Legion series finale recap: Chapter 27

Three seasons of Legion draw to a close in Chapter 27. Timelines converge, heroes fade away, and Switch becomes supreme. We’ve got the series finale recap!

“Chapter 27” of Legion was written by series creator Noah Hawley (Fargo) and Olivia Dufault (Preacher). It was directed by Hawley and John Cameron (Friday Night Lights). As we see each iteration of the David (Dan Stevens) that we’ve come to know through the last 26 chapters, David starts to narrate. He’s the voice of Lessons in Time Traveling. We are at chapter zero. When we go back in time to change ourselves we are really eradicating the person we have become. But, if we don’t believe in change, we don’t believe in time.

As David pulls a glowing mace from his skull, his father, Charles Xavier (Harry Lloyd), pulls a glowing bullet from his and loads a gun. As they march together to battle Past Amahl Farouk (Navid Negahban), they pass Switch (Lauren Tsai). She’s in bad shape. The time traveling she’s done has taken most of her teeth and left her looking pulverized. She’s muttering “I want to stay up later” from a chaise lounge.

Present Perfect David

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David and Charles enter the battle only to find Present Farouk returned from the Time Eater world. He just can’t quit David. Present Farouk quickly addresses Charles and tries to apologize, but David goes straight for Past Farouk and they disappear into the astral plane. David has Past Farouk in the middle of circular door room. As the Davids start to emerge saying “We are Legion,” Past Farouk conjures up energy. He kills them one by one. It must be a busy day of collecting for Oliver (Jemaine Clement) and Melanie (Jean Smart).

The Davids start rushing Past Farouk and finally succeed in piling on top of him. But, Past Farouk gets the upper hand. He begins to torture David with words. David repeats his desperation mantra: “I’m a good person. I deserve to be loved.” In a creepily loving voice, Past Farouk says, “No you’re not.”

This causes David Prime to stumble. All of a sudden, he’s in a straight jacket and demoralized. Time for a song! David starts to sing Mother by Pink Floyd. The lyrics make eerie sense, especially when his actual mother, Gabrielle (Stephanie Corneliussen), joins in the song. David does have a lot of anger induced psychosis. His mom is always worried that she’s losing or has lost her mind.

As the solo starts, we see the Davids start to come back to life. He forces the straight jacket off of him. It turns out that Past Farouk was the straight jacket. That’s pretty cool. David finally has Past Farouk pinned. He starts to choke the life out of him.

Meanwhile, Present Farouk and Charles visit a brighter side of the astral plane. Charles shoots Present Farouk and draws a knife on him, but that’s not going to work. Present Farouk again apologizes to Charles. He explains that his past self drew Charles to this confrontation to dominate. That’s not power. That’s fear. Present Farouk would like to coexist.

Charles proposes that they do just that. Instead of breaking or changing aspects of the past, this is an opportunity to ask the past to willingly change the future. While Charles and Present Farouk are down with the plan, David and Past Farouk are not. David wants to change who he is and this version of David feels that’s achievable only through blood. Past Farouk considers Present Farouk to be soft and weak in his old age.

Present Farouk doesn’t use red velvet cake, but he offers Past Farouk his glasses. He shows him the 32 years of living inside of David. Past Farouk is profoundly touched. As he takes the glasses off, tears in his eyes, Past Farouk thanks his present self. Charles breaks David by apologizing for abandoning him as a child. He promises to be his father this time.

It’s settled. The fight between Charles and Past Farouk that separates Past Farouk from his body will never happen. He will not haunt David. Legion’s timeline is forever changed.

Time Eaters on Parade

It’s totally awesome that David changed the past and saved his soul. But in that past, Time Eaters are ready to end the world. Gabrielle is defending baby David while Syd (Rachel Keller), Cary (Bill Irwin), and Kerry (Amber Midthunder) are left to fight the Time Eaters. Cary mumbles about spaghetti, but comes up with a makeshift body armor. If Kerry absorbs Cary, it will create a person with two timestamps. That’ll give Kerry a few extra milliseconds to fend off the Time Eaters.

Cary is usually the one doing the absorbing, but Kerry is the grand master warrior. It has to be her topside. So when she absorbs Cary, it ages her rapidly. Well, it’s a mix of the absorption and the close proximity to the Time Eaters. Kerry mows down many Time Eaters, arthritis and all. Syd shot gun blasts a few more. But there are simply too many of them.

Meanwhile, Gabrielle believes she has finally lost it. Gonzo looking Time Eaters that move like strobing black holes plus Kerry merging with Carry convinces her. It’s a lot for anyone. You have to wonder what affect this will have on her in the future.

Switch for the Win

The Time Eaters reach Switch. She gets so scared that the rest of her teeth fall out. She quickly cuts a hole in time to the time hallway where she tries to rest. But the Time Eaters are there and getting ready for the kill. Switch rapidly ages and calls to her father, “Bedtime is here.” I felt so bad for her. She basically gave everything she had to try to belong to time and lost it all.

Just then, her Father shows up. He’s happy. He tells Switch that she has finally realized that she cannot master time. It is not a river. It is an ocean. He congratulates her on loosing all of her baby teeth. She rapidly reverse ages and gains newer, stronger teeth. They are still surrounded by Time Eaters, but her dad blows a whistle and tells them to be gone. Apparently, they listen to four dimensional beings like them.

Switch comments that her father’s screen is gone. They’d only ever spoken via a television. She thought he didn’t love her. He slyly replies that they both just needed time. He also says that she has shed her Earthly screen as well. He motions towards the bed and she sees her old body still lying there. He invites her to enjoy the discord of time untethered. But, before she goes, Switch wants to do something.

Syd and Kerry are about defeated. Switch shows up, blows her whistle, and The Time Eaters vanish. She has saved Syd, but her past has been altered by David’s changed past. Before Present Syd fades away, she’ll have time to do one more thing. That ends up being a small make up talk with David over the crib of Baby David. Before they fade away, Syd tells David to be a good boy.

After Syd and David literally fade away, we’re left with Charles and Gabrielle. David is back to being a baby. There will be no Farouk possession. But, in the beginning of the episode, David mentions that your past self doesn’t predict who’ll you’ll be in the future. But, it’s a pretty good indication. Gabrielle is not well. The choice of the song Mother is a little foreboding that David may end up on a similar path to the one that he’s just lived out. Charles, who has professed an interest in teaching, may be busy with X-Men exploits. Past Farouk may be a fail-safe, but, this isn’t the happiest of endings. It may just be the best one our heroes could salvage.

What did you think of the Legion series finale? Is David in more trouble than he ever was? Let’s discuss in the comments!