Legion: David confronts his fractured psyche in Chapter 3

This week’s Legion takes us deep into David’s mind.

And I’m not sure you’re going to like what you see.

It’s no secret that last week’s Chapter 2 was a bit of a tonal shift compared to the extremely strong (and action packed) first episode. It was a lot slower and it delved deep into David’s backstory… and even if the exposition was delivered in a rather neat way, it was still a lot of story to tell.

But now that’s out of the way, we get to the big question and the crux of the show:

What the hell is going on in David’s mind?

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Chapter 3 picks up where we left off last week – namely, David is still at Summerland, trying to work out what’s going on inside his head. It’s now firmly established that he has incredible telepathic and telekinetic powers… and it’s all somehow linked to his troubled past. It’s even all beginning to link up, as certain memories begin to tie together.

But David doesn’t have time for the usual therapy sessions.

His sister has been kidnapped by the mysterious Division 3, and even Dr Bird admits that they just don’t have time for the softly-softly approach of her usual methods. They need to work out David’s powers (and how he can control them) pretty sharpish if they’re going to rescue his sister.

And that means jumping in the deep end of David’s psyche.

Obviously, that’s a tremendously bad idea, and it soon becomes obvious that there’s a lot more going on in there than meets the eye. Ptonomy has been accusing David of resisting his memory projection techniques for some time now, but David continues to claim that he isn’t. Given that he’s desperate to get a handle on his powers to save his sister, it becomes all the more apparent that David is telling the truth.

So why is Ptonomy having so much trouble?

Well, it could all be down to the mysterious blob-like creature who stalks David through his memories. Making another appearance in this episode, the creature clearly has some power over David. But this is where it all gets a bit weird. This time, Ptonomy and Dr Bird go into David’s memories with Syd in tow. The problem? David sees the creature while they’re in there. But while Ptonomy and Dr Bird continue to be unable to see the creepy-looking blob thing, it turns out that Syd can. And he quickly causes havoc in there, slamming doors and seemingly taking control of the mindscape they all find themselves in.

Could this be the biggest hint yet at what the creature really is?

Well, it seems to me that the blob-like creature thing is probably a part of David’s psyche. After all, the comic books show David Haller as not just schizophrenic, but suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder – each of his identities the key to unlocking a different mutant power. And this creature could well be where David gets his dazzling psychic abilities.

That’s right – the creature could well be another facet of David Haller.

Legion is quickly establishing itself as the Outer Limits of the comic book world. It’s definitely not your usual superhero story, and although David’s new friends are all hailing him as some kind of super-powered mutant god, it’s clear that he’s still got plenty of issues.

He’s not your usual hero… and that’s kind of awesome.

Of course, the more we delve into David’s fractured mental state, the more obvious it becomes that his father probably wasn’t an astrologer… and he may have actually known all about David’s mutant abilities. His memories paint the picture of a cold and callous man, who reads horrific bedtime stories, possibly even as a way of causing David’s fractured mental state for his own ends.

Was his father experimenting on him? It certainly seems that way.

That is, if his memories are even real…

We’ve already established that David’s memories are unreliable at best… and the father persona could well be a character his mind has invented to give himself a backstory. The horrific father character could even be another part of David himself. But we’ll just have to wait and see how it all unfolds.

Of course, David isn’t just the product of his mental illness. In fact, some of the more interesting aspects of Legion come from the more human touches you find amidst all the mind-blowing craziness. Take Dr Bird, for example. We find out that her husband was responsible for creating Summerland, but its suggested that he dies a long time ago. The quirky touch is that his voice can be heard in the elevator and coffee machine.

Weird, right?

At the moment, we have no idea whether it’s just a voice recording, a complex AI system or even something a little more transcendental. But the way Dr Bird purposely empties a whole cup of coffee just to hear her husband’s voice again is exactly what keeps the story feeling so brutally honest.

The same goes for David – he’s extraordinary. He’s possibly the most powerful mutant in existence. But his story is extremely human. He lives, he loves and all he wants in the world is to get better.

Let’s just hope Summerland can help him.

Legion stars Dan Stevens as the titular hero, alongside Rachel Keller, Aubrey Plaza, Bill Irwin, Jeremie Harris, Amber Midthunder, Katie Aselton, and Jean Smart.

Legion returns to Fox next week, 23 February 2017.

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What did you think of Legion’s third episode? Will David get to the bottom of his fractured memories? Leave your comments below… and follow Ryan Leston on Twitter, and Facebook for more on the latest TV shows.