lenny’s love for David, and that David needs her help
• The blonde woman comes back into the room, and informs Lenny that’s shes pregnant
• Wait. What.
• Dr. Loudermilk and Kerrie have stopped for dinner, and he’s dropping truth bombs right and left, telling Kerrie he’s going to die

<li.”I would stab Death twice in the heart before he could get you,” Kerrie says, exclaiming she doesn’t want him to die.

• They see Lenny outside snooping around their car, and she manages to activate the weapon which transports the car to the middle of the desert
• It catches on fire, but Lenny manages to get the case with the weapon out in time
• We’re back to the beginning of the episode, when Melanie took out Clark

***

Maybe not the strongest episode this season, but some really interesting moments for fans of Lenny and Melanie. Hopefully things will pick up next week for the finale.

Legion season 2 airs on FX on Wednesdays.