Legion: The Most Comic Book Show
Legion embodied the comic books by completely ignoring them.
Welcome to X-Month! All through February, Tastemaker will spotlight the Blackest, Queerest, and coolest superhero team: The X-Men.
Legion is a show that was cursed by coming out about five years too early. When the first season was released in 2017, we were still firmly lapping at the MCU teat. The formula was working and we were loving. Legion, by design, didn’t follow any familiar formula for live-action superhero storytelling. As such it was ignored by the larger population, which is a damn shame. Having finally watched all three seasons last month, I can safely say that Legion is the most comic accurate comic book show to do the damn thing.
Legion follows David Haller (a fantastic Dan Stevens), a man suffering from schizophrenia who may or may not be one of the most powerful telekinetic mutants on the planet. In the opening episode, David is in a psychiatric hospital with Lenny (Aubrey Plaza giving the performance of her life) and comes across Sydney (Rachel Keller, also fantastic. Honestly everyone is fantastic in this show). As their relationship develops in the pilot, David slowly starts to question if he’s actually suffering from mental illness or if the voices he’s hearing in his head are everyone else's. The pilot ends with a barn burner of an action sequence that sets the stakes for the show to come.
Ostensibly, Legion is Noah Hawley’s run on the character. He isn’t trying to simply adapt old New Mutants or X-Men Legacy issues (though there are some very fun nods throughout the show). Instead, he takes the core concept of Legion vs the Shadow King and brings it to life in a way that’s only possible through the medium of television. By taking that approach, Hawley essentially made the most comic book show to ever do the damn thing. It’s the cinematic equivalent of a 12-issue, prestige run.
Visually, Legion is one of the most impressive pieces of superhero storytelling put to celluloid. Every episode, from start to finish, has at least one set piece or shot that made me go “BITCH HOW?”
The shot composition is always on point and incredibly dynamic. The show blends its practical and The visual splendor is only enhanced by insane editing. From aspect ratio changes, frame rate shifts, leaps back and forth through time, the show does a fantastic job keeping you in David’s headspace.
It’s disorienting, but that’s the point.
One of the touches I enjoyed the most is that the series’ mutant team largely consists of characters created specifically for the show. There’s the symbiotic Loudermilk siblings (Bill Irwin and a breakout Amber Midthunder), memory master Ptonomy Wallace (Jeremie Harris), and the aforementioned Sydney who’s powers allow her to switch consciousness with whoever she touches. As the show was reaching its close I found myself wishing they would make their way to the comics universe as I’d love to see more of their story.
The world of X-Men has always been an allegory for the marginalized. Legion squarely places it’s focus on those who suffer mental illness and the neuroses that stem from trauma. Legion is at its best when it juxtaposes the ensembles incredible powers with their deep felt vulnerabilities.
At its core Legion is a show about people trying their best to navigate deep pain and come out the other side whole.
While the show is called “Legion,” it’s just as much Sydney’s story as it is David’s. While David’s origin story is the driving force of the plot, Sydney’s journey into self-actualization is the beating heart at the center. The way Rachel Keller’s performance evolves over the three season is honestly something to behold.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t spotlight just the incredible work of both Dan Stevens and Navid Negahban as Legion and the Shadow King, respectively. Stevens has the unenviable task of portraying a man with several different personalities all vying for control at the same time. The psychological and metaphysical journey Haller goes through across all three seasons is grounded by Stevens’s offbeat, likable, yet quietly menacing approach.
Negabahn is the perfect foil. His Shadow King is all confidence and no shame. This is a man who knows exactly what he is and happily owns it. Watching these two spar is consistently riveting, even through the midpoint of season 2 which gets a little lost in the weeds before going full send in the last two episodes.
With 27 episodes across three seasons, Legion is a fairly quick watch that comes to a satisfying conclusion. Most of the lingering questions are answered. If you’re a viewer who hates when a show zigs when it’s supposed to zag, you may not get jiggy with Legion. Though, if like me, you’ve grown a bit tired of the MCU/superhero movie formula, Legion is a refreshing change of pace. With blockbuster visuals, a stacked ensemble cast, and immaculate vibes, Legion is the superhero show that takes the kind of risks needed in order for the superhero genre to stay viable.
All three seasons of Legion are currently available to stream on Hulu.