The Wires Chris Partlow looks around him and sees an organization getting used to things being a certain way, and with that the first creep of indiscipline and. Bravo to Stephen Amell for tonights fearless, haunting performance of Oliver at his darkest, most shocking low. A fourletter word that can have a huge impact. MerriamWebster defines it as a verb that means to make more pleasant or bearable improve, relieve. Legion recap Season 1, Episode 5. Legion does a lot of things well. Thats a no s statement, but I think its worth talking about more specifically after an episode like Chapter 5. That is to say, after a startling, great episode of television like Chapter 5. How is it that every time we dip back into the show, it feels new and exciting, but with the undercurrent of the story that weve been following for the past five weeks Lets try to work through this together. The shows technical merits have been clear from the pilot, which could be stupidly reduced to weird for the sake of weird, but theres too much artistry and emotion behind every choice. Theres nothing as visually or structurally inventive on TV. The colors are bright and used in interesting ways. I imagine the colorists for every Marvel Studios movie weeping as they tune in masochistically. Its all one building, but the weekly reintroduction to it and the path we take to the familiar parts of it are totally fresh. That stuffs been obvious for weeks, so I want to talk about creating moments. There are examples of Legion being really, really good at this, but since were talking about Chapter 5, lets dive into Melanie Byrd and Co. Its gross and surprising and horrifying and cinematic and unexpected. There arent many creators on television who would have the restraint to keep a big, violent action scene off camera. But the bold move has a purpose. If we stick with David and the Devil riding shotgun in his head, theres still going to be a part of us that thinks, You know whatI know that David seems to be at least partially controlled by a disembodied entity of evil, but he just trapped that D3 guard in asphalt. Thats awesomeInstead, we get a simple visual, but one thats built on a reaction. Since Davids return from the astral plane, Syd has been slow to see the transformation thats clear to Melanie, but its hard to blame her. Shes previously talked about her concept of what her body means, that her identity is not intrinsic to her form, which is a helpful way of processing her powers. But that also has to be incredibly alienating. As we learn this week, she was driven as a teenager to steal her mothers form in order to lose her virginity. That fact that she can experience intimacy inside her own skin is an enormous privilege for her, one provided entirely by her man, as she describes David to Melanie. To have Syd find the aftermath of Davids violence, possessed or not, throws all of that intimacy into question. Forget what she knows about Dr. Poole something she was able to do easily enough earlier in the episode. This is next level. Opening yourself up to someone completely can be the best part of life, but it comes with its risk. By that I mean, your man might vaporize some mercenaries with flashy flamenco moves, inadvertently exposing the literalized demon hiding inside of him. NEXT The lovers, the dreamers. The Wire Recap Season 4, Episode 4, Refugees. Chris Gbenga Akinnagbe runs the muscle for Marlo Stanfields West Baltimore drug trade, but, like Slim Charles did for fallen kingpin Avon Barksdale, he adds the value of a sense of proportion and history. Marlo Jamie Hector, otherwise sober and circumspect, is feeding a gambling habit, which Chris reminds him is getting expensive. When Marlo ends a business meeting at the rim shop by suggesting that Chris might need to kill his poker nemesis if Marlo keeps losing, the distaste in Chriss eyes recalls Slim Charles response late in Season Three when Stringer Bell Idris Elba arrogantly ordered him to kill a state senator whod picked his pocket. Slim Charles Anwan Glover bucked at the sloppy logic. He buys a bottle of water and baldly swipes two lollipops in front of the markets security guard Phillip Burgess, who rubs his head and follows Marlo out to the sidewalk to exercise some self respect, summing up the point of the confrontation by declaring, Im here. You want it to be one way, Marlo repeats until Chris arrives to fetch him, but its the other way. Marlo salves the sting of his loss by commissioning the murder of the security guard, a deed Chris and his partner Snoop execute with all the enthusiasm of co workers slogging through busywork they know doesnt have to be done. After they finish disposing of the body via their usual strategy, boarding it up in a vacant row house, Snoop holds up the guards shiny badge like a pelt. Irritated at the immature gesture, Chris tosses the souvenir away. Snoop misses the notoriety stripped by their covert and anonymous methods, prompting her to sheepishly admit, The trouble with doin it this way, disappearin em and shit nobody knows. Marlo views his running poker match as a sort of tutorial, a way to glean strategic wisdom from the older players in contrast to Mayor Royces card game, in which the invited fundraisers grudgingly throw hands so the mayor can have some extra walking around money to put on the street come election day. During one high stakes hand, Marlos chief rival gently taunts him about his youthful taste in cars, instructing him to use his potential winnings to buy a Lincoln Town Car so he can ride around with dignity. Marlo loses the pot but maintains his resolve. Bubbles Andre Royo, a heroin addict and honest entrepreneur, is acting guardian for Sherrod Rashad Orange, an eighth grader who hasnt been to school for three years. Bubbles convinced Sherrod to go back so he could learn math to help Bubbles run his business selling convenience items out of a shopping cart, but Sherrod is ill prepared for the schoolwork and already skipping out in the first week. When Bubbles asks the assistant principal, Marcia Donnelly Tootsie Duvall, whether Sherrod can go back a few grade levels to make up for missed time, she explains how the system works in overcrowded public schools where maintaining control is the primary goal, telling him flatly, Your nephew has been socially promoted. At night, Sherrod pretends to do homework by candlelight in the vacant room they share without electricity, trying to play off a dictionary and an algebra book as study companions. Bubbles goes along for the moment, feigning, So you read from the small one and answer questions in the big one but hes starting to see the futility of his efforts. Cutty Chad L. Coleman, an ex con with a boxing gym, is trying to get Michael, who hangs around the perimeter of the gym with his buddies fooling with the heavy bags and such, to train seriously as a boxer under his tutelage. When one of the boxers fails to show for a sparring session, Michael asks if he and a friend can get in the ring for one round. Cutty concedes, on the condition that Michael spars with Cutty instead, telling him over the jeers of his friends, Im a show you as gently as I can how much you dont know. Michaels sunken look quickly turns to relish at the opportunity like Marlo who overrides Chriss objections to his poker losses by acknowledging, Learning them ways requires some patience, Michael knows he has to be willing to take the occasional beating to get where he wants to be. Later, Cutty takes Michael and another young aspirant from the gym to a night of prizefights and sits between them pointing out the subtleties of the game. Afterward, when Cutty drops off the other boy at home and prepares to do the same for Michael, Michael bolts from the van, claiming over Cuttys protests, Im good from here. Michael may be ashamed to let Cutty see where he lives, but Chris and Snoop are keeping close tabs on Michaels home life at the behest of Marlo, who sees in Michael the makings of a future drug dealer. From a distance, they watch his front door in the early morning as the adult male of the household drinks on the stoop while a woman bitches at him. After school, Michael walks his third grade brother home, sets him up with a snack and gets him started on his homework with words of encouragement while the adults bicker over control of the remote. Chris and Snoop, meanwhile, go looking for him at Bodies corner, where Michael once worked as a runner. Bodie JD Williams, an independent dealer who is strong armed into joining Marlos fold, tells Chris that Michael was just a temp working off a debt and wants to know why theyre asking about him. When Bunny Colvin Robert Wisdom, a retired policeman participating in a research project on juvenile violent behavior, walks down the hall at Edward J. Watch Goblin Online (2017) there. Tilghman Middle School where Michael and Sherrod attend, a sixth grader passes him without a second glance and announces, Yo, he police. Roland Pryzbylewski Jim True Frost, himself a former cop who is now a math teacher at Tilghman, fares no better at hiding his association with the police. On a Monday morning, he attempts a discussion with his class after agonizing all weekend over how to delicately frame an incident where one girl cut another girls face in class on the previous Friday, a useless gesture given the kids regular exposure to violence. The intended lesson dissolves completely when one of the students tells the others that Prez was a cop, at which point they all demand to hear details of Prez shooting someone, deriding his protests that police work is about more than carrying a gun and still unaware that he left the force after mistakenly killing an undercover cop. Or, as Deacon Melvin Williams puts it, A good church man is always up in everybodys shit. Thats how we do. This justification responds to the suspicions of Cutty, who, though not a churchgoer, is a regular recipient of Deacons inside dope on job openings in the community. Watch Young Guns II Online'>Watch Young Guns II Online. This time Deacon comes to the gym itself given legs through Deacons political connections on his way to Sunday services to tell Cutty, who is still landscaping as a day hire, about a union wage job as a sort of custodian at Tilghman. As when Deacon brokered Bunnys role as liaison for the violent offender study, he lays out the terms with a hint that the position has already been arranged and isnt merely a suggestion. When his handlers get too obvious with the Afro centrism, Royce offers in exasperation, You want me to start wearing dashikis, go all Marion Barry and shit His closest opponent in the race for mayor, City Councilman Tommy Aidan Gillen, isnt expecting many black votes, but those he gets he knows will likely come from the affirmation of the pulpit, so he visits an interfaith council of ministers to make his pitch. His campaign team sees the trip as misdirected energy, but Carcetti holds firm with the backing of his deputy campaign manager, Norman Reg E. Cathey, who allows, At least they get to see a beggin ass white man on his knees. Always a feel good moment for the folks. Even the drug dealers defer to the church on certain grounds.