Alien: Earth has breathed new life into the Alien franchise in the most stylish and unpredictable ways. Credit is mostly due to showrunner Noah Hawley, who has proven himself the undisputed master of taking largely played-out intellectual properties and doing something new and exciting with them. If you have any doubt about that, or you’re just a huge Alien: Earth fan, you need to stream Hawley’s trippy sci-fi drama Legion on Hulu.
The plot of Legion is that a schizophrenic young mutant has to learn how to use his awesome powers while staying one step ahead of the governmental forces trying to turn him into a weapon for their cause. Along the way, he meets other mutants, and together, they have the ability to change the world for the better. But they also have the ability to destroy us all, and that’s exactly what will happen if this insanely powerful mutant can’t learn to control the immense psychic power within himself.
On paper, Legion is a Marvel show that is set in the universe of the X-Men; in fact, the main character is Professor Xavier’s son, but you might only know that if you’re a longtime comic fan. The series never really emphasizes its Marvel connection and relies mostly on original characters to tell its topsy-turvy (and sometimes timey-wimey) tale. And when we do get more familiar comic characters like the Shadow King, they are presented in new ways, sure to surprise even the most veteran comics reader.
The cast of Legion is charming, including Rachel Keller (best known outside this show for her role in the Fargo TV series) as a mutant who can swap bodies with people at will. The show also stars Bill Irwin (best known for Rachel Getting Married and How the Grinch Stole Christmas) as a mutant with a second person living inside of him who periodically gets to come out and kick some a**. It even stars Aubrey Plaza (best known for Parks and Recreation and her later MCU role in Agatha All Along) as a best friend who might be our protagonist’s imaginary best friend or his actual worst enemy.
Special credit must go to Dan Stevens (best known outside this show for Downton Abbey) as David Haller, the creepily captivating leading actor in Legion. Stevens’ performance takes one big swing after another, but he also delivers surprising amounts of depth and nuance, and it’s almost impossible to know exactly what his character is thinking and feeling at any time. He is likeable and creepy, selfless and selfish, the dreamer and the dream; simply put, he is the charismatic glue that holds together one of the most mindbending shows in modern television.
What I like most about Legion is something I mentioned before: namely, that it is like no other superhero media that came before or after. The show is structured as an exploration of identity through the lens of mental illness, and the main character’s fantastic powers are just a means through which we view his struggle to define who he is. And that exploration seeps into not only the narrative but the very aesthetics of the show.
For example, you’ll struggle to identify whether the show is set in either the ‘60s or the present day thanks to its weird combination of different set and wardrobe designs. And you’ll certainly have trouble distinguishing what is real and what is not for the simple reason that our main character is, well, schizophrenic. He’s the ultimate unreliable narrator, forcing you to go down the rabbit hole of his unhinged search for truth, one episode at a time.
Legion managed to please both comics nerds and professional critics, and the show currently has a 91 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In general, critics loved that the show is as smart as it is visually stunning, creating something surreal and avant-garde out of a genre that usually focuses on nothing but tights, flights, and fights. If you’re suffering from superhero fatigue and sick of the usual Marvel fare, trust me when I tell you that Legion is a comic book adaptation like nothing you have ever seen.
Thanks to visionary showrunner Noah Hawley, Legion is the greatest superhero show ever made. And you can discover what all the hype is about by streaming this stunning sci-fi drama on Hulu today. Afterward, your only regret will be that no other Marvel series will ever again deliver on the premise and potential of comic book storytelling with this level of style, confidence, and mutant-powered moxie.
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