Marvel's LEGION TV show by FX

[Variant]

I'm wondering who all those other people in the fake Clockworks are.
Aubrey Plaza definitely deserves an Emmy nod.

Aubrey Plaza may well be the most beautiful, sexy, crazy, scary, terrifying, cute evil woman on the planet. She makes such a great antagonist in this show. It's the parasite that knows David better than he knows himself.

[Forseti]

I never thought she'd be doing anything like this. And doing it so well.

[Killercroc357]

I never thought she'd be doing anything like this. And doing it so well.

Aubrey Plaza may well be the most beautiful, sexy, crazy, scary, terrifying, cute evil woman on the planet. She makes such a great antagonist in this show. It's the parasite that knows David better than he knows himself.

I never expected this much malice yet playfulness from Aubrey Plaza. A far cry from the window dressing that was Julie Powers in 'Scott Pilgrim vs. the World' for sure. When she goes dancing off through all those memories, and you can see the emotional parts from the characters in the background, you could almost feel her taking in all that energy. And when she talks Syd into 'music therapy', you knew it wasn't going to be good.

Looks like the show was lucky to change direction from its original plans.

Aubrey Plaza's Legion role was originally written for a middle-aged man

[kidfresh512]

I will admit when the show was announced I thought "wtf really Legion?". But, Seeing where they are going with this and what they wanted to do here I am impressed. This isn't a show for everyone though. If you were excited about a "mutant" show and thought ok cameos and fights etc. then you could be put off.

But, what they have done here with the trippy mental aspect, and the split personality astral plane mindscapes is quite interesting. I love having to think is this a personality, or shadow king or what? Aubrey Plaza is like others have said killing it in this role. She's controlling, menacing, a combo of seductive sexy but not overly. Very interesting portrayal. At this point I would be disappointed it the "parasite" was not shadow king at this point. Its too good a setup now to finally get him onscreen for the first time.

[JKtheMac]

I don't think we should get too tied up with worrying about whether this is the Shadow King. There is a distinct possibility that what will happen is we will get an explanation that is entirely analogous to that character, but not identical. In much the same way that no recognised mutants exist in this show apart from the lead character who is again not identical to the comics.

All the people online patting themselves on the shoulder as recognising that this is the Shadow King are not wrong per say, but I don't think we will get a name drop. We have had a nod to this name with the dog, do we need more than that for confirmation?

[Panic]

Jk, you have obviously not seen the alt trailer for next episode which namedrops Amahl Farouk, the Shadow King. So we'll all continue to pat ourselves on the back.

[JKtheMac]

Jk, you have obviously not seen the alt trailer for next episode which namedrops Amahl Farouk, the Shadow King. So we'll all continue to pat ourselves on the back.

I never watch trailers. I have to say I am surprised if that is the way they go. They didn't need to. Perhaps put a spoiler tag on that kind of thing next time, then I can decide if I want to read it. (Probably would have so not a big problem).

[Panic]

Sorry. The trailer itself was posted two pages ago, which is why the conversation here switched to talking about the Shadow King as a done deal. The trailer was geolocked for America-only though, I had to hunt it down elsewhere.

[JKtheMac]

Sorry. The trailer itself was posted two pages ago, which is why the conversation here switched to talking about the Shadow King as a done deal. The trailer was geolocked for America-only though, I had to hunt it down elsewhere.

Fair enough I didn't pick up on the shift in topic because I didn't watch it. I am the kind of person that reaches for the remote as soon as I see a 'coming next week', not least because they love to play mind games with those things. On the other hand I am not precious about spoilers in general.

[Spiritualcramp]

The entity was already confirmed as the Shadow King. Looking back at the previous episode I kind of find it odd that they needed a Plot device like Doctor Melanie's husband in order to beat Shadow King. Was Shadow King's telepathic domination really not as full proof in the show in comparison to the comics? I would've preferred it to the resolution of his arc that David eventually comes to some sort of determination of controlling his own abilities, rather than having some external mind/consciousness in the astral realm potentially dig him out/everyone else trapped. Legion is powerful enough to be able of contending with him, but that does leave it open-ended as to how he would break Shadow King's control of himself (Farouk literally trapped him in his own mind). I'm kind of anxious to see how they resolve defeating him

[JKtheMac]

The entity was already confirmed as the Shadow King. Looking back at the previous episode I kind of find it odd that they needed a Plot device like Doctor Melanie's husband in order to beat Shadow King. Was Shadow King's telepathic domination really not as full proof in the show in comparison to the comics? I would've preferred it to the resolution of his arc that David eventually comes to some sort of determination of controlling his own abilities, rather than having some external mind/consciousness in the astral realm potentially dig him out/everyone else trapped. Legion is powerful enough to be able of contending with him, but that does leave it open-ended as to how he would break Shadow King's control of himself (Farouk literally trapped him in his own mind). I'm kind of anxious to see how they resolve defeating him

You are making lots of assumptions about the way this will resolve don't you think?

[Cyke]

I never thought she'd be doing anything like this. And doing it so well.

When the series started and it was revealed that Lenny was in David's head, I was worried that we wouldn't get Aubrey Plaza interacting with the majority of the main cast. Boy, was I wrong, but not only that, she was spectacular with each and every one of them. Moreso when you realize, even though she was manipulative, she played each manipulative relationship differently. Bored and condescending with Ptonomy, sexually threatening and overpowering with David, devilishly moralistic with Cary/Kerry, etc. She can't steal a scene if she *is* the scene, and she was just fantastic.

P.S. I can't help but dwell on the movies (esp. with Logan), but I would pay good money to see Patrick Stewart go up against the Yellow Eyed Demon form of the Shadow King, simply because as much as we see Stewart's Xavier as that bastion of paternal hope, the movies have never, EVER shown us anything as surreal as a single scene of this show, and certainly nothing as unnerving as the Y.E.D. Hell, it doesn't need to have anything to do with the movies at all, I just love Stewart and this show both so much.

[Hypestyle]

so how do the episodes tend to be resolved? a battle of some sort? Or is it more about discovering part of a mystery?

[Cyke]

so how do the episodes tend to be resolved? a battle of some sort? Or is it more about discovering part of a mystery?

Well, there's no real "resolution" to any episodes. More revelations lead to more questions, but things are most certainly heating up.

Now that I think about it, it really is a lot like the two seasons of Fargo. You know who did the crime from the start, you know who the protagonists and antagonists are, there's no real second guessing the characters' motives, but there's also no climactic showdown until the end of the season. Because there's all this anticipation from all the character work, all roads will lead to that confrontation. But part of the fun too is seeing how far they'll go, even though you know who's good or bad. Hawley's shows definitely ask for an investment on the viewer's attention.

[JKtheMac]

so how do the episodes tend to be resolved? a battle of some sort? Or is it more about discovering part of a mystery?

Hmm, this really isn't episodic in that way. As Cyke points out it will probably have a showdown in the last episode of the season, but the show unfolds the mystery and then the predicament. I think we can categorically say it isn't for everyone. Anecdotally some people have bailed on the show, and in an above post I point out I was very close to binge waiting because of the way things were being withheld a little to much for me at one point.

A few people have commented this would be better watched all at once, I am not totally convinced. I actually think a lot of shows that get binged probably would benefit from a bit of space and reflection. This show definitely benefits from contemplation, and I am enjoying listening to podcasts as we go along.

P.S.
For those interested these are the podcasts I am aware of:
Bald Move: Legion
Afterbuzz: Legion After Show
Legion The Podcast
Lets Talk Legion