Legion: What I Liked and Disliked

 Things I liked about Legion:

1. Lennie (Aubrey Plaza)-Though I was confused and ended up being wrong about the nature of her character.

2. David (Dan Stevens).  I liked the character and the performance.  I like stories that explore interactions between the supernatural and mental health.

3. The Shadow King (Navid Negahban).  I once saw or read this thing about how the character spoke in different languages, but it wasn't random.  The choice of language corresponded with the mood/content.

4. That it led me down a Jemaine Clement rabbit whole...which really has been a long and winding path.  

5. The sushi conveyor belt restaurant...but it's not sushi.  It's breakfast.  That was awesome.  

Actually, was it a conveyer belt?  Or was it a boat thing?  Either way.  Fantastic.  

6. The cover songs by Noah Hawley and Jeff Russo. I don't think I've ever known of a show's creator to do the singing for a show.  I think it's pretty cool.  My favorite song is probably "Behind Blue Eyes", though the other day I was walking around the house singing "I am Superman".  I only knew that one line, so I was being quite repetitive.  

There were also a few days where I was into "Change the World".

And I love Rachel Keller's cover of "Road to Nowhere".

I pretty much love most of the songs, really.  

Things I did not like about Legion:

1. I was a little too confused at times.

2. The child-rape entrapment storyline. I was horrified by this and almost quit watching.  I'm actually not sure why we continued.  Maybe curiosity?  Or a hope that things would be eventually resolved in a way that made me feel less horrified.

3. The erasure of the Jewishness of the Holocaust.  

If I had watched Legion before I saw the antisemitic comments on the Instagram post about the Jewishness of Marvel being diminished, I would have probably felt slightly stung but mostly okay.  Because back then I was very much into the idea that lessons of the Holocaust should expand beyond antisemitism*

If I had watched Legion before October 7, I would have been annoyed...maybe a little angry.

Because we had watched Legion after October 7 and during the time that being-antisemitic was rising in popularity, I was disgusted and sad.

To be fair, Legion was made way before October 7. So I don't blame the creators. I'm sure there are things I've said and done before October 7 that haven't aged well.  I hope, though, that if given the opportunity, the creators will make better choices in the future.  Even better...I hope the creators will create the opportunities.

I do wonder if they made David's mother a Gypsy victim of the Holocaust, because they didn't want a storyline involving a Muslim/Arab abusing a Jew.  

Well...I just Googled to see if my anger was unfair and unwarranted.  And now I'm even more angry.

I was thinking maybe David's mother was a Gypsy in the comics and Noah Hawley was simply sticking to the source material.

But no.

According to this Marvel fansite, not only is Gabrielle Haller a Holocaust survivor, but she was also the ambassador of Israel to the UK.

There really IS a lot of Jewishness in the Marvel universe.

Shit.  I'm mad.

Here I've been the last few weeks wondering how Disney can help make things better for Jews by making a Jewish princess....or the equivalent.  

Something from the Torah?  Probably not.

Something like Turning Red but a Jewish story?  Maybe.

A Golem story?  Maybe.  And fun to imagine how it will trigger antisemitic Minecrafters. 

Something futuristic like Big Hero Six taking place in a peaceful Israel/Palestine with a mix of Palestinian and Jewish characters?  Yeah. That would be cool. 

But now I'm really seeing how Disney has done the opposite.

They've taken very Jewish stories and diminished the Jewishness.

It's so ugly.

But they did all this before October 7 and before being-antisemitic rose so steeply in popularity.

Now Disney is torn in two different directions.  1. Do anything remotely Zionist-friendly and be the target of hatred and boycotts  2. Continue to play erase-the-Jews and piss off people like me.

There are ways, though, to piss off only the extremists on both sides and make reasonable people on both sides fairly happy.  

EDITED TO ADD:  suddenly remembered, while listening to an advertisement for a comic book store, that Disney didn’t produce Legion. So, I can be less disgruntled with them. At least for that particular case of Jewish erasure/minimization.

EDITED TO ADD (a few minutes later). Or IS Disney partly responsible?  IMDb lists Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Television as some of the production companies?  Were they fully owned by Disney in 2017? 

It’s quite confusing.  Disney acquired FX before season 3 of  Legion. So can I blame them for stuff in season 3?  I can’t remember if the Holocaust stuff happened in season 2 or 3. 

*One day hopefully I will return to believing that Holocaust-teachings should expand beyond antisemitism.  But, at this time; in this environment, I can't be that person.  

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

Spotify Unwrapped (Part 2)

So...that's part of my Spotify Unwrapped.

Before Jemaine Clement came into our lives via Legion, my musical goals were centered around Dan  Romer and The Beatles. 

Dan Romer was a result of my listening to the soundtrack of Station Eleven and deciding I want to listen to everything he's ever made. 

The Beatles were a result of seeing the movie Yesterday and deciding I wanted to do a deep dive of all their music.

That one didn't last.  I think mainly because I realized I actually liked the Beatles songs better when Himesh Patel is singing them.

I just realized the first and last artist on my list are connected to Himesh Patel.  

Patel was one of the stars of Station Eleven.

How cool is that?

I should mention....I didn't do a screenshot, but I'm like in the top .002% of Dan Romer's listeners.  

I can still get the screenshot if anyone out there is needing proof.

Not sure why anyone would need proof.

But...who knows.

Oh! Well....there might be a very competitive Dan Romer fan out there. They might demand to see the

proof behind my declarations. 

***

The three artists in the middle are all from New Zealand.

Two led to three...fairly directly.

I'm not sure how I ended up finding four.  

I started listening to a lot of Māori music which may have led me to Stan Walker.

Or...I remember seeing someone using one of his songs on their Instagram post. Though for me to notice that, I would have probably already had to have been familar with his name.

***

As for the songs....

I think it's funny that, except for Flight of the Conchords, none of the artists match the songs.

In actuality, I think I did listen to Stan Walker's song the most. That would be "Aotearoa".  But I mostly listened to it on the Alexa Echo while showering. And Alexa is hooked up to Tim's Spotify account rather than mine.

There were multiple days where I requested the song on repeat.

***

I was kind of surprised that my most listened to Flight of the Conchords song was "Feel Inside".  But I vaguely remember, one afternoon, having it on repeat.

Also, I think there were many days where I'd be eating feta cheese. Or thinking about eating feta cheese. I'd think of the song and then want to hear the song.

***

"In Time" resulted from Coronation Street. 

I lost my link to the show when Hulu stopped carrying it. Then months later, Tim had digital credits from Amazon and offered them to me, so I could have a month of Britbox.

"In Time" played during a special episode featuring Lauren (Cait Fitton).  I liked the song; saved it, and kind of forgot about it.

Then I became re-attached to Coronation Street and was kind of a lot sad about saying goodbye. In my time of mourning, The song came on via shuffle and I then listened to it over and over and over.

I might have been crying part of the time.

(This event might have been too painful for me to remember and write about...but it's not. Because thanks to Black Friday sales, I currently have two months of Coronation Street)

***

"Something in the Water" was another song I added to my playlist and didn't give much attention to until...

We were watching The Walking Dead, and there was an episode involving poisoned water. And the song came into my head. I started listening to it and became slightly obsessed for a few days.

And though I mostly listened to the cover by The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra, I started to also listen to Brooke Fraser's original version...and other music by her.

***

"Okay" is by Five For Fighting and is about October 7—the massacres, the hostages, the antisemitism, etc.  I love the song and also love that a musician I like is so supportive.

It's wonderful to learn about an artist BECAUSE of their advocacy.

But it's extra nice to already have liked that artist.

"Superman" is one of my favorite songs.

"Carried Away" is by the Aussie singer Jae Laffer. I didn't know him by name until this year but was familar with songs from his group The Panics. 

I added some of his songs to my playlist and then forgot the who the what and the why.

Then one morning during the days we were watching Our Flag Means Death, I heard "Carried Away" and assumed I got it from the show.

It seemed to fit so well.

It took me awhile and some confirming to convince myself it was not played in the show.

Even now, I feel unsure and am tempted to re-check.

Another song that I misplaced in a show/movie was...."Hi Gene" by Glenn Richards.

I added some of his music to my playlist after seeing Late Night with the Devil.

I guess I saw his name on IMDb and then decided to listen to a bunch of his music.

So then I thought that "Hi Gene" was played at the end of Late Night with the Devil.

But it seems that wasn't the case.

If I'm wrong about being wrong, please let me know in the comments.

***

Back to Don McGlashan, because I feel I didn't talk about him enough.  My favorite songs of his, thus far, are "All the Goodbyes in the World" and "Girl, Make Your Own Mind Up".

***

I wish there had been more Brett McKenzie on my list, because I listened to a LOT of his music. And not just Flight of the Conchords stuff.  

I'm also disappointed to not have more Māori music, because I listened to a ton. But I can understand it's absence, because I listened to such a variety of artists and a variety of songs.  I failed to consolidate enough.

I think if they had included genres on Spotify Unwrapped this year, I would have gotten something with Māori music and maybe something with Hebrew/Jewish music.

Really...all in all...I'd say that Spotify Unwrapped doesn't do a great job of representing my music experience.  Still...I'll probably still be obsessing about Spotify Unwrapped 2025.