The Leftovers

[Jeremy Blackman]

SPOILERS

Matt episodes are rough, aren't they? His episode was one of my favorites last season. This one was so punishing, though. Everything, especially the end, was so exactly true to his character.

He is a profoundly frustrating human being. For some reason, I internalized his struggle even more deeply this time. This episode really makes you understand what it feels like to receive that punishment and feel like it's all happening for a greater purpose. Remarkable.

Rickroll moment of the episode: Matt and Mary are washed down the sewer drain as their song is cued: "Just let your love flow like a mountain stream..."

She 100% never woke up, by the way. And I sort of think it does matter. Although, it's true, that's not the most important truth.

[Jeremy Blackman]

Haven't seen the latest episode yet, just had to mention this. I think I'm right about this season's spirit of trolling. From a Lindelof interview...

BTW he's discussing the opening pre-history sequence in Episode 1.

http://www.vulture.com/2015/10/leftovers-season-two-opening-scene-damon-lindelof.html

The joke in the writer’s room — well, maybe it wasn’t a joke, since writers use jokes to reflect pain. We all listen to the Grantland podcast with Andy [Greenwald] and Chris [Ryan]. And we love it and think they’re brilliant. But they both fucking hate The Leftovers. So the joke was, “What can we do to completely and totally piss off those guys?” There was a lot of, “Oh, Greenwald’s gonna love this” going around in the writer’s room. I think [the joking] was also a reflection of our fear that we were about to completely and totally shoot ourselves in the foot right out of the gate. But … it felt right. It’s that simple. We weren’t trying to make any bold statement, and perhaps that’s naïve. I mean, we’re not idiots. We knew it was a risk. But at the end of the day, it was something we got really excited about. It was, “When does our story start? This feels right.” We could’ve just as easily started with the girls jumping into the water. That wasn’t as exciting to us as this other idea.

[Drenk]

The episode was intense...
Seriously, I have no words, I just feel that show so deeply...
And I have read about it two or three times after having thought about it: The Master was an inspiration for THE scene of the episode.

[Jeremy Blackman]

Yeah, I don't really have any words either. It's just difficult to express why The Leftovers is so good. This wasn't markedly better than the other episodes. It's just that the consistency week after week is building momentum and a critical mass that makes the whole all the more powerful.

Random note, I wonder if this will ever come back:

Title of this episode was "B.J. And The A.C."

Baby Jesus and the Antichrist, right? Christine's baby being the Antichrist.

[Drenk]

Two beautiful shots from Lens.

[Drenk]

The show feels like a meta narrative about LOST. Anyway, I liked this episode, a lot, even if it's not perfect. It shows that The Leftovers is going in many different directions. But I hope that it will stay coherent as an ambiguous whole.

[Jeremy Blackman]

SPOILERS

The more I think about this episode, and the ending, the more excited I am. Think about how much setup has gone into this moment. Obviously Virgil plans to be Kevin's guide; he said as much, and "Virgil" was the guide in Dante's Inferno. Michael's part in this is equally fascinating. This really recaptured some of the best Lost cliffhangers for me. I was in a prolonged state of shock for the last minute. Amazing stuff.

I wasn't completely sold on Laurie's conversation with Kevin. Too much exposition, and too much of the writer's voice present. But the rest more than made up for it.

[Jeremy Blackman]

I was so delighted throughout this episode that I was laughing with glee. One of the best hours of television I've seen. We don't even deserve this show.

SPOILERS

The obvious echoes of Mulholland Drive did nothing but fill me with joy. Perhaps because it was clearly Lynch via Lindelof; his voice is so strong here.

The fire alarm and the communication with his dad was probably my favorite part. The metaphysics of that were so wonderfully Lost-esque.

I'll probably have more thoughts later, but I think the episode stands on its own just fine.

[Jeremy Blackman]

SPOILERS

From the LA Times review, entitled "Don't drink the water":

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-the-leftovers-recap-international-assassin-20151122-story.html

In one of the most moving passages in Virgil’s “Aenid,” protagonist Aeneas finds his father in the underworld and asks him why so many souls were gathered around a distant river. His father details for him the process that souls must undergo upon reaching the underworld, how the act of living gets ingrained in their skin and time must be spent cleansing themselves of their former lives.

After enough time is spent, like buffalo bones bleached in the sun, the souls move forward in their journey, toward the river of Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, where they drink the water and forget, truly forget the people they were before...

----------------

So I think Virgil is moving forward in his journey (forgetting who he was before, and clearly not coming back), while Kevin still fully remembers.

[Drenk]

Clumsy. And breathtaking. This season is a unique journey. There were echoes from Join The Club, one of the best Sopranos episode, here.

SPOILERS

I'm kind of sad by the fact that it brings, as you said, Lost metaphysics in the world of The Leftovers, I loved how it managed to stay ambiguous about the supernatural. The execution is so great, though, that I can't dislike it; I just wish that Kevin didn't die, he didn't need to be absolutely dead to live something like that.

Anyway, the show is probably ending with Season 2, so I don't care that much. I'm just excited.

[Jeremy Blackman]

SPOILERS

I'm disappointed that you don't love it as much as I do, but I understand. I've been thinking about this episode literally all day; that doesn't often happen with a TV show.

I don't think this did necessarily bring Lost metaphysics into "the world of" The Leftovers. It brought them into Kevin's experience, which could be anything. As you say, it's ambiguous about the supernatural. Just last week the show actually reached out and told us that Patti isn't real.

One surely must be comfortable with some amount of the supernatural, though. After all, departures happen in this universe. Beyond that, it's frustratingly grounded and provides no answers. These strange things happen all the time (© 1999 PTA), and we don't always get explanations.

[Drenk]

SPOILERS


But I loved it! It's just that I wish that Kevin didn't die—and, even if we don't really know that he did, it's hard to believe that he didn't. But it doesn't change the fact that I loved how this episode worked. The whole sequence in the well was very moving.

[Jeremy Blackman]

SPOILERS

That's how it's done. Check out this Lindelof interview if you want to know in great detail the thinking that went behind this turn of events.

Meg was a problematic character for me in Season 1, and I think some of those residual feelings were (ahem) left over for me in this episode. And there were some slow/sleepy parts. But I think this is about as good of a Meg episode as they could do. My favorite scene, in fact, might be her meeting with Matt. Liv Tyler really nailed her performance and was totally compelling. I've never liked her as an actress, so that's saying something.

So what do we think Meg is planning? Were the nooses on the bridge (in "International Assassin") foreshadowing? Has she actually acquired plastic explosives, or was that entirely a red herring? Does she plan to open the gates of Jarden or just destroy the dream?

Her stated plan is to make the people of Jarden experience loss, but hasn't the disappearance already done that? Revealing that it wasn't the universe, but that it was humans — wouldn't that just prove what everyone already knows (that the GR is loathsome) and restore people's faith in Jarden's anti-departing powers?

Will Matt act as her adversary? It would be amazing if he is finally victorious.

This better be good...

[Drenk]

SPOILERS

The scene between Evie and Meg at the beginning was a mistake. I knew the twist. And what a good twist it is! You can feel the shadow of Meg on the whole season. It was obvious and I never thought about it. The girls were very weird in the first episode...

The bus full of children. Frightening...

The episode, as a whole, doesn't entirely work, Meg isn't as strong as other characters and I was sad to know that we won't have the other characters for more episodes...

Mostly, it was a way to prepare the finale.

The series finale, probably...

[Jeremy Blackman]

The series finale, probably...

I definitely hope not. The ratings have been poor, but it's an HBO show. And critics are gushing over it. Tom Perrotta says HBO execs have been on vacation and they haven't had "the conversation" yet. Production wrapped on the season finale not too long ago.