THE LEFTOVERS: HBO's nondenominational post-rapture series

that's funny, akm, I listened to a podcast about this episode this morning, and the hosts were all, "yeah, they keep playing that Pixies song," and they mentioned something about The Fight Club, and of course I felt really dumb for not getting any of this (which i think was the point), but that's probably because a) I've never had any desire to see TFC, and b) I'm a half-hearted Pixies fan <em>at best</em>. But I do vaguely recall hearing it earlier, and will keep my ear out for it.

it also made a "memorable" appearance on Mr Robot

a friend pointed out that the design of Virgil's home evoked this Jeff Wall piece:

http://www.moma.org/wp/moma_learning/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Jeff-Wall.-After-Invisible-Man1-469x329.jpg

I wish they had just stuck to the original Richter opening score which was very nice. If you are not a fan of a certain type of twee indie Americana, some of these over-long indulgences where they play some entire song (that you don't want to hear!) are not good television and detract from a decentish series.

i love the opening credits song! and i like the graphics too

no one can seem to agree on it, but the combo of the wackadoo season prologue and the seeing the new intro for the first time is still one of the series' highlights for me

agreed!

in my memory the prologue was a cold open with the intro coming after but i found out i was sadly mistaken when i re-watched it recently.

pixies. so twee!

Love the Jeff Wall image. Have to admit, the first thing that came to mind when we went inside Virgil's hovel was some imagery in an early chapter of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, in which the protagonist describes his "hole in the basement" as being lit with 1,369 light bulbs. Not a perfect analogy for a bunch of reasons, but the image always stuck with me from the first time I read the book and it hit me immediately upon seeing it on the screen.

[I wish the protagonist in Ellison's book had lit his room with 100 less bulbs -- 1,269 -- because that would be an anagram of 9,261, which is how many spared citizens there are in Jardin, Texas, and... oh man, could've lit up the Leftovers chat boards big time with that!!]

the Jeff Wall piece is directly based on the Ellison book.

Ah, nice, thanks.

"You people and that movie!" Virgil's line about <i>The Exorcist</i> made me laugh.

One character I do miss a lot from Mapleton/S1 (and who, imo, wasn't used enough in S1) is Mayor Lucy (Amanda Warren). Was flipping through episode 1 last night, and she's really great. Also forgot that Buddy Garrity (Brad Leland) from Friday Night Lights is in episode 1 as a congressman who treks up to see Wayne (and I think that's the last we see of him).

most recent episode sure ends with a bang

wow

this show just constantly leaves me in dazed wonder now

i fuckin love this season

Many things I heard about season one set off enough alarms that I skipped it, yet I've heard such great things about season two. Can I see season two without seeing season one or do I sort of need to slog through all of it to get the most reward out of the current season?

I just started with two and loved it. as long as you know the premise you'll be fine. let the mystery be, you know.

I would strongly suggest getting around to Season 1 at some point -- even if you watch the seasons in reverse, which is probably do-able. It will fill in a lot of the story, and -- much as I've been critical of it at times -- it's a pretty great season at times (it's not like anyone forced me to stick around for season 2). My guess is, if you like S2, you'll want to go back to get more -- and S1 has plenty to get. By my count (and from what I recall) there are three or four near-perfect episodes, and only a severe dropoff in a couple somewhere around the middle.

can we talk about the ending of the new episode yet or no? i have a theory

spill it!

my theory is that Michael conspired with Virgil to arrange to kill or maybe just harm/scare Kevin because Michael thinks he was responsible for his sister's disappearance

? maybe?

I think it more likely that Virgil wanted to do one last good act, and he'll be guiding Kevin back to life with some help from Michael. I think the scene of Michael leaving Virgil's place when Kevin arrives was the tail end of Michael's failed attempt to talk him out of it.

A lot of people are touting the bird-in-a-box theory; that Kevin will be buried for three days, and then...

man I hope they do that except he's just dead and smelly

kinda hoping for kevin v patty thunderdome

i hope he is just straight-up dead

NO

dudes named virgil make pretty good guides through the afterlife iirc

^^ dun-dun-DUH.

it feels on the nose but that's my take too. we'll see.

yeah i was slow on the uptake but otm

Wow.

are they gonna cut david lynch a check for this

somehow a trip to the mythological underworld makes perfect sense on this show

no one who disappeared from the world appeared in the underworld

Lynch was the biggest influence I thought as well.

Lindelof ups his troll game: "The Leftovers isn’t about answers, it’s about the frustration of not getting them and the emotional state that drives our characters to. Like throwing rocks through the windows of people we feel sympathy for or drinking poison."

I appreciated the kid being stunned at this dude he buried waking up from death

omg that episode was so good!! genuinely exciting despite it's weirdness

Dunno that it owed as much to Lynch as The Sopranos, lol. I really love the idea of a hotel as the underworld

Patty as a little girl was a great touch

Honestly quite stunned by how good that was -- as enjoyable on second viewing as on first. Whether it really advances the story in a useful or interesting way, hard to say, and I don't think I'd want a whole season of it or anything, but on the basis of pure technique (so many interesting movie references throughout) and emotion (I was extremely moved by the Patty stuff), and house-of-mirrors weirdness, it feels like the sort of tv fare you're lucky to get when you do (if you can give in to this sort of thing... I'm guessing it's way too jump-the-shark for some people).

- Fight scene between Kevin and the bellhop reminded me a lot of The Manchurian Candidate scene with Sinatra fighting Henry Silva (and the 'Manchurian candidate' from that movie is played by Laurence Harvey; Kevin's new alias is Kevin Harvey
- I don't know the music that was played throughout, but it was terrific. There's one soft melodic motif that kept recurring, though, that sounded a lot like a recurring motif in The Godfather films (which is alluded to elsewhere)... is that just a weird accident, I wonder?
- great little scene I missed the first time: whoever chose the Mapleton cop outfit walking by Kevin with a bag over his head
- I'm on record often as dismissing Holy Wayne from S1, but he is quite funny here, I think

just watched it a second time as well and it's just outstanding. fun to watch and fun to think about. this is one of the strongest runs for a tv show in recent memory I think. hope they can finish strong.

the show wouldn't make a lick of sense without watching season 1 before season 2; don't even attempt that.

didn't love that episode, but I like the idea that the afterlife is more logical / rule-based than life itself

Not the most remarkable of episodes last night (centers around the two major characters I am the least interested in, and some of the plotting felt contrived and way too convenient), but: a) that's a judgement based at least in part on the ridiculously high standards the show has set most of this season; b) it did, in fact, add some interesting shading to both of those characters; c) a handful of good songs were used, two quite awesomely (incl. a country song by Sturgill Simpson I'd never heard of). So much to say about Olivia Newton-John, but anyway.

lol i love that sturgill simpson song to bits (it's a cover of a not-country song, but it does find the country song that was always hiding in the original) and i was like "aw man there goes the neighborhood" but i'm stoked if it gets him paid.

this show has an uncanny way with its music choices.

liked this episode a lot (more on second viewing), even though it risked disappointment in taking us away from the building momentum of the other plots. i think their commitment to keep each episode relatively focused on just a few characters pays off here--seeing this plot strung out over the season would only have diluted the stronger episodes.

I guessed the final scene about halfway through. The big question obviously is whether they were in on it from the start or have been converted.

i have a feeling that the finale is gonna be extra-long or something to tie everything together, like 90 minutes maybe

would be totally fine with that tbh. can't believe this show has managed to pull all the gambits it's pulled and not only avoid falling off a cliff but in fact get better with each chance it takes.

i utterly despise meg and yet even her episode was fascinating and engaging all the way through. it's p clear that on some level she was always less than sane, that aspect of her personality waiting for an excuse to explode. she couldn't give a fuck about the world forgetting or remembering the departure - she wants it to remember her and hurt like she used to.

xp in sepinwall's review he seems to think they might've been GR at least since the start of the season http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/review-liv-tyler-makes-a-terrifying-impression-on-this-weeks-leftovers

That was my first thought after it's been made clear Meg isn't big on the whole not speaking thing.

i want to know what her mother's last words were!!!