While the third episode of Legion added astral projection and teleportation to David Haller’s seemingly endless list of powers, the best revelation of the episode was actually what sets them off. During mind work (therapy for the superpowered), a therapist’s appointment, an afternoon spent getting high on vapor, a telekinetic outburst after a fight with his girlfriend, and a robbery are all connected as David’s memory of one specific day.
Melanie and Ptonomy rewind and rewatch the memory with David trying to figure out what set off his telekenetic outburst so he can better control his powers. But when Ptonomy gets to a certain point, he feels blocked by David, like he can’t rewind the memory anymore. As David insists he’s not resisting Ptonomy, the Devil with the Yellow Eyes appears in the kitchen. Though the Devil with the Yellow Eyes is visible only to David, Melanie and Ptonomy soon feel his presence as the kitchen doors slam shut on them, which is impossible since this is a memory and the kitchen doors never actually slammed shut.
While this incident would normally garner a much more cautious approach, David insists on speeding through his mind work because Division 3 is actively torturing his sister as he’s learning to control his powers.
Melanie insists on sedating him for the second foray into David’s mind. Since they’ve yet to see the Devil with the Yellow Eyes, they think it’s David unconsciously blocking the memory. While the drugs do make David pliable, they forgot to factor in what actually happens when David gets high. The flashback in which we see him do vapor (to quiet the voices in his head) is immediately followed by two fights: one between his best friend and his girlfriend and the other between David and his girlfriend. The stress of the situation combined with David’s lowered, drug-addled inhibitions triggers David’s powers: boom, telekinetic explosion in the kitchen.
What happens when the stress David is experiencing comes from inside his own mind rather than the outside world? A much darker and more terrifying power is unleashed.
Melanie, Ptonomy, and Sydney are immediately split up during the second foray into David’s mind. Sydney chases after a scared young David — what’s left of his consciousness after the drugs — after his memory starts to tear itself apart with scary things that never actually happened. Hands rip through walls of his house, an illustration of the Very Angry Boy from the creepy children’s book comes to life, and the Devil with the Yellow Eyes chases them through the house.
While David subconsciously saves Sydney and Ptolemy by ejecting them back into the real world, the Devil with the Yellow Eyes lures Melanie to David’s childhood bedroom. After letting her read enough of The Very Angry Boy to arouse suspicion, the Devil with the Yellow Eyes slams the book shut, breaking her hand in warning before throwing her out of David’s mind.
In the real world, Melanie’s hand is fine and she — along with Sydney and Ptolemy — is awake. But David is still under sedation, and the drugs are not only leaving the Devil with the Yellow Eyes unchecked, but they’re also bringing David face to face with all the voices in his head.
We’ll have to wait till Episode 4 to see if David can quiet those voices without the aid of drugs or his friends. Hopefully, in the meantime, the Devil with the Yellow Eyes will keep its powers to itself rather than cause another hospital explosion like the one that killed Lenny.
