If you watched season 1 of Legion and thought, "Wow, a superhero TV show can't get any trippier than that!", you were wrong. Season 2 brings it all to a whole new level.
Season 1 of Legion unfolded the tale of David Haller (Dan Stevens), an immensely powerful mutant with both telepathic and telekinetic abilities that give him nearly godlike powers. The problem was that David has severe mental distress, exacerbated by drug and alcohol use. As the season unfolds, however, we learn that much (or perhaps all) of David's schizophrenia is the result of a parasitic entity - Amahl "The Shadow King" Farouk (Navid Negahban) - an incredibly powerful psychic whose consciousness has entrenched itself into David's mind. By season's end, Farouk has been chased out of David's mind, but he latches onto another and begins to search for his long-lost physical body, with which he can completely regain his old, terrifying powers. Season two is essentially a race between Farouk, David, and David's friends and colleagues to get to The Shadow King's body first.
 |
| Admiral Fukuyama - one of the many bizarre and captivating characters within the vibrant and disorienting world that David and his friends inhabit. |
At the center of everything is still David Haller, his fractured mind, and his effect on those around him. It's a bold story that reflects the perspective of a protagonist who: (A) is is schizophrenic, and (B) has supernatural powers that allow him to alter reality itself. These were illustrated brilliantly in the first season, and they are on even more vibrant display in season two, as the characters and scenes are whisked between imposing buildings in the U.S., wide open deserts in the Eastern Hemisphere, alternate realities, and various other wonderfully imaginative mindscapes. And beyond the large-scale settings, this a show that really rewards close, careful viewing of small details. Brief images, props, and even costume details go uncommented upon, but can offer even more depth to an already rich narrative landscape.
This review is very vague, I must admit, but Legion is a show which defies easy description. Even in a movie and TV show landscape which is ever more overloaded with superhero stories, Legion is head and shoulders above the others in nearly every way. It goes light years beyond the popcorn fantasy/adventure appeal of 99% of the other shows in its genre, and it exhibits many of the best features of the highest-quality imaginative, surreal fiction in any medium. Anyone who enjoys having their minds bent in fun and clever ways needs to give this show a serious try.
As a bit of a side-note, I felt a combination of joy and sadness when learning that the currently-airing third season if Legion will be its last. This is, apparently, exactly as Noah Hawley has always wanted it, as he has a clear, complete vision for the entire primary story arc. While it will be unfortunate to lose such a great show, I applaud FX's willingness to tell a limited, compact tale of high quality, as opposed to milking a successful show well beyond its narrative limits.
 |
| In yet another "dream" season, the creative team decided to thrust Sterling and his crew into a world that combines elements of Casablanca, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and other action/adventure movies from the 1930s and '40s. |
Continuing in the show's recent tradition of centering its seasons around particular themes, season 9 of Archer uses as its foundation the classic "Indiana Jones" style of 1930s action/adventure tales of North America. Sterling is an alcoholic pilot of a ramshackle seaplane, with Pam as his burly assistant; his mother runs a swanky hotel and casino, a la Rick's in Casablanca, on a remote island in the Pacific. Also inspired by the famous Bogart/Bergman classic, Ray Gillette is a corrupt and indolent French constable. Not as inspired by Casablanca are roles by other Archer regulars, such as Lana as a local power-grabbing princess, Cyril as a German Nazi treasure-hunter, and "Crackers" - a wise-cracking parrot whose voice sounds suspiciously like the warped Dr. Krieger from earlier seasons of the show.
I've read that many fans of Archer have been frustrated with these last couple of seasons of the show, given how they take place not in the "reality" of the show's long-running continuity but rather in Sterling Archer's mind, as the boorish superspy and man of action languishes in a coma since the end of season 7. While I understand the frustration, I've actually found these alternative "Archerverses" mostly fun, if not quite as consistently hilarious as the first several seasons of the show. If I were to gripe about anything, it's how the show has been trimmed down from the 13-episode seasons of its first five seasons to now being a rather brisk 8 episodes. I suppose that it does allow for a more streamlined, focused story, free of any tangential one-episode tales that populated earlier seasons. But those episodes were often some of the very best, typically focusing on one of the secondary characters like Ray or Pam, who could carry a single episode as well as Archer himself.
Though I enjoyed this season, I'm sensing that the show is running out of steam to an extent. Given the shorter seasons, the "alternate" universes, and the fact that the gags aren't quite as fresh as they were in the first several seasons, I wonder if the writing isn't on the wall for this classic adult cartoon series. Whatever the case, it still offers enough laughs for me to tune in, and it's always fun to accidentally surf across an episode on TV.
No comments:
Post a Comment