• Home
  • Movies
  • Music
  • TV
  • Video Games
  • Wrestling
  • Topics
  • Latest Comments on Cult of Whatever
Search
Cult of Whatever logo
  • Movies
    Featured
    • The Living Daylights: Timothy Dalton as James Bond

      The Living Daylights is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 28, 2022
      Movie Blogs
    Recent
    • The Muppet Christmas Carol: Michael Caine as Scrooge

      The Muppet’s Christmas Carol remains the gold standard for the book

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 20, 2022
    • Nightmare Before Christmas 1993 1

      2022’s Christmas Movie Watchlist!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 18, 2022
    • Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio Poster

      REVIEW: GDT’s Pinocchio is my favorite film of the year!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 14, 2022
    • Troll: Ine Marie Wilmann as Nora

      REVIEWS: TROLL and TROLL HUNTER -A giant creature double feature!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 5, 2022
    • Harry with The Hendersons

      Harry and the Hendersons is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2022
    • Fantastic Four Poster

      The five best “rogues galleries” in superherodom! (part 3)

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 28, 2022
  • Music
    Random
    • Bg Elvis3

      Elvis's 40 Year Reign (1956-1957)

      By Matthew Martin
      | February 14, 2017
      Music Blogs
    Recent
    • The Beatles: Get Back

      What GET BACK reveals about the Beatles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 15, 2021
    • Simon And Garfunkel at Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam1982

      The Boxer is a song about being conned

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 4, 2021
    • Lady Gaga: Chromatica Album Cover

      Lady Gaga’s discography is totally out of order

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 3, 2021
    • Michael Jackson Thriller Album Cover

      Thirty years ago music fans said “Nevermind” to Michael Jackson

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 21, 2021
    • Queen II Album Cover

      On Queen’s The Miracle, and the importance of track ordering

      By Matthew Martin
      | February 16, 2021
    • Linda Paul Mccartney 1976

      50 years ago, McCartney dropped “Lennon” and went solo…

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 5, 2020
  • TV
    Featured
    • Big Sky S03e05: Kylie Bunbury, J. Anthony Pena and Katheryn Winnick as Cassie Dewell, Mo Poppernak and Jenny Hoyt

      Big Sky S03E05 Review: Flesh and Blood - Glamping!

      By Salome G
      | October 22, 2022
      TV Blogs
    Recent
    • Big Sky S03e10: Gang

      Big Sky S03E10 Review: A Thin Layer of Rock – Break time…

      By Salome G
      | December 11, 2022
    • Rick And Morty: S01e03

      Is Beth from Rick and Morty a bigger sociopath than Rick?

      By Jason Collins
      | December 7, 2022
    • Big Sky S03e09: Dedee Pfeiffer and Cree as Denise and Emily

      Big Sky S03E09: Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire – Stalling

      By Salome G
      | December 1, 2022
    • The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special: Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff as Drax and Mantis

      REVIEW: The GOTG Holiday Special is a sweet prelude to next year’s finale

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 27, 2022
    • The Midnight Club S01: The Gang

      The Midnight Club S1 Review – A series of unfortunate events

      By Salome G
      | November 24, 2022
    • Big Sky S03e08: Reba McEntire as Sunny Barnes

      Big Sky S03E08 Review: Duck Hunting – I love a weirdo.

      By Salome G
      | November 19, 2022
  • Video Games
    Featured
    • Arkham Knight

      Batman: Arkham Knight - A fitting end to a trilogy

      By Tom Farr
      | July 18, 2015
      Video Game Reviews
    Recent
    • Splatoon 3 Screenshot

      A trio of Nintendo Switch reviews!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 28, 2022
    • Nintendo Switch Logo

      Looking ahead to the Switch 2: Predictions and Wants

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 15, 2022
    • Legend Of Zelda

      Can a Legend of Zelda movie work?

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 6, 2022
    • Super Mario 64

      Which system had the better launch: A battle of four Nintendo consoles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2021
    • Luigi's Mansion

      Happy twentieth to Nintendo’s underrated gem, the Gamecube

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 18, 2021
    • Metroid Dread

      Metroid Dread – Post Game analysis and sequel needs

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 29, 2021
  • Wrestling
    Featured
    • AEW All Out 2022: Keith Lee. Anthony Bowens, Max Caster and Billy Gunn

      AEW All Out 2022 - Review and (wild) Speculation!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 5, 2022
      AEW
    Recent
    • WWE WrestleMania 38: Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins

      Was 2022 the wildest year in wrestling history?

      By Matthew Martin
      | January 4, 2023
    • AEW Full Gear 2022: Young Bucks and Kenny Omega Elite Entrance

      AEW Full Gear 2022 – A needed reset at the end of a tough year

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 22, 2022
    • WWE Survivor Series 1997: Bret Hart

      The Montreal Screwjob – Twenty Five Years Later

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 8, 2022
    • AEW Grand Slam 2022: Jungle Boy and Rey Fenix

      AEW GRANDSLAM 2022 showcased the present and future of the promotion

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 25, 2022
    • AEW All Out 2022: CM Punk

      AEW All Out Fall Out: All the CM Punk drama that’s fit to print!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 5, 2022
    • AEW Dark: Ricky Starks (22/09/20)

      The future of the AEW World Championship

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 14, 2022
  • Topics
    • site logo
    Latest
    • Was 2022 the wildest year in wrestling history?
    • The Muppet's Christmas Carol remains the gold standard for the book
    • 2022's Christmas Movie Watchlist!
    • REVIEW: GDT's Pinocchio is my favorite film of the year!
    • Big Sky S03E10 Review: A Thin Layer of Rock - Break time...
    • Is Beth from Rick and Morty a bigger sociopath than Rick?

    Legion S01E02: Chapter 2- Another mind-bending episode

    By Kevin Boyle
    | February 17, 2017
    TV Blogs

    Legion refuses to hold our hand as we’re invited to an affair of the mind

    I’m a big fan of comic book television. I watch all the Arrowverse shows, devour the Defenders origins, have watched at least two seasons of Agents of Shield before I came to my senses, and I’m constantly hoping for another series of Agent Carter. I don’t watch Gotham though, I do have some standards. So watching those ten shows has given me plenty of evidence of just what a superhero television show should be like: lots of punching and kicking, plot points told through dialogue that an infant thinks is to on the nose, appropriate battle costumes for the men, and unsuitable costumes for women, oh and comic book hair, that’s a biggie. Legion isn’t any of those things, which is why it may be the best superhero show currently on television. I don’t say that lightly, Supergirl’s second season has been sensitive and topical in a way that her male stable mates shows aren’t brave enough to be. But Legion reminds me of Hannibal and that beats and all comers.

    Legion is almost an anti-superhero show. David Haller hasn’t done anything particularly heroic, and who is to say that he’s guaranteed to become a hero anyway, or been given a season-long all-encompassing task that utilizes villains of the week. Legion isn’t interested in any of this, better to leave that to the CW, Legion is a superhero show of the mind, and what a mind it is.

    Chapter Two may be an even more accomplished episode than the premiere, probably because we, and David, are given more information about the show’s universe and where he fits in it. The show isn’t set in the universe of the X Men films so it has the opportunity to tell its own story about mutant discovery. We are informed that the discovery of mutants is quite a recent development, with the villainous Division 3, who held David hostage in Chapter One, scooping up all the mutants they can find in order to experiment on them. On the side of good is Dr Melanie Bird (Fargo’s Jean Smart) who runs Summerland, a place of sanctuary for mutants, much like a certain school for the gifted. After David’s rescue he is told that his illness is actually his mutant powers manifesting themselves: all of the voices, the hallucinations, the exploded rooms, all of it is real. Which means that Chapter Two is mainly about David exploring these powers.

    Legion S01 E2 2

    It is in this exploration that Legion shows its strengths. There will always be an a passionate discussion of how the show portrays mental health problems, the voices are actually real narrative alley is a well-trodden path and has been used poorly in the past: a recent Doctor Who episode had the Doctor tell a child that she didn’t need her medication because the voices are real is one bad example. Legion does go down this path but with a lot more care. Yes David still fits the bill of the proverbial chosen one but the reveal of his powers doesn’t normalise him. David’s mental illness has been the cornerstone of his life, his personality, his relationships, his own welfare are all intrinsically linked with his perception of the world. Telling him that he is really a powerful mutant isn’t going to change this built in behaviour. Legion knows this, and Dan Stevens knows this to, his performance is at turns funny, disturbing, moving, and most importantly empathetic. The fact that David has more of an understanding of what is happening to him means that the events of Chapter Two are more focused. There is still a lot of ambiguity to events but less so than before.

    Legion S01 E2 1

    Which brings us to Davis’s mind journey, the stuff of post-modern cinema and Anime fans dreams: the existential mind journey. It seems that from the way that the episode is structured, and indeed the show, that each episode will be a journey into David’s mind, and the external consequences as he learns more about his power. The editing is key here: like the first episode there is no way to prove when the events of the episode tale place as they are all scattered, and sometimes out of sync. There are the times where David is active in his own memories, his session with his former doctor, and his brain scan, all of which bleed into each other, and lead to memories of David’s childhood, in which we don’t see the face of either of his parents, pointing to the theory that they are a construct and that his sister is the one piece of reality holding those possibly fake memories in place. Chapter Two invites us into David’s mind, we are observers and companions, sharing his dread of an ajar closet door knowing as David does that even a healthy mind can play tricks, that even a healthy mind has nightmares.

    Legion S01 E2 Dan Stevens

    There is a dream logic to all that we see, and like dreams, and any TV show worth its salt, there is nothing, no matter how small, that doesn’t provide a clue. Legion is a rich experience of sumptuous directing, excellent off-key performances, although Aubrey Plaza is easily stealing the show from everyone who isn’t Dan Stevens, and so much more than the sum of its parts.

    9/10 – Last week I wondered if Legion could deliver on the promise of its first episode. The answer is uniformly yes as Noah Hawley has managed to make the first post-modern comic book show, one that doesn’t have to adhere to a larger continuity or shared universe, and one that needs to be seen, but not believed right away.

    Share this article:

    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit

    Tags

    Legion

    COMMENTS

    Please read our Commenting Policy before you join in with the discussion.

    Note: If you have email notifications enabled, please check your email spam folders to ensure emails are not missed.

    Subscribe
    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    Notify of
    guest

    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    guest

    0 Comments
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments

    You might also like

    • Legion S01E01: Chapter 1 – Just like its hero Legion has many interesting layers

      By Kevin Boyle
      | February 11, 2017
    • X-Men Apocalypse Review: What’s new is old again (spoilers!)

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 24, 2016
    • Fantastic 4 Review: Now with random outbursts of anger!

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 10, 2015
    • Lesson learned: Four observations from the Fantastic Four fallout

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 30, 2015
    • The history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 11, 2016

    FIND THE TOPICS YOU WANT...

    TV Topics

    Recommended for you

    • Big Sky S03E10 Review: A Thin Layer of Rock – Break time…

      By Salome G
      | December 11, 2022
    • Is Beth from Rick and Morty a bigger sociopath than Rick?

      By Jason Collins
      | December 7, 2022
    • REVIEW: The GOTG Holiday Special is a sweet prelude to next year’s finale

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 27, 2022
    • The Midnight Club S1 Review – A series of unfortunate events

      By Salome G
      | November 24, 2022
    • Doctor Who 2022 October Special Review: The Power of the Doctor – Lackluster

      By Jason Collins
      | October 25, 2022
    • Can the Doctor regenerate into a previous incarnation?

      By Jason Collins
      | October 23, 2022
    • Is the Tardis more sentient plant or machine?

      By Jason Collins
      | October 10, 2022
    • Star Trek Strange New Worlds – Season two wishlist!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 14, 2022
    • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Every episode ranked! (Part 5/5)

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 30, 2022
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Affiliate Disclosure
    • Cookie Policy and Settings
    • Terms of Use
    • Photo Credits
    • RSS
    All Cult of Whatever articles, logos, illustrations and graphics are copyright CultOfWhatever.com. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. © 2021 CultOfWhatever. All Rights Reserved.
    • facebook
    • twitter
    wpDiscuz
    x
    x