This week I’ll be reviewing FX’s new show set in the X-Men universe, Legion. Based on the popular series of Marvel comics, Legion introduces audiences to David Haller, a troubled young man struggling with mental illness, his love life, and the fact that he may or may not be the most powerful mutant in the world. By the end of the pilot episode, that last bit has landed him in quite a lot of hot water, but the journey to get there is full of fun twists and spectacular visuals. Superhero fan or no, it won’t take the average viewer long to realize there’s nothing else like Legion on TV right now.
Right off the bat, we’re introduced to young David Haller, watching his face as he ages from precocious child to rowdy, troubled teen to genuinely disturbed adult. As his surroundings become more chaotic - over the course of the montage, David goes from being ridiculed by grade school classmates to causing mayhem in a convenience store parking lot and being shuffled into the back of a cop car - the smile slowly fades from his face. As mischievous childlike glee turns into world-weary melancholy, David grows more dejected, until finally he slips an electric cord around his neck and attempts to end it all. Barely two minutes in the audience already knows what it needs to know - David is troubled and he’s sick and tired of whatever’s causing it. The story catches up to David a little while after that. He’s been institutionalized after his effort to end his life, and an “incident” at the facility where he was being held has landed him in an interrogation room. His mild-mannered interrogator prods him to share more about his institutionalized life, and we get to learn more about David’s routine. How he used to think he could make things happen with his mind, but he’s much better now, thanks. How his only friend in the asylum is an irreverent, musically-inclined chatterbox named Lenny. And how his group therapy sessions suddenly got much more bearable with the arrival of Sydney, a similarly troubled girl with an aversion to touch. As David apprehensively discusses his life, flashbacks show us his world. It’s clear that he struggles to differentiate between fantasy and reality. Is he imagining conversations with Sydney or blurting them out? Did he really levitate everything in his room or just hallucinate as he smashed things until the staff sedated him? It also soon becomes clear that the Interrogator is not completely reliable either. As their talk continues, it becomes apparent that the Interrogator and his staff are after something, and that David may be caught up in a war he didn’t even know was being fought. Downton Abbey alum Dan Stevens is electric as David, skillfully conveying his vulnerability and his (at time literally) explosive anger. Director and series creator Noah Hawley also shines, finding trippy visuals and interesting shots that show off David’s powers and his reality-blurring perspective. The episode clocks in at an hour and a half, but for this reviewer it passed in the blink of an eye. Legion is must-watch TV that will truly blow your mind.
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