David and Farouk head towards the mortal remains of the Shadow King, each with their own agenda. But who can David trust to help him against an enemy who can read the thoughts of anyone they choose?

Last time out, Legion tested the patience of even myself, an ardent fan of the show and its format. This instalment is a little less impenetrable, but won’t be the sort of thing that wins over new viewers or the undecided.

What is does do is give us a little more in the way of movement after what feels like far too long spent introspectively navel-gazing at a standstill. David has made his choice – he will find the body of Farouk and destroy it before the Shadow King can resurrect himself. The only slight issues in his way are that he’s not strong enough to do it alone, he can’t tell anyone else his plan for fear of Farouk plundering their minds to see him coming, and he doesn’t actually know where it is.

Having solved the last of those issues thanks to some assistance from an unexpected source, he then just needs to find a way to get assistance – the way in which he does so is one of those things where the show just asks you to go with it, but also not the most outlandish thing that the show has attempted. Unfortunately for David, at least one part of this plan backfires on him.

Meanwhile, Farouk knows where to head, but of course, those who buried the body of the Shadow King were not foolish enough to assume a simple hidden location in the dirt would suffice. Knowing where the body is and reaching it are two very different things – Farouk seems fairly confident that he knows how to turn the one into the other, so David would appear to be starting from a disadvantage. Then again, Farouk is still accompanied by Oliver, who may well have the odd trick left to play.

Elsewhere we get a little insight into the origins and purpose of Admiral Fukyama, which manages to add some flesh to the bones without destroying the mystique of the character. Lenny is still, tragically (to my mind) not getting much to do, but Plaza acts the hell out of every second of screen time that she’s granted. This episode’s ‘moral lesson’ focuses on the ‘most terrible assumption of all’ and is another engaging bit of cod-psychology which seems as much designed to reference the world around us as it does to advance and explain the narrative of the show. It’s another thing that may start to test the patience of the audience, coming over as more than a little preachy and holier-than-thou, though whether that’s what the writers intend or not isn’t clear.

By the time the episode wraps up, we may not feel a whole lot further forward in one way, but in another a lot has happened. It’s pulled back from the level of self-indulgence that was on display last time out, but it does really feel like the team behind this show are really intent on pushing their luck in every sense. Whether that luck will hold remains to be seen.

Verdict: Still very much retaining my interest, this won’t be dragging sceptics over. Legion has always been a dense, heavy show but it’s really testing the limits of that impenetrability. I still have the faith, but I can see where a third series may very much not be in the offing. 8/10

Greg D. Smith