LEGION SEASON 1 15
show extras 2017 OUT 2 OCTOBEr DVD, BD, Digital HD ExTras Featurettes, Deleted scenes
While Netflix and DC strive to mirror Marvel’s shared-universe success with an expansive roster of interconnected super-series, Fargo creator Noah Hawley has gone it alone with the avantgarde Legion – an X-Men spin-off that stands apart from its cinematic siblings. The trippy tale of a telepath told from the perspective of its protagonist’s fractured mind, Legion dazzles and baffles in equal measure.
A suitably strung-out Dan Stevens stars as David Haller – aka the son of Professor Xavier. But Hawley keeps the X-verse crossovers to the bare essentials, focusing instead on the misadventures of a mutant who learns his schizophrenia has more than mental illness at its roots.
Experimental and wildly ambitious in a way that bombastic, mainstream superhero cinema can never be, Legion’s secret ingredient is its unreliable narrator. What’s fantasy and what’s reality is never clear, as David
evades capture from anti-mutant task force Division 3 while battling his own metaphorical and literal demons. Remarkably, it has more in common with Jacob’s Ladder than Iron Man.
Thoroughly stylish, the show’s vivid retro aesthetic is akin to watching TV through a lava lamp. The cast also impress – Stevens is superb at conveying vulnerability, while Aubrey Plaza has a riot as loopy BFF Lenny. No one should be in two minds about catching up before Legion returns next year. Jordan Farley