HBO’s “The Leftovers”: My General Thoughts and a Look at Episode 9

With “True Detective,” “Game of Thrones” and “Fargo” done for 2014, I’ve found myself wrapped up in HBO’s “The Leftovers” for the past two months. And, like the “Game of Thrones” model, the show delivered a penultimate episode that was, to put it bluntly, powerful and emotionally unsettling. So with one episode to go, I figured I should write a few thoughts about this episode and the show in general.

One of the phrases I have frequently heard used to describe “The Leftovers” was that it was a “slow burn,” meaning it was not a show that was going to immediately wow you and suck you in. Thus, a viewer needs to exercise some patience with it.

Well, for those of us who have stuck with the show, I think episode 9 is confirmation that we made the right decision. For me, there was never any question of giving up on the show because I’ve enjoyed it from episode one and because I loved the concept from the beginning. The concept is: one seemingly normal fall day, two percent of the world’s population suddenly disappears. Flash forward three years and let’s see how people are handling the aftermath of this shocking experience. Thus, it is a show about sudden loss, grief and guilt. But it is more than that, too.

It is also a show that poses some challenging metaphysical questions. It is a show that was brought to life by Damon Lindelof, one of the brains behind “Lost” and thus it is a show that is full of mysteries. Whether or not all them get answered, though, this time definitely does not seem like the point. In fact, I think one of the strengths of the show is it’s agnostic worldview. In the pilot episode, a panel of scientists, thinkers and religious types basically admits that they have no clue what happened on that day. We don’t know. But that doesn’t stop each character from asking why, because asking why is part of what makes us human. Yet what happens when there really is no answer, or at least an answer we can understand. Well, that is where the show takes us and that is only at the very start with the concept.

I have always liked dramas that ask the bigger, deeper questions, but asks them with a certain sense of unreality, or even metaphysical impossibility. Shows like “Lost” and even “Under the Dome” simply can’t happen in our real world, but that is not a distraction for me, it is a hook. I like seeing real people handle unreal circumstances because, as Barbie on “Under the Dome” said, such circumstances bring out the true nature of a person.

But what makes “The Leftovers” different from those two shows is that none of our main characters ever claimed to be heroes and they are dealing with a situation where things like heroism and bravery likely won’t do a person a whole lot of good.

One of the things I’ve heard against “The Leftovers” is that Lindeloff let a lot of “Lost” fans down by not answering all the questions that show poised. While I can’t make the case that all questions were answered, I’ve always felt the biggest reason some people were bitter about the ending of “Lost” was that it did not match their own metaphysical worldview. That is a post for a different time, but let me finish this thought by saying that Lindelof has gone out of his way to be clear that “The Leftovers” will likely never give us an answer about why the Sudden Departure happened and that this show is more about an exploration of people dealing with such an experience.

Before I go on, let me also point out that “The Leftovers” is based on a novel and I have heard that the book was written as an exploration to deal with the September 11^th terroist attacks and the loss that followed that terrible day. It makes sense because just as there are no easy answers as to why that day happened, the Sudden Departure doesn’t give us an answer and that is precisely what makes it so tough for people to handle.

Okay, I’d like to get into discussing the show all the way through episode 9, so here it is: a BIG SPOILER WARNING. From here on out, I am going to be discussing everything through episode 9, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, thanks for reading and do yourself a favor and watch this show and then come back when you’ve caught up. Otherwise, you have been warned.

Here we go:

As that haunting music ran through the final few minutes of the episode, I was overcome by emotion. I felt tears, lots of them, welling up and as soon as the scene ended, had to leave the room so my four-year-old daughter, who was sitting nearby playing on her DS, wouldn’t get too whigged out. The rest of the evening I felt like a bit of an emotional wreck as I considered the depths of the pain the characters on the show must have gone through. What can I say, I am a sensitive guy…

Anyway, once I settled down enough to consider my reaction, I realized that this this episode went a long way toward explaining the actions, and notably the guilt, of some of our main characters. Let’s start with the most obvious one: Nora.

In the moments immediately before her family’s departure, Nora was wishing that they would all just go away so she could focus on getting the job with the mayoral candidate. I say “in the moments” because the episode was pretty clear in showing that, while not everything was perfect in her family, she did love her kids and was trying to love her husband. The show did an outstanding job at realistically portraying what family life can be like, especially for a mother of two small kids—filled with ups and downs where one day you are grateful for your loved ones and one day you wish you could escape them. Thus, when the last thing she said to her daughter before she disappeared was to curse her out for spilling juice, is it any wonder Nora feels such guilt? When we saw in the Nora-centric episode that she had people shoot her, we knew she was messed up and we knew it had something to do with the departure, but it wasn’t until this moment that it really became clear just why she felt that way. Because she blames herself. Since no answers are given as to why people disappeared, she likely thinks she had at least a part in wishing them away. And what a heavy burden that would be. It wasn’t until this moment that we could truly empathize with her and, quite honestly, as a father of two small kids, that empathizing hurt (and still does).

It wasn’t much better for Laurie. The fact that she and Kevin were not on good terms led her to keeping the news of her pregnancy from him. Thus, even though she wanted the baby (and the dog), she sensed that he didn’t and she was smart enough to know that wasn’t exactly the best sort of situation to bring a child into. Still, while the show didn’t clearly show that her baby disappeared, I think it’s safe to say that the baby did disappear from the expression on Laurie’s face. And once she found out what had happened in the wider world, that had to be grueling for her. That had to keep her up at nights, wondering if somehow she was the reason that baby disappeared. Was it her fault because she didn’t want it enough? Or because her husband didn’t want it? Why?

And then there is our favorite priest, Matt. He got a clean bill of health from his doctor and is so relieved he wants to get drunk—NOW!!—so his wife offers to drive him home and as a result it is her who is put into a coma when their car gets plowed by another car whose driver had departed. How’s that for guilt for you? Not only would he feel like he put her in that position but he’d feel like he did it for selfish reasons, all so that he could start drinking right away due to his inability to face his fear of death or sickness.

Another aspect of this episode that added a lot of sad weight to it was seeing the relationship between Tom and Jill, the Garvey kids. Until this episode, I wasn’t really sure if I liked Tom, or if I was supposed to like him, but seeing him here really made me appreciate him as a good, if troubled, guy. The scene with him and Jill at her science fair showed a very compassionate, fun older brother and that adds a lot of pain to both of their “present-day” characters because they have been split apart. And speaking of Jill—she seemed to be changed the most of all the characters. Maybe she was not totally the bubbly, song-singing young teenager we saw in this episode, maybe there was some darkness dwelling within her, but she at least seemed like a reasonably upbeat, functional kid, which is exactly what she doesn’t seem like three years later. Again, though, can we blame her? Not only did she have the shattering experience of being in a circle of people where one of them was disappeared, her brother left the family and hasn’t been heard from in months and her mother, well, she’s still around, but only as a poisonous reminder that she is most definitely NOT around and that she doesn’t give a shit about Jill any more. Her father is the only remaining family member and he is not exactly a supportive figure for her.

What of Kevin? My impression watching this episode was that he’d changed the least of our major characters. While the others were putting on happy faces, he wasn’t really trying. It was obvious to everyone around him he was unhappy, and he knew it, too. He didn’t know why, he just knew there was “something wrong with” him. Three years later, it’s clear he’s regressed but he still seems like much the same guy. Not a good guy, as he said to his fling in the car, but not a guy that we can’t understand. After all, consider his situation—after the event, his father at some point went bonkers and his son and wife split the farm. Oh, and his wife obviously kicked him out of their posh house and he had to resettle in his dad’s house, and take over his dad’s job. In addition, on the day of the event, he was having sex with a person who disappeared. Headfuck, anyone?

And I forgot to mention his visions, which this episode showed apparently were happening before the event. At least that was how I interpreted the scene near the start of the episode where he saw the deer in the woods. Was it really there or not? It sure disappeared quickly. Then again, nothing about that deer seemed like a real deer, did it? The scene where he went into the house to confront it was straight out of a horror movie and was incredibly well done. I just knew he wasn’t going to be able to put that thing down. And when he did finally end its life and found that balloon that said, “It’s a girl,” what did that mean? I took it to mean the girl inside his wife’s stomach and it makes me wonder if she ever got around to telling him about it. I think likely not. After all, I think both were driving so mad by their own experiences on that day that they were unable to process it, let alone talk about it. If they had confided in each other, even if he’d admitted his infidelity, I have a feeling they’d still be together. Maybe not, but my bet is we will learn in a future season that I am right on this one.

Interestingly, there are two conversations that illuminate a lot about why Kevin is who he is three years later and why Laurie went with the Guilty Remnant. Kevin tries to tell his son to forget about his biological dad, but Laurie tells Tom that that’s impossible. Thus, three years later, Kevin has done everything in his power to forget about what happened, but Laurie has kept it front and center in her mind. For me, perhaps the lesson here is that we need to find a balance between the two, somehow keeping painful past events as part of our character but not being consumed by them.

Okay, last, to the mysteries. I am not sure what to say about them. There was that strange experience Kevin had where he was sitting on the curb and that car stopped and those four strange women asked him if he was ready and then drove off. Who were they? Some cult? Perhaps a precursor to the Guilty Remnant? They clearly aren’t the Guilty Remnant since the name of that group clearly implies it was created in the aftermath of the disappearance. Will that mystery be answered for us? I hope so, but since this is a Lindeloff show, I won’t hold my breath. And then shortly after the car left, that manhole blew up into the air. The show gave us a somewhat plausible physical explanation for it (something to do with new gas lines), but it was still rather remarkable. One theory I heard about both of these events is that Lindeloff is trying to say they are all coincidences but because of the disappearance, our characters are turning them into more than that. Perhaps this is so. One of the reasons this show has worked so well, I think, is it has walked the fine middle line between possible theories so that, at this point, most ideas still seem plausible.

One more mystery that was not present in this episode is the nature of Dean the dog killer. When I saw the scene of him addressing a dozen police officers and them responding to him, I assumed that was the clear sign that he was real. But then Patti told Kevin that Dean had no paper trail, that even in this day where getting information about a person is so easy, she was unable to find anything on him. I am not sure if this is just a red herring, but it’s clear the show wants us to keep open the option that he is not real. But if that is the case, how did all those cops see him? Are they all crazy? Or what?

Last thing is about Patti. I am looking forward to seeing how the show develops the backstory of Laurie, Patti and even Gladys, because this episode showed they all had a relationship before the event. I am assuming that Patti’s comments to Laurie about the end coming weighed on Laurie’s mind and perhaps caused her to believe that Patti had some sort of clairvoyant power. Of course, Patti is no longer with us in present day but that doesn’t mean her role on this show is done. Same with Gladys.

Ultimately, “The Leftovers” is not a show to be taken lightly and it’s one that’s bound to make you think deeply about the nature of loss, guilt and how to heal from those things. To finish on an up note, one thought I had this morning after watching last night’s episode is that perhaps this show teaches us to walk more lightly with our resentments toward the people in our lives. Sure, every family and relationship is going to have its frustrations but perhaps learning to laugh about them, to not resent one’s loved ones, and to accept that such moments will pass, is something watching the sad lives of the characters on “The Leftovers” can teach us. Perhaps?