Legion premiered this past Wednesday, and, even though there’s are SHIELD and LEGO Batman Movie reviews I have yet to write, I couldn’t not talk about Legion. It’s…it’s something.
So this is just a quick little review of the first episode. I most likely won’t be doing weekly reviews, but I think I’ll do a review of the season as a whole once we get to the end.
In case you’ve been in the dark until now, Legion is the X-Men franchise’s first foray into television. It’s a bit fuzzy at the moment as to whether or not this fits somehow into the increasingly confusing X-Men movie timeline. From the first episode, it seems like it’s its own thing.
Legion follows David Haller, played by Dan Stevens, a man who’s been confined to an insane asylum after hearing voices in his head and attempting suicide. While inside, he hangs out with a fellow patient named Lenny (Aubrey Plaza) and falls in love with Syd (Rachel Keller), a girl who refuses to be touched. When David decides to steal a kiss from Syd, everything basically goes bat-crap insane…and that’s all I can tell you about the story. Go in dark if you have the chance.
If you’ve already read another review or two on Legion, what I’m about to say won’t be news to you. The series has such a unique visual style. From the production and costume design, which are gorgeous mashups of the 1960’s and the not-too-distant future, to the cinematography and editing, which are awesome, confusing and horrifying at the same time. It’s really unlike anything I’ve seen before, and chances are you’ll walk away thinking “What did I just watch?”
But the best thing I think I can say about this first episode of Legion is that it didn’t tease some season-long mystery to get me fully on board for the remaining 7 episodes. The episode wraps up in a way that made me feel like I had just watched a complete story, a story with a beginning, middle and end, and I really like that. If this first episode was initially presented as an hour-long, standalone short film, I wouldn’t complain about loose threads or anything. But we are getting 7 more episodes, and what gets me hyped for what’s to come is David. Stevens does a fantastic job at capturing David’s fears and insecurities, and I’m looking forward to seeing him and the other characters develop over the rest of the season. Now, there are questions that you may be asking once the episode ends, and it’s not bad at all for other TV shows to use season-long mysteries to get you hooked for the next few episodes, but Legion doesn’t use them as its main draw and it’s a really refreshing change of pace.
Obviously, Legion’s off to a great start. Hopefully, it can be consistently great. And confusing. It’s confusing as all get out. And I sort of love it.
Noah
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