To truly enjoy Legion, FX’s newest Marvel show, one must make a giant leap of faith. This mind-bending, psychotic joyride, unlike any superhero television show we have encountered, is possibly the weirdest story to come to life on the small screen (so weird that Netflix’s The OA feels like a sitcom in comparison).
Talking dead people, a dreamy Bollywood-inspired dance sequence, subtle and spooky violence, a platonic love story, long moodscapes underscored by rock anthems are just some of the distinguishing features of this bold and twisty genre TV show.
Legion tells the story of David Haller (played by Dan Stevens of Downtown Abbey fame). According to comics legend, Haller is the son of Professor X or Charles Xavier (if you know your X-Men, you’ll remember he’s the head of the mutant school) and a powerful mutant with telekinetic and telepathic abilities.
But that’s about where Legion’s relationship with the comic book ends. Creator and showrunner Noah Hawley (who also directs the first episode) takes the character and makes it his own, just as he took the Fargo film from the Coen brothers and made it his own esoteric and otherworldly series.
In the show, Haller, diagnosed with schizophrenia at a young age, is a patient at a psychiatric hospital called Clockworks, very Kubrick-esque in its look and feel. Haller soon meets and starts dating new patient Syd Barrett (Rachel Keller), her name a nod to Pink Floyd’s co-founder, himself a rumoured schizophrenic and a heavy user of hallucinogenic drug LSD. The relationship is Haller’s key to unlocking the mystery behind his tortured mind, and his first clue that his sickness might actually be super powers.
The events that follow do not strictly take place in the real world, but is a jolty, crazy and completely disorienting ride through Haller’s mind, to the point where we’re not even sure if Barrett is a real person. In the comic books, Haller also has multiple personalities; and in the TV show, it is, as yet, unclear if that trait has been carried over. Our only clue is the Devil with the Yellow Eyes, a disgusting and scary looking, pear-shaped monster, who appears every time Haller loses control, is violent or feels suicidal.
In an impressive casting decision, Aubrey Plaza plays Lenny Busker, Haller’s androgynous, drug-abuse patient, best friend at the mental hospital. She dies in the very first episode (not a spoiler), but you don’t just cast someone like Plaza and kill her off immediately. She’s set to return in consecutive episodes, even if it’s all just in Haller’s head.
The show is also very deceptive about its time period. While the retro hues and clothing imply the ’70s, the architecture and surroundings look modern. But mobile phones are also conspicuously missing. So, we’re entirely in the dark there.
There are plenty of connections to the X-Men world, too. The word ‘mutant’ is mentioned in the very first episode. In what can only be an Easter Egg pointing to Charles Xavier, Haller is shown in a wheelchair for a brief moment. Barrett’s mutant ability is that if someone touches her skin, they switch minds (a throwback to X-Men mainstay Rogue?).
It’s difficult to say if Legion will be able to hold on to many viewers. Because unlike Netflix shows that you can binge-watch over a weekend, sustaining interest over eight weeks for a complicated, non-linear storyline that likes to work with alternate realities AND mental health at the same time seems like a herculean task.
But it’s safe to say that comic book fans are definitely in for a treat here. Combining slick action scenes (that don’t seem unnecessary and forced) with heavy emotional and thematic undertones, and creating rich, layered and troubled characters, Hawley has created a product that’s truly unique, but at the same time very in tune with X-Men’s values and themes — of dislocation, identity crises, the journey of finding your true place, and fighting against discrimination. A fight that most of the world can identify with right now.
Don’t miss it!
Legion airs in the UAE on Fox on beIN every Thursday at 10pm.
