After the first season ended with the Shadow King being driven out of David's mind, and David being spirited away by a shameless deus ex machina, I wondered if "Legion" would be able to maintain its weird, stylistically ambitious storytelling. Now that we were largely out of David's headspace, would we still be getting wacky dance numbers, cartoonish monsters, people living in ice cubes, and all the other wonderfully demented visuals that helped to distinguish the first season? Oh yes. In fact, Noah Hawley and crew actually doubled down this year. See the desert journey via rickshaw. And the donut submarine. Tuning fork. Sushi boats. Cow?
David returns a year after his disappearance to find that Division 3 and Summerland have joined forces to combat a strange plague, believed to have been caused by the Shadow King, Amahl Farouk, who is now going around with a borrowed body, played by a delightful Navid Negahban. He has Oliver and Lenny in tow. The long separation has also put David and Syd's relationship on the rocks, which is further complicated by David being in contact with a future version of Syd, who orchestrated his kidnapping and clearly isn't telling him everything. Themes of madness, compromised perception, and unreliable storytellers are still very much in play, as David and Farouk prepare for battle.
Division 3 introduces the literally basket-headed Admiral Fukuyama and the robotic Vermillion, identical female automatons with Sonny Bono moustaches and electronic voices. They are incredibly disconcerting. So is the plague, which involves people freezing in place with the exception of their constantly chattering teeth. And later on in the season the heroes have to contend with tar-black chicken monsters, a minotaur, and other nightmare fuel that keep "Legion" teetering on the edge of David Lynch territory. This is still a superhero action show, so the plotting is more comprehensible, but not by as much as you'd think. This remains one of the most adult of the Marvel TV programs as far as content.
"Legion" has become a show to watch largely for its out-of-the-box style, its fantastic production design, and the sheer daring of its visuals. I love the constant experimentation with colors and shapes and comic book language. My favorite new device this year was the Jon Hamm narrated primers on mental health concepts, like delusion and moral panic, that pop up throughout the season. They're probably the most straightforward things in the whole show, and have such a wonderfully sinister vibe. I'm having a harder time staying invested in the main story, because the show puts so much effort into keeping the audience in a state of confusion. Who is the hero and who is the villain? Is Farouk still manipulating everyone? Whose perspective is the correct one? Is David actually mentally ill?
Hawley is very good at making sure the viewer is always with the characters emotionally, even if what they're seeing onscreen is inexplicable. However, with so many layers of metaphors and the constant graphic overload, at times the characters feel ungrounded and the stakes get muddy. Jean Smart, Jemaine Clements, and even Aubrey Plaza felt terribly underused this year. Don't get me started on poor Jeremie Harris. And while I continue to enjoy Dan Stevens and Rachel Keller, they weren't much fun this time around as protagonists. Too angsty and morose, even in their happier moments, and the turns and reversals come too quickly. I was rooting for Farouk most of the time just because his schtick was the most entertainingly bonkers.
Still, I am hugely impressed with everything that "Legion" has accomplished here, and very relieved that we're getting a third season. There is nothing else aside from "Twin Peaks" that is doing anything remotely similar. The last big psychic battle with the lip-synching to "Behind Blue Eyes" and the animation is one of my favorite things I've seen all year. The bodyswap reveal was horrific in the best way. Some of the big climaxes would have had more impact, though, if there had been a little more time spent on character and a little less time spent on giant drain stoppers, evil beaded curtains, and hexagons. So many hexagons.
Oh, and I'm not the only one who caught that "Labyrinth" reference, right?
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