LEGION: The new wonderfully trippy X-Men spin-off series - chapter one review!

Have you ever managed to invent a memory? Something that you are certain happened and feels so real but it turns out to be just a dream, or simply just a trick of the mind. Soon the doubt follows up; the structure of your own perception suddenly feels unrecognizable.

In Legion, showrunner Noah Hawley has taken that feeling and spun it through a comic book TV series that is unlike any other. On paper, Legion is a spin-off from the The X-Men. But to describe it only as that would leave out all that makes it interesting.

Hawley is the man who reinvented the Coen brothers’ Fargo for the small screen (and we know how good that is). On that show he took an aesthetic, a basic plot point, and then expanded it into a starkly beautiful spectacle. 

British actor Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) stars as David Haller/Legion, the schizophrenic son of Charles Xavier, leader of The X-Men. In the books, Haller has what’s now known as dissociative identity disorder, with each personality operating a different superpower.

Here, his mental state is used as the framework for storytelling. As he dips in and out of his own consciousness, we move with him, never quite sure what’s real and what’s not (it was bloody confusing).

We began with a montage of David’s life so far set to The Who’s Happy Jack, from a reasonably pleasant childhood that took a turn as his issues surfaced, to his suicide attempt with a noose made from electrical cable. So far, no sign of his famous father (do you think we will see him?).

We see his thirtysomething sister, a vision of wholesome perfection in a Sixties-inspired outfit, come to visit him in the psychiatric facility where he now resides. The distance between them clearly runs deeper than just physical. The fashion, and the Sixties rock soundtrack, is a bit of a red herring. The technology suggests we’re actually somewhere in the future.  

David’s best friend in the facility is Lenny, Audrey Plaza’s lithe, frizzy-haired, saucer-eyed addict whose every movement exudes rebellion. And then he spots Syd Barrett (named after exactly who you think, played by Rachel Keller). “Why are the hot ones always so crazy?” Lenny teases him. (I mean it goes without saying that bitch was crazy!)

Even the fact That Syd won’t allow any physical contact doesn’t deter him. But, this being a superhero show, there appears to be more to it than that. Yet her power, for now, remains as enigmatic as the rest of the show.

Hawley uses aesthetics to both muddle our sense of perception. Every scene seems to have its own colour scheme and filter – at times, bright lights dazzle both David and us; at others, time slows right down, allowing us to bathe in the effects of his telekinetic powers. Every shot looks like art. Even the drugs look suave.

There is some exposition in the first episode, but not so much that if feels heavy-handed. In fact, to learn everything about this set-up in the opening chapter would feel like Hawley showing his hand way too early.

And yet, there are some elements that will feel familiar to X-Men fans: the sinister government organisation that aims to control mutants; the group that rescues David from them and offers to keep him safe. It was on the latter that the episode ended, with David and Syd escaping with the group. Now the real adventure can begin, and we’ve no idea what the hell is coming.