Legion’s First Episode Reviewed

Identity Crisis?

♦Tripwire’s Senior Editor ANDREW COLMAN took a look at the pilot episode of FX’s new mutant show Legion, created by Fargo’s Noah Hawley…

Legion Chapter 1
Director: Noah Hawley
Stars: Dan Stevens, Aubrey Plaza, Rachel Keller
FX

A great deal of thought has gone into the making of FX’s new series – an effort, showrunner Noah Hawley claims, which will break the mould of super-hero convention and tropes, effectively blending Breaking Bad style psychodrama with comic-book bombast.

Legion, adapted from various Marvel titles featuring a recurring mutant character with multiple, often opposing personalities, was a brave if somewhat foolhardy move from Hawley, who had already impressed with his almost transcendent long-form version of the Coen brothers’ classic Fargo. The problem with bringing such an offbeat “character” into a far more straightforward, broad and demanding medium like television, is that he has to be more than a plot device, or gimmick. After all, he has scores of entities in his psyche, all jostling for position, all with their unique take on reality and individual super-powers. He’s the focal character in the series, yet has no focus. And as is the way with verite television seen from the protagonist’s perspective, we have to endure a series of Aphex Twin style flashbacks before we experience something vaguely linear.

The program comes across like a pop-culture stew, all overbearingly referential – David Haller (Dan Stevens), a mutant with telekinetic abilities, is diagnosed with schizophrenia in his early 20s and consequently incarcerated in a psychiatric unit, where he meets other equally charismatic inmates. The opening montage of his fledgling years, set to a soundtrack laden with Floydian analogue synths (just in case you weren’t aware of the theme) recalls The Watchmen, only at breakneck pace. From there it’s Kafka crossed with One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, where our grinning hero, heavily monitored and sedated, meets Syd Barrett (Rachel Keller), a beautiful yet standoffish inmate who immediately becomes his gigolo aunt, I mean girlfriend.

As Syd’s also a mutant and confidant she too becomes part of his endless cerebral overdrives, all interrogation at the hands of various inquisitors (mainly Hamish Linklater), whirling, abstruse shadowplays, the odd throwaway meme, quaint flashbacks with retro furniture and clothes, and eventually (you do have to wait) a denouement. Without giving too much away, David swaps minds with Syd, escapes yet doesn’t, then does, and so forth. Essentially Legion realizes that he is not insane and everything falls into place.

Hawley was an ace with Fargo, but that show was an ensemble anthology that didn’t need to reinvent the wheel, but only enhance it – which it did, brilliantly. If there is a criticism of his new project, apart from the obvious aforementioned “unreliable narrator” angle, it’s that everyone involved is trying too hard. Granted, this is only the pilot, and there are seven episodes to go in this first season – yet you do wonder where everything can go from here. The opening saga was all about unlocking the mystery of his turbulent, confused, multifaceted mind, which should’ve been a tour de force if it hadn’t felt the need to shoehorn blind alleys and perfunctory supporting players into the err, narrative. There’s Aubrey Busker’s Lenny, who, despite all the androgynous, theatrical underpinnings, is a baffling turn that is meant to shine a light on Haller’s situation but merely ends up as yet another dispensable cameo. Apparently her character is meant to be Bowie-influenced, for what it’s worth.

Which brings us back to all those sly and knowing references to other films, shows, songs and eras. It’s not as if this hasn’t been done well on countless U.S. television series before, but splicing it with inherently lightweight melodrama (Legion the character may be many things, but he’s still pulpy and four color) is a tough ask. The opener did show promise in places, and its ambition is more than self-evident.

Westworld, for what it’s worth, had a similar remit – to mess with our heads while inverting a genre, and still manage to provide extensive food for thought. It rewarded viewer patience and succeeded admirably, becoming (at least for me) the best series in recent memory, although it had the advantage of having measured pace and a top-draw script. Hopefully Mr. Hawley will surprise us with something that is both left field and absorbing like the mavens at HBO.

Legion is on now on FX in the US and on Fox in the UK

Legion www.tripwiremagazine.co.uk