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Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

bagrada posted:

I wonder if this will borrow anything from Simon Spurrier's great run on X-Men Legacy: Legion. The four trades are $4 each for kindle digital.

Space crime demands space justice!

At least one name mentioned in the show's press was in the comic

The Eye

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Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

Well that was the scariest hour of TV I can remember. Yikes. Every time the Angriest Boy moved forward I was loving skeeved out.

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

Serf posted:

Legion is kinda low key the best horror show I've seen in a long time. The yellow eyed devil and the world's angriest boy are both pretty creepy.

I've never been scared in the seasons of American Horror Story I've seen (1, 2, some of three, scattered eps after it).

But everytime I see the Boy turned around, I start glancing around my darkened room. It's that off-putting.

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

Exactly.

I want to talk about the acting. Because its top tier. David's transformation was loving terrifying, and its amazing to see and sense something was wrong just by his non-verbal motions. All the other characters were great, Lenny being exceptionally off-putting and scary, Syd being sympathetic while also beliveably giving into her desires.

Also this is still the scariest show on TV and I can't think of a rival other than the odd episode of Twin Peaks. It's appointment TV.

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

Plucky Brit posted:

My solution would be to give it some unnatural quality, for example it suddenly moving very fast.

They do that for it in other scenes, like him skittering around the edge of the ice cube.

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

So I'm going to buy this as my avatar

Aphrodite posted:


Brighter blood, more artifacty:


Anyone got any suggestions to write below it? I'm trying to think of a quote that something to do about tapes. You get extra points if it's related to Trump/politics. Thanks!

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

Escobarbarian posted:

Would be way better without the text

Just gonna go with that I think.

Chokes McGee posted:

SHADOW KING

*click*

But this is so good....

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007


Sweet! I remember how much better the scenery was in X-FIles after the move, instead of pacific northwest woods all the time.

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

The dialogue for this is so loving good. Best I've seen in a long time. I could have listened to Oliver and Cary talk in the beginning forever, and that was an expositional scene! Noah Hawley makes me wanna see expositional scenes! Wtf.

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

Legion's so good

quote:

Should fans expect more connections to stories from the X-Men world?

As we do with Fargo fans who are really familiar with that world, they appreciate certain connections and being rewarded for knowing the story so well. At the same time, my goal is to always use character as a way to have a conversation, and tell a story that was my story and was interesting to me to try and get to the heart of who this character is and this journey for him without re-enacting storylines from the comic book. So you won't see the show suddenly be beholden to the comic books for storyline, but you may see ideas, characters or images that are familiar to you.

The rest of the interview with Hawley here: http://www.blastr.com/2017-3-27/leading-legion-finale-noah-hawley-talks-x-men-inspirations-casting-and-more

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

punchymcpunch posted:

Actually, she's way more famous than Maslany was, she'll probably get an Emmy.

I feel like this show is only going to get significant recognition in its second season. It's kinda under the radar currently.

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

MiddleOne posted:

She was also a re-ocurring guest-star on top 'clearly this was made as a favour to somoeone' show Welcome To Sweden with Amy Phoeler. She stars as herself which is really all that needs to be said.

Actually liked that show, had a sweet tone (not too sweet) that you don't see often. Didn't get around to watching the whole season tho.

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007


David Bowie strikes again.

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

Apparently Mike Schur wrote up Plaza's character on Parks and Rec after having a very uncomfortable first meeting with her, so you're not far off.

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

TV Reviewers are a shallow pool, but Sepinwall does a better job than most of clearly explaining where's he's coming from and having a wealth of TV knowledge to pull from.

What's great about that teaser is that the actor who plays David is using only one of the American accents he has used in the past in other media, and I'm pretty sure that is not his native British accent as well.

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

Dark Off posted:

Its all imagination, or delusion. Check the background.

except david is probably powerful enough to shape the world to conform his delusion.

This is really reminiscent of a stretch of X-men comics done by Mike Carey where Legion creates a parallel world where he's a hero fighting with the X-men against an implacable horde of faceless enemies intent on destroying the last bastion of mutantdom. The gray palette, the ludicrous architecture





e: dunno why my pics aren't showing

e2:

Goofballs posted:

I keep forgetting this is based on some comic spin off of the x-men. Are the google results of legion and Proteus what I should think dark future might be based on?

I'm thinking it's more the Logan timeline (the movie).

Shageletic fucked around with this message at 15:25 on Apr 14, 2018

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

It came off more brutal than I expected. She was getting used to touching someone and then this dude just has his way with her, what a mind gently caress.

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

I hate to do this but


Henchman of Santa posted:

I know this show is hard to follow sometimes but this week has been great for “TVIV doesn’t watch TV shows” examples


dead comedy forums posted:

thought it was the weakest episode tbqh, not that it was bad, it was just... uh, a lot more complicated without much payoff?

what the gently caress, I am probably reading too much into it, but:

- What Syd was doing on the rooftop;
- Once the monk offed himself everybody woke up, but not her (and thus David);
- She didn't seemed trapped at all: in fact, it seems that she actually trapped Legion for...
- She really didn't act like her usual self by the end of it: "God loves us more 'cause we burn brighter", whaaaaaaaaaaat

if the delusion monster thingie is real, Syd having it nurturing some idea/delusion about relationships and touch being hurtful things and love being something that eventually just fizzles and softens people to the point it makes them mush, and David blindly trusting her and not second guessing anything because hey let's not forget that either/or his powers or mental illness he has problems perceiving things, then this episode is more about how them both eventually gently caress up the world

gah, this show is the maze, and I am trapped in it

(also showing that swap scene felt more to remind viewers than to actually make Legion "get" her trauma, imho)

edits: confusion makes sentences hard

Syd wasn't trapped but pulled in David so that they could more fully connect.

Anyway, this really brings some added nuance and it makes her character make more sense. The gap between how vulnerable she was in the asylum in the first season to how capable she was in breaking David out makes alot more sense. She is vulnerable, but is stronger because of it.

This is probably my fav or second fav episode of the show so far. It's very Fly from Breaking Bad.

e: and as a fan of genre stories, can I say how much of a relief it is when a main character realizes that the way to win is not just by yelling love all the time? Anything takes work, and it's great to see that happening in this second season.

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

Best ep or at least one of them. Holy poo poo.

e: extremely cinematic, avant garde filmmaking

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

dead comedy forums posted:

Definitely, but I think it is aggravated by having seen so little development: if there was more plot-meat in the bones, so to speak, I think this episode would have gotten a lot more goodwill. Then again, Fargo only clicked for a bunch of people after the middle of the season, so...

I think most of the frustration comes from the waiting, in the sense that these explorations of the characters will probably make sense in retrospect, however, it is going to be a shame if people tune out before this season gets close to the finishing line and end up thinking that Legion is a mess because of that.

The journey is the destination

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

regulargonzalez posted:

Ok, makes sense.

What comics should I read if I want the full legion story? I tried finding what I could and found like a 6 issue miniseries but it picks up pretty late in his story.

It'll be a little hard to find the "full legion story" since he's been around for the last 30 years or so AFAIK, but you can start with the original Claremont stories with the bitchin awesome artwork, and bookend that with his recent concluded series XMEN LEGACY: LEGION by Simon Spurrier, which is an appropriate head gently caress.

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

double nine posted:

going to try and write down my thoughts, for my own benefits.

First of all, the show could and should have abandoned the sympathetic-towards-david pov a little earlier, which is at least part of the problem that the reception is showing - people have watched this entire thing on the assumption that David is the protagonist and the person to root for, and have ignored/forgotten/disregarded the earlier warning signs that david's deteriorating. In a way that's similar to Breaking Bad - people wanted Whyte to "win", because the narrative is centered around Walter and we are conditioned to think that the central character is who to root for. Also the whole narrative is about White/David overcoming obstacles which further reinforces this assumption - you earn your happy ending/victory.

Two: involuntary admission is a thing that exists and happens. If you have demonstrated that you have a serious likelihood to cause harm to yourself or others, you can be forced into a mental health facility to help you and protect yourself and others. David crosses all the boxes that make this the proper response - he has caused harm to others due to his mental condition, he has shown himself to be delusional, and there are serious indications that he will cause greater harm in the future. End of story, the attempt at the end of the episode to shut david down and have him committed was the right call.

Having the people who David trusts also be there was also a good call because David's so unpredictable, to keep him from blowing a gasket and help persuade him to cooperate. What was AN INCREDIBLY IDIOTIC idea was to have the one person who David has displayed incredibly violent tendencies towards also be there. But it makes for a good scene and we were never going to end up with David cooperating, so might as well use this complete cock-up as the justification for plot development. And goddamn those are good sunglasses.

The way I read the season arc is that outcome was a greek tragedy, in that the one person who can stop David is also the rear end in a top hat who pushed David into this abyss in the first place, and whose personality has re-enforced most of david's problems. Don't loving talk about how nous sommes les dieux, how normal rules don't apply to mutants, and then be surprised when David starts to believe and act on that poo poo. David going off the deep end is in no small part due to Farouk egging him on. Here's what's I think is interesting though, is that I don't think Farouk is capable of not behaving the way he did. He's such an arrogant rear end in a top hat that he has to gloat, he has to be the alpha male in their interactions, further unhinging david. For someone so skilled at manipulation, he's unbelievably blind to the damage he caused in david and the consequences thereof. Which is why Farouk is still a villain. Just not the main threat. (as an aside, Farouk's entire MO is to use and discard people, for the first time (?) he is forced to deal with someone who he has to heal, something he's never cared about before).

TLDR, farouk bad, david not bad but incredibly dangerous and needs to allow mental health help, good narrative arc idea but delivery was weak. Gonna binge the next season instead for easier viewing.

Was Farouk really there? I mean the mouse shows that his psychic powers are leaking out of his cell.

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

oooh Harry Lloyd is some good casting. I don't think Prof X is gonna be a good guy here....

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

Yeah this show has a point and that David was always going to turn terrible with having infinite power, a wonderful reversal of adolescent power fantasies. Loving the hell out of this.

So loving stylish too, i rewinded so many scenes from this ep like Games Without Frontiers.

Rock solid prediction, this show will live forever in YouTube 10 min clips.

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

Its a unique utilization of onscreen superheroics that doesnt come close to colorful rays or pliant stunt guys that we're used to seeing and is so much more powerful and hosed up cuz of it.

I'm gonna miss this show guys.

And also in a rare way, its ending well too.

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

Its the best, most reasonably argued, motivation for villainy I've ever seen.

I'm pretty sure I've worked with people that think like David.

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

I don't want to restart that argument last page but I think its important to underline that its not his mental illness that is causing David's current actions, its his short comings in regards to empathy and consequence coupled with the ability to act without any consequences (at least to himself).

Even in the first season, when he was at his most sympathetic, there was an edge to him, a wanton disregard for anything that wasn't himself (he was even a destructive kid, thinking of him being in the police car and laughing as things explode. Blame it on the drugs/Farouk, but especially now felt like it was hinting at his current trajectory).

I don't know if that's toxic masculinity, but its an interesting character flaw exponentially inflated by the unique contours of what his life has given him.

His poor mother...

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

Rocksicles posted:

But those are trademark symptoms of various and some mental illnesses, including sociopathy and psycopathy. Even some garden variety autistic goons have reduced empathy.

But are we sure that he is sociopathic? Also mental illness does not of course mean a person is gonna commit something awful. Its Davids character that is the problem here and not his illness.

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

Rocksicles posted:

I never said he was, i said it's a symptom of various, including that. Empathy is something you can lose from depression or never have at all. But David doesn't just have stock standard BPD, he literally collects multiple personalities all bouncing ideas off himself. He is Legion so, you can't pin everything going wrong with him on any particular thing. He's bascially cloud storage for hosed up thoughts and feelings.

He has to have some sort of agency. It robs the story if a character isn't able to make any choices in it. And his choices are really, really bad.

That aside, plenty of people in irl have hosed up thoughts and feelings. It doesn't absolve you from acting on them tho.

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

Corte posted:



I go back to what DaveKap stressed which is that if you choose to believe these characters have no, or little, agency and are directly under David's or Farouk's influence the story is far less interesting.

Didn't David literally say "Don't make me force you-" before being interrupted a couple eps ago?

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Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

Tuxedo Catfish posted:

Yeah. I was going to be snarky about this but it actually kind of works -- he was buying into his own delusions from the start.

Yeah the power of delusions is prob the biggest thematic point and ties all 3 seasons together more than anything else.

Btw, just caught up with the last four episodes. gently caress that took me thru a journey. I'm worn out.

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