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Breaking the Wheel
Nov. 18th, 2020 02:01 pm
We finished the third and last season of "Legion" last night! It was a relatively short season of only 8 episodes, but with a show as dense as this one it usually takes a bit of time to absorb each one. It's truly inventive, and I honestly think it's the kind of avant-garde television that we'll see influence a new generation of showrunners as they push the boundaries of what you can do with television narrative. I kinda think it'll end up being a writers' show more than a popular one.
Anyway, the third season set a pretty high bar for itself. "Legion" is about David Haller, the "secret" son of Charles Xavier of the X-Men. David is an Omega-level mutant, and quite possibly one of the most powerful mutants on the planet. Unfortunately, he's also mentally unstable so those powers are dangerous and unpredictable. Because the show follows David through his journey, it's highly stylized to a point where you're not sure if the crazy set design is a reflection of his mental state or a fourth-wall-breaking storytelling choice to 'soften up' the hard edges of reality. Most things on the screen might be metaphors, not literal objects on the screen. It's disorienting as hell, but...a wonderful trip, half tone-poem, half modern fantasy.
At the end of the second season, David took a decided turn towards the villainous by making his girlfriend Syd forget about an affair he had with her future self from an alternate timeline AND the knowledge that he would end the world. After he alters her memories, they have sex. It's...hard to describe exactly what it is, but psychic rape might be a good term?
When David's allies find out what he did, they stage an intervention. Unable to face the fact his actions have caused irreparable harm to Syd, he escapes captivity and disappears. At the beginning of season 3, we find David has started a psychedelic cult -- only the "drug" is his own psychic influence. He's trying to use his powers "for good", encouraging people to love one another and healing their pain. Or so he thinks.
In reality, David's mind has fractured to the point it may be too late to talk him down. His incredible power over reality, combined with the frayed understanding of it, makes him a legitimate threat to end the world. Convinced that being "ridden" by a psychic parasite called The Shadow King broke his mind, David wants to go to the past and stop his father (Professor X) from meeting him in the first place.
The final season charts David's dangerous quest AND Syd's more personal journey as she recovers from the psychic abuse she suffered at David's hand. The show has to walk a very fine tightrope between making David a sympathetic, tragic figure and...well, reckoning with the fact that he's a sexual predator. And for the most part, I think Hawley and crew manage impressively.
David has put himself into a position where he cannot be challenged, surrounded by fawning hippies who hang on his every word and totally buy in to his message of peace and love. But whenever he runs across his old allies, they immediately and unequivocally call him on his shit. On one hand, David is a victim of his trauma and mental illness; but on the other hand, he refuses to take responsibility for his action and the real harm they've caused.
Part of the reason this works is that Syd gets so much time to sort through her feelings. Even as she begins to heal from her own trauma and decides that moving forward means releasing the pain of her past, every time she speaks to him she makes it clear that he committed an evil act and there is no chance of them reconciling. She remains closed to him, even as she accepts (and sympathizes with) his own deep pain and scarring trauma.
The third season of Legion is about David's, and by extension our own, damage. He ruminates on the past, the people who've hurt him, the parents who never raised him, the mistakes he's made, but without actually facing any of it. And the dissonance just breaks him. Syd, his best friend Lenny, and others empathize with his suffering but they also make sure to tell him in clear terms it's no excuse for abusive, destructive behavior.
Both Syd and David get over their damage in a *bit* of a cheat. Syd is given the chance to experience a second childhood, with parents who are honest, loving, and patient. David's madcap plan to undo the past...works. And the show ends with everyone we've come to know over three seasons fading out of existence as the new timeline begins to take effect. There's a sense of catharsis there, especially as David and Syd have one final farewell over the crib of David's infant self.
The theme of owning your past and using your mistakes to become a better person really crystallizes through David's arc, Syd's journey, and even the Shadow King's confrontation with his past self, the version of him that was nearly killed by Charles and latched onto David to survive. Not all of it holds up to scrutiny (especially the Shadow King heel-face turn), but the finale is delivered with such swagger and genuine empathy for its characters it mostly works.
It makes me think about...my own damage, and the way my pain can cause me to hurt the people around me. Like David (hah!), my relationship (or lack of it) with my parents has made it almost impossible to develop close ties with other people. I run from the fundamental fear that I'm broken and unlovable, and the fact that I've never felt safe. I don't get a do-over like Syd did, so I can't redo the foundation of my psyche. How do I let go of this pain without visiting the Astral Plane to live my life over?
The answer seems to be, according to the show, chasing love wherever you can find it -- while being mindful that whether or not love is returned is up to you. Love is such a selfless thing, and I think it's a lot easier to pull off when you feel secure. But that's the problem, isn't it? I'll never actually feel secure. Does that mean it's impossible for me to truly love?
Of course, I don't think so. But it does remind me of a conversation I've heard in another show we're binging, "In Treatment". Basically, there's no ultimate one way to walk over the abyss. Someone can tell you how they did it, but that might not work for you for whatever reason. The only thing you can really do is set your intention and walk that tightrope.
Syd's journey can't be mine. Neither can David's. But there is a path forward for me, as long as I'm willing to take those steps.
Anyway, the third season set a pretty high bar for itself. "Legion" is about David Haller, the "secret" son of Charles Xavier of the X-Men. David is an Omega-level mutant, and quite possibly one of the most powerful mutants on the planet. Unfortunately, he's also mentally unstable so those powers are dangerous and unpredictable. Because the show follows David through his journey, it's highly stylized to a point where you're not sure if the crazy set design is a reflection of his mental state or a fourth-wall-breaking storytelling choice to 'soften up' the hard edges of reality. Most things on the screen might be metaphors, not literal objects on the screen. It's disorienting as hell, but...a wonderful trip, half tone-poem, half modern fantasy.
At the end of the second season, David took a decided turn towards the villainous by making his girlfriend Syd forget about an affair he had with her future self from an alternate timeline AND the knowledge that he would end the world. After he alters her memories, they have sex. It's...hard to describe exactly what it is, but psychic rape might be a good term?
When David's allies find out what he did, they stage an intervention. Unable to face the fact his actions have caused irreparable harm to Syd, he escapes captivity and disappears. At the beginning of season 3, we find David has started a psychedelic cult -- only the "drug" is his own psychic influence. He's trying to use his powers "for good", encouraging people to love one another and healing their pain. Or so he thinks.
In reality, David's mind has fractured to the point it may be too late to talk him down. His incredible power over reality, combined with the frayed understanding of it, makes him a legitimate threat to end the world. Convinced that being "ridden" by a psychic parasite called The Shadow King broke his mind, David wants to go to the past and stop his father (Professor X) from meeting him in the first place.
The final season charts David's dangerous quest AND Syd's more personal journey as she recovers from the psychic abuse she suffered at David's hand. The show has to walk a very fine tightrope between making David a sympathetic, tragic figure and...well, reckoning with the fact that he's a sexual predator. And for the most part, I think Hawley and crew manage impressively.
David has put himself into a position where he cannot be challenged, surrounded by fawning hippies who hang on his every word and totally buy in to his message of peace and love. But whenever he runs across his old allies, they immediately and unequivocally call him on his shit. On one hand, David is a victim of his trauma and mental illness; but on the other hand, he refuses to take responsibility for his action and the real harm they've caused.
Part of the reason this works is that Syd gets so much time to sort through her feelings. Even as she begins to heal from her own trauma and decides that moving forward means releasing the pain of her past, every time she speaks to him she makes it clear that he committed an evil act and there is no chance of them reconciling. She remains closed to him, even as she accepts (and sympathizes with) his own deep pain and scarring trauma.
The third season of Legion is about David's, and by extension our own, damage. He ruminates on the past, the people who've hurt him, the parents who never raised him, the mistakes he's made, but without actually facing any of it. And the dissonance just breaks him. Syd, his best friend Lenny, and others empathize with his suffering but they also make sure to tell him in clear terms it's no excuse for abusive, destructive behavior.
Both Syd and David get over their damage in a *bit* of a cheat. Syd is given the chance to experience a second childhood, with parents who are honest, loving, and patient. David's madcap plan to undo the past...works. And the show ends with everyone we've come to know over three seasons fading out of existence as the new timeline begins to take effect. There's a sense of catharsis there, especially as David and Syd have one final farewell over the crib of David's infant self.
The theme of owning your past and using your mistakes to become a better person really crystallizes through David's arc, Syd's journey, and even the Shadow King's confrontation with his past self, the version of him that was nearly killed by Charles and latched onto David to survive. Not all of it holds up to scrutiny (especially the Shadow King heel-face turn), but the finale is delivered with such swagger and genuine empathy for its characters it mostly works.
It makes me think about...my own damage, and the way my pain can cause me to hurt the people around me. Like David (hah!), my relationship (or lack of it) with my parents has made it almost impossible to develop close ties with other people. I run from the fundamental fear that I'm broken and unlovable, and the fact that I've never felt safe. I don't get a do-over like Syd did, so I can't redo the foundation of my psyche. How do I let go of this pain without visiting the Astral Plane to live my life over?
The answer seems to be, according to the show, chasing love wherever you can find it -- while being mindful that whether or not love is returned is up to you. Love is such a selfless thing, and I think it's a lot easier to pull off when you feel secure. But that's the problem, isn't it? I'll never actually feel secure. Does that mean it's impossible for me to truly love?
Of course, I don't think so. But it does remind me of a conversation I've heard in another show we're binging, "In Treatment". Basically, there's no ultimate one way to walk over the abyss. Someone can tell you how they did it, but that might not work for you for whatever reason. The only thing you can really do is set your intention and walk that tightrope.
Syd's journey can't be mine. Neither can David's. But there is a path forward for me, as long as I'm willing to take those steps.
