Division 3 says Bring it! 

At the end of last episode, David decided he’d had enough from Division Three, and announced, “It’s war.” Well, he wasn’t kidding. Chapter 24 is a brutal episode with several deaths. Now, with this show in particular, it’s always possible some of them might come back. Then again, when you know you only have three more episodes after this one, you can afford to thin out the cast. There will be some spoilers below.

The episode starts off with a heavily armored and protected bus, complete with outriding motorcycle guards. This is David’s first point of call, and he’s not coming to play nice. After killing several guards, David confronts Daniel DeBussy, one of the Division’s higher-ups. Daniel makes some claims about his training allowing him to resist David’s powers. David has an answer for that, and it’s both creative and ugly. Suffice to say, by the end of this, David gets what he wants and Daniel isn’t the same man he was before.

David goes back home, to the odd house his cult lives in. He gets swarmed when he arrives, and isn’t in the mood. David is looking for Lennie, who is the best backup he’s likely to have in a fight. However, after what she went through last episode, Lennie is much changed and not really interested in David’s needs. He takes out some of his frustrations on the fawning cult members. David really is becoming unhinged quickly, living up to the villain expectations the Division is hanging on him. There aren’t a lot of good ways to thwart someone as powerful as David, but Lennie finds one and leaves him behind, saddened, a bit confused, and with a lot less impressive of a fighting force. Switch has what I think is a flashback, although it can be hard to tell on this show. There’s some odd staging with another video-dinner with Daddy as she hears more odd pronouncements over her headphones.

Division Three has come up with a way to, they hope, hide Switch from David. Most of them like this plan, but Farouk is disappointed. He really seems to want to fight David, which I can’t imagine is a good plan even if they end up being of similar power levels. Cary comes up with another precaution, which Kerry loves, and Farouk dismisses, calling them an “army of cowards.” Clark is dealing with some bad news that hits him personally as he looks at some home movies in his room. Not at all pleased with the decision, Farouk reaches out to David, and, as far as I can tell, dares the powerful mutant to come get them and shares roughly where they are. The Division makes various preparations, and then David arrives. He has a short conversation with an enemy turned ally turned foe, and then kills them. Kerry gets into an long fight that she really should have done better in. Ptonomy takes control of the ship, but I can’t see what good it did anyone.

David goes to see Syd, in what has to be the most emotionally wrenching part of this for him. They have a long conversation about Farouk’s betrayal, changing the past, and David being nigh-impossible to stop. A lot of this is a pretense, and Syd pulls a desperate move to try and defeat him, or at least buy some time. Syd goes for help, and comes in at the end of Kerry’s fight. Syd has a plan, but it’s really high stakes and Kerry is less than sure about it. There’s some confusion about how to execute it, and Syd gets another surprise. Kerry tries to do what was asked of her, but it’s too little and, more importantly, too late. No one comes out of this part of the encounter too well.

David moves on, hunting for Switch, and finds Farouk instead. A lot of things happen quickly, and Farouk ends up someplace he might have some trouble getting back from. The episode ends with a musical number, and hey, being dead doesn’t stop you joining in for this one. After the song, David shares a new plan with Switch, and they leave, with her power showing a much different effect than before.

What I liked: If nothing else, they made some bold choices here. Some of the cast won’t be around for the finale, barring resurrections. The Division did the best they could with what they were up against, and it might have worked if it wasn’t for Farouk. I did say earlier in the season that trusting him was a bad idea. David’s way of dealing with Daniel was clever, if brutal. Syd’s plan wasn’t a bad one, all things considered.

What I didn’t: Kerry should have done better in her battle for several different reasons. I don’t get what Ptonomy’s big move was supposed to accomplish, aside from taking him and the Vermillions out of the fight. If David is this powerful, causing this much trouble, and we’ve established Charles Xavier exists and is powerful in his own right, where’s he in all this?

I’ll give this a 3 out of 5 just on general weirdness. I suspect next episode will involve some major changes.