Legion 1.08 Review: “Chapter 8”

Legion 1.08 Review

What a wild ride!

The finale episode of Legion’s first season, “Chapter 8,” was chock full of action and suspense from beginning to end — and yes — I’m even including that shocking post-credits scene. So, everyone’s had their own thoughts about how the first season of this show would end, and I’m sure mine is just as different from anyone else’s, but really, up until the moment that David faced off against the Shadow King in Kerry’s body, things had gone exactly as I had expected.

The Episode

Division 3 has found Summerland. Oliver has reunited with Melanie, except he’s not quite all there in the head, and although somehow he remembers her, he doesn’t remember that they were married, and he doesn’t quite seem to be taking the hint. And as for David, well…they’ve contained the Shadow King in his head (or so they think).

We start out the episode, though, with a character we haven’t seen properly since the pilot episode: Clark, the Division 3 agent who interrogated David and got third-degree burns for his trouble. Once he’s back on his feet…he only has one thing on his mind. Getting better, and getting back out there, to bring David and his friends in. Of course he looks like a mess, but he still manages to get to Summerland.

Of course, it’s not much of a threat. David gets the agents under control in a matter of seconds, and they lock Clark up so he can’t cause any other trouble. Meanwhile, though, the Shadow King (or Amahl Farouk), is breaking through the walls, taking back over David’s mind. So they do this crazy exorcism thing, but the Shadow King is too powerful. So Syd takes things into her own hands and kisses him, taking the parasite into her own consciousness.

The creature passes from person to person until it reaches Kerry, who then gets challenged by David, who is finally, finally clear-headed. They have this massive psychic battle, and David manages to expel Amahl Farouk from Kerry…except, the consciousness enters Oliver Bird instead…and while David and Kerry are passed out on the ground…he makes his escape. No one even looks at him twice.

We don’t know where he’s going, not for sure, but I definitely have a few ideas.

You’d think that’s it, except…

Concerning the post-credits scene…what even was that weird robot thing that basically made David evaporate? Can’t even let our heroes be happy for a minute, can they?

Final Thoughts

Okay, first off, I love David Haller. I’ve loved him since I even knew he existed, because I think he’s incredibly complex. He’s the actual definition of a hero with that gray area that surrounds mentally confused characters. He has a good heart, but he sometimes goes about things the wrong way, and it makes sense, because he can’t think of any other way to complete his task. In one timeline, he even attempts to kill Magneto, and ends up killing Charles Xavier, his own father. He just trusts the wrong people, and that ends up screwing him over. And this show was basically a dream come true for me. David might be a little different from what I imagined, but I think his personality suited the type of show perfectly, and Dan Stevens was the perfect actor to portray him.

I couldn’t be happier that Legion is getting a season two. What do I want? Well, number one thing is a cameo from Charles Xavier, whether it’s Patrick Stewart, or JamesMcAvoy that just looks a lot older, either with CGI or heavy makeup. And it looks like we’re sort of heading that way, because it seems like the Shadow King is on his way, in Oliver’s body, to find Xavier and kill him. Not that it’s explicitly said, but…who wronged him? Who defeated him? Now that he’s back, he wants to go forth and destroy his enemy. He’s well on the way to doing that.

Until next time!