The Beginning Is The End
When it comes to a hedonistically charged, trippy and weird show like Legion, how do you wrap up 3 seasons in a way that’ll please everyone? It’s a tough ask to say the least and Legion both succeeds and fails with its final episode. Although all the plot threads are completely wrapped up by the end, including individual character journeys, the anticlimactic manner this is presented will likely divide the fanbase. The finale starts with a series of stock images and text as we’re shown that the beginning is the end. It’s here we see shots of David through the years, growing into the damaged, troubled man we know him as now. David and his father, Charles Xavier, conjure forth weapons in the present soon after, ready for the fight ahead. Together, they confront the two Farouks; the self-confessed parasite in David’s skull. While Xavier and the past-Farouk duke it out, present Farouk and David disappear as they fight too. Meanwhile, Syd and the others hurry out the front door of David’s past house, only to find themselves transported somewhere else. As the Time Demons arrive, Syd and Kerry defend baby David’s life, trying to fight the demons off while David transports Farouk into his mind, in a plan to ambush him with Legion and overpower him. Unfortunately, Farouk’s too strong, shrugging them off and locking David up in a strait jacket while taunting him. Switch finally loses her baby teeth as she awakens from her time-induced sleep, while David and Farouk continue to battle it out. At the same time, Farouk offers a deal to Xavier, convincing him he’s changed now and he wants to aid David in his quest. Through a projection of her Father, Switch learns how to control the Time Demons, having now transcended beyond her human vessel and becoming one with time. She blows a whistle and commands the demons to stop attacking Syd and the others, saving baby David from a cruel fate. Meanwhile Xavier and Farouk present their deal to David, agreeing to live together in peace and leave one another alone. David eventually agrees to this, following his Father apologizing for the past and embracing his son, allowing David to relinquish his ill feelings toward his troubled childhood. This causes the past to change as David and Farouk settle their differences once and for all and shake hands. Having changed the fate of the world, the present iterations of our characters slowly fade away, replaced by their oblivious past selves, untainted from the horrors of the present. The only ones still aware of what’s happened are Xavier and David’s Mother who discuss what’s happened and unify together, determined to bring David up with love. As Syd and present-David look down upon baby David in his crib, Syd tells him to be a good boy before the two fade away and we finish the series with a final shot of baby David. Legion’s finale will almost certainly split the fanbase. On the one hand, we receive a final send-off for David and the others as the battle with Farouk comes to an end although the anticlimactic manner this occurs, and the lack of action-driven fighting, may disappoint fans expecting a more explosive finish. In a way, this is classic Legion territory; a stylish, weird episode that progresses the plot in a convoluted, thought provoking manner. Personally, I liked it and I feel it finishes Legion in a way that resolves all the narrative beats, leaving little question over whether the show will return or not. Of course, it won’t be for everyone and at times the pacing feels a little oddly skewed here, as the episode jumps between the final fight with the Time Demons and David’s verbal battles with Farouk. Stylistically, the entire season has been in-line with what we’ve seen before though and if there’s one thing Legion can confidently say, its never held back when it comes to its hedonistic visual design. When the dust settles on this one, Legion is unlikely to be a show remembered through the ages but its three-season arc has been an entertaining, thought provoking and outright weird journey nonetheless.
