Legion Television Series - Review
Apr. 17th, 2017 10:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatJust finished watching Noah Hawley's adaptation of Legion from the Chris Claremount and Bill Sienkiewicz Marvel comic creation.
Legion in the Marvel comics is the only son of Professor Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Heller. In the comics, David Heller, aka Legion is conceived while Charles Xavier is in Israel at a clinic helping Holocaust survivors. Gabrielle is somewhat insane due to the Holocaust. They have an inappropriate romance, and David is conceived. Gabrielle declines to tell Charles about his son. David develops his talents when he fights off an Islamic Terrorist group, killing all of them, and saving lives, but unfortunately he was telepathically connected to the group when they died, and now they are all inside David, and he develops dissociative personality disorder as result. Each personality had a different aspect of David's talent. And there is about a 100 of them, hence the title "Legion", which is taken from the biblical reference. No, the writers aren't literally referencing the demon "Legion" -- the Marvel Comics steer clear of Christian mythos for the most part, due to a fear of pissing off readership. So, it's a metaphorical reference only. (Sorry.) The comics being comics, get a bit convoluted regarding the Legion story arc, to the point in which the character was a tad unwieldy. At various points they tried to incorporate him into a team, New Mutants, and later X Factor, but it was impossible, because Legion has god-like powers and is insane. The reader's suspension of disbelief can only go so far, even with comic books.
Legion is often pulled out as a plot-device. Whenever they want to screw with Xavier, or the time line or reboot it, up pops Legion. Scarlet Witch was later utilized for the same purpose. She survived it better.
In the comics, Legion at one point is possessed by a villainous entity known as "The Shadow King", who fought the X-Men various times before. The Shadow King is a wickedly cool X-Men villain that pops up frequently. He is pure psionic energy and can possess anyone, feeding off of negative emotions and negative thoughts, also emphasizing those thoughts and feelings. He's the ultimate shadow self or dark side of the soul -- in this case Xavier's Shadow. Xavier is the most power telepath on the planet, the Shadow King is his alter ego. Which was why he was a great villain. Albeit somewhat one-dimentional, there are no redeemptive qualities to the Shadow King aka Amal Farouk. So he's no where near as interesting as say Magneto. When Legion is possessed by him, he's at the Muir Island Psychiatric Clinic under the care of Xavier's one-time love, Moira McTaggert.
That's the comic books. The television series veers sharply away from the comics in various ways.
Actually the only things it appears to keep from them are -- David is a mutant, his father is probably Charles Xavier, and he gets possessed by Charles old nemesis, The Shadow King. Outside of that, everything has been changed. And it is a huge improvement on the previous story. Hawley, being a television writer, manages to condense the mythology and story arc, pulling out the interesting bits, and getting rid of the unnecessary ones. The X-men comics and Marvel in general, were always highly character centric, more so than DC in my opinion. They often jump off and give you insight into non-powered human characters, and there's a Citizen Kanesque or Watchmen feel to the proceedings, particularly the comics that were written post 1984, when Watchman, Sin City, The Dark Knight, and Marvels popped up on the scene. If the only comics you ever saw where in the 1960s-70s, you don't know comics. They evolved in the 1980s, and kept on going. The storyline/plot did suffer a bit though from one too many writers, and reboots.
So this series feels like a breath of fresh air. And it also is reminiscent of the original intent behind the character of Legion, expressed in the limited comic series of the same name. (Which I only vaguely remember. I read it, but I read it in the 1980s or 1990s. And did not hold on to it. But what I saw on tv did sort of remind me of it in bits and pieces. Along with a lot of other things. Hawley references a lot of old sci-fi television series and movies in that series. And in some cases improves on them.)
I was wickedly impressed by what Hawley accomplished here. The casting is pitch perfect. I love Dan Stevens as Legion. He manages to pull you into the story, if it weren't for Stevens, I don't know if it would work. Helps that Hawley's writing is on target. Hawley weaves a surreal tale that skirts the line between science fiction, psychological horror story, and superhero comics. It's really not until the end that he falls into comic territory, and it still works. He manages to play homage to where the story originated, yet still provides a completely new and innovative take on it. I don't think anyone else has quite managed that to date.
The use of the Shadow King as a villain works on various levels, for one thing, this villain can leap from host to host. Another, you can have more than one person portray him. And metaphorically -- it's rather brilliant, both as David's shadow self, and the dark edge of his powers. Also in a way, a metaphor for us and our world, the Shadow, the part we don't want to look it. And -- he may unite the humans and mutants -- since he poses a greater threat. The villain has a long and twisted back story -- and acts as a catalyst for bringing David's biological father into the works. (Since this story does not take place in the same universe as either the comics or the movies, they could easily bring in Daddy and just have someone else play him. Although I'm having troubles picturing anyone more adept than Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy. They also have the ability to bring in other X-men characters.)
Rachel Kellar's Sydney, reminds me a lot of the Rogue character, who absorbs others powers and can't touch anyone. Syd is more interesting, because she switches bodies when she touches people. Just can only do it when she's in her own body. Hawley establishes rules or limits for everyone's powers. The only one who may not have limits is David aka Legion. We'll see.
The world feels like an odd hybrid of the 1960s/70s and 80s. I'm guessing it takes place in the 1980s, but a more advanced version of the 80s. The music is the 1960s. I want the soundtrack.
The character of Oliver is clearly stuck in the 1960s, so this probably is the 1980s or 90s. Which is prior to the Marvel movies, and around the same time as X-Men movie reboot, even though both take place in another universe.
So much going on here to ramble on about. And it's bed time. Way past. Anyhow, I loved it. Wish there were more episodes. Will definitely be hanging about for S2, assuming the Doofus doesn't find a way to kill us all first.
Overall rating? A.
Highly recommend, especially if you are a fan of the British series The Misfits, The X-men, and Noah Hawley's writing. You don't have to be a fan of the comics though, most of the power I know who loved it at work, don't know zip about the comics nor would be caught dead reading them.
Legion in the Marvel comics is the only son of Professor Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Heller. In the comics, David Heller, aka Legion is conceived while Charles Xavier is in Israel at a clinic helping Holocaust survivors. Gabrielle is somewhat insane due to the Holocaust. They have an inappropriate romance, and David is conceived. Gabrielle declines to tell Charles about his son. David develops his talents when he fights off an Islamic Terrorist group, killing all of them, and saving lives, but unfortunately he was telepathically connected to the group when they died, and now they are all inside David, and he develops dissociative personality disorder as result. Each personality had a different aspect of David's talent. And there is about a 100 of them, hence the title "Legion", which is taken from the biblical reference. No, the writers aren't literally referencing the demon "Legion" -- the Marvel Comics steer clear of Christian mythos for the most part, due to a fear of pissing off readership. So, it's a metaphorical reference only. (Sorry.) The comics being comics, get a bit convoluted regarding the Legion story arc, to the point in which the character was a tad unwieldy. At various points they tried to incorporate him into a team, New Mutants, and later X Factor, but it was impossible, because Legion has god-like powers and is insane. The reader's suspension of disbelief can only go so far, even with comic books.
Legion is often pulled out as a plot-device. Whenever they want to screw with Xavier, or the time line or reboot it, up pops Legion. Scarlet Witch was later utilized for the same purpose. She survived it better.
In the comics, Legion at one point is possessed by a villainous entity known as "The Shadow King", who fought the X-Men various times before. The Shadow King is a wickedly cool X-Men villain that pops up frequently. He is pure psionic energy and can possess anyone, feeding off of negative emotions and negative thoughts, also emphasizing those thoughts and feelings. He's the ultimate shadow self or dark side of the soul -- in this case Xavier's Shadow. Xavier is the most power telepath on the planet, the Shadow King is his alter ego. Which was why he was a great villain. Albeit somewhat one-dimentional, there are no redeemptive qualities to the Shadow King aka Amal Farouk. So he's no where near as interesting as say Magneto. When Legion is possessed by him, he's at the Muir Island Psychiatric Clinic under the care of Xavier's one-time love, Moira McTaggert.
That's the comic books. The television series veers sharply away from the comics in various ways.
Actually the only things it appears to keep from them are -- David is a mutant, his father is probably Charles Xavier, and he gets possessed by Charles old nemesis, The Shadow King. Outside of that, everything has been changed. And it is a huge improvement on the previous story. Hawley, being a television writer, manages to condense the mythology and story arc, pulling out the interesting bits, and getting rid of the unnecessary ones. The X-men comics and Marvel in general, were always highly character centric, more so than DC in my opinion. They often jump off and give you insight into non-powered human characters, and there's a Citizen Kanesque or Watchmen feel to the proceedings, particularly the comics that were written post 1984, when Watchman, Sin City, The Dark Knight, and Marvels popped up on the scene. If the only comics you ever saw where in the 1960s-70s, you don't know comics. They evolved in the 1980s, and kept on going. The storyline/plot did suffer a bit though from one too many writers, and reboots.
So this series feels like a breath of fresh air. And it also is reminiscent of the original intent behind the character of Legion, expressed in the limited comic series of the same name. (Which I only vaguely remember. I read it, but I read it in the 1980s or 1990s. And did not hold on to it. But what I saw on tv did sort of remind me of it in bits and pieces. Along with a lot of other things. Hawley references a lot of old sci-fi television series and movies in that series. And in some cases improves on them.)
I was wickedly impressed by what Hawley accomplished here. The casting is pitch perfect. I love Dan Stevens as Legion. He manages to pull you into the story, if it weren't for Stevens, I don't know if it would work. Helps that Hawley's writing is on target. Hawley weaves a surreal tale that skirts the line between science fiction, psychological horror story, and superhero comics. It's really not until the end that he falls into comic territory, and it still works. He manages to play homage to where the story originated, yet still provides a completely new and innovative take on it. I don't think anyone else has quite managed that to date.
The use of the Shadow King as a villain works on various levels, for one thing, this villain can leap from host to host. Another, you can have more than one person portray him. And metaphorically -- it's rather brilliant, both as David's shadow self, and the dark edge of his powers. Also in a way, a metaphor for us and our world, the Shadow, the part we don't want to look it. And -- he may unite the humans and mutants -- since he poses a greater threat. The villain has a long and twisted back story -- and acts as a catalyst for bringing David's biological father into the works. (Since this story does not take place in the same universe as either the comics or the movies, they could easily bring in Daddy and just have someone else play him. Although I'm having troubles picturing anyone more adept than Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy. They also have the ability to bring in other X-men characters.)
Rachel Kellar's Sydney, reminds me a lot of the Rogue character, who absorbs others powers and can't touch anyone. Syd is more interesting, because she switches bodies when she touches people. Just can only do it when she's in her own body. Hawley establishes rules or limits for everyone's powers. The only one who may not have limits is David aka Legion. We'll see.
The world feels like an odd hybrid of the 1960s/70s and 80s. I'm guessing it takes place in the 1980s, but a more advanced version of the 80s. The music is the 1960s. I want the soundtrack.
The character of Oliver is clearly stuck in the 1960s, so this probably is the 1980s or 90s. Which is prior to the Marvel movies, and around the same time as X-Men movie reboot, even though both take place in another universe.
So much going on here to ramble on about. And it's bed time. Way past. Anyhow, I loved it. Wish there were more episodes. Will definitely be hanging about for S2, assuming the Doofus doesn't find a way to kill us all first.
Overall rating? A.
Highly recommend, especially if you are a fan of the British series The Misfits, The X-men, and Noah Hawley's writing. You don't have to be a fan of the comics though, most of the power I know who loved it at work, don't know zip about the comics nor would be caught dead reading them.
no subject
Date: 2017-04-18 07:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-04-18 05:20 pm (UTC)Agreed. I haven't seen a better comic to movie/television adaptation. The closest may be the Netflix television series Daredevil and Christopher Nolan's The Dark Night. Most of it, goes too far one way or the other...losing something in translation, and rarely improves on the source material.
LEGION not only translated it well, but improved greatly on the source material. Makes me want to see what Hawley would do with the rest of that universe.
no subject
Date: 2017-04-18 03:26 pm (UTC)The whole season was like an archeological dig into the human mind, sifting through memories like so many remnants of clay pots, trying to assemble a picture of the "real" David Haller.
The more outlandish the visualizations, the more I liked it: the musical numbers, the bizarro mindscapes, Oliver literally chilling on the astral plane--all of it kept me off balance for the length of the season, since I was never quite sure what was "reality"....
Which is why I felt the finale was a slight letdown.
I don't really like the idea that David is "cured". Cary's magical halo isolates Farouk in David's brain, setting Shadow King up for Syd's "what I did for love" gambit. David and Kerry/SK run at each other at top speed, and whammo blammo, the season is over. Considering the wild visual inventiveness of the previous episodes, it seemed rather... pedestrian.
Now, I'm pretty sure Hawley meant it that way, doing a straight up action scene as a contrast to the psychotropic antics of the rest of the season. But those antics are why I watch the series. I don't want David going into Season 2 confident and clear-headed, the damage from Farouk's influence a minor annoyance on the road to superhero glory.
(Again, to be fair, David has the great speech in the finale about how thinking that you're cured is when the disease really has you.)
One of my favorite sequences of the season was when the team was trapped in the Clockworks simulation, and Lenny was psychoanalyzing them. Their superpowers were explained away as metaphors for real-life illnesses: Cary and Kerry's codependency; Ptonomy's fixation on the past; and (of course) Syd's fear of intimacy.
And what about David? In the simulation, he's misdirected into thinking he's bipolar, but the metaphor applies to him, too. David is technically a schizophrenic, Farouk or no Farouk. He hears voices in his head, and the normal boundaries of time and space seem to be meaningless to him. The kicker is that all of these conditions are OBJECTIVELY REAL as far as Melanie and her team can determine. David constructs his own realities, but he's not mentally ill.
Or is he?
Does it make a difference?
Isn't what we see as reality a construct, anyway?
And that's where the promise of Season 2 lies for me. Not the conflict with Division 3 (because... meh), but how far down the rabbit hole David will take his world and the audience.
We all live in a world we agree is real--but what if someone had the power to break our view of reality itself?
no subject
Date: 2017-04-18 05:11 pm (UTC)Two things, quickly:
I seriously doubt that David is cured. He spent his entire life with the Shadow King and the name of the series is LEGION. So big mislead. There's a lot of misleads in the series. At one point, it's hinted that he has different personalities, when one pops up speaking a British accent, possibly a reference to his father.
I'm guessing from the above that you didn't see the last five minutes of the episode, that happened after the credits rolled, and after the commercial break?
S P O I L E R
David and Syd are standing on a the deck. A little flying circle device, like something out of the Prisoner meets HAL 2001, scans David, and then teleports him into the device and flies off with him screaming.
While Syd is frantic.
PS, apparently you can post from email to DW, which is a HUGE improvement over LJ, which forbid such things.
no subject
Date: 2017-04-18 05:29 pm (UTC)The bit with David arguing with his rational mind was just a cute way of letting Dan Stevens use his natural British accent in the series. (They even copied a joke I once saw on House; David tried to do a British accent and Rational Mind said it sucked.) So I don't think that's an alternate personality.
Still... Good point. Where is the "Legion" part of LEGION? How will Hawley bring it into the narrative?
When does S2 start?
no subject
Date: 2017-04-18 05:42 pm (UTC)It also looks like technology that Professor Charles Xavier would use, via his alien gal friend. Whose name I can't remember at the moment.
Not sure if you've watched Hawley's other series, "Fargo", but he sort of has a similar take on the absurdness of reality that the Waschowski and the Cohen Brothers do. In which our reality is patently absurd, and causal.
Legion reminds me a little of The Matrix -- in that the mundane world of Clockworks and the insane asylum is in reality a cover for fantastical -- that there are psi or mutants out there with psi talents, patently dangerous, and evolved. And Clockworks is the human government's way of dealing with them, studying them and keeping them under wraps. Also similar to various other sci-fi series, where the hero is kept in a mental institution but isn't actually insane.
Except, I think that Hawely is subverting that conceit. Assuming he's following the comics at all in this respect, and I think he is...at least to this degree, which is David's question to Syd, " what if I'm actually insane? You are assuming I'm sane. That it's just my powers. What if it is both?"
That was always the frightening and fascinating thing about LEGION. He'd have moments of sanity...but the fact that he was always on the verge of losing his mind and with it control --- was well, a great metaphor for our current world situation and the situation of the world in the 1980s, when he was created. Back then as is true now...is the fear that a crazy person has his finger on the button of the bomb.
LEGION in the comics had moments of rationality. But...over time, it was slowly revealed he wasn't and had multiple personalities. Now, they may scale back on that a bit, because it's a little unwieldly. But Hawley doesn't strike me as the super-hero team sort. And from what I read he asked to explore Legion, because he was fascinated by the psychological angle, of the fact that you had a superpowered being, who was not evil, just mentally ill due to various external factors.
no subject
Date: 2017-04-18 06:00 pm (UTC)I totally agree about David's precarious mental state. Melanie thinks David's not crazy--it's just that his particular mutant powers make everybody think he's crazy.
Well, why can't it be both? The idea that David could crack and be the apocalyptic menace that makes Division 3 soil themselves gives this series some real tension beyond the standard superhero faceoffs.
ETA: I have Fargo S2 queued up on DVR. I'll let you know what I think.
no subject
Date: 2017-04-18 06:19 pm (UTC)Also keep in mind that what attracted the writer to the series is the idea of the unreliable narrator, a device he also uses in Fargo.
Melanie is highly unreliable -- consider her relationship/grief regarding Oliver. Not clear what her abilities are. She reminded me a lot of the White Queen, Emma Frost, actually. And her insistence along with Syd's that he's not insane...feels unreliable. How could he not be? SK has been playing with his head for over 30 years. In essence he has two fathers, Xavier and SK. SK may be out of him, but he left an impression. Also SK is still out there...not gone, and in Oliver, who Melanie won't let go of.
I'd be curious if they bring in the Sh'iar and Xavier from that angle...no one has tackled that in television or film to date. They just do Xavier and Magneto, or Xavier and Logan.
And David is a world-breaker, he can literally rewrite reality.
no subject
Date: 2017-04-18 06:24 pm (UTC)Hee, just in time for S3 to start. S2 had it's moments, but I liked S1 better. The characters were more relatable in S1 for some reason. S2 was a little slow.
I'm about to finish watching The Expanse, which is an interesting space opera. Not sure yet.
no subject
Date: 2017-04-18 06:42 pm (UTC)And apparently...the Doctor Who spin-off, CLASS, has started on BBC America. I missed the first episode. Not sure if I'll catch it. May not matter, since it got cancelled and won't make it to a second season.
no subject
Date: 2017-04-18 07:02 pm (UTC)Doctor Who has had bad luck with spinoffs lately. I thought Torchwood would be on forever, especially after Children of Earth (s3), but the Miracle Day miniseries apparently killed it permanently.
Sarah Jane Adventures would still be running if Liz Sladen could've beaten cancer. She was the perfect lead for a kid-friendly Whoniverse show....
no subject
Date: 2017-04-18 07:52 pm (UTC)Agreed. I'm not sure if I ever caught Miracle Day. There just was too much time in between series. Doctor Who has a similar problem...they do one episode now a year, sometimes six. After a while you forget about it.
no subject
Date: 2017-04-18 08:20 pm (UTC)But S10 is under way now, Peter Capaldi's last as the Doctor. I like the new companion, and there are new mysteries.... Although (show runner) Steven Moffat hasn't had a great track record resolving season-long mysteries...
no subject
Date: 2017-04-18 10:35 pm (UTC)That said, I may try the new episode, it's DVR'ed. Because I never cancelled the series from my DVR.