So today Weapon Icean is on sale for 2.99! Make sure to get it while it's on sale!
And with that in mind I have to write about Legion. Two episodes in and its got to be one of my favorite TV shows. Why? Because its just... pretty much perfect in everyway. People can knit-pick and say they aren't developing every single character in the show but I mean c'mon, it's two episodes in. They've already developed the heck out of the most important characters, David, Syd, even Melanie and the Ptolemy guy. Through David they've even developed his big sister and the relationships? They're dynamic and incredibly well developed for just being in the second episode of the first season!
Instead of going into character arcs, plot development, the choice of clothing, the use of camera POV, CGI and props amongst a hundred other things they did right in this show I want to talk about the big overarching them. The theme that stood out to me since the first minute of the first episode. The fact that David Haller is different and that's ok. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and has been in a mental hospital for... I think it was five or six years. His best friend in there Lenny, I don't know what she was diagnosed for or how she ended up in there but she's dynamic and bold and a little bit off. But the second episode questions his diagnosis. Is David Haller schizophrenic or is all the monsters he sees lurking in the shadows and the strange voices he hears all part of his immense mutant power? I'm still not sure. He obviously is a mutant. He has telepathy and telekinesis among a few other powers that are noticeable in the first and second episode. The voices he hears are due to the telepathy but what about the weird things he sees? That freaky monster guy that's always in the corner of his eyes? Where did that come from?
Anyways! I think I went off on a tangent there but I want to circle back to what I first said.
David Haller is different and that's ok.
What I find interesting is that each of these mutant's powers have strong correlations with mental disorders. David Haller's telepathy and telekinesis could be interpreted as paranoid schizophrenia. His love interest and by far one of my favorite characters Syd Barrett doesn't like being touched. Her power activates when she's touched but in the second episode she reveals to Davis that being close to people or touching them makes her uncomfortable. Being close or touching people makes her skin itchy like ants are crawling all over her. I'm sure there's a specific mental disorder that can correlate with that power but with having little brothers with sensory issues that's the first thing that came to mind. Certain sounds, textures, tastes and light can make people with sensory disorders grow uncomfortable and probably feel the same way Syd does when people are too close to her, itchy and not right. Someone people don't like being hugged or touched too much because it makes them uncomfortable and Syd shows that that's ok and because it's part of her power it makes people with sensory disorders who watch this show feel like they're like Syd. Their sensory disorder isn't a "disorder" its a power, an asset. Just like David's telepathy and telekinesis or his diagnosis isn't wrong or bad or make him a lesser person. It's an asset, a part of his power.
What stuck out to me the most was how after watching the first two episodes of Legion it made me feel better about myself. I have really bad anxiety and suffer from depression and usually those things are seen as bad. I see them as bad. That I shouldn't have to deal with them and they make me weird and feel like I'm crazy, kind of like how David feels in the first episode. Like he's crazy, out of his mind. After watching Legion... it made me feel better about myself. Made me feel more comfortable in my own skin because I could relate to David in a way that I can't really relate to any other character in most TV shows and books. Not a lot of entertainment get's mental health right but Legion is. It just makes you feel like your different and that's ok. You have anxiety, depression, sensory disorders and that's ok. You aren't weird or wrong because of it. It's just who you are. You're your own kind of normal and that's ok.
Another thing that stuck out to me was how David and Syd relate to each other. David is always restless. He has these little twitches and often times when he's talking he sounds scatter brained, like he has a million thoughts going through his head at the same time and it's hard to pick the right words for that right time (another reason why I relate to him so much. My mind is always going a million miles a second and when I talk to people usually my words get jumbled up and I tend to sound scattered). He's always looking around as if seeing another world from the corner of his eyes. And Syd doesn't mind. She accepted his scatter brained talking and reads between the lines when he can't figure out the right words to say. And in reverse David respects Syd's no touching rule. He doesn't want to make her uncomfortable or hurt her so he keeps his distance while also loving her fiercely. When she confessed to how even being close to a person makes her feel uncomfortable and not good David scoots back a little and says they can't have that. So instead of having a physically dominated relationship he just smiles and says they're having a romance of the mind. My favorite quote of episode two by the way! As someone with anxiety and depression that fade in and out with each day but will never go away David and Syd's relationship is really encouraging and sweet because it just makes you think if David and Syd can accept and love each other's differences than there has to be real people out in the world like them.
I could go on and on about this show but I think I should stop here. I want to end this blog post with my favorite quote from episode one that just made me smile and secured Syd as my favorite character of the show.
Syd: Please keep talking, so we can pretend that our problems are all in our heads.
David: What does that mean?
Syd: It means that you're in here because somebody said you're not normal.
Syd: All I'm saying is, what if your problems aren't in your head. What if they aren't even problems?
Yes she was probably talking about his mutant power but doesn't that apply to all mental health? Because you have anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, or sensory disorders you're dubbed "not normal" and "problematic." What if they aren't problems? David is his own normal. Syd is her on normal. And so is everyone else with or without a mental disorder or mutant powers.
And with that in mind I have to write about Legion. Two episodes in and its got to be one of my favorite TV shows. Why? Because its just... pretty much perfect in everyway. People can knit-pick and say they aren't developing every single character in the show but I mean c'mon, it's two episodes in. They've already developed the heck out of the most important characters, David, Syd, even Melanie and the Ptolemy guy. Through David they've even developed his big sister and the relationships? They're dynamic and incredibly well developed for just being in the second episode of the first season!
Instead of going into character arcs, plot development, the choice of clothing, the use of camera POV, CGI and props amongst a hundred other things they did right in this show I want to talk about the big overarching them. The theme that stood out to me since the first minute of the first episode. The fact that David Haller is different and that's ok. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and has been in a mental hospital for... I think it was five or six years. His best friend in there Lenny, I don't know what she was diagnosed for or how she ended up in there but she's dynamic and bold and a little bit off. But the second episode questions his diagnosis. Is David Haller schizophrenic or is all the monsters he sees lurking in the shadows and the strange voices he hears all part of his immense mutant power? I'm still not sure. He obviously is a mutant. He has telepathy and telekinesis among a few other powers that are noticeable in the first and second episode. The voices he hears are due to the telepathy but what about the weird things he sees? That freaky monster guy that's always in the corner of his eyes? Where did that come from?
Anyways! I think I went off on a tangent there but I want to circle back to what I first said.
David Haller is different and that's ok.
What I find interesting is that each of these mutant's powers have strong correlations with mental disorders. David Haller's telepathy and telekinesis could be interpreted as paranoid schizophrenia. His love interest and by far one of my favorite characters Syd Barrett doesn't like being touched. Her power activates when she's touched but in the second episode she reveals to Davis that being close to people or touching them makes her uncomfortable. Being close or touching people makes her skin itchy like ants are crawling all over her. I'm sure there's a specific mental disorder that can correlate with that power but with having little brothers with sensory issues that's the first thing that came to mind. Certain sounds, textures, tastes and light can make people with sensory disorders grow uncomfortable and probably feel the same way Syd does when people are too close to her, itchy and not right. Someone people don't like being hugged or touched too much because it makes them uncomfortable and Syd shows that that's ok and because it's part of her power it makes people with sensory disorders who watch this show feel like they're like Syd. Their sensory disorder isn't a "disorder" its a power, an asset. Just like David's telepathy and telekinesis or his diagnosis isn't wrong or bad or make him a lesser person. It's an asset, a part of his power.
What stuck out to me the most was how after watching the first two episodes of Legion it made me feel better about myself. I have really bad anxiety and suffer from depression and usually those things are seen as bad. I see them as bad. That I shouldn't have to deal with them and they make me weird and feel like I'm crazy, kind of like how David feels in the first episode. Like he's crazy, out of his mind. After watching Legion... it made me feel better about myself. Made me feel more comfortable in my own skin because I could relate to David in a way that I can't really relate to any other character in most TV shows and books. Not a lot of entertainment get's mental health right but Legion is. It just makes you feel like your different and that's ok. You have anxiety, depression, sensory disorders and that's ok. You aren't weird or wrong because of it. It's just who you are. You're your own kind of normal and that's ok.
Another thing that stuck out to me was how David and Syd relate to each other. David is always restless. He has these little twitches and often times when he's talking he sounds scatter brained, like he has a million thoughts going through his head at the same time and it's hard to pick the right words for that right time (another reason why I relate to him so much. My mind is always going a million miles a second and when I talk to people usually my words get jumbled up and I tend to sound scattered). He's always looking around as if seeing another world from the corner of his eyes. And Syd doesn't mind. She accepted his scatter brained talking and reads between the lines when he can't figure out the right words to say. And in reverse David respects Syd's no touching rule. He doesn't want to make her uncomfortable or hurt her so he keeps his distance while also loving her fiercely. When she confessed to how even being close to a person makes her feel uncomfortable and not good David scoots back a little and says they can't have that. So instead of having a physically dominated relationship he just smiles and says they're having a romance of the mind. My favorite quote of episode two by the way! As someone with anxiety and depression that fade in and out with each day but will never go away David and Syd's relationship is really encouraging and sweet because it just makes you think if David and Syd can accept and love each other's differences than there has to be real people out in the world like them.
I could go on and on about this show but I think I should stop here. I want to end this blog post with my favorite quote from episode one that just made me smile and secured Syd as my favorite character of the show.
Syd: Please keep talking, so we can pretend that our problems are all in our heads.
David: What does that mean?
Syd: It means that you're in here because somebody said you're not normal.
Syd: All I'm saying is, what if your problems aren't in your head. What if they aren't even problems?
Yes she was probably talking about his mutant power but doesn't that apply to all mental health? Because you have anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, or sensory disorders you're dubbed "not normal" and "problematic." What if they aren't problems? David is his own normal. Syd is her on normal. And so is everyone else with or without a mental disorder or mutant powers.
What do you think of Legion and it's overall message and theme?
Great perspective! Keep it up!
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