THE LEFTOVERS: HBO's nondenominational post-rapture series

showtime would have run the same fucking idea into the ground for six years! I hope twin peaks survives

loved all of this, perfect level of creepy wtfery to keep me coming back

prologue made me cry a little, v cool

glad that regina king took up the mantle of jogging places while we wait for j theroux hot cop to show up again

I loved that even in an almost Garvey-free episode they still found time for a line about how pretty Theroux is.

tbf he is a very handsome man

the first episode was wonderful, and the second, while a bit less unexpected and more in line with what we've seen earlier, is also really good bc we see kevin attempting to grow and not just react in a permanent scream as he did for most of the 1st season. (although he would prob not be this /relatively/ well-adjusted without nora's help.)

that said as soon as i saw ghost patti i was like "god damnit." ann dowd's performance as her was great but i don't know how the guilty remnant plot arc can continue beyond its logical apotheosis at the end of season 1.

Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if we never hear the term "Guilty Remnant" ever again

Coon still rules, loved the scene with the MIT dudes

carrie coon was robbed of a first season emmy nom - based just on her scenes in these two episodes if the same thing happens next year it'd be goddamn ridiculous. the character is also very well-written but i can't imagine it would work this well with any other actor.

re: guilty remnant i hope you're right. and while kevin's inability to let aspects of the past go even in the face of real hope, it's also believable - it's the classic arc of fighting your way out of depression. that shit doesn't want to lose.

*in the face of real hope is frustrating

reza azlan has a regular recap interview on vulture talking abt spiritual/religious symbolism in the show since he's a consultant. it's kinda cool - apparently kevin may or may not be a shaman which to me is a huge lol just picturing fuckup kevin burning down a sweatlodge etc

ha! i could kinda see that.

just finished episode 2 and there are def some shots that look like guilty remnant motherfuckers but that could just be to wrap up their portion of the program through the eyes of kevin's ex-wife or (ugh) liv tyler, who it appears we'll (ugh) have to see a bit more of (ugh)

interested in Timelord Matt & what's going on with him and/or that church

interested in christmas-lights trailer man

i cannot stop thinking about regina king's bird in a box from ep 1

looking forward to more of this weirdass town

this show for all it's ???? is one of the most enjoyable things on tv for me because it's so strange & challenging

should i read the novel y/n

looooooool at the last music cue and the actual Rickrolling in last night's episode. Show's troll game is peerless.

i kinda like that about it tbh

Me too! Not enough dramas that dgaf

i really like the first four episodes of this season--a lot. does that mean i should watch season 1 or is it optional?

you should watch it imo, given the way you analyze other shows on other threads i'm interested in yr thoughts

though in terms of forward momentum you don't necessarily need to

yeah it's not as if stuff is ~explained~ in the first reason that i need to know. like, i gathered that episode 3 was picking up a storyline from season 1 but it was sorta gratifying to be so disoriented and trying to figure out what was going on.

this last one really felt like a Lost episode, but in a good way

i wish there was more activity on this thread.

last 10 or so minutes of the last episode were just outstanding.

no one watches things at the same time any more. I plan on watching cos i loved s 1 but wrapping up some other shows first.

i enjoy this show, though sometimes it is just toooooo grim.
and the theme song for this season is just atrocious.

yeah it's annoying

I like this season but I'm not clear where the son went after he declared he had the prophet's powers.

also it will be interesting if that is all we see of Liv Tyler all year.

It's not clear because we don't know! He went AWOL.

i like the new theme song a lot

i like the theme song too.

the grimness works for me, perhaps because there's a clear sense of humor and playfulness in so many of the other choices.

i cannot stop thinking about regina king's bird in a box from ep 1

good payoff to this. that whole scene, from the acting to the directing to the writing, was just wonderful. this show is somehow able to pull of things that would just not work elsewhere.

Really love this show, especially current season; most recent episode, "Lens," might be the strongest yet -- so many interesting reveals, so many new twists and turns, none of it feeling rushed or overblown or scattershot. The direction and the acting is just fantastic. Not sure if, for pure emotional impact, they'll top the conversation between Erika and Nora, but then I didn't think they'd top the previous episode centered around Matt, either. I thought season one had its great moments and fine episodes and pretty great acting throughout, but I seem to recall there were some flat-out bad episodes too, not to mention the quickly tiresome Holy Wayne silliness. I'm now obsessive enough about S2, that I assume I may get more out of some of that stuff when I go back to it, which I definitely plan to do.

I love a lot of Max Richter's soundtrack music, too, plus there's been some good pop music scattered about, from Al Green in the last episode of S1 to Bellamy Bros to Rihanna in "Lens."

I think this is secretly becoming my favourite show on television. I remember trying to persuade someone to watch S1 and not getting further than saying it was a show about depression, and about the stages of grief, and about how you could only transcend them by embracing these things and accepting them as an essential part of you. That pretty much convinced them not to watch it.

Last week I said near the beginning that Matt was really a metaphor for Job. Then he went on to have that conversation about how it was his favourite book, so his sacrifice at the end was nailed on by then.

I think it's the pacing of the show that's extraordinary. As said above, the reveals happen at just the right times and - well learned, Lindelhof - there aren't too many mysteries. And even as big a theory of lensing coming in now doesn't feel forced, it might even feel inevitable as it explains the MIT purchase; for me the highlight of this week was "we believe you are possessed by the daemon Azrael" and Nora collapsing into laughter when she realised they were whackjobs after all.

Megan's rape of Tommy is obviously a key moment in S2; I'm struggling to find the motivation for it. I get the whole thing to frighten him with the petrol but... is it just a long game to create a baby related to Kevin/Lori to use as a weapon? If the GR are such a nationwide thing, why does what happened in Mapleton even matter?

It'll be a really bold step if after the best part of two seasons and the potential build of a Shaman plot Kevin is revealed to just be schizophrenic.

. I remember trying to persuade someone to watch S1 and not getting further than saying it was a show about depression, and about the stages of grief, and about how you could only transcend them by embracing these things and accepting them as an essential part of you.

i like this reading, especially of season one (which im halfway through right now). i tried to sell someone on season 2 by saying it was about the trauma of the unexplainable, which makes it sound so incredibly pretentious, which i guess it is in a way, but its working for me big-time.

i read a recap somewhere where the writer said he was completely in love with the show & into the symbolism etc but watching it with someone else in the room made him hyperaware of how much more ridiculous it all seemed, making it hard to know if the show is actually as good as you think it is

seemed kinda otm. i love it but there's no way i could convince anyone to watch it

that last episide was so great, i could watch regina king & nora go toe to toe all day

it is maybe the only drama going right now that has no detectable gameplan and seems to give zero fucks about luring in new viewers, for which I respect it tremendously

if it keeps playing to this level i may finally make my peace with damon lindelof

That's funny, I've found myself raving about it to different people in a very defensive way, sort of like, "it's totally amazing--not that I think you should waste your time with it." What I like about the show's ridiculousness, if that's the right way to put it (its suspension-of-disbeliefness?), is that -- Holy Wayne aside -- it doesn't extend to the characters, all of whom, even the crazy ones, seem grounded and real in their response to everything. Yeah, there are some wise psychic types milling about, and of course the Guilty Remnant cult, but the show goes out of its way to avoid Twin Peaks' Log Lady-type characterizations (btw, I loved the Log Lady). I sense that a lot of people got fed up with the Guilty Remnant angle in S1, but I found it compelling, in part because they were never reduced to cartoons. It feels very real-world-people-dealing-with-an-unreal-situation to me.

Re-watched some of the most recent episode, and my favourite two seconds is the look Erika shoots John after she calls him out for giving the goat killer a free pass--so classic!

yeah I think if Lindelof and co. had adopted a straight-up "fuck y'all" approach to the "mythology" on Lost as opposed to trying and failing to supply satisfactory "answers", that would have worked out better for everyone

i am loving ecclestone so so much

the biblical/faith notes they keep hitting feel, idk, right. it just wrestles with faith in such an unflinching way, the situations are ridiculous on paper but the emotions are so real

and everyone is sweaty & stressed out, i love it

Re-watched "Guest," Nora's big episode from S1. Great episode, and that opening scene has to be one of the most powerful things I've ever seen on TV ("what happened to you?" is a great line). But man, was I struck by how overall despondent the show felt in S1. Moving locales and opening things up in S2 was a really good idea, I think.

I rewatched that one too, and had forgotten about Nora saying "oh, fuck your daughter!" to Kevin, which was the best

Yeah, that was great.

Also -- Nora making out with the mannequin. Some seriously amazing and far-out acting going on there.

and everyone is sweaty & stressed out, i love it

been waiting for someone to acknowledge on the show that--given they are around an hour from Austin in the Texas hill country--it's gonna be hot as balls for a substantial part of the year.

almost done with season one, and while I like it there's definitely a huge quality leap in this new season.

gotta say that cliffhanger felt very LOSTy

what makes it Lost-y? (I never watched much of Lost)

slight comedown after last week's high but this show has been pretty consistent for me this season.

I guess LOST deals pretty explicitly with a central character making the choice between science and faith and you could argue something broadly similar happens to him once he becomes the cheerleader for one of those sides. It's certainly transformative.

Patti's troll game A1 in this ep:

The whole bit about the Egyptian cup
'Did you really think the plot would actually be solved by a magical black man?'
"I can't believe you're putting your faith in someone whose only qualification for this job is being a paedophile"

Trying not to read what Lindelof says about it, because I remember what he said about various LOST plot events when they happened.

his statement about it in the HitFix recap is honestly hilarious.

I was looking up something about this show a few days ago, and came across a quote from Lindelof saying episode 7 was (I'm paraphrasing) "the one where we jump the shark," and though I don't think the episode was quite as farout/weird/incomprehensible/whatever-he-was-suggesting as I expected, it did sort of veer into mystery-mystical-layering-bullshit territory that could potentially lose me in the long run. The main stuff -- Kevin and Patti -- was very good, but some of the stuff more extraneous to this particular episode (Laurie and Nora, especially) felt a little half-formed or something, though it's interesting how Kevin can only measure the worthiness of himself against each of them. Ending is pretty wild, but even it lacked the impact it should have? Michael continues to become more interesting. There were a couple really good jokes, and the ten seconds of the Pixies (a replay, no? wasn't that used in S1 also?) was really exciting and well edited. The kind of episode where I feel I could be persuaded by people more enthusiastic than myself. Not a dud by any stretch, but a little off.

his statement about it in the HitFix recap is honestly hilarious.

saw this and his troll game is peerless.

Chickie otm though in that there's an awful lot riding on what happens next week.

'where is my mind' has been used a ton all season. maybe last season too? can't remember. the tune is even used as piano instrumental music.