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As the last scene of Season 1 Episode 5 in Legion

we see that none of the events of the show are real, and that all the characters are members of the group therapy session. If what we see in that scene is reality and the entire show takes place in Sydney's imagination, can we interpret that these patients inspire the story?

Up to that point we see the characters having mutant powers. Are any of these powers foreshadowing the alternate truth? Do they represent any kinds of specific mental disorders?

Are there other events related to powers in the show, for instance the zone of silence, that specifically are there to represent a mental disorder or a mechanism of therapy?

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  • I think we should wait until the season 1 is over so we can ask these type of questions, since this series has a lot of plot twists and turnarrounds. I actually issued this here: meta.movies.stackexchange.com/questions/2677/…
    – Gustavo Gabriel
    Mar 15, 2017 at 14:32
  • So are you saying it's not actually the "last scene"? In that case, the question might deserve some clarification what episode's last scene it was then.
    – Napoleon Wilson ♦
    Mar 15, 2017 at 14:51
  • Are there more episodes? A character described the show as "a play in 5 acts" and at the end of the 5th episode the show looked DONE
    – Andrey
    Mar 15, 2017 at 14:59
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    This question isn't really about a future work, as much as a misunderstanding of an episode. (Which is good, because those question get terrible answers that are frequently wrong, based entirely on opinion, get stale and are never updated, and are abandoned by the OP soon after being asked. )
    – KutuluMike
    Mar 15, 2017 at 15:18
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    "Of course there are, there is a new episode every week" To be fair, the first season is only going to have 8 episodes total.
    – phantom42
    Mar 15, 2017 at 15:32

1 Answer 1

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That's not the end of the show; there are 3 more episodes for the first season. The phrase "A Play, in 5 Acts" is just a mild joke relating to how theatrical performances are usually described, it doesn't literally mean 5 episodes.

The scene you're talking about is itself most likely a hallucination. Remember, David and Syd were in his astral plane space but the demon was attacking Syd. It's not clear if the hallucination is David or the demon's doing, but given the identity of the "doctor", it's most likely some kind of prison.

Having said that, it's also true that many of the character's powers do represent different kinds of psychological disorders or related issues. David's power is obvious and the connection to mental illness is made explicitly in the show. But these other powers also seem to have some psychological aspect to them:

  • Sydney's power means that she has an extreme phobia to human contact, which is called "Haphephobia"
  • Cary and Kerry's power can be interpreted as symbolic of manic depression: Cary is a calm, almost morose person who has a hyperactive, violent second person literally living inside him.
  • The Eye, who's power we're still guessing at, seems to be able to make people hallucinate.
  • Ptonomy's power involves memory recall, which is a common psychiatric treatment technique. (Ptonomy himself also has eidetic memory.)
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  • I think Carry and Kerry could also mean double personality, like david and the devil with yellow eyes.
    – Gustavo Gabriel
    Mar 15, 2017 at 15:32
  • possibly, but I think it would be odd to have two characters represent the same disorder. The fact that Kerry is hyper agressive is what makes me think of manic/depressive disorder.
    – KutuluMike
    Mar 15, 2017 at 15:34
  • The normal expression is "a play in 3 acts" Perhaps the 5 acts are episodes 4,5,6,7,8
    – Andrey
    Mar 15, 2017 at 19:24
  • A google search for the phrase as "5 acts" turns up a bunch of hits, so...
    – KutuluMike
    Mar 15, 2017 at 22:59
  • However, google ngram shows 5 acts almost non-existant, so I dunno why they said that.
    – KutuluMike
    Mar 15, 2017 at 23:01

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