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.