SERIES PREMIERE: I
love this new series. Noah Hawley, who already has adapted the brilliant Coen Brothers
Fargo movie into a pair of equally brilliant, tone-perfect miniseries, has made it 3 for 3 by serving up this utterly fascinating new series. It’s based on a character from 1980s-era Marvel Comics, but this doesn’t look or feel at all like a televised comic book. It’s more like
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest crossed with LSD. Dan Stevens, who crushed the hearts of millions of
Downton Abbey fans when his Lord Crowley character died in a car crash, stars as David Haller, a young man whose life has been plagued by unhappiness: he hears voices, sees things, has blackouts, and has been institutionalized after attempting suicide. But he begins to learn that all his visions and problems aren’t hallucinations, but paranormal powers. The beauty of
Legion is that Hawley has presented it visually with the same sort of aggressive assault on the senses that David himself experiences, making
Legion a show you not only have to watch, but have to watch really, really closely. For
my full review on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, which ran yesterday, visit the
Fresh Air website. And
for full reviews here on TVWW, see David Hinckley’s All Along the Watchtower and
Ed Bark’s Uncle Barky’s Bytes.