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 07:52 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.