Friday, April 7, 2017

Marvel: Legion: Lets talk about Lenny

Aubrey Plaza's portrayal as Lenny or who we now know as The Shadow King was phenomenal.The Shadow King shows up in a few forms to torment of David (our Protagonist...well pseudo protagonist) through out the first season. Lenny appears in the first episode as a friend in the psych ward with David. At this point we assume that everyone can see Lenny as it appears that people are talking to Lenny. ( The thing is most of the others in the therapy session as well as other scenes in the first episode show up sporadically and in my opinion are his split personalities.)

An event is triggered where David thinks he has killed Lenny by somewhat of a chaotic psychotic event. Shes literally stuck in a wall by the way. But Lenny reappears in his head talking to him and basically warping his mind. At this time they don't have a name for the entity tormenting David until a bit later. By the end of the series we see what Lenny really is.

Viewers questioned whether Lenny was ever real at all.She wasn't, as they hinted to David's Junkie friend as being a dude named Benny. The shadow king presents himself as 'Lenny' for the sake of confusion. I also think The Shadow King David may have astro-projected outside of Davids head.  At this point David is not aware that he actually has more than one person living in his head (Really hope they go into the background on this point as well.). Lenny knows though. Aubrey Plaza was the perfect casting choice for this role. She was the comic relief, with absurdly sketchy motives, and racy characteristics. She was believable in the guise she wore. The first season ends with the supposed defeat/escape of the Shadow King. Plaza pretty much transfers her self from person to person and we assume she hasn't made it out after David and Lenny Collided. Simply not the case but I won't give the ending away for anyone who hasn't seen those episodes just yet.

Granted The Shadow King has many forms (Lenny seems to be a great adaption) and I am sure will no doubt show up in other Marvel Series in the future. (i.e. His Interacting with Storm and Charles Xavier) Or for our sake introduce Our beloved X-men into the series by way of Legion in follow up Seasons but i Digress, that is a conversation for another time. Plaza has my vote for any future roles specifically comic related.