*This review contains minor spoilers*
Click here for my SPOILER review on YouTube
“Legion” follows its fantastic first season with a mess for its second season. Underdeveloped characters, a lack of characters that we can really latch on to, and too much weirdness for weirdness sake keep the show stumbling along until the final few episodes.
Probably the biggest issue is with the show’s main character, David himself. Last season we rooted for him as he fought through the life of mental ambiguity that was forced on him by the Shadow King. His struggle to regain his sanity and control his amazing powers drove his narrative, and allowed us to root for his eventual triumph. This season, David was somewhat unlikable. His constant maneuvering behind his friends back without explaining his actions to the audience made him seem untrustworthy. Once we do find out his motivations, we can get back on board…even though it doesn’t sound like it’s a good idea. Eventually we reach a point where we feel like one way or another we have to root for David to fail. It pulls you out of the story, as he’s the star, and nobody else is compelling enough to keep you invested.
Despite all the main cast returning from the first season, there’s very little done to flesh any of them out. Ptonomy is give so little to do. They touch a bit on the burden he faces with never being able to forget anything, but he does little else until the strange turn he takes after being mortally wounded midway through the season. Melanie is pushed to the background, doing little more than getting high every time we see her. There is a nice change to the status quo of Kerri and Cary’s relationship, but they never dive into it as much as I would’ve like. We get some glimpses into what makes Oliver tick now that he’s free from the astral plane, but much of the time we see him he’s the Shadow King.
On the flip side, some characters work well. We have Syd. Her relationship with David is a bit wobbly to start off, but then gets strong again. But, she’s another character who will be forced to make decisions that we’re not going to like. While the episode that works like an origin story for her really helped develop her character, the big payoff where we see her make a move on her mom’s boyfriend isn’t as impactful as it could’ve been because she told us this story last season. Then there’s Lenny. Initially, it seems like they only brought her back because they liked Aubrey Plaza’s performance so much in season one. It feels like they really didn’t have much for her to do at first, but she eventually becomes a complex character. Also a complex character is the Shadow King himself, Amahl Farouk. He’s mostly played as the smooth-talking Devil on your shoulder character, but occasionally, we see hints of more.
The plot for this season turns into a mess. It boils down to either stopping the Shadow King from finding he body and becoming for powerful than ever, or helping him find it to save the future. While the concept is sound, the execution is botched. Even by the end of the season, you still don’t know what the right call is and you’re never sure who to root for. There’s also a subplot featuring the delusion creature. It initially seems tied to the main story, but it becomes just some background noise that abruptly gets dealt with.
While “Legion” is known for its weirdness, this season over does it. While it still nails it quite a few times, like the dance off in the first episode or the amazing opening sequence in the finale, overall it is too zany. Admiral Fukuyama is the best example of this. He’s the wicker basket-headed leader of Division 3 that communicates through an army of robots that appear has sexy women with bowl haircuts and mustaches that “sing” when they talk.
“Legion” season two goes for weirdness and a morally ambiguous hero, but fails to make any of it work. It has a few awesome sequences and a couple great episodes, but this season never draws you in.
Season’s best episode: “Chapter 11” (Episode 3): The first solid look at Farouk is mesmerizing, the sequence inside the minds of David’s friends is stunning, and a nice new status quo for Cary and Kerri.
Season’s worst episode: “Chapter 15” (Episode 7): The whole subplot with the delusions ends up going nowhere.
** out of *****