Legion Check-In: Has FX’s Comic-Book Drama Lost the Plot in Season 2?
Heading into Tuesday’s Season 2 finale, FX‘s Legion remains one of the most visually inventive and ambitious shows anywhere on television. But as a fan, after nearly full two seasons, I’m left wondering: What are all those mind-bending visuals adding up to, exactly?
I was a huge fan of Legion from the very first episode — enough to give it an “A” grade in TVLine’s original review last year. I loved creator Noah Hawley’s offbeat, psychedelic take on the standard comic-book drama, and was instantly hooked on David Haller’s transformation from troubled mental patient to telekinetically blessed mutant. Season 1’s eight episodes were a bit confounding at times, yes, but they told a complete story, and set up an intriguing universe that was ripe for exploration in Season 2. Legion‘s hopelessly fragmented, damn near impenetrable sophomore run, though, has felt more like it’s running in circles.
Season 2 started out promisingly enough, with an entertaining premiere that gave David a simple task: Find Amahl Farouk’s original body before the Shadow King himself does. Great, I thought! A straightforward, linear goal that will provide Season 2 with some much-needed structure. But the race for Farouk’s body was quickly set aside in favor of a series of self-contained episodes about David and his Summerland crew. These episodes did feature some standout acting — Dan Stevens was terrific in “Chapter 14,” as we saw the many paths David’s life could’ve taken, from homeless man to billionaire — but they didn’t really tell us much about the characters that we didn’t already know. And meanwhile, Season 2’s narrative languished, waiting for someone to push it forward instead of sideways.
It’s not easy to keep up with who’s who on Legion, either. Oliver is Melanie’s long-lost husband, but he’s also inhabited by the Shadow King. Syd is David’s girlfriend in the present, but she’s also a one-armed warrior sent back from the future. Lenny is back (with unsettling blue eyes), but she’s also a grotesque transformation of David’s sister Amy. It’s undoubtedly fun for the actors to play all these different identities, but as fans, it keeps us from investing in any of them as characters. And while Navid Negahban has performed admirably as Amahl Farouk this season, there’s not much here for him to work with. Farouk is too enigmatic and ephemeral to be a great villain; all he does is toss off cryptic statements in French and then vanish into thin air like a ghost.
No matter what’s happening in the story, Legion is always gorgeous to look at, and it’s loaded with a superb ensemble of actors. (Any show that has Aubrey Plaza and Jemaine Clement in its regular cast demands my full attention.) But too often in Season 2, the surreal visuals seem to be the only point — weirdness for weirdness’ sake — and any actual progress in David’s journey gets pushed to the back burner. (The interludes with Jon Hamm’s Narrator are the season’s most glaring bit of wheel-spinning. Just because you can get Jon Hamm to give us five-minute lessons in psychological phenomena… doesn’t mean you should.)
This past week, Legion delivered maybe its bold storytelling stroke yet, making us think that the all-powerful David might actually be the villain of this story after all. Either way, though, that feels like a grave misstep. If it’s true, then it betrays everything we thought we knew and destroys the David/Syd romance, which is the emotional bedrock of the show. And if it’s just a mind trick from Farouk, as I suspect, it’s yet another narrative head fake from a show that’s already cried “wolf” too many times. If there are absolutely no rules to this story, then nothing matters and none of it means anything… so what are we even watching for?
It’s tricky, because the things that are frustrating me about Legion this season are the things that made me fall in love with the show in the first place. The last thing I want is for Legion to lose its edge and turn into another basic, hero-versus-villain action fest; we have plenty of those already, and this show started out as a refreshing antidote to that. But two seasons in, I’m starting to lose patience, and we already know there’s a third season on the way. So perhaps some reining-in would be nice… before it goes off the rails completely.
What’s your take on Season 2, Legion fans? Hit the comments to share your thoughts.
I feel the same way. I loved the first season, but this new season has been a drag. I feel like the plot has gone nowhere. Weirdness for weirdness’ sake is exactly right!
yep
I dont know anyone that knows what is actually going on. I watch bc of cast and visual but no Idea what I am watching.
P – Thanks so much for saying that. I was worried that I just couldn’t seem to understand what many others did. I agree that the visuals and the quirkiness attracted me to this series but I still struggled a little in season one and halfway through this season I just gave up. I just don’t know what the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks is going on.
A big fan on the first season, I stopped watching about 4 episodes into this season. Felt like I was watching out of obligation instead of for entertainment. I love abstract storytelling (David Lynch, etc.) but I just couldn’t follow it (please don’t tell me I’m dumb for not “getting it”, I’m freely admitting I don’t get it). Going to try again once available all together streaming, maybe binging will be easier to follow.
Same here. I need some kind of plot to go with the visuals.
Who needs a coherent story, when you have a mouse singing Slave to Love 😊. For me, it can go totally bonkers in the third season, a mix between David Lynch and X-Men, as long as they have dance sequences and singing animals.
I think that you’re forgetting that the David-as -the-villain reveal happened not last week but in Chapter 15 when Farouk got to Future Syd. Farouk was the one that was able to read between her lines and figure it out. And he was (pleasantly) surprised- and amused- when he did.
My suspicion is that FX wanted 10 episodes (which became 11, maybe because the runtime of the finale was running long, so it was split). But the network didn’t increase the budget by much, and Hawley and his writers started with 8 episodes in mind and didn’t have the proper time to map things out for 10 episodes. So this might explain why this season has felt drawn out unnecessarily. For Season 3, I say stick with 8 episodes.
I understand the issue, I think season 1 did this meandering too, but we were so with David and rooting for David, that we didn’t necessarily notice. This show is the most like a comic book to me and one of those weird ones, where you would have a whole issue not around the central plot. I mean, much like season 1, the story line is pretty straightforward and basic. Find Farouk’s body before him or all hell will break loose. I’m not necessarily worried that they have a potential villain turn for David, that is kind of his comic book character’s thing, he doesn’t know what to do, so he tries to make things better sometime to horrible effect and then he thinks he’s evil and tries to bend into that before realizing he’s not. And he has all of these voices in his head, which they have just been vaguely touching on (and I might suggest that Jon Hamm’s voice is one of them) and we should generally hope the British one takes the lead. But, right now, you are just kind of falling into the Farouk trap that he was setting up to have Syd lose faith in him because she was David’s real connection to reality, if she loses faith in him, well, Clark was right.
I tried to watch and like Legion but unfortunately, as beautiful as it is to look at , it’s a hard pass
Ok i thought I was the only one who felt this way. Other than Farouk is bad, David will be bad and lose Syd I don’t know what else they’re trying to say with this convoluted storytelling.
I really enjoyed Season 1. But Season 2? Not so much. I’ve almost quit watching a few times. The only reason I didn’t is because they have a shorter season compared to broadcast network. I’m holding out hope that even if this season doesn’t end in a way that makes sense of it all, that next season will make it worth it.
However, if the start of Season 3 is too much like S2, them I will definitely be dropping the show.
(In other words, I’m hoping this is their version of a ‘sophomore slump’ and not a season-by-season decline.)
They should take the advice of the esteemed Doctor Ian Malcolm – Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.
I stopped watching at the end of season 1, because it was confusing and just too weird. Thought about giving it another try, but I’m glad I didn’t from what I’ve read about it. Didn’t think it could get any weirder.
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Omg I thought this was just happening to me!!! Thank you for your comment.
Season 2 has been a let down.
I nearly didn’t make it past the first 15mins of the first episode, glad I did as season 1 was great. I’m with everyone else here so far in that season 2 is not that enjoyable. There are so many little and some big things that have happened that have fallen by the wayside that either didn’t get an explanation or just didn’t make sense. The bug thing that infected everyone getting them to try and kill the basket head guy, what was that about? What’s happened with the guy that died because of the bug thing and got plugged into the mainframe, what was the main frame even about? The infection that turned out to be because of the monk, did all the normal people snap out of it when he killed himself? There’s just been a lack of continuity this season too, episodes that are going somewhere and then the next is about something completely different and things never seem to be picked up again. I get the aim of this season was the stop Farouk from finding his body, but the other “filler” stuff for the season hasn’t really coalesced into any coherent B storylines, which is a real shame and waste. I meam did Cary and Kerry fix their reversal thing? Still enjoying the show, mostly for the acting then anything else, and am hoping that season 3 gets back to better story telling! Thanks for the article, if nothing else it lets us know we’re not the only ones thinking WTF this season lol!
Last season, I felt like I didn’t fully understand everything until the finale. . . although the very end was certainly a crazy set up for this season that lost me again. I’ve been watching this season the same way. I don’t really expect to understand anything until I see what they do tomorrow night.
That being said, I think it’s clear that Farouk’s just trying to undermine David. As weird as this probably is to admit, I keep having Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood echoing in my head while watching this. “Well, if I were You-Know-Who, I’d want you to feel cut off from everyone else. Because, if it’s just you alone, you’re not as much of a threat.” To me, that’s what Farouk’s doing here. He went after David’s sister to make him so angry that he could seem villainous. And now he’s going after Syd, the only other real attachment he’s got left. I’m interpreting his glee at seeing Future Syd suggesting that David’s the villain as joy that his plan is working.
I totally agree. I refuse to give up on the show…. yet. But, it is a struggle to follow what is going on. I am losing that struggle.
I’m still hanging in with Legion, mostly because of the actors, visuals and overall weirdness. Season two has been tough to follow at times, but I am hopeful that the story arc will get a little more cohesive in season three. I just can’t quit Legion.
I agree 100 percent with this, i fell in love with this show towards the middle of last season, and i was so excited at the start of season 2 and then the last few episodes just haven’t been clicking for me…the shame of it is that is all self inflicted, the creative team simply got to cute… mind you this is the exact same team from season 1…there were no changes…its as if the feedback from season 1 was that we, the audience, loved the trippiness of the show so why not amplify it ….Legion was a must watch show for me, but now it just sits on my DVR till i get around to it…. I hope this is simply a fluke and season 3 will restore legion to its season 1 status.
Ya, i was watching the latest episode yesterday and found myself so confused… Like, because of what this show has done in the past, i find myself asking questions like is this all real life or happening in davids mind….why is a minotaur now, who lives under a hole which had a giant plug in it….why are people coming out of the whole….whats the purpose of the robot people… by the time ive tried to process what it is im actually watching, the episode is over and i find myself wandering wtf i just saw and not saying wow what a great episode of legion.
Wow. If some don’t remember, there was no knowing what the first season was up to. Tonight is the last episode. Don’t give up yet. This could be epic. David had ALWAYS been a villain and I was excited to see his true self (even for a moment) with Aubrey rolling around on the floor. Don’t give up yet, just enjoy a show that is trying to give us something beautiful and different.
I have actually really enjoyed this season. The first season confused me, but the finale delivered. And then a rewatch filled in more. I bet (mostly hope) that this season will be the same. It’s a confusing mess but the finale will make it all clear.
Weirdness for weirdness’ sake is exactly how I would explain this season so far.
Legion had a bare thread of a plot from the beginning. The only thing holding the show together is special effects and graphics and a strong cast of characters. I stopped watching it after 2 episodes this season because the show is just wandering and aimless. It was getting painful just to watch.
I’m hoping they will course correct w season 3. I love season 1. S2 seems like it is being just to be weird. In the first season that weirdness felt like it represented something. This season it feels like all it does is say, “look how different our show is!” They cranked the flash and visuals to 11, but dropped the actual world building and story to about a 3.