Legion

*** some mild spoilers ahead ***

"What is your name?" Jesus asked.

"My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many." (Mark 5:9)

I hope you'll forgive me for starting this review by citing this (rather obvious) excerpt from the bible, but I just couldn't resist. Apart from these opening lines, I'll try to avoid any spoilers for the show, so you won't read anything specific about the storyline here. As with all my reviews, this is supposed to give you an overall impression of the show without giving away any details regarding the plot.

For those among you who, like me, love some of the slightly weirder superheroes out there (especially of the mutant kind and preferably in the X-Men universe) but feel most of those guys' screen outings so far were either constricted by the 2-hour format or held back by the need to appeal to mainstream audiences, I'm happy to report there is finally a full length TV-show that dares to fully embrace the craziness of its source material without taking any prisoners. The show's name is 'Legion' (and I'm already pretty sure its fans will be many), and compared to its central character David Haller, even Deadpool looks almost sane.

Following the storyline may seem a little difficult (at least at the beginning) for 'Legion' plunges us head first into the confused mind of its hero, and the narrative is - deliberately - often just as fractured as David Haller's personality. Right from the start this show makes it very clear how committed it is to convey its protagonist's unstable state of mind - and boy does it succeed: through David's eyes we experience an often terrifying (albeit colorful) world where we can never be sure what's real and what's imagined; nor can we get a grasp on where we are, when we are, or even WHO we are.

But this trip down the rabbit hole is well worth taking (even if it does turn into a horror trip at times) for it's a psychedelic ride that has been designed by very talented people. Creator Noah Hawley, who has already given us the excellent show 'Fargo', obviously knows what he's doing, and watching the show feels like listening to a perfectly composed concept album from a seventies rock band (btw, watch out for a cool Pink Floyd reference). The cast is terrific (especially Dan Stevens as David Haller); the visuals and the production design are a wonderfully weird mix of retro and modern elements which fits David's distorted perception of time and reality like a glove, and the mystery surrounding David as he desperately tries to cut through the haze and figure out what's going on will keep you glued to the screen throughout.

Insanity is a tricky subject to tackle, and the possible pitfalls are many; present it with too much levity and you risk the accusation that you're making fun of people with a terrible illness - yet if you portray it as tragic and bleak as it often is (I am saying that as someone who has a family member who suffers from schizophrenia) you will lose your audience. So to find the right tone here was not an easy thing to do, but I believe the show - just as Marvel did in the comic books - does an outstanding job at never coming across disrespectful while still offering fantastic entertainment.

So to sum up my first impression: 'Legion' represents a refreshingly different side of Marvel (compared to the films and shows based on Marvel Comics' more "grounded" creations that we've seen so far) and by fully embracing the source material's "weirdness" the show is a testament to just how insanely (in the true sense of the word) inventive and versatile Stan Lee and his band of brothers were/are. This show is wilder, more surreal and generally much, much crazier than your average superhero story and there are moments where you feel reminded of the works of David Fincher, Charlie Kaufman or even David Lynch. I'd highly recommend it especially to adult comic book fans and those among you who don't demand everything be explained within the first episode. Personally, I feel this is Marvel at its best and most complex: 9 stars out of 10.

Favorite TV-Shows reviewed: imdb.com/list/ls075552387/

Favorite films: IMDb.com/list/mkjOKvqlSBs/

Lesser-Known Masterpieces: imdb.com/list/ls070242495/

Favorite Low-Budget and B-Movies: imdb.com/list/ls054808375/

While part of the Marvel Universe, Legion is an odd-man-out, neither part of the big budget Disney cinematic universe or the Netflix version of the Marvel universe. It also has the best acting, writing and direction of any of them and a more mature approach. It's a cerebral, surreal sci-fi mutant show. If you are a comics fan, the fact of Chris Claremont & Bill Sienkiewicz involvement in this tells you almost all you need to know -- it successfully carries both of their styles onto a TV screen. Claremont wrote many of the most legendary story arcs for the X-Men. Sienkiwicz is a brilliant comic artist, emphasis on artist -- he often works with paint and mixed media to create comics that look like fine art. The writing and direction is complicated, non-linear, and accomplished, verging on avant garde. There is immense attention to detail and editing, artistically-framed scenes. The acting is a cut above other Marvel shows (although Cage gets an honorable mention) and they've gathered a cast that works great together. The psychological, Lynch-ian freaky edginess that Sienkiewicz infused in all his work is present. It's not perfect, it takes some risks that don't work (like season 2 ep.5 -- tedious and anti-climactic), but it is freaky & cool.

I enjoyed the first season of Legion. The first season had a tension to its style. There was this uncertainty to reality that kept me fascinated. Every silly, strange surreal moment was like a relief to that tension. By season 2 it feels like the rug has been pulled out from under the show's plot, and they're left dancing in midair with nothing to hold them up but a fun style, dance numbers, and psychedelic rambling.

I'm going to keep watching in hopes that it gets back on track. But if I'm going to just be watching a new song and dance routine in every episode, or another psychedelic gag because "wahaa-wehee-why-not?" then I'm gonna tune out.

The show has been so well planned with ideas, plots, and themes, spread over such a wide breadth of time, it's taken me several re-watches to fully grasp the masterpiece it is. Adding to that is how brilliant it is, with deep insight. It's a show for creators of shows: a shows' show. Of the hundreds of series I've watched, this is one of my top 3.

This is one of the most creative, intelligent, visually unique works of art in entertainment. Shows like this should last years with the amazing story telling it imagines. Hope the same team worx up another original. We need it in this word of reboots and retellings of the same old stories.