Legion Season 2 Review

Legion Season 2- An Exploration Of Insanity

I think it’s fair to say, there has never been a show like Legion aired on commercial TV ever, it’s truly a unique beast in its approach to character, narrative and how it presents these ideas in the most ambitious way possible. Season 1 was a phenomenon, the story of David and his battle with his own inner demons gained massive critical success and surprising commercial success. The anticipation for a second season was, of course, extremely high, the cliff-hanger ending to the first season as well as the showrunner, Noah Hawley promising an even more insane season cultivated in immense expectation.

And, eleven episodes later, I’m still reeling from the experience this season has provided. Because at its heart, it’s a stylistic spectacle that exceeds the first from a solely creative point. The phrase “Style over substance” gets brought up a lot in relation to Legion (especially season 2), I think that’s fair, it’s a highly surreal and expressionistic TV show, however its simple short narrative is demonstrated alongside genius subtle substance under the style. Hawley flirts with the idea of having the style BE the substance, through the absolutely extraordinary set design to the sublime cinematography capturing and creating this abstract world, we get subtle themes and character moments introduced through the surreal.

The season opens with a premier that answers a lot of season 1’s cliff-hangers, whilst questioning your answers and providing even more questions. It clearly identifies itself as a different animal to the first season, simply beginning with a shot of fan favourite characters Lenny and Oliver in an idyllic pool laughing about being trapped, shows Hawley trying to immediately question the nature of the rest of the season. It’s the overarching theme of the show, forcing the viewer to question their perception of what they believe to be real. A recurring segment in most episodes of the second season is the smooth voice of John Hamm narrating a segment, almost like a lesson, about certain psychological concepts mainly based around the idea of shared delusions. If the first season was about David’s delusion, this season clearly plays with the idea of delusions in groups.

I really respect Hawley’s decision to let the season take place a year after the first, it gives that perfect amount of change and fresh ideas for the characters, as well as avoiding wasting time with fallout of the events transpired, however it does result in an opening episode of mostly catch up and set-up. The structuring of the narrative as a whole has been widely criticised, it’s extremely slow paced with a plot that could be summed up in a paragraph, but that’s not the point of Hawley’s work. He has a tendency to be a writer of consequence, most episodes are the result of the last scene of the previous episode, which results in a substantial flow through the episodes, the events and narrative propel forward at a good pace, but it usually occurs within the opening and closing moments of each chapter. There is a definite progression of events from beginning to the end, however there is a constant need to include segments of abnormality and experimental ideas, which is totally subjective: I personally love the Hamm sections, they don’t add much to the narrative over all except literally teach us concepts that become relevant to the characters and motivations. There is a terrible fixation on narrative structure in modern TV, take the CW superhero genre: a strict 20 odd season length forcing the writers to manufacture a narrative that can drag out for that long. Let a story breathe, Legion knows the right moments to step back from its overall narrative and explore an idea or concept, or even an emotion.

There is a real sense of actively trying to fix criticisms to the first season as well as creating new revolutionary concepts. Most notably its treatment of the supporting cast, there is a very very clear focus on developing the characters, however Hawley struggles to balance his character development and core narrative as hes built an ensemble cast, yet wants to stay developing a small amount of the characters. I think this is primarily due to his core narrative, is fundamentally character development. It’s the exploration of David’s fall into evil, or Farouk’s manipulation of everyone to turn them against David. It’s a fascinating idea to show a character struggling with the delusion of his morality, whilst presenting ideas of delusions effecting groups and including a morally corrupt manipulative villain as the supposed voice of reason. It’s tough to balance a concept so tough and still manage to maintain those secondary characters, for the most part he is successful, however there is this prevailing sense that the development is cut off and unfinished. That’s perfectly natural, a third season was confirmed later on in the seasons run, so it’s fair to leave arc’s hanging for the next season.

 Personally I think the strongest characters that came out of the second season were David, Farouk, and Lenny. That was to be expected, the first season mainly focused on the dynamic of these three, however this season offers such a change to tradition in its portrayal of these characters. I never expected a whole episode exploring Syd’s life, bringing her and David closer through their trauma, only for her to turn on him after discovering the true effects of his trauma. I never expected the exploration of morality through Farouk and David’s relationship to go into such detail, and an attempt to play with the audience’s perception of their allegiance. And this is all exemplified by an absolutely stellar cast, Dan Stevens is absolutely amazing as he plays with the complexity of his character, he deserves so much credit for his work in the sixth episode of the season, as he presents so many versions of David yet connects them through his established personality. Newcomer Navid Negahban as Farouks true form is by far the stand out performance of the season, his idiolect and mannerism as so precise and charming as well as maintaining the menace is just fantastic. Aubrey Plaza is truly this show’s most fun character, she oozes craziness in every facial expression and action as well as creating a surprising amount of empathy for the character. I do feel Rachel Keller is slightly one-note at times, clearly evident in the finale when she has much more to play with and quickly falls into becoming slightly repetitive, but she manages a lot in episode 4 for her character, even if her performance leaves a bit to be desired.

However the secondary characters get lost. Kerry and Cary get inverted a couple episodes in, then they get separated completely, I think? It’s not entirely clear (But not many things are!) but this arc disappears towards the end and fizzles away, it could be the writers simply leaving space for these characters in the future, but disappointing none the less. It’s also frustrating seeing Bill Irwin’s fantastic placed alongside Amber Midthunder’s very weak performance, she has always been the weakest link in the cast by far and its very disappointing there is no improvement. Ptonomy is dealt an awkward hand this season, in the first few episodes there is a fascinating reveal of his character: that his core desire is to be able to forget. However this isn’t revisited later on, instead we have the arc with the ink delusion creatures, and the climactic episode to this arc was by far the weakest episode of the season. I understand its intention, to show Hamm’s delusion allegory’s in action, however spreading the delusion chicken to everyone and having it manifest literally through Ptonomy, only to destroy it immediately, feels like a massive waste. It’s unlike Legion to take the creature so literally, doesn’t it therefore make the actions rational and lose all development? It feels like a metaphor they introduced, then they wanted a reason to have a cliff-hanger for Ptonomy by locking him in the tree-computer thing, a shame but maybe it will be used in season 3.

 Finally, Melanie really took the short straw this season in my opinion, which is such a shame because Jean Smart is such a fantastic actor. I loved the concept and the potential, but in the end the payoff isn’t nearly as strong as I would’ve liked.  The idea of losing Oliver repeatedly taking a very clear toll on her is genius, the introduction of the Minotaur as she gets high in her room is one of my favourite shots in the season. But she seems to largely have very little appearance in the opening half of the season until Chapter 17, where we have a mostly Melanie based story. However her arc seems rushed and odd, the reveal that she has slowly been manipulated by Farouk, using Oliver to drive her against Division 3 is an excellent idea. However we then reach a point where in the next episode, it’s revealed Farouk has taken control of Melanie, which surely defeats the purpose of her arc? A lot of what she says to Syd fits in with her character’s development, but then it turning out to be Farouk seems to be pointless, it’s ruining what would have been an excellent turn to in many ways the next step for her character.

I am probably slightly biased, as a massive Flight of the Concords fan, but Oliver was vastly under-used in this season. Every time we see Clements performance on screen it’s so much fun and is immediately engaging, however I think the lack of interaction between him and Lenny was very disappointing, there’s so much contrast between those characters. He feels like a vehicle for Farouk for a lot of the season, their interactions are fantastic, these highly intellectual people battling with their within such subtle conversation is very entertaining. However he just simply isn’t used enough, we don’t get that confrontation between David and Oliver, every character treats Oliver as just Farouk’s face, when he should have much more of an impact on the characters. We see hints of this through Melanie’s interactions but that feels fake and not as meaningful as having David as the host.
Now it’s impossible to write a review about this season without talking about the controversial few final episodes. David as a character is one of the best written characters in the show, his constant battle with his mental health, Farouk and his mutant powers clashing to create an inherently damaged character. It’s fantastic to have him revealed to be a villain in my opinion, as the reveal is packed with complexity. Hamm’s narration throughout the season links to ideas of group delusions and pack mentality, yet it also presents how a delusion can manifest in a single person. So we are presented with an objective view on the situation, making it difficult to side with either side. Farouk is the person who turns everyone against David, yet we see David manipulating the woman he loves, torturing and using his power for bad. It’s a difficult situation especially in the climax of the episode, the court scene, Division 3 sentence David for ‘future crimes’ which seems irrational by nature. However the way they approach it, by saying they can get him help, as Syd says “Therapy and medication” the exact things that have had a toll on David’s history. It’s such a fascinating position to put the audience in, it plays with every expectation of character and makes me understand why there is a lack of subplot and secondary character development, Hawley wanted to create this exact situation.

Narrative and storytelling problems aside, this series deserves all of its merit for its fascinating presentation. How Hawley plays with the absurdity of a situation and location through vibrant colours and sweeping unnatural cinematography matched with set design unparalleled in modern TV. It’s an absolute visual and conceptual treat, making it very dividing, the superhero genre has tropes and it’s hard to accept a change in them. Maybe that’s why I’m drawn to Legion so much, why I’ve fallen in love with this messy and complicated show, I’m feeling the superhero fatigue and I can very easily love something different. It needs to be supported, it needs to be appreciated, even if it isn’t entirely your tastes, and otherwise we are going to be stuck with X-Men properties like Apocalypse till the end of time.