25 of TV’s messiest meltdowns

David explodes the kitchen — Legion

The FX series may technically exist in the X-Men Universe, but it doesn’t have much else in common with it. It does, however, feature metahumans, and David is among the pre-Xavier mutants we meet. He has a set of superhuman abilities, one of which is the ability to move items around with his mind.

In the pilot episode of the first season, David becomes particularly agitated in his sister’s house. David hears and sees things, and as the non-linear structure of the episode reveals, he’s suffered from this for a long time. As the voices and hallucinations grow, the items on the shelves and counters begin to shake and levitate. Soon, things are flying out of cabinets, shooting out of drawers, and crashing across the room. Meanwhile, David stands with his hands clutched over this head, trying to get control of himself.

David winds up in a psychiatric hospital, and the show goes from there. This particular meltdown is stress-related, and boy can we relate. The more frantic he becomes, the more plates go a-flying. Can you imagine if this was a real thing? You could brain Aunt Karen with the gravy dish when she says something racist, or break the kid’s recorder in two on his 17th attempt of “Good King Wenceslas.” However, you’d really have to watch yourself after a few cocktails because things could get as ugly as David in that kitchen.