‘Legion’ Has Hit Peak Insanity and Greatness With Its Silent Episode

Legion, a show about a mutant with multiple personalities that had a Bollywood-inspired musical number in its pilot, is weird. Over Legion’s first four episodes, we’ve seen Aubrey Plaza transform into the worst best friend ever, a man called “The Devil with Yellow Eyes” terrorize our protagonist, multiple people switch bodies, and characters literally traveling into subconsciousness. It’s a crazy show that never worries about holding back. However, Legion just cranked its madness up to 11 in one of the most musically innovative episodes to ever grace television. Legion “Chapter 5” spoilers ahead.

Like Noah Hawley’s other series Fargo, Legion has developed an interesting relationship with sound. Every episode has featured a memorable musical moment that can be described as simultaneously misplaced and perfect for this gorgeously abnormal series. When I was first watching “Chapter 5”, I thought that moment would be David’s (Dan Stevens) rendition of “The Rainbow Connection.” It’s certainly a memorable scene and one that deserves to be appreciated. Clad completely in white and strumming a banjo while trapped in his own psyche, in his own waxy, overly determined way David seems deeply unhinged. Rachel Keller plays her role as the horrified onlooker beautifully, both performances playing off each other to reach their maximum creepy potential. I thought this would certainly be the high of “Chapter 5.” I was wrong.

The madness starts when David unintentionally leads Summerland (the “good” guys) and Division 3 (the bad guys) to his childhood home where he’s interrogating his newly rescued sister. As soon as they arrive, Ptonomy (Jeremie Harris) makes an offhand comment that they may become trapped in David’s psyche. If that’s the case, they’re in trouble because though everyone keeps claiming that David isn’t crazy, David is crazy. As if on cue, a high-pitched whistle is heard, and our heroes’ ability to speak is eliminated. The rest of the scene proceeds in deafening silence, with each character using exaggerated gestures and lip movements to communicate.

“It was difficult,” Jean Smart, who plays Melanie Bird, said in an interview with Decider. “We would do a scene speaking and then we would do a scene mouthing words, and some of it was just pure improvisation. Occasionally we had to help the people in the audience who aren’t lip readers.”

“That whole episode, we had a great director [Tim Mielants], and he just put a whole new energy into the show that was wild,” Smart said.

The resulting scene borrows deeply from horror movie conventions, reveling in its intentional silence for far longer than is comfortable. The episode makes you hold your breathe as both the show and its characters become dependent on David’s tortured mental state, and it’s clear that’s what this moment represents. At one point, a deranged Lenny (Plaza) even says, “No, this is not the talking place. This is the listening place” — a haunting sentiment when the characters downstairs are bound to silence.

Throughout this first season, there has been a lot of talk about how overwhelmingly powerful David is. This scene more than any other monologue, action sequence, or flashback demonstrates that fact. This is a character who is able to rip through the very universe of the show itself, and that should be deeply unsettling. On another, more creatively-focused level, it’s a testament to Legion’s greatness as a piece of art and sci-fi that the standout moment in an episode that includes countless disturbing deaths and mind sex is silence.

In my first review of Legion, I said that this would be the first superhero series that would make it through awards season. I stand by that claim, but I will add this. “Chapter 5” is the episode that should earn Legion that nomination. “Chapter 5” is far from a flawless episode. The fifth installment reveals more of the series’ weaknesses, from stilted and overly romantic line deliveries from Keller to the show’s dependence on big, explanatory monologues. However, this episode also shows Legion at its best. “Chapter 5” delivers breathtakingly great performances from Stevens, Plaza, and Katie Aselton all while flexing its production and sound design muscles. It’s a cohesive and intricate universe that shows how indisputably great superhero adaptations can be without talking down to their audiences (no offense to Jessica Jones or Luke Cage).

Throughout all of Legion, there’s been a sense that the series has been building to something. At least creatively, that build-up finally starts to pay off in “Chapter 5.”

Stream Legion on FXNOW