Profiles in Mentorship : LEGION and Switch

LEGION :

I'm David.

Come on in.

I'll make some Tea.

DAVID: 

Yes, it pays to be kind.

DAVID 2 

[SCOTTISH ACCENT.] : 

Are you out of your mind?!?

"Is black tea okay?" 

What are you gonna do with This One? 

Give her a wee nib of The Blue Stuff and sling her in with all The Others?

“Honesty is non-negotiable in a relationship of this nature because you need to Trust someone if you’re going to allow them to Help you, and they of course need to be dealing with The Truth of Who You Are, not the Facebook, press release version of yourself you’ve been fobbing the world off with up till now. 

What I brought to the relationship, I now know, was Honesty, Open-mindedness and Willingness – known as ‘HOW’ in 12 Step jargon. 

This is the attitude I deploy still in any relationship where I am The Student. Whether in meditation, Jiu Jitsu or business affairs I approach my teacher, my ‘mentor’, in an honest, open-minded and willing way. 

I recognize that they have something I want, that they have achieved something that I haven’t, that as I am in the moment I sit before them, I am insufficient, and for the transfer of energy or education to take place I must be mentally and spiritually prepared. 

This is as true for a yoga class as it is for a Spanish lesson or therapy.”

Excerpt From

Mentors by

Russell Brand

LEGION:

Hi.

I'm David.

Come on in.

I'll make some tea.

Switch :

What is this place? 

LEGION:

People have their pain.

Their hearts are sad.

Their minds are tired.

I help them.

Switch :

How? 

LEGION:

I'm the magic man.

All I ask is that they stay and keep me company after.

Take care of the house.

Love each other.

I need that.

Love.

Switch :

How is this here? 

This cave? 

LEGION:

I made it.

Try this.

Close your eyes.

Close your eyes.

And picture your bedroom.

Your bed.

Can you see it? Really see it? 

The walls, the windows? 

The way the light falls? 

• Open your eyes •

It's a mental space.

You imagined it.

I made it Real.

Switch :

You read my mind? 

LEGION:

No secrets.

That's one of our rules.

Switch :

What about Trust? 

LEGION:

Mm.

I tried that, and it's better to read people's minds.

I'm adopted.

When I was a baby, a monster snuck into my head and haunted me for 33 years.

[MONSTER SNARLING.]

But I'm better now.

Switch :

How are you? 

LEGION:

Good. I'm good.

How are you? 

Switch :

You know.

Fine.

My dad collects robots.

Robotto.

There's a room in our apartment.

[FAINT WHIRRING.]

Some are life-sized.

Some toys.

Hundreds.

Sometimes at night, I go in there.

[WHIRRING, TICKING.]

I stand very still, 

and pretend I'm a robot, too.

So what are 

"The Forces of Division"? 

Why do you need a Time Traveler? 

Switch :

So it's a girl thing.

You want to go back in time and what? 

Get your girlfriend back? 

LEGION:

I thought about it.

Doing everything again, making different choices, but 

[CLICKS TONGUE.] 

it won't work.

You know how sometimes 

you can be so sure 

what The Problem is 

and then you realise The Problem 

is really something else? 

Switch :

No.

LEGION:

Oh.

Well, you're Young.

When I was in the psych ward,

everybody was so sure 

The Problem was neurological.

Brain chemistry, serotonin.

"David Haller, schizophrenic." 

Switch :

You were in a psychiatric hospital? 

LEGION:

[CHUCKLES.]: 

Oh.

Oh.

Lots of times.

Psych hospitals, emergency rooms.

"David, don't swallow all your mother's diet pills." 

"David, don't huff the chemicals under the sink." 

Like I'm supposed to what? 

Pretend The Voices aren't real? 

You know? 

Switch :

Yeah, sure.

LEGION:

You see, like I said, when I was a baby, 

a monster came into my head 

and haunted me for, like, 33 years.

Switch :

By "monster," you mean, like, a metaphor, right? 

LEGION:

Amahl Farouk.

The Shadow King.

My dad, my real dad, 

he kicked Farouk out of his body 

into the astral plane.

And then he found me, Farouk, 

and he moved in.

More tea? 

[SQUEAKS.]

[BIRDS CHIRPING.]

[SHOUTS.]

Switch :

I still don't know why you need 

a Time Traveler.

LEGION:

To go back in time.

What else? 

Switch :

How far? 

LEGION:

Well, how far can you go? 

Switch :

Sydney Barrett, Gabrielle Xavier 

and The Infant David —

The Universe Acknowledges You, That You Exist 

and 

That Your Existence is Important.

I can see that you've suffered, 

That people you love have suffered, 

and 

you want to know that it meant something.

It did.

It does.

Nothing of Value is Ever Lost.

SYDNEY BARRETT :

Did he do it? David? 

Switch :

The David You Know 

is almost gone.

His Past changed.

And now, Sydney Barrett, 

your past will change, too.

The Life You've Lived, 

your memories, 

everything will be new.

SYDNEY BARRETT :

So I die? 

Switch :

This You, The You You Are Now.

But The You You Will Be? 

She will be Glorious.

SYDNEY BARRETT :

How do you —

Switch :

I am Time.

I see all.

SYDNEY BARRETT :

I like your jumper.

Switch :

Thank you.

SYDNEY BARRETT :

So do I die now? 

Switch :

No.

I will give you time for 

One Last Thing.

And Thank You for helping me when I was human.

[They hug]

Kerry Loudermilk :

What just happened? 

SYDNEY BARRETT :

I Think We just 

Saved The World.

NIMROD

It's Hard to Hate Someone You Understand.

He said that he understood... 

But I could see in his eyes that he didn’t —

He was lying to me....!

Our vibrations were getting nasty, but why?

Was there no communication in This Car..?

Had we deteriorated to the level of Dumb Beasts...?

In the Ancient Days, Mankind built a Tower so high that it threatened to touch Heaven —

And God cursed us with

Foreign Language.

Misunderstanding 

and the 

Inability to Communicate

No-One (I Think) is in My Tree 

Living is Easy (with Eyes-Closed)

Misunderstanding All You See

"...it was Nimrod who excited them to such an affront and contempt of God. He was the grandson of Ham, the son of Noah, a bold man, and of great strength of hand. 

He persuaded them not to ascribe it to God, as if it were through his means they were happy, but to believe that it was their own courage which procured that happiness. 

He also gradually changed the government into tyranny, seeing no other way of turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence on his power. 

He also said he would be revenged on God, if he should have a mind to drown the world again; for that he would build a tower too high for the waters to reach. And that he would avenge himself on God for destroying their forefathers.

Now the multitude were very ready to follow the determination of Nimrod, and to esteem it a piece of cowardice to submit to God; and they built a tower, neither sparing any pains, nor being in any degree negligent about the work: and, by reason of the multitude of hands employed in it, it grew very high, sooner than any one could expect; but the thickness of it was so great, and it was so strongly built, that thereby its great height seemed, upon the view, to be less than it really was. 

It was built of burnt brick, cemented together with mortar, made of bitumen, that it might not be liable to admit water. 

When God saw that they acted so madly, he did not resolve to destroy them utterly, since they were not grown wiser by the destruction of the former sinners; but he caused a tumult among them, by producing in them diverse languages, and causing that, through the multitude of those languages, they should not be able to understand one another. 

The place wherein they built the tower is now called Babylon, because of the confusion of that language which they readily understood before; for the Hebrews mean by the word Babel, confusion ..."

LEGION, 
(w. The Shadow King still in His Head) :
And this includes the China holdings? 

Laura :

Yes, sir.

As soon as you sign, you'll be the richest man in the world.

LEGION, 
(w. The Shadow King still in His Head) :

You're thinking, 

"How is this possible? 

He was the coffee boy.

He worked for me." 

Laura :

Sir, I wasn't — 

LEGION, 
(w. The Shadow King still in His Head) :

I can read your mind, Laura.

Laura :

Yes, sir.

Sorry, sir.

LEGION, 
(w. The Shadow King still in His Head) :

God blessed me with a gift, do you understand? 

I am his chosen vessel.

In the ancient days, mankind built a tower so high that it threatened to touch Heaven and God cursed us with foreign language.

Misunderstanding and the inability to communicate, but I know what's in the heart of every man, woman and child on this Earth.

Gone is the confusion, the division.

I am The Great Uniter.

Laura :

You're a saint, sir.

LEGION, 
(w. The Shadow King still in His Head) :

The money is a tool, you see.

Nothing more.

Power.

Because without power, who would listen? 

Laura :

Sir, your sister.

Amy, The Beloved :

Excuse me.

I've been waiting.

Papers to sign.

LEGION, 
(w. The Shadow King still in His Head) :

Always papers.

Amy, The Beloved :

Is that Laura? 

Why do you keep her around? 
She's ancient.

LEGION, 
(w. The Shadow King still in His Head) :

She resents me.

I like that.

Amy, The Beloved :

I need a new house.


LEGION, 
(w. The Shadow King still in His Head) :

No, you •want• a new house.

Amy, The Beloved :

Harvey's screwing his masseuse.

LEGION, 
(w. The Shadow King still in His Head) :

So? You're screwing her, too.

Amy, The Beloved :

I •hate• it when you do that.

Huh? 

[WHIMPERS.]

Stop! 

LEGION, 
(w. The Shadow King still in His Head) :

No more houses.

Amy, The Beloved :

Okay.

[SHUDDERS.]

[INDISTINCT MUTTERING.]

It's always blue!

No one knows what it's like 

To be the bad man 

To be the sad man 

Behind blue eyes 

No one knows what it's like 

To be hated 

To be fated 

To telling only lies 

But my dreams 

They aren't as empty 

As my conscience 

Seems to be 

I have hours 

Only lonely 

My love is vengeance 

That's never free 

THE KING :

[IN FARSI.] : 

No one comprehends this pain 

Feels this feeling 

Like me 

And I blame you 

No one controls themselves like this 

His anger 

His pain 

My pain and fear 

Cannot be revealed 

BOTH: 

But my dreams 

They aren't as empty 

As my conscience 

Seems to be 

I have hours 

Only lonely 

My love is vengeance 

That's never free 

My love is vengeance.

That's never free.

When my fist clenches, crack it open 

Before I use it and lose my cool When I smile 

Tell me some bad news 

Before I laugh and act like a fool 

KING FAROUK

[ IN FARSI] : 

If I am evil 

[TONE RESONATES.]

- [DAVID GROANS.]

Purify me If I shiver 

LEGION :

When I shiver 

[ECHOING.]

Please give me a blanket 

Keep me warm, let me wear your coat 

[LAUGHS.]

No one knows what it's like 

To be the bad man 

To be the sad man, man, man, man, man

Legion | Oliver's Stories

You know, They Say you can't convince someone they're wrong simply by giving them The Facts.

But a Good Story will do it every time.

So I'm gonna tell you a Story.

When you first watch Oliver telling stories, you don't even know who he is, let alone the symbolic meaning of the stories. We revisit these stories after watching the entire season and try to decipher their meanings.

00:24 | The Poor Woodcutter & His Wife 02:48 | Prologue & Frizzy Top's Adventures 06:28 | Empathy-Fear Thematic Pairings 09:18 | Noah Hawley on X-Men and Ambiguous Morality For more premium TV analysis, go to: https://www.whisperandtrouble.com/

Soup

KERRY  LOUDERMILK : 

You look ridiculous.

CARY LOUDERMILK :

I'm reconstructing what happened on the hill from available sensor data.

KERRY  LOUDERMILK :

Did I tell you I cut off the head of a Minotaur? 

CARY LOUDERMILK :

Yes, you did.

In graphic detail.

KERRY  LOUDERMILK :

Do you know what its blood smelled like? 

CARY LOUDERMILK :

Oh, please, Kerry — Okay, this is weird.

KERRY  LOUDERMILK :

You remember those, like, beef bouillon cubes - from when we were kids? 

CARY LOUDERMILK :

Stop.

KERRY  LOUDERMILK :

The kind that you would pour boiling water onto? 

CARY LOUDERMILK :

Stop.

KERRY  LOUDERMILK :

It didn't taste like that, though.

[BEEPING, STATIC.]

CARY LOUDERMILK :

Oh, no.

KERRY  LOUDERMILK :

What? 

CARY LOUDERMILK :

It's Treachery.

The Shadow King :

You ever make soup? 

Cut up the meat, vegetables, add broth, cook it for a couple hours.

You ever try to unmake soup? 

I'm part of him.

And the only way you're gonna get me out without killing him 

is if I decide to leave on my own.

There it is.

Now you see.

LEGION :

Okay.

I think I understand.

It's not about being alone, or about being in love.

It's about the things you survived.

And as it's written, 

"The world breaks everyone, and afterward, 

some are strong at the broken places." 

Syd Barrett :

Go on.

[SIGHS.]

LEGION :

It's not the story of a little girl whose mommy couldn't hug her 

who grew up wishing a prince's kiss could erase all her damage.

It's about the damage itself, and how it makes us strong, not weak.

You survived the bullies and the way they made you feel.

You cut yourself with the dullest blade 'cause it felt the worst.

I know that life, 'cause I lived it, too.

I know.

And then I met you, and it was true love.

Like in a fairy tale.

Syd Barrett :

This isn't a fairy tale.

LEGION :

[DAVID CHUCKLES.]

It is for me.

Syd Barrett :

Do you know what love is? It's a hot bath.

What happens to things when you leave them in a bath for too long? 

Huh? They get soft.

Fall apart.

LEGION :

[EXHALES SHARPLY.]

I read that story collection.

The one in your book.

At first, I was confused, you know —

Why is she carrying around this sordid tale of sex clubs and drug addicts and —

And then I read this :

"Junkies and masochists and hookers, 

and those who have squandered everything 

are the ring of brightest angels around heaven." 

Syd Barrett :

It's a War, baby, This Life.

The things we endure.

You said you saw The Future, and it's an Apocalypse.

Who survives that? 

The Lovers or The Fighters? 

They sell us this lie that Love's gonna save us.

All it does is make us stupid and weak.

LEGION :

[SCOFFS.]

Thanks.

Syd Barrett :

Look at me.

Love isn't gonna save us.

It's what we have to save.

Pain makes us strong enough to do it.

All our scars, our anger, our despair It's armor.

Baby, God loves The Sinners best 'cause our fire burns bright, bright, bright.

Burn with me.

[EXHALES.]

Fine.

It Has Often Been Said That All Comedy is Rooted in Fear –

–  The Things That Make Us Laugh are VERY Closely to The Things Frighten Us

Godmother :

Sorry, but whoever had a miscarriage, could you take it to the kitchen, please? 

Claire :

No! Don't follow me, Jake.

Oh, and this is over.

You're leaving me.

Martin The Hobgoblin :

No, no, no.

Claire :

Yes! 

Martin The Hobgoblin :

Are you drunk? 

Claire :

Yes.

Are you sober? 

Martin The Hobgoblin :

A bit.

Could you just fuck off? 

Fleabag :

Oh, absolutely not! 

Martin The Hobgoblin :

Okay, no, no.

Fleabag :

I'm staying right here.

Claire :

[EXHALES.]

I want you to leave me.

Martin The Hobgoblin :

Listen to me, I just, I have I think 

Fleabag’s Emotional Support Inner-Monologue:

( he has a little speech.  )

Martin The Hobgoblin :

I have a little speech that's building here.

Now, I know you look at me and you see a bad man with a big beard.

Claire :

You are an alcoholic and you tried it on with my sister.

Martin The Hobgoblin :

Fine.

I tried to kiss your sister on her birthday.

Claire :

My birthday! 

Martin The Hobgoblin :

Fine! 

I mix up birthdays and I have an alcohol problem, just like everyone else in this fucking country.

But I am here and I do things.

I pick up Jake up from shit, 

I make dessert for Easter, 

I organise the downstairs toilet, 

I fired the humming cleaner.

Claire :

You enjoyed that.

Martin The Hobgoblin :

I hoover the car.

I put up all your certificates 

and 

I don't make you feel guilty for not having sex with me.

I am not a bad guy! 

I just have a bad personality, it's not my fault.

Some people are born with fucked personalities.

Look at Jake.

He is so creepy, it's not his fault! 

Why the bassoon!? 

You want to know what the bassoon is!? 

It's a cry for help! 

The main fucking problem here is that you don't like me.

And that has been breaking my fucking heart for 11 years.

I love you.

I make you laugh.

I'm a douche, but I make you laugh.

You said that that was the most important thing! 

I think the thing that you hate the most about yourself is that you actually love me.

So, I am not going to leave you, until you are down on your knees begging me.

Claire :

Please, leave me.

Martin The Hobgoblin :

Oh, man.

I didn't think you'd do that in that dress.

Right.

Well I guess the only thing left for me to say is — 

Fuck You.

Fleabag :

Fuck You.

“Asking someone to mentor you, as I have said, is a simultaneous acknowledgement of vulnerability and admiration, and even in the most secular and occidental context bears a trace of Yogananda’s euphoric sincerity.

No one wants to be rejected by someone they admire and who knows they’re vulnerable. 

But after my holiday my old method of redemption through love was still giving me a good battering. 

If you’d asked me at the time what the problem was, I would have instantly blamed the woman I was going out with. 

Now I know the problem was my unreasonable, unconscious requirements.

I asked Jimmy for help, he agreed to help me. 

I told him about the melee that was my relationship and he was always able to ‘hold it’. 

Meaning that my problems never fazed him – the last thing you need when opening up your heart is for the person you’ve appointed to blanch or gag. 

He pointedly never offers unsolicited advice, instead meeting my enquiries with his own experience. 

There is a great power in this.”

Excerpt From

Mentors

by Russell Brand.

Switch :

How are you? 

LEGION:

Good. I'm good.

How are you? 

Switch :

You know.

Fine.

• LONG PAUSE•

My Dad collects Robots.

Robotto.

There's a room in our apartment.

Some are life-sized.

Some toys.

Hundreds.

Sometimes at night, I go in there.

I stand very still, and pretend I'm a Robot, too.

The Majors Tom : The Exorcist Trilogy (The Exorcist/Twinkle Twinkle Killer Cain/LEGION)

"You're Gonna Die Up There."

(Soils The Rug)

— The Demon Lord Pazuzu

Uniform Costume Design 

by Hugo Boss

( It’s based on those of the New Jersey State Traffic Cops, I believe - The Highway Patrol )

“My Punishment is More Than I Can Bare.”

—  which means that he will be driven out of his mind by his guilt and cursed to live forever, unable to cope in his mind with the things that he did.... Thus, he suffers a psychotic break and forgets Who He Is and What He Has Done. 

“Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of The Earth 

- which is why people think he’s The Man in The Moon - 

and from thy face shall I be hid; 

No-one will recognise him, even God — which is why he has to be marked.

and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in The Earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.” 

He will manifest in The Guise of a Persecuted and Crazy Tramp or Drifter with Memory-Loss and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder :

JOHN RAMBO

And The LORD said unto him, 

Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, 

vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. 

And The LORD set a mark upon Cain, 

lest any finding him should kill him. 

And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in The Land of Nod, on The East of Eden.

He goes down to live in The Wilderness as a Wildman or Hermit, to dwell amongst The Wretched of The Earth.

Col. Vincent Kane : 

In order for Life to have appeared spontaneously on earth, there first had to be hundreds of millions of protein molecules of The Ninth Configuration. 

But given the size of The Planet Earth, do you know how long it would have taken for just one of these protein molecules to appear entirely by chance? 

Roughly ten to the two hundred and forty-third power billions of years. And I find that far, far more fantastic than simply believing in a God.

Captain Billy Cutshaw : 

I tried, sir. See The Stars? 

So cold, so far, and so very lonely. Oh, so lonely. 

All that Space... just... Empty Space. 

And so far from Home. 

I've circled round and round this house, orbit after orbit. 

Sometimes I wonder what it'd be like never to stop, and circle alone up there forever. 

And what if I got there - got to The Moon - and couldn't get back? 

Sure, everyone dies, but I'm afraid to die ALONE, so far from Home. 

And if there's no God, then that's really, REALLY alone.

You see, his only hope of finding cure for himself is to wipe away The Guilt by a Saving Act... by curing the other inmates, or at least see some improvement.

But that takes time.

Time and your help.

Captain Cutshaw,

I'm taking my life, in the hope that my death will provide the shock that is curative in therapy.

In any case, you now have your one example.

If ever I've injured you, I am sorry.

I have been fond of you.

I know some day I will see you again.

Vincent Kane.