HBO debuted two very different series this past Sunday that both show promise, while FX’s “Legion” may already be slightly overrated…
Legion…Blame it on Marvel, but even top TV talent like Noah Hawley (“Fargo”) has been snapped up to adapt their decades-old second-tier characters. The title character is supposedly a powerful mutant in the X-Men family, but FX’s version is more interested in an adult, stand-alone story that finds him battling mental illness more than Magneto. The idea of having a superhero who might also be mentally ill is an intriguing idea, but so far “Legion” is playing up the “what is reality?” allegory a bit too much. Two episodes in, we’ve not gotten a firm grasp on the plot so much as extended hallucinatory sequences (that are gorgeous though) and even a song and dance number. If this experiment eventually collapses into whimsy–as some of Hawley’s best “Fargo” plots do–then we may be left with striking visuals and not much else. Plus, Dan Stevens may not be the best casting choice for Legion. His striking blue eyes certainly convey an appropriate sense of otherwordliness, but he struggles when having to convey his character’s honest anguish. He may be just a bit too smooth and glib for it. Grade: B- [Although it’s very early]
Big Little Lies…In normal cases, it’s hard to judge a series based off of one episode, but since “Big Little Lies” rides that trend of “limited event series” and is only 7 episodes total, I think it’s pretty fair to say if you’ll want to continue after just the pilot. There’s not a lot here we haven’t seen before–beautiful, tormented women in mysterious, possibly nefarious marriages–and that’s especially true for anything based on current-novels, where domestic thrillers are so popular you may not think anyone but rich women looking for reasons to be suspicious of their husbands are currently reading fiction. But it’s already proving to be a great showcase of Laura Dern’s underrated talent and Reese Witherspoon’s equally under-utilized skills. [In recent films like “Wild” and “Mud,” you can feel the desire to get back to that “Freeway”/”Election” period in her career.] I’ve resisted the urge to look up the novel’s ending, but if the dead body turns out to be Zoe Kravitz’s gorgeous second wife to Reese’s white ex-husband (or either of them is the killer), then this limited series will be the latest unfortunate case of interracial couple bashing coming out of Hollywood. Grade: B+ [For now]
Crashing…This Pete Holmes starring, Judd Apatow-produced comedy centers around the simplistically brilliant premise of a comedian’s origin story and crashing on the couches of different, more successful comedians. In the evolving horror-show that is the “gig economy” it was just a matter of time before a show centered around a character that is technically homeless and literally living day-to-day. Plus, most TV comedies about comedians—“Louie,” “Maron,” “Seinfeld,” “Jim Gaffigan Show,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm”—center around people that have already “made it,” with the unspoken truth being that getting started in a business where 99% of people don’t make it would probably be more depressing than funny. [It’s not a total coincidence that last year’s terrific “Don’t Think Twice” writer-director Mike Birbiglia is listed in the credits here.] “Crashing” sometimes is depressing, but it’s the first comedy in a while that feels like its characters don’t live on a different planet from economic concerns and you’re not really sure if things will just magically work out for the hero. And I’d rather watch that than the 15th fantasy-comedy where characters stumble ass backwards into a fortune because God forbid we have to watch poor people for five minutes. Grade: A-