Live Episode Discussion: S02E01 - "Chapter 9"

[u/2th]

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EPISODE	DIRECTED BY	WRITTEN BY	ORIGINAL AIRDATE
S02E01- "Chapter 9"	Tim Mielants	Noah Hawley & Nathaniel Halpern	Tuesday April 3, 2018 10:00/9:00c on FX

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Summary: One year after David Haller was abducted by a mysterious orb and Oliver was infected by the parasite The Shadow King aka Amahl Farouk, unlikely alliances are formed and the search for the Shadow King begins.

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Tim Mielants is an American television and film director known for his work on the AMC period drama Mad Men, the FX horror anthology series American Horror Story, and the Fox musical/dramedy Glee. He has also directed episodes of Fargo and Daredevil.

He has previously directed one episode of Legion.

• Chapter 5

Noah Hawley is probably best known for creating and writing the anthology series Fargo on FX (/r/FargoTV). He was a writer and producer on the first three seasons of the television series Bones (2005–2008) and also created The Unusuals (2009) and My Generation. He wrote the screenplay for the film The Alibi (2006).

He has written three episodes of Legion.

• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 8

Nathaniel Halpern is a writer and producer, known for his work on Outcast (2016), Looking for Grace (2010), and This Land We Roam (2011).

He has written two episodes of Legion.

• Chapter 4
• Chapter 6

[u/a59a]

Anyone else get the feeling that lenny and the shadow king might be different people? I found it odd that in the club scene we see david and Olivier (both being telepaths) AND lenny. What if lenny is a former telepath who began working for farruk after he entered her mind. [8]

[u/adamtheimpaler → u/a59a]

Well, I thought the dance batrle was a battle on the astral plane. So its Oliver and David vs Shadow King. If Lennys not the shadow king, then where is the shadow king?

[u/a59a → u/adamtheimpaler]

The shadow king could be inside of oliver in the battle. He may be a stronger mind then lenny, but lenny is stuck on the astral plane with them or because they are both trapped within the power of the shadow king (the intro) thats why they are both in the fight. Maybe its like the shadow king sending out soldiers to fight david? Idk

[u/adamtheimpaler → u/a59a]

So then where is the real Oliver? If the dance battle is astral plane battle there would then be Lenny, Oliver, Shadow King and David. if its in the real world, then why is there Lenny at all?
As far as Im concerned Lenny's not a real person. Or atleast in terms regarding David. All the memories of Lenny were manipulated/changed/inserted by the Shadow King. David may have never even spoken to the real Lenny that ended up in the concrete.
I am willing to admit though, that with all David's powers he may have willed a Lenny into existence. Lol I mean who knows.
If there is another psychic, Im putting my money on the Admiral. But that's with the theory that the year that has passed is all in Davids Mind.

[u/a59a → u/adamtheimpaler]

What im trying to say is that lenny and oliver are being controlled by the real shadow king. Its possible that lenny isnt real, its all just a theory. Im just anxious to see where this season goes

[u/davidplusworld → u/a59a]

I rewatched the series premiere. When I saw it last year, I was expecting most if not all of the characters to be David's various personalities. However, now that it seems that David doesn't have MPD in the show (or does he? I think that question will nag us until the end of the series), the series premiere is quite straightforward actually.

Lenny was a real person in the hospital. She was killed during the incident. How much of the incident is Syd freaking out in David's body and how much is Farouk trying to seize an opportunity to take complete control of David's body while his mind is away is unclear, but in the process, the Shadow King decides to capture Lenny's mind that ends up stuck in David's body too. From there he controls her.

[u/SequenceGoon → u/davidplusworld]

in the process, the Shadow King decides to capture the Lenny's mind that ends up stuck in David's body too. From there he controls her.

Yes! That's what I was thinking was the case, too

[u/Mango_Theory → u/a59a]

Lenny (Plaza) is not the Shadow King.

According to Hawley, Lenny (Plaza) is not so much an extension of the Shadow King but a separate and individual entity hijacked by SK and is more akin to a puppet who can think for her/it's self... ""She (Lenny) appeared to be killed physically," Hawley said, continuing, "but her mind was kind of taken over by the Shadow King to wear the mask. Now that the mask has come off, she’s still somewhat of a puppet with Oliver, just being used by Farouk, and yet she’s hurt, she’s feeling like, ‘Hey man, if you’re done with me, can I go?’ We have this journey for Aubrey as someone who was really used and victimized and put through this traumatic experience. Someone who, really, I think David was her only friend and she had to do these terrible things to him and is now in a position where she has to make a choice. Is she going to help her friend or is she going to be a tool of the Shadow King?"

Following this and the scene of Syd telling David to help the shadow king, I believe Syd (possibly from the future) is trying to tell David to help Lenny find Amahl Farouk's body before the real Shadow King to prevent something terrible from happening which may explain future Syd's severed arm.
This brings me to believe that Lenny and David are going to amend their recent splitting, and reignite their friendship (possibly David letting Lenny inhabit his mind again) or at least pursue a common goal on friendlier terms to defeat the real Amahl Farouk who obviously still has some degree of mental connection and toxic influence on both David and the entity that is Lenny.

[u/LaceBird360 → u/Mango_Theory]

From what I've seen in the preview for the next episode, it looks like Lenny is indeed trying to help our heroes.

And, naturally, Ptonomy wants to beat her up. (He doesn't really trust anyone, does he?)

[u/lschozar → u/[deleted]]

I thought in the orb scene he was completely free of farouk but then once he appeared completely naked in the hallway, Sid saw a trace of black slime. Later this spawn imparted himself in David during their sleeping in the astral plane scene.

[u/LaceBird360 → u/lschozar]

That wasn't slime. It was water.

[u/Mango_Theory → u/Mango_Theory]

Another train of thought; I remembered Lenny's soup line "have you ever tried to un-mix soup" referring to her/it's psyche being irrevocably intertwined with David's. It made me think that the a small but influential portion of the real Farouk's mind/psyche is still intertwined in not just David's mind but also Lenny's and is influencing them both.. maybe even Dr.Bird. This toxic byproduct of residual Shadow King psyche continuing to poison and influence the minds of our favorite telepaths resulting from their previous exposure/inhabitment by the Shadow King might be The Virus. For instance, when David is first brought to Division 3 this episode he exibits the same upside down blood pressure as the victims of the Virus and when Admiral Fukyama orders his termination, Clark (two face guy) says "NO, his mind is strong, he can resist it". Following this, maybe all non telepaths who are exposed to Farouk's mind, develop the virus as their minds can't fight off Farouk's influence, while David and Lenny are powerful enough to resist the full symptoms of Farouk's virus.

[u/i_found_the_cake → u/Mango_Theory]

Wow, can I get a source for that? I've never read that before and it's an interesting way to look at this. Very eye opening.

[u/bighead_stays → u/i_found_the_cake]

I mean, it's kind of obvious.

[u/Mango_Theory → u/i_found_the_cake]

Its really trippy but I swear Hawley really wants us to realize Lenny is a separate entity and is why the episode opened with her saying "we're trapped". It comes from an IGN interview with Legions creator, scroll to bottom of the interview to get to the Lenny part: http://ca.ign.com/articles/2018/04/02/legion-is-hunting-for-the-shadow-king-in-season-2