Narratively,
I think David and Syd’s relationship is a really terrific thing for Legion.
David is very obviously the focal point of the show, and Syd could’ve
easily been swallowed up into a flat identity as his girlfriend, especially her
initial framing in the pilot. However,
it quickly becomes evident that the show is in large part Syd’s story of
navigating David. These two are far
closer to equal standing than many TV couples, and given where they started,
I’m quite impressed by that (premise spoilers.)
As I
said, Syd’s introduction on the show leaves a lot to be desired. She’s the beautiful girl David sees across a
crowded mental health facility, and he’s taken with her far before he ever
meets her. Hearing her talk for the
first time in group therapy (and realizing “she’s not like the others”) seals
the deal in David’s mind – it seems a foregone conclusion that she’ll be a
narrative device more than a person, someone whose love David will believe can
“fix” him. The show takes a slightly different
direction with when Syd is revealed to be a fellow mutant who rescues David
from Division 3 and is positioned to help him explore his own powers, but the
basic set-up still appears to be that she’s made to be a function within his
story.
Not so. Once the work begins at Summerland to find
the truth of David’s past inside his fractured memories, it’s immediately
evident that David’s mind is thornier than any of the folks there bargained
for. They realize that, in order, to
better into David’s psychological trauma, David himself needs to be absent from
at least part of it, and so they sedate him to make his subconscious more
cooperative. From there, it seems there
are continual roadblocks thrown up between David and his own journey of
self-discovery, and as they do, Syd takes on more and more of the heavy
lifting. Granted, she’s working toward
goals that are pretty much all about David, but she’s the one in the group with
the greatest overlap in the Venn diagram of “emotionally invested” and “actively
involved.” She does the leg work and the
investigating, she spends a lot of time in David’s increasingly disoriented
head, she sifts through the noise in search of clues and develops theories, and
she confronts the darkness residing inside David. And of course, David would prefer not to be
shunted off into the astral plane, mental coffins, etc., etc., but if he can’t
be present himself, he takes comfort in knowing that Syd is on the case.
Naturally,
it’s not all rosy, and that’s before we even get into the nitty-gritty of
what’s going on in David’s head. No,
they also need to address David’s reluctance to let the doors be opened on the
really dark places and his fear of what Syd will think of him when she sees
those parts of himself. He needs to
learn to trust her love for him, just as she needs to prepare herself for the
horrors waiting in his psyche. For the
most part, though, they’re great. I like
how they talk things through and get really emotionally vulnerable with each
other, and I like how David puts his faith in Syd to understand something when
he needs her to. I like how, through one
another’s eyes, they’re able realize that they may be damaged, but they’re not
as far gone as they think they are. Also,
it’s a little thing, but I love that they “hold hands” in the hospital by
hanging onto either end of a long stocking (Syd’s powers make her vigilant
against touching anyone’s bare skin) – it’s a total Pushing Daisies moment, and it’s a tiny snippet of too-cuteness in
a dizzying, cerebral nightmare of show.
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