'Legion' Review: FX's Mind Bending Thriller Reinvents The Superhero Genre

Legion follows the story of David Haller, the mutant son of Charles Xavier who suffers from schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder (DID). He has spent a majority of his life living in mental hospitals, which is where the pilot takes place for a majority of the run length. In the hospital, David runs into an unfamiliar face named Syd who is the main female protagonist of the story. Syd is much different than the other people that David has encountered because she possesses a special ability and upon meeting each other, David realizes that all of the voices and paranoia he’s experienced his whole life, is apart of something much great than he could ever imagine.

The show follows the typical outline of “boy meets girl, boy loses girl, and boy must get girl back.” But there is much more beneath the surface because these are complex characters with complex abilities and our main protagonist is still learning how much power he is capable of. Noah Hawley has brilliantly found a way to convey the thoughts of our main protagonist, David, by creating stylish edits and transitions that place the audience right inside his head; literally and figuratively.

The biggest fear going into Legion was that it would be style over substance, but Noah Hawley has found a perfect balance of bringing his unique style over from Fargo, and making it feel familiar, yet very different. There also appears to be inspirations drawn from directors such as Christopher Nolan and Edgar Wright because of how complex and fast-paced the show runs.

Dan Stevens is nothing short of brilliant in this show as David Haller. Whether it be the numerous psychiatric patients he interviewed or the 160-track playlist given to him by Hawley that consisted of weird experimental music he constantly listened to, Stevens understands this character.

It’s exciting to see where Legion goes with the remaining episodes. Hopefully Hawley is able to keep a consistent balance of storytelling while maintaining this and Fargo unlike Ryan Murphy who appears to have a new show every year after the success of the highly popular anthology series, American Horror Story. In Hawley We Trust!