'Legion' Episode 1, Season 1 Review: "Chapter 1"

Image from Den of Geek

By Darian Scalamoni

            FX has been upping their ante over the last few years, so much so that I could say with confidence that it’s one of my favorite networks currently for television. Part of the reason why is due to the series premiere of their newest original series that has the network dive into the superhero genre for the first time ever with Legion. The first foray into X-Men and the comic book genre for Noah Hawley has turned out to be another interesting venture. Hawley is also behind another fantastic FX series, Fargo and though these are two completely different types of programs, you can see why he’s officially solidified himself of one of the best figures in television today.

            Legion follows a man named David Haller, who is played by Dan Stevens, who truly believes that he is a broken individual. After being told this for now what seems to be years of his life, we try to figure out how he got there. The show opens with an opening montage to “Happy Jack” by The Who as we chronicle the transformation from his jubilant youth to his current state in a mental hospital on his birthday, or what he refers to as “the 260^th Thursday as a passenger on the cruise ship Mental Health.” The cynical nature of Haller is obvious due to routine of being strapped down by the system of a mental institution that labels him as one who hears and sees imaginary things. We soon discover that Haller is the way he is because obviously in an X-Men universe, he must be a mutant and these are just some of his abilities. The institutional design that confines Haller is a larger-than-life layout of walls and colors that makes it seem like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest on an acid trip. Similar to how the audience could feel when watching this series premiere.

            The show is all over the place in terms of time loops, flashbacks, visions and super heroic action, this is done for the audience to see the show from a similar perspective as David is just as blind to knowing what is actually going on before he meets the love of his life, Sydney. Haller refers to his love interest as Syd and soon discovers why her own reasoning for being in the mental hospital might be just as important to why he’s in there in the first place. Syd is played by Rachel Keller, who was in Season 2 of Fargo as Simone Gerhardt and she propels the rest of the ensemble cast around her fun and enigmatic personality that is brought to fruition when Haller asks her to be his girlfriend. The psychedelic show also has another lead character in the ensemble in Aubrey Plaza’s Lenny who is drug-addicted and is brilliantly casted in a show that is filled with mysterious and intriguing characters right from the get go.

            What the show does brilliantly is put you in a hallucinated state for just enough that it makes you longing for more once the first chapter of this story wraps up. The show is dense and has many layers of story but it’s important to remember that the show is unconventional on purpose and though things seem weird at first, the frustration and confusion begin to subside as the episode comes to a close. The final reveal at the end of the episode truly gives you and David Haller a better sense of reality when meeting Jean Smart’s character of Melanie Bird who seems to be the “Professor X” of the show going forward.

            The show is so special because it turns the superhero genre on its head. With the world being oversaturated with “heroes” and the comic book genre from Netflix to ABC to The CW, it’s nice to see an original show that is wholly unique, has stunning visuals and provides a great look at one who deals with mental health. The first episode was a tremendous kickoff into a new series for FX that will immerse viewers into a fresh product and try to learn more about the mutants as the weeks continue for Legion.

10/10