“What Else about Our Reality Is Actually a Disorder?” Mental Illness as Crisis of Reality in FX’s Legion

Abstract

This essay examines the ways in which the FX TV series Legion uses mental illness as a metaphor through which to consider the nature of reality. It suggests that, in doing so, Legion not only reproduces stereotypical representational tropes that position madness as shorthand for villainy, but it also follows in the tradition of puzzle narratives that use mental illness to tease plot twists based on the protagonist’s inability to differentiate between delusion and reality. Finally, it examines the tendency in both Legion and other puzzle narratives to employ subjective narration techniques to simulate the perceptual experience of madness for viewers as a central component of the entertainment that they offer.