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The Leftovers – “The Garveys At Their Best” – Review

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Leftovers“Once upon a lonely
The sky was black and stormy
I was on my way to King Marie
This day of disaster
My heart was beating faster
I ran all the way to King Marie”
– “The Girl From King Marie” – Jody Reynolds

The departured were all regretted at one point. Laurie regretted…oops, let me start my Review at the beginning, much like that incredible episode did on Sunday night. All the way at the beginning. Then I can explain that first sentence and continue my thought. It’s a good theory, I think, and I will need all of your help to see if it is somewhat true or close.

The Leftovers aired their penultimate episode, The episode immediately before the finale, on Sunday night and it was exactly what we have been wanting and waiting for since the pilot. In a series that predicates itself on the events of October 14th, all we wanted to know was what happen on October 13th or, more precisely, what happened immediately prior to the moment of departurism (note: departurism is a word I just invented…I can do that…I think…but we all know what it means). The seconds, minutes, and hours before the Sudden Departure. And we got it in a brilliant flashback that Damon Lindelof has become a master at portraying.

So, let’s start at the beginning. A theory I had stated before is that the dogs are symbols of the Guilty Remnant. The episode this past Sunday has given us a load of answers to our burning questions and provided some twists and turns in the process. One twist is that the dogs are not the Guilty Remnant…hear me out. I think the dogs represent Laurie. Kevin is represented by the deer. I’ll give some interesting supporting evidence throughout my Review so keep an eye out for it and we can discuss in the comments below. More on this later.

We see Kevin right away in his beautiful home, with his beautiful family, as we are transported back in time three years (4 years?), just days before the SD. Much like there was a scar, or flaw, on the island of The Lord of The Flies, there is also a crack, or scar or flaw, in the foundation of the Garvey home (remember: Kevin sees above the painting the crack in the wall like a lightning bolt). The writers do a wonderful job at setting up our characters lives prior to the universal ‘tic-toc’ leading up to the SD. We see Nora Durst and her happy family at a time when she is ignorant to the fact that her husband is cheating on her. We also learn that Patti was a patient of Laurie’s long before Laurie had taken the white.

Not everyone was happy. That is not what the writers were trying to show us. People were not happy, then out of nowhere the SD occurs and people spiral into despair. Kevin was lying to his wife. Nora wanted out of the “juice-box” cycle of life. Patti was kicked out of her home by her ex-husband. We finally learn why Patti puts some crap in a bag and wrote “Neil” on it and left it on his porch. Laurie, her psychologist, told her to get rid of her bad emotions from her relationship by doing this.

One of the big revelations of life before the SD is that of Jill. Jill was, uncharacteristically so, very happy. Very very happy. I did not see a scene without her smiling ear to ear or singing. she loved her dad and thought her mom was the greatest. We know Jill as the melancholy school girl who is sad and angry at the world for destroying her family.

Getting back to my theory that Kevin is represented by the deer and Laurie by the dogs. When Kevin Sr. is telling his officers about the deer in town, he instructs them to put it down because it is dangerous and unstable. Kevin wants to save it, bring it back to the woods, and let it go. Much like he did with Patti. He took her to the woods, and let her go. Kevin is just trying to save himself from becoming unstable and from going crazy. At the surprise party, Kevin tells Laurie the deer is just ‘confused’ much like he has been for the entire series thus far. To top it off, Nora’s daughter tells her that “maybe the deer is just looking for it’s family?”. Kevin’s dream sequence a few episodes ago also alludes to this theory. Kevin hears rumbling from a nearby mailbox. Remember this is where Kevin hides his cigarettes from Laurie. When he gets closer, after seeing a deceased Laurie in the back of a truck, a dog pops out and barks viciously at him. Which brings me to Laurie being represented by the dogs. Laurie is the one that wanted to get a puppy and we see her coddling one with, none other than, Gladys (who seemed happy, but we know she lost someone in the SD). Laurie tells Kevin (finally happy they found the deer) “It’s trapped, better go save it”. Notice how Kevin was happy about the deer and upset about the prospect of the dog. Kevin, as the deer (he even sees his reflection in its eye), is trying to not get chewed up and eaten by the dogs as we saw in the first episode of the season.

And finally, what I noticed about the people who were departured; the common thread amongst them. I noticed that they were all regretted by one of The Leftovers. Kevin regretted having the affair. Nora regretted her family, if only for an instant. Sam (the baby that departured in the pilot) was regretted by his mother who threw her hands up to Laurie in the car. I wonder if we will be able to point to this in the future as we learn of more people who lost someone on the SD.

This was definitely my favorite episode of the season. The writing was perfect and the flashback was orchestrated very well. It was great getting a lot of answers to our questions and seeing the SD before it happened and how it affected our main cast. The Leftovers, week to week, is a bleak look into the lives of the citizens of Mapleton and this past Sunday we were given a break form the morose souls and shattered bits of humanity. It was nice, even if it was for only a little bit of time, to see our characters in a different light and somewhat happy frame of mind. But, of course, this is Mapleton, and no one stays happy for long.

Thoughts and Discussion

– The music in the episode:
“Shotgun” – Junior Walker & The All-Stars
“Punching In a Dream” – The Naked and Famous
“Young Blood” – The Naked and Famous
“Without You” – Usher
“November” – Max Richter – This is actually the piano music you hear in nearly every episode when things are becoming clear or at the end of an episode when revelations occur.

– Did you notice…The Sudden Departure occurred at 2:23:48 PM. ’23’, ‘4’, and ‘8’ are LOST numbers. Other LOST references include the numbers 4, 8, and 42 on Laurie’s prenatal monitor in the doctor’s office.

– Did you notice…Jill’s Science Fair experiment dealt with Entropy.

– Did you notice…Laurie’s calendar quote reads – “The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground”. It is a small insight into life I believe. Nobody feels the world around them; they create their own world as they go. Maybe? What do you think this means?

– I like the little foreboding nods to the eventual SD. Like when Kevin Sr. stated “You have no greater purpose”, or Nora saying, “For the next four weeks, I have no family”. Kevin also saying to Tom, “Sometimes, you have to pretend”.

– Did you notice…Last week Patti told Kevin that Laurie counseled her. Now we know she meant it literally.

– Patti predicted the day of the SD. I suppose it could be chalked up to “A broken clock is right twice a day” type of thing, but still.

– Does everyone remember The Pattersons? The deer goes into their house where Kevin goes upstairs to corner it. These are the people that Nora interviewed for their SD check a few episodes back when they lost their boy with Down-Syndrome that we saw in this flashback episode counting coins and directing Kevin to the location of the deer.

– The deer could also represent feelings of being trapped. It affected certain peoples lives on the show. Just like the deer wanted to be free so did Kevin. The woman who hits the deer took a different route. The deer affected the woman Nora’s husband was having an affair with. And the old couple taking care of the boy with Down-Syndrome who tells Kevin that leaving the house “is not going to happen”. Kevin felt extra trapped which was foreshadowed by the dear having the balloon of “It’s a Girl” covered in blood on it. I love the symbolism in this series (The metronome on the floor of the school that Kevin stares at was perfectly placed).

– “A man says to the Universe…Sir, I exist” This was a great speech by Kevin and appropriate. The Universe responds, “The fact has not created in me a sense of obligation”.

– My favorite part of the episode was when the car full of women pulls up to Kevin sitting on the curb. They ask, “Are you ready?”. Did they think he was part of the Guilty Remnant? They could not have formed yet formally, but what if they knew beforehand? Kevin WAS wearing white. Maybe they thought he was a member? Maybe they were from wherever Dean came from or whoever speaks to Kevin Sr.? The situation could not have become any more mysterious as the manhole cover rattles and explodes in a fury of fire and heat. Did Kevin even think about this moment when he learned of the SD event all over the world?

The Leftovers – “Cairo” – Review

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Leftovers“Hush little baby, don’t you cry,
You know your mother was born to die
All my trials, Lord, soon be over
Too late my brothers, too late”
– “All My Trials” – Odetta

Last Sunday, The Leftovers, aired its eighth episode of the season, ‘Cairo’. Now that the powers-that-be over at HBO have given it a season 2 green light, I watch the show with a different mindset, thinking about how the characters actions now will affect their future beyond the tenth episode finale. ‘Cairo’ had some very good acting and some memorable scenes as well (that last scene was typical for this show and had my jaw on the floor). I must have watched the final five minutes a dozen times. I wonder how Kevin will react going forward?

We did learn a few things in Sunday’s episode that I thought were over and done with. For example, I actually thought that Kevin got his shirts from the dry cleaner a few episodes back, now we know he hung them out to dry in a forest in one of his crazed, late-night stupors. This means that Kevin did not need to go nuts on that dry-cleaner. Kevin is suffering from sporadic amnesiac moments where he loses bits of time here and there, but the big revelation, I thought, was what Patti revealed about Dean. In a moment of comedic relief, Patti exclaims that she is adept at researching people and how easily you can find just about anything about anyone, but has failed to find one thing about the ‘dog-killer’. “He is a ghost”, she says to Kevin, making Dean’s presence a lot more bewildering. Is he a guardian angel? Is he something else supernatural? I love the mystery surrounding this character and his relation to Kevin and can’t wait to get more scenes involving the two.

Jill’s downhill trajectory was a concern going into this episode and she hasn’t wavered in the slightest. Her friendship with Aimee seemed, oddly enough, to be the only anchor keeping her moored to the land of sanity (if Mapleton could be considered that). Jill wants to be ‘ok’, but she doesn’t believe that an ‘ok’ life is attainable after the SD. She constantly prods Nora at dinner to see if she still carries a gun with her wherever she goes. One of the twins said it best when he said that if they find the gun in Nora’s home, then it means having a life that is normal, free from the clutches the SD imposed, is unattainable. Ironically, they find Nora’s handgun in a toy box named “Trouble”. I like Jill’s scenes as they give us a glimpse into a life of a troubled teen post SD. I constantly find myself saying out loud “No, don’t do it” a lot whenever I see Jill about to do something ridiculous and/or dangerous. …like none of you say things out loud while watching TV…no?…just me?…oh. I honestly thought at the end it was Aimee that Megan was opening the door to, and after seeing who it really was I immediately said, “No, Why did you do it!” I can’t wait to see where that story goes from here.

Megan and Laurie was another interesting story this past Sunday. I love how the we get more depth to each character little by little, each episode. It’s really interesting to see how the smallest bit of history we learn makes such a big impact. Learning about Megan’s mother’s passing the day before October 14th explains a lot about her choices throughout the season. The Rev doesn’t miss an opportunity to put this kind of information into one of his fliers either. One thing I thought was very interesting was the look that Megan gave Laurie right after Laurie slapped her and got up. Megan had a small smirk on her face that makes me think there is a lot more to her that we have yet to learn. Almost like her relationship with Laurie is mirroring Dean’s strange relationship with Kevin. Could there be similarities between Megan and Dean? Maybe they truly are guardian angels and are watching their work grow and make progress. Maybe I am reading too much into that smile? Either way, I think there is more to it than what we have seen so far.

The episode began with Patti laying out clothes on the floor of the church. She laid them out as if picking out outfits for someone to wear the next day for school, complete with shoes and some accessories. It is not until near the end of the episode that we understand what is going on. Laurie meets some delivery men at the church dropping off a trailer full of large bags that the GR Members bring into the room where the clothes are on the ground. We can piece together what is going on through the various cryptic messages we see and here throughout the episode. I imagine those bags are either filled with “Loved One” models of the departured or actual bodies. As creepy as I think the GR and its member are, actual bodies wouldn’t keep for very long at all…unless the GR wants to truly make their mark on Mapleton. Whichever way they choose, I think they are going to dress them in the clothes they had on before they departed and display them in some fashion. I think this is what is meant by the message on the whiteboard at the GR office – “We Won’t Let Them Forget”. This is why the GR exists, right? According to Patti they strip themselves of all colorful diversions – which is why they wear all white. They get rid of all ties to the living world – love and hatred – which explains why they leave their families (this also explains the “There Is No Family” mantra Patti was spewing a few episodes back to Kevin) and also why they don’t speak. We learn from Patti that her fellow members want their lives, and also deaths apparently, to have meaning and purpose. This, in the final scenes, is what we learn in more detail through Patti’s conversation with Kevin.

The final scene between Kevin and Patti is one of the best of this season. Their final conversation brought to light so many answers to questions that have been looming since episode one. Patti’s last words to Kevin, especially her recitation of the W.B. Yeats’ poem, spoke volumes. She said this enough times, “You must understand”, almost as much to Kevin as she was to us, the audience. She wanted Kevin to ‘understand’ why she matters – why Laurie matters – and essentially, why The Guilty Remnant matters. The poem that Patti recites is the second stanza of, ‘Michael Robartes Bids His Beloved Be At Peace, by W.B. Yeats. The poem illustrates a farewell to love and also life. Did Patti know she was going to die, whether at the hands of Kevin or herself? Either way, she will be missed.

This was one of my favorite episodes of The Leftovers so far. Ann Dowd’s ‘Patti’ will surely be missed. I would love to know what everyone thought about the episode and the incredible use of symbolism and imagery throughout. Only one more episode until the finale!

Thoughts and Discussion

– The music from this episode:

“I’ve Got Dreams To Remember” – Otis Redding
“I Been Buked” – Alvin Ailey

– Did you notice…The title of Sunday’s episode, ‘Cairo’, is also the word we hear uttered into Kevin’s walkie talkie in his dream sequence from episode seven’s ‘Solace For Tired Feet’. Also, ‘Cairo’, was in the title of an article in the National Geographic Kevin Sr. gave Kevin Jr. in the same episode.

– Did you notice…Laurie sat in Patti’s desk chair near the end of the episode as if the creators were showing us that she is the new ‘Patti’, the new leader of the Guilty Remnant. It looked like she settled in there nicely too. Did she know that Patti was not coming back somehow?

– I think it’s time we all start to discuss theories for the show and the final two episodes. Could this past episode have been a dream sequence by Kevin? The song that plays while when we go back and forth between Patti in the church laying out clothes and Kevin setting the table for his dinner with Nora and his family is Otis Redding’s, ‘I’ve Got Dreams To Remember’. Hmmmm? What do you all think? I thought that was pretty interesting.

– Also, I’m glad Kevin found his shirts…hanging up like spectral beings floating in the wind. Incidentally, Cairo, NY is about 5 hours from Mapleton. Did Kevin drive all that way while having one of his ‘amnesiac episodes’ to put his shirts there? And wouldn’t he have noticed that the shirts he frightened the dry cleaner into giving him a few episodes back didn’t have the Mapleton Police insignia on the sleeves?

– And lastly…I found it strange that Patti could not find any info about Dean and, as a result, refers to him as a ghost. Dean then corrects her by referring to himself as a ‘guardian angel’. Is he really a guardian angel along with Megan being Laurie’s? Help me out here everyone, we have some theories to disprove, lol.

– I read the whole poem that Patti recites and you can see ideas relating to the end of times and the apocalypse. The line Patti says, “And hiding their tossing manes and their tumultuous feet”, refers to a section in an earlier part of the poem about four different horses…The Four Horseman Of The Apocalypse, perhaps.

– With Patti gone, will we ever find out who ‘Neil’ is and if that was his house she left a paper bag of her own feces at? Is that Patti’s, “Dear One”? Or is her “Dear One” someone else? (“Dear One” is a phrase, or term of endearment, from the other show I currently Review – The Strain)

– What exactly did Patti mean that Laurie would be ready soon? Is there going to be some big ‘Jonestown’ Mass Suicide event on the horizon with the Guilty Remnant?

Thank you for checking out my Review! Only two more days until the penultimate episode! Please comment below so we can discuss this episode and your ideas for what might happen in the final two! Have a great weekend everyone!

The Leftovers – Solace For Tired Feet – Review

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Leftovers

After last week’s amazing episode of The Leftovers, where we learned more about Nora Durst and her daily life, the writers slow things down a little and it makes me wonder where they are going with the first season. There are only 2 episodes remaining until the first season finale and I am still not sure what the finish line is for the characters. Don’t get me wrong, every episode, in my opinion, has been great and I can’t get enough of this show. However, by this point in a season, shouldn’t we at least know what the end game is going to resemble? The good thing is that there were some revelations that cleared some things up, giving us answers to some questions we had. In this show,of course, with more answers there always seems to be twice as many questions springing up.

The best thing we learn from this episode is that Holy Wayne is two-timing the mothers of his unborn children (sorry, I can’t bring myself to typing ‘baby mamas’…oops). He seemed very out of sorts when he was speaking with Tom and I was a little confused as to where all of that came from. I suppose it is still nice to see that he cares for them and wants to make sure they have money to survive, but what does he actually think will transpire from all this? I would love to know everyone’s thoughts about Holy Wayne and his potential clan of children (I’m certain these were not the only two girls that are pregnant by him). And is the Asian thing a personal preference or is it necessary from a prophetic standpoint with him? I ‘m sure we will get more answers regarding him and his children soon as the season draws to a close and Christine having already given birth…by herself…in a bathtub…yikes.

I read an article that Damon Lindelof and his team of writers took time to come up with different scenarios for what people would do in a real life SD and apparently one was the scene with Jill and her gang of friends locking themselves in a refrigerator to honor some myth they heard about. I thought that scene was one of the best of the episode and was exactly what teenagers would do in a post SD world. Jill’s rebelliousness is growing more dangerous with each episode and I’m wondering how far she will go. Possibly joining a cult would be my guess. What do you all think Jill is headed towards?

Kevin’s scenes are, by far, the best and strangest in any episode. It’s difficult to tell what is real and what isn’t with him. The dream sequence this episode showed what could be foreshadowing with Laurie in the truck bed wrapped in plastic and bloody. There were quite a few GR members in the back of the truck actually and I wonder if something will happen where the towns people will take it upon themselves to eradicate Mapleton of their nuisance in white clothes.

The highlight of the episode was Kevin and his search for his father, who escaped from his facility. The writers continue to blur the line with certain scenes. Some have religious undertones while other serendipitous events could be viewed as happenstance. Take for example Kevin Sr. being in the right place at the right time to save his granddaughter, Jill. Are we to believe he just happened to be running through that part of the woods at the same moment Jill needed rescuing or is it possibly divine intervention? I am extremely looking forward to who “they” are that Kevin Sr. kept referring to when speaking with Kevin Jr. in the diner and why they have a subscription to National Geographic. If he had an iPad digital subscription he wouldn’t have had to go to Gabota to find a back issue either…jk. He says “they” were very specific and he needed to give Kevin Jr. the issue from May 1972. I looked up the issue and it is very interesting. Christine, in her slumber, mutters at one point in the episode about “There’s spiders under water” and one of the articles from 1972 is titled, “The Spider That Lives Underwater”. The next episode of The Leftovers is titled, “Cairo”, and another one of the articles is, “Cairo, Troubled Capital Of The Arab World”. It is all very cryptic and makes me look forward even more to the next episode to find any connection.

Thoughts and Discussion

– The songs in the episode are:
“The Love You Save” – Joe Tex
“Miserere Mei Deus” – by Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine & Gaël De Kerret

– I hope we find out what Holy Wayne’s girls mean when they say, “He’s the bridge”, very soon.

– The National Geographic story line is very intriguing, especially as it suggests that Kevin Sr. can commune with people that are not there. I wonder if the fact that the camera showed his reflection in the window for a moment menas he is in fact crazy and only speaking to himself. I would love to know what you all thought.

I hope you all enjoyed the episode! Please comment below to tell me what you thought and where you think the story is going.

The Leftovers – “Gladys” – Review

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Leftovers“But what a fool believes he sees
No wise man has the power to reason away
What seems to be
Is always better than nothing
And nothing at all keeps sending him…”
– “What A Fool Believes” – The Doobie Brothers

I apologize that this Review of Sunday’s episode of The Leftovers is a little late, but I wanted that first scene to marinate in everyone’s mind for a little before you commented below. I watch a lot of TV, which I’m sure quite a few of you know already, and there have been few scenes that have elicited the kind of reaction I had when I saw Gladys in those cringe-worthy first minutes. It was brutal to say the least and I have been anticipating what all of you thought about that scene and the episode as a whole.

I believe what happened to Gladys will reverberate throughout the remaining episodes of the season. It definitely added to the theory that the GR is being set-up as the series first ‘big-bad’. After watching the episode, I immediately tried to draw conclusions to who killed her and why? A few scenes stuck out to me as odd and if we piece them together I think we can come up with a plausible explanation of what is going on in Mapleton. Mind you, none of what transpired in this episode was in the book, so I don’t already know the answer to this; we are all in the same boat. In fact, the TV series now appears nothing like the book, except for the basic characters.

The first scene that I recalled was the first few seconds of the episode. Gladys and Patti sit across from each other and between them is Patti’s desk. They sat in silence, of course, staring at each other before exchanging a terse nod, as if they knew what would transpire and they had a prearranged agreement about something. I found this a little odd, but it makes me initially think that the GR and Gladys were in on the barbarous stoning that resulted in Gladys’s death. The GR would have much to gain from Gladys becoming a martyr of sorts. The second scene(s) that somewhat supports this theory is Patti taking Laurie to her ‘day off’ breakfast at Denny’s [1]. I think she was doing this to recruit Laurie to be the next martyr or possibly choose someone else for the spiritual position.

Something else I was thinking about is the mysterious character named Dean, who shoots stray dogs and has a perpetual supply of chewing tobacco in his mouth. If you noticed when Gladys was snatched up by the convenience store there were dogs barking in the distance. Since I associate everything relating to dogs to Dean, I think he was in on it along with that man walking his two dogs that came up to Kevin’s car and startled him awake. I know, I know, that is specious reasoning, but you all think Dean had something to with it too, right? He just happened to be in the woods at the time they were looking for Gladys – He is always chewing tobacco (much like the other GR Members always smoking) – and he is trying to become friends with the towns Chief of Police whose wife is a member of the GR.

There are so many cults popping up all over that the ATF changed it’s name to “Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives and Cults” – The ATFEC. And apparently they get raided to bring about their end according to Agent Kilaney (get it? ‘kill any’– no?…is that a stretch?…ok). So far, we have these cults: Holy Wayne, The Guilty Remnant, The Barefoot People (remember this is what Tom and Christine are pretending to be with the targets on their foreheads), Heaven’s Converts (this is the cult that was on the TV getting raided when Kevin woke up in the beginning of the episode – the compound was in Noma, FL where Agent Kilaney was), and Tomorrow’s Family. I suppose this is to blur the lines between religious and cult beliefs in our society. People will believe what they want to believe and everyone has their own agenda for believing. In a moment that expresses his belief system perfectly Reverend Matt says to Kevin, “Killing these people is pointless, they don’t care because they are already dead. What I want is to bring them back to life.”

At one point the Rev tells Kevin a story about Thomas the Disciple and Jesus. The meaning behind it is that it is easier to stay silent, then it is to speak truth. This is a comment on the GR and Gladys and their relationship with the town of Mapleton and it’s citizens. I imagine we will find out by the end of the season if it is easier to stay silent or speak truth. When taking in to account the whole episode, the message that comes across is ‘doubt’ and how it relates to ones religious beliefs. Doubt is a necessary element to any religion so faith has something to be compared to and springboard off. Patti says to Laurie, “Doubt is fire, and fire is going to burn you up until you are but ash.” Gladys, unfortunately, had doubts.

[1] – I don’t think it was actually Denny’s, but I thought it was funny, so I wrote ‘Denny’s’.

Thoughts and Discussion

– There was pretty good song selections in the episode. Here they are for those of you want to know:
“Kiss On My List” – Hall & Oates
“What A Fool Believes” – The Doobie Brothers
“Warrior” – Terry Divine-King & Winston Francis
“The Twins (Prague)” – Max Richter

– My other idea for the Tagline to this Review was “Officer Mustard Stain”.

– Did you notice…Gladys had 13 rocks thrown at her. The number 13 has a mostly negative connotation and is referenced quite a bit in religions.

– LOST Numbers – Gladys was supposed to be in morgue drawer 4. Officer Mustard Stain had 8 white dress shirts at the dry cleaners. The numbers in the time in Patti’s car both times add up to 16. Laurie woke up at ‘2:3”8’ and it has been 8 months since she spoke.

– Did Patti put feces in the bag she wrote ‘Neil’ on and leave it on someones porch?

– In case any one was wondering Gladys is a latin name that means ‘Sword’. I have no idea what that means so if anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them.

– Did anyone else think that Dean (the dog shooting guy) looked like the man processing bodies at the ATFEC center at the end?

– Nora’s statement to Kevin at the dry cleaners is a comment on the SD and makes light of it – “They’ll turn up pnce you stop looking for them.” Which they did. This is now the second episode in a row and third so far where something just “vanished”.

– Did you notice…Jill’s room has a lot of interesting things on the walls. One thing I thought was interesting and worth mentioning was the poster for “Murder By Death”. It is the name of a band and also a movie. The movie is a comedy that revolves around a murder mystery whodunit.

Thank you for reading my Review! Please comment below so we can discuss the episode further. I would love to know what everyone thought about that cold open and the episode in general. It’s hard to believe this episode marked the halfway point for the season – only five episodes left! Have a great weekend everyone!

The Leftovers – Pilot – Review

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Leftovers“Suddenly, I’m hit
Is this darkness of the dawn?
And your friends are gone
And your friends won’t come
So show me where you fit
So show me where you fit”
– Retrograde – James Blake

Possible Minor Spoilers for The Leftovers Below

The thing with a new series on HBO is that they have a lot to live up to. The family of TV series that they are joining are some of the most watched and talked about shows; they are the popular kids at the high school dance. Game of Thrones. The Sopranos. The Wire. VEEP (I know, VEEP doesn’t really fit here, but it’s soo funny). So, when a new show comes on the scene, it has a tough hill to climb. Sunday night, The Leftovers started their journey with the first of a ten episode freshman season.

The Leftovers is based on the book of the same name by Tom Perrotta, who also serves as one of Executive Producers along with Damon Lindelof of LOST fame. The pilot episode shows some of his influences with short, frantic flashback scenes spread throughout the 60 minutes. What I love most is the show remains faithful to the source material in most aspects. Sure, there are changes here and there, but, for the most part it has that same feel as when I read the book. One diversion is that Kevin, the patriarch of the Garvey family, is Chief of Police in Mapleton rather than the well-known and fun-loving Mayor in the book. There are a few other changes and I will mention them as the season progresses.

The Leftovers is about a small family, the Garvey’s, in a small town, Mapleton, NY, dealing with life three years after a tragic worldwide event that has been labelled the Sudden Departure (SD). The SD occurred on October 14th and 2%, or 140,000,000, of the world’s population vanishes into thin air without a trace or a reason. Some people think it is the Rapture brought about by God, while others are not so sure, but in any case it causes grief and despair among the populace, who don’t know how to carry on with their lives and struggle with the loss.

This is where the show begins – with a cold open of October 14th and a small view into the Sudden Departure. A woman at the Laundromat, casually carrying on a conversation on the phone with her newborn in tow. After strapping the baby in the backseat and getting behind the wheel she checks on the baby and, to her surprise, the baby is gone. If you pay close enough attention you will notice the crying baby gets quiet as it appears to be looking to the heavens the moment before the screen pans right and the baby vanishes. I thought this was a great part of that scene. The woman then jumps out of the car, frantic, yelling at the top of her lungs for her baby, Sam. Around her a little boy screams for his dad and a car, most likely driverless because he or she was one of the “departed”, smashes into another car. I thought this was a perfect way to portray the Sudden Departure. This along with snippets of the news talking about it throughout the episode gave the audience the background necessary to understand what happened.

After the cold open, the episode jumps three years into the future to a few days before the 3-year anniversary of the SD with the focus being the “Hero’s Day” Parade. The writers did a great job of showcasing each member of the Garvey family and some of the minor characters. We meet Kevin, who is Chief of Police. He struggles with keeping his family together and with the loss that has come from the SD. Then we meet Jill, Kevin’s daughter, who we learn by the end of the episode is not dealing so well with the loss of her mother. And we have Tom, Kevin’s son and Jill’s brother, who has left home to join the “Holy Wayne” movement. As the season gets going I will write about these characters a little more in depth, but for right now I just wanted to help everyone understand who everyone is and what they’re after.

Finally, and SPOILERS I might add so beware, is Laurie. At first we were meant to believe that she was one of the “departed”, but we learn that loss comes in many forms. The loss for the Garvey family is their wife and mother has left them to join the Guilty Remnant, a cult organization that smokes at every opportunity to proclaim their faith in God and conspicuously follows people around town to show that God is watching their every move. Creepy, right?

Other characters play an important role in the show as well and I will go over them more in depth as the season goes on and they have more prominent scenes. One character who will definitely become more important as the season progresses is Nora Durst (Carrie Coon). Nora is the woman who gave the speech at the Hero’s Day Celebration about losing her entire family. Holy Wayne, Lucy Warburton (The Mayor), and Christine (One of Holy Wayne’s wives that befriends Tom) are just a few.

The episode goes back and forth between all members of the Garvey family and the twist of Laurie being alive was a great addition. It was a great pilot and I am eager to see where Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta take the show. Peter Berg directed the pilot and did an amazing job, in my opinion. The way he shot the Sudden Departure in the beginning was stellar and having him attached to this series increases its chance of success and a long prosperous run. The HBO version will definitely have to create more stories past season one that go beyond the last pages of the book, but I’m glad they are sticking, for the most part, to the source material. I can’t stand when show versions of their literary analogue stray too far. If fans stick with this show for the ten episode first season, I think they will be happy with what they see, especially with Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta at the helm.

Thoughts and Discussion

– One thing I noticed immediately after watching the first time was the music selection. Here’s a list for those of you who would like to know the tracks besides the one I mentioned at the top from the quote.

Why Can’t He Be You – Patsy Cline (When we first meet Tom, Picking up Congressman Witten)
Let’s Stay Together – Al Green (When Meg and Gary are driving home from the restaurant)
Are You Satisfied – Reignwolf (The end of the Episode)

– Did you notice…Only humans went missing in the Sudden Departure? I was skeptical, at first, to think this was the Rapture, but then I realized no animals vanished. I’m not saying that because of this fact, it must be the Rapture, but it does help that argument.

– Did you notice…The Patsy Cline song that was playing when we first met Tom? This song actually has two meanings. One is it reminds me, and I’m sure a lot of LOST fans, about Kate Austen’s Flashbacks and her issues with her mother. And two, the song’s lyrics are a metaphor for Tom’s struggling relationship with his dad, Kevin.

– I really enjoyed the character that played the Mayor of Mapleton, Lucy Warburton (Amanda Warren). Her scenes were funny and added that little bit of comic-relief when needed in this bleak and dreary story.

– One thing that bothered me was Liv Tyler as Meg Solomon. Not the acting. I think Liv Tyler is a great actress. But, the way Meg slapped Laurie and was morose for all of her scenes, all of a sudden shows up at the Guilty Remnant to sign-up seemed out of place. I do like how they chose an actress to play Meg that looked like an older version of Jill, Laurie’s daughter. That will definitely make for better scenes between the two as we see how Laurie deals with her “loss” of her daughter.

– The premise for the show can be looked at in different ways. It’s either 2% of the population has vanished and gone somewhere, possibly resulting in the Rapture, or 98% of the population is now in purgatory on Earth. That is another way to look at it.

– Did you notice…The statue revealed during the “Day of Remembrance” after the parade could be a baby floating to heaven from its mother’s arms or falling with the mother appearing as unable to catch it.

– Did you notice…When Kevin was dreaming and driving in his car you can hear on the radio someone mention “Corinthians 15”? This Bible passage is about The Resurrection of Christ, The Resurrection of the Dead, and The Resurrection of Body. Readings from the text are given at Easter Sunday services and funerals – where mourners are assured of the “sure and certain expectation of the resurrection to a better life”.