Chapter 23

​**"Chapter 23"** is fourth episode in the third season of *Legion*, and twenty-third episode overall.

## Plot

The opening scene is Ptonomy Wallace, 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... (Cue the X-files music)

We then move to Lenny who's playing 'mother' to one of the pregnant woman we met before, "Salmon". They ponder on what to name their new comer...to which Lenny remarks they could name her another 'fish name'. Implying that many of the people in their following/entourage are creations of Lenny's. 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 Jai-yi emerge. Yi's lip is bloodied... This scene loops again and again, until Jai-Yi, realizes something's wrong, not in her control.

Back at Division 3, they too are experiencing the phenomina 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 snap.

David is before his students (groupies) and he asks for an explanation as to what happened with Jai-yi, and their planned temporal attack on D3. Jai-Yi explains that the method they use to travel through time, the hallway, also houses demons. (We can assume that one such of these demons is what was reaching out to Ptonomy and the others at D3). 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. It's then that Lenny pushes back against David's serene calm, and passive response to the news. She tells him to try harder and enough with the self praise and dignified approach. This disturbs David, but he tells Jai-Yi that he needs to try her time travel once more. It's here when the lights dim and the three of them, David, Lenny and Jai-Yi are approached by two of the aforementioned time demons. (It seems the constant time travel done by Jai-Yi has let some into our our realm.) They move in a series of frames and are ontop 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 D3team, is explaining to them the situation and about the time demons, relating them to termites in a house. 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 Syd.

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 'safe house' (only a relative term at this point). He bumps into Jai-Yi and she warns him about the time demons. 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 the demons.

David who is talking with his mother, before she even is pregnant with him, is trying to give her advice and warn her about his father's fate. He warns her not to let her husband (his father...) leave for a business trip. This is what we saw happen last episode. 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, Cary and Clarke, transport themselves into a painting...where time doesn't exist, shielding them from the demons. They exist through a series of still paintings. Each painting a sequence of actions. Meanwhile Cary and Jai-Yi 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. Jai-Yi, 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 (or...reminds her I suppose) of her first time having sex, but sadly it was against her will. They hug it out.

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 is yanked away, and Lenny is with the baby in various times in her life. Lenny is presented with different scenes of the girl turned woman is taken up to her death bed and finally a pile of ash... This seems to break Lenny mentally, surprisingly.

Team Farouk meanwhile finally engages the time demons in flip book style combat. 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, and channels his inner Rashomon and ignites one of them on fire and sends the other back to it's other demon friends. This causes the demons that were attacking Team Farouk to back off. Lenny though is still in torment, asks to be left alone...so David goes off to look for Jai-Yi. His groupies, tell him that Cary was there and left with her...David is not...happy. He feels as though she'll be easily turned to Team Farouk's group...he utters 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
* Hamish Linklater as Clark 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.

## References

1. ↑ Legion - Episode Title: (#304) "Chapter 23" - futon critic
2. ↑ ‘Legion’ Showrunner Explains That Out-Of-Nowhere ‘The Shield’ Clip and What a ‘Time Demon’ Is - The Wrap
​