"Chapter 23" is fourth episode in the third season of Legion, and twenty-third episode overall.[1]
Synopsis[]
Time has come today.
Plot[]
The opening scene is Ptonomy, in the company of Kerry and two of the Vermillions. He's examining his reformed body. As he talks to Kerry, it's apparent that he is far more robotic, serious, and not much of his former personality remains. Kerry alludes to the fact that they both used to be intimate but Ptonomy disregards this. Kerry then laments that everyone around her, has changed in terms of personality recently. Suddenly the three of them begin to experience some form of temporal glitch, and Kerry suddenly has Ptonomy in her arms. Completely confused, Kerry goes to Syd, who doesn't know what she's talking about until she begins thinking about it. She comes to the realization that it must be David's doing and that he's carrying out some sort of temporal attack. She tells Kerry to leave immediately. Before they can leave the room, they vanish and the only evidence left is a shriveling apple that seems to decay rapidly.
We then move to Lenny who's sitting outside with Salmon while some of the other members of the commune play hopscotch in the street. They ponder on what to name their child, to which Lenny remarks they could name her another “fish name,” leading Salmon to respond saying her name is based off the color, not the fish. Salmon comes up with the name violence, Lenny adding on by recommending “Violence Lollypop Busker.” Lenny mentions to her that they should hit the road and leave, and before the woman can question this further, a portal opens up above them and David and Switch emerge. Switch’s lip is bloodied from loosing a tooth from time traveling back so far. This scene loops again and again until Switch realizes something's wrong that is out of her control.
Back at Division 3, they too are experiencing the phenomena and it's revealed that it's a universal problem, not just a local attack. Ptonomy is able to find the source of it, and much to Clark's bewilderment the group is suddenly caught in a loop themselves. Each interaction, a creature seems to be able to reach out closer to them. It's not until Amahl Farouk storms in and stops it, does the loop stop.
David is before his groupies and he asks for an explanation as to what happened with Switch, and their planned temporal attack on Divison 3. Switch explains that the method they use to travel through time, the hallway, also houses demons. She describes them as living and existing outside of the normal flow of time, but always look for a way in, and eat and chew at time. Post the commune members voicing their fear, David puts them to sleep. It's then that Lenny pushes back against David's serene calm and passively response to the news, telling him to try harder. This disturbs David, but he tells Switch that he needs to try her time travel once more. It's here when the lights dim and David, Lenny, and Switch are approached by two of the time demons. They move in a series of frames and are on top of David in a heartbeat.
David wakes up in an underground prison of a sort and his cell mate seems to be his mother, who we saw last episode extensively.
Farouk, having just saved the District 3 team, is explaining to them the situation and about the time demons, relating them to termites in a house, naming them “time eaters.” Syd wanders off from the group and bumps into her younger self, who ironically asks for a drink. Syd explains to the younger Syd that she is her in the future.
Meanwhile Cary, has been oblivious to all of these time shennigans and finally one of the demons catches up to him, and he quickly discovers something is amiss. He's transported into David's safehouse. He bumps into Switch and she warns him about the time eaters. He recognizes her as the one who's been messing with time and tries to help her break out and escape the house which is beset by them.
David, who is talking with his mother before she even is pregnant with him, is trying to give her advice and warn her about her future husband’s, which is also his father’s, fate. He warns her not to let her future husband leave for a business trip. She shrugs this off as him just being insane. In an emotional scene, he begs her to remember this as it pretty much will save his life and mental state. He's confronted by the two time demons.
Meanwhile, Farouk transports himself, Kerry and Clarke into a realm called the Time Between Time, accessing it using the Astral Plane, in order to hunt the demons in their nest. They exist through a series of still paintings, each painting a sequence of actions. Meanwhile Cary and Switch escape the safehouse and Cary is able to make contact with the Vermillions and Ptonomy who remained behind. In a very Matrix-esque idea, Cary uses a pay phone to request extraction. Switch comes along.
Syd is busy having drinks with younger Syd. (By the way, we've now seen Syd in three stages of her life at this point). Young Syd asks older Syd, what exactly she is. Older Syd explains some of her power. "Getting to be a tourist in someone else's body". Young Syd describes to older Syd of her first time having sex, but sadly it was against her will. Older Syd then tells her younger self that she will fall in love one day, describing how it was good for a while, but then turned bad.
At the end of their conversation, younger Syd asks if they can hug, wondering if they can without switching places. Younger Syd cautiously leans in to hug her, squeezing her tighter upon realizing they don’t switch places. However, when older Syd tries to pull away but can’t, held in place by her younger self’s grasp, we soon learn this whole time that younger Syd was an trick and has been a time eater this whole time.
Meanwhile back at the David's safe house, Lenny is looking for Salmon, who's seemingly in a spate of horrible timing, is giving birth. Time seems to warp heavily as Salmon suddenly disappears and time lapses, leaving Lenny watching her daughter quickly age and go through her entire life in the matter of a minute. By the end, Lenny is left broken on the floor next to a pile of her daughter’s ashes.
Back with Division 3, Farouk and the others finally engage with the time demons in flip book style combat while inside the Time Between Time. They seem to do rather well but are soon outnumbered. David is caught in a loop trying to even approach two of them. Defiant but stuck nonetheless, he eventually remembers just what he can do, igniting one of them on fire and sending the other back to its home. This causes the time eaters that were attacking District 3 to back off. David then finds Lenny laying on the hopscotch squares on the road, still in mourning, David tries comforting her but she asks to be left alone because she needs to experience her emotions and grieve. David then goes off to look for Switch, however, his groupies inform him that Cary was there and left with her. He feels as though she'll be easily turned to Division 3, then uttering one word. "War."
Cast and characters[]
Main Cast[]
- Dan Stevens as David Haller
- Rachel Keller as Sydney Barrett
- Aubrey Plaza as Lenny Busker
- Bill Irwin as Cary Loudermilk
- Navid Negahban as Amahl Farouk
- Jeremie Harris as Ptonomy Wallace
- Amber Midthunder as Kerry Loudermilk
- Lauren Tsai as Jia-Yi/Switch
- Hamish Linklater as Clarke Debussy
Guest Starring[]
- Stephanie Corneliussen as Gabrielle Haller
- Vanessa DuBasso as Salmon
Co-Starring[]
- Margaux Brooke as Eloise
- Dan Cathcart as Dora
- Pearl Amanda Dickson as Young Syd
- Rachele Schank as Vermillion #1
- Gia Berberian as Violet (age 7)
- Jaidan Jiron as Violet (age 17)
- Alexis Bloom as Violet (age 35)
- Cynthia Levin as Violet (age 55)
- Eve Sigall as Violet (age 85)
- Yukina Takase as Acolyte #1
- Gloria Cole as Acolyte #2
- Takaya Abdou Lloyd as Acolyte #3
Trivia[]
- Noah Hawley explained in an interview on The Wrap that the pre-widescreen clip from the pilot episode of Legion's fellow FX show The Shield was included because he wanted to give the audience the same feeling as Vick Mackey.[2]
Episode Transcript[]
Gallery[]
To be added