it tends to draw out your worst qualities. alex wasn't a bad person inherently, but he was kind of a dick sometimes, so this was magnified into frankly murderous aggression
several of the operator's appearances in the series itself aren't even "appearances" - they're the characters hallucinating it, but it seems to have the same effect as if it was actually there
it's also worth noting that several characters - most notably jay and alex - are in staunch denial that the operator is affecting them adversely in any way
even though to the outward observer...no jay, constantly taping your every movement and being unable to sleep and hallucinating tall men without faces is Not Normal
one character makes it through the series by uh...more or less having their memories of their encounters with it and all the related people/conversations they had in that time Fuckin Erased
Yeah. I'm thinking Legion comes out of the dreams physically fucked up with some minor corruption and a lot of missing memory and some very worrying indicators about where it went.
also me: looking at this like a fucking asshole
legion: what
legion: what