The FX Network joined the wildly crowded superhero genre on Wednesday night, choosing a character many expected to never helm their own series: David Haller, aka Legion.

Who is Legion?


Created by iconic X-Men writer Chris Claremont (The Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past) and debuting in New Mutants 25, Haller is the son of Charles Xavier (Professor X) and Holocaust survivor Gabrielle Haller. After experiencing a traumatic terrorist attack, Haller’s mutant powers emerge. Haller has the ability to absorb the minds of others into his own – with each personality holding a distinct mutant power. He’s got hundreds and hundreds of personalities – with the most noteworthy being Jemail Karami (telepathy), Jack Wayne (telekinesis, molecular manipulation), X (reality shaping) and Cyndi (pyrokinetic). 

Oh yeah, he’s also got ridiculous hair. Understandably, that characteristic didn’t translate over to the TV show.

Haller’s mental health plays a pivotal role in the characters actions. He’s been described as having schizophrenia, autism and dissociative identity disorder. If you’ve seen the film Split, Haller is essentially James McAvoy’s character, only all of his personalities are the beast – and more powerful. Legion’s nearly unbeatable given his range of abilities, but his multiple personalities make him often his own biggest enemy.

Having so many personalities and powers, nothing is off limits. He’s an Omega-level mutant, putting his powers on the same playing field as Phoenix, Franklin Richards, and Rachel Summers. With such incredible, constantly changing powers, Haller’s one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe – although, his mental instability has deeply hindered him from reaching his full potential.

Does this take place in the X-Men universe?

The X-Men universe is so damn convoluted and confusing at this point, it doesn’t really matter. Legion is a standalone story and not intended to be an easter egg filled series. Showrunner and creator Noah Hawley (Fargo) admitted as much in a recent interview.

“It’s conceived more as a standalone. I don’t want to say too much more about it on that level, but certainly it’s not constructed as a back-door anything. It’s more just that there’s a story that I want to explore that has to fit into that larger universe, which is exciting.”

Review – Episode 1 “Chapter 1”

Legion opens on a poignant note, as it bounces through Haller’s (Dan Stevens) troubled childhood. He’s shown setting fires during middle school science class presentations, getting arrested (and blowing the windows out a cop car) and being put on medication. The sequence ends with him gruesomely attempting to hang himself with an electric cord. On his birthday, Haller is visited by his sister (Katie Aselton) at his psychiatric hospital, where he describes himself as being a “passenger on the cruise ship of mental health,” (Haller’s diagnosed as psychogenic). After the visit, Haller notices a new patient inside the facility, Syd (Rachel Keller) and becomes immediately infatuated with her – even going so far to ask her to be his girlfriend, which she accepts under a single condition: “Don’t touch me.” Remember that.

The two share an immediate bond – talking about cherry pie (Syd doesn’t like it or orange flavors), she draws him, they dance together and they do their best to hold hands without actually touching. The two fantasize about going outside, sharing a kiss through the reflection of a mirror.

Time suddenly jumps to Haller being interviewed by the FBI. He claims Syd’s gone missing. Rebutting Haller’s claims, they tell him she never existed and is likely a creation of his mental illness. Recounting events, Haller reveals Syd snuck into his room and told him she was getting out tomorrow. He struggles with the news, as she asks him to get better and eventually join him. Haller leans in for a kiss, as Syd pulls away. Taking a break from the interview, the government agent leaves the interrogation room, where multiple security details with a preventative gas are waiting outside. The security is massive for a single person. The agent meets with a higher up, revealing Haller might be the most powerful mutant ever (he’s shown controlling kitchen objects uncontrollably in anger in a flashback) His boss suggests killing him but the agent convinces him to give him a chance.

“How does it make you feel?”

Haller isn’t fully lost in his mind without awareness or understanding. During the interrogation, Haller realizes the government agents are afraid of him. He briefly plays with the idea of doing something.

Syd’s eventual release gives Haller one last chance to say goodbye. He leans in for a kiss and the contact results in the transference of their minds. Syd just didn’t like to be touched, but her distaste stemmed from body switching fears (a mutant power?). David’s body doesn’t react positively to the switch. The ensuing outburst by Haller clears out the facility, sealing patients behind walls, with his fellow patient and confident Lenny (Aubrey Plaza) getting phased partly into a wall. Sid, technically David, or so he says, exists where he’s greeted by the same FBI agent. When David confesses he saw the interrogator after breaking out as Syd, he’s told it wasn’t him (it turns out it wasn’t). Haller gets angry and has another outburst, blasting everybody in the interrogation room. The interrogators get fed up and stick Haller in a pool, threatening to electrocute him unless he tells them where Syd is, as their interested in her as much as David.

The first glimpse into his mind-stealing ability is his first (on-screen) absorption. When Haller returns to his sister’s house, Lenny follows along. She claims she’s dead and people are coming to look for him. As he looks for Syd in the outside world, he bizarrely encounters her through the back of a strangers head. After she appears fully realized, Syd admits she’s a projection, letting him know in-real-life he’s in the government facility. She runs through how he gets captured, interrogated and submerged in water – she gives him exact advice how to get out of the interrogation. Haller follows the advice and incinerates everybody in the room. After exiting the pool, he’s greeted by Syd and her team. Escaping isn’t easy, as Haller, Syd and her team (some with mutant abilities, like a force push) guide him through a heavily mini-war zone outside. Haller’s reassured by Syd the entire escape is in fact, real, as they’re introduced to a mysterious person named Byrd (Jean Smart).

Stevens’ performance as Haller is exceptional. He’s playing a character with a constant changing emotional center. He’s jubilant, terrified, nervous, curious and powerful at any given moment. Steven’s encapsulates Haller’s unpredictability and makes him immediately interesting. Keller, meanwhile, brings a lot to the table. Her performance is a complete 180 from her somewhat ditzy role in Hawley’s last project, Fargo. Syd is mysterious and withdrawn. You can’t help but want to know more.

To say the narrative loops would be accurate. The flashbacks and what appeared to be present day are on different planes of Haller’s reality. It’s his memories stacked upon one another. One of them could be real – or, Haller could still be in a mental hospital for all we know. Or, Syd could be telling him the truth. Throughout the pilot, it’s unclear what’s real and what’s a creation of Haller’s mind (something tells me the extended choreographed dance sequence never happened). Clearly, he’s got the ability to warp reality as he pleases, as his untamed powers possess extreme capabilities. The audience is asked to follow Haller’s unstable perception.

Legion bucks the norm of fun, heroic, villain-of-the-week show like the many on The CW, or street-level drama like Daredevil. It instead challenges the ideas of perception, mental health, and reality. The audience knows the narrative is unreliable, which leaves the truth hard to discern. It’s a mashup of Kubrick, Malick, and Cuaron. It is entirely unique compared to its comic-book based counterparts. It’s an acid trip with heightened visuals, dark imagery, and a turbid narrative – much like the mind of the titular character.

There are no hints on Haller’s parentage, nor is the episode chalked full of X-Men references, because there doesn’t to be. The pilot firmly establishes itself as its own thing. The visuals (which are outstanding and hard to describe), acting, and trippy narrative earns Legion high marks. It’s one of the most entertaining, self-assured pilots I’ve seen in a long time. Whichever reality Legion wants to play in next – I’m all aboard. The shows tremendous potential was almost fully realized from the get-go. You don’t have to be a comic book fan to enjoy it. Haller’s mind may be chaotic, but like the show, it’s filled with limitless possibilities.

About Liam McGuire

Social +Staff writer for The Comeback & Awful Announcing. Liammcguirejournalism@gmail.com