Legion Review: Chapter 9 (Season 2 Episode 1)
Legion is back with Season 2 Episode 1, “Chapter 9.”
If you recall, in the season finale, the team had found the Shadow King in David’s mind and worked to extract him. They, of course, failed, and the Shadow King escaped into Oliver’s body. Free finally of the Shadow King’s influence, David has the opportunity to do anything he wants but is taken by an orb in the final moments of the episode.
Season 2 picks up a year later, as the mutants and Division 3 have joined together to hunt the Shadow King and finally locate David after his abduction.
From that point, Legion turns towards exploring the state of Division 3 now and whether or not everyone else should trust anything that David has to say about where he’s been for the past year. The former aspect works significantly more than the latter.
While we never truly had a good sense of what Division 3 was like before it integrated the Summerland mutants, the role that the mutants take within this government agency is endlessly fascinating.
Division 3 is also an example of how it often feels that Legion is trying perhaps too hard to be weird and off-kilter. The agency is run by Admiral Fukyama, who wears a basket and speaks through three people (telepathically, we assume).
The series has an overall similar feel to that of Twin Peaks, which is intensely deliberate. At times, it seems as if Legion is in a never-ending competition with David Lynch’s creation over which is the most surreal and out-there. Fukyama is one of several examples you can point to.
Another would be the dreamlike sequence where Dan Stevens gets into a dance-off against Jemaine Clement and Aubrey Plaza. That, in and of itself, is highly entertaining and scratches a particular kind of itch, the kind you don’t even realize exists until it’s there.
That’s not to say that having Clement start dancing in the middle of the episode is in any way a negative. It’s simply to say that Legion is quite often excessively stylish and very much wants you to be impressed with its cleverness. But somehow, it feels like a bunch of nothing in the end.
This should in no way dissuade Legion from delivering the Jemaine Clement goods in the future.
At this point, Legion should not be so precious with its idea that David is an unreliable narrator. That construct is fascinating in a controlled narrative, like a film or book, but it shouldn’t be the driving force of the show.
It’s so difficult to maintain that over a series. Plus, it forces the writers to lean on the worn trope of characters holding back information from each other, which is one of the most groan-worthy plot devices in use. Unfortunately, it appears that’s what the arc of the season will be, with David covertly helping the Shadow King find his physical body.
Legion continues to deliver on the things that viewers come to expect from it: weird set-pieces, excellent direction, and cinematography. At the same time, it also feels a bit empty.
What did you think of the season premiere of Legion? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Legion airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on FX.
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Drew Koenig
Drew has an ongoing, borderline unhealthy obsession with pop culture, but with television in particular. When he's not aggressively trying to get out of a perpetual state of catching up, he can be found passionately defending the ending of Lost. More of his online work can be found at The Lost Cause and he also co-hosts The Lost Cause Pod.