SERIES REVIEW – The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been going around and slapping DC around in the Box Office, and with Netflix on the TV front. It seems that Marvel is unchallenged in the world, and nothing can be done against it. However they lack one franchise that is still with FOX, and that is the X-Men brand, aka Logan and the wacky adventures of the mutants. So with a now recently announced X-Men series in the works it was time to sit back, and enjoy another X-Men TV series, though only in the name of the character does it have a link to the franchise – welcome to the world of Legion, or… worlds?

 

The show will consist of eight episodes, and the showrunner for this season will be Noah Hawley (creator of Fargo (The TV Series)) and stars Downtown Abbey actor Dan Stevens as the titular character. We take a look at the first debut episode of Legion which runs for 68 minutes. Is Legion going to set the world one fire, or should Fox just give back the X-Men license? Find out here!

Fear and Loathing in The Mind

David Haller (Dan Stevens) aka Legion does not have an easy life. We are shown his early days as a young child, then the show progresses showing him growing up, and all the while becoming more unhinged going down a deep rabbit hole of mental illnesses. Voices in his head are starting to make him go mad, and if that was not enough strange things happen to him, and to the people around him. After trying to commit suicide, he sent to Clockworks Psychiatric Hospital where he spends the next six years in the facility, up until he meets with a new patient Sydney Barrett, who he falls in love with as soon as he sees her.

Although she ends up being weird by not allowing anyone to touch her physically. They date, and for a few weeks all goes well, but then suddenly Syd is allowed to leave the facility, which causes a one final moment with a kiss between the characters. From that point on all hell breaks lose, and everything that we have seen so far is not what it seems.

Haller is an unreliable narrator, that is how we can describe him the best. Everything is shown from his perspective, and all of the characters can be questioned about their existence when watching this show. It is not really about whether X or Y is dead, but rather how Haller’s mental instabilities question his own sanity, and events.

Sure there is some form of powers involved within the series, but it is not flashy, and over the top. It is not even similar to the Netflix Series, but it is probably one of the most restrained Superhero shows out there. The influence to me looked like Utopia that aired in the UK, the visual theme, and psychological thriller theme is similar to that series.

The themes and visuals as mentioned above are very stylized and work for the series to differentiate itself from most of the recent Marvel and DC /CW. The closest the series is to in style is Fargo, but with an added touch of mystery, psychological thriller, and super powers. The final action scene in the series is well crafted, but some of the visuals felt in that sequence low budget. Most of the scenes other than that, however, were on point and felt high quality. It is not a show of huge laser fights, and long melee combat fights like Daredevil. This might disappoint some, but for me, this is a perfectly new idea for a Super Hero TV series.

Another One Please

The first episode of Legion was fantastic, and while some of the effects were not the best. Still, it is one of my new favorite Thriller shows, and hope the quality keeps up. If the shows are successful, we might see a version of Charles Xavier, but first, the show needs to prove itself on its own. Let’s hope it will be able to survive in the current climate of Television shows.

-Dante-