THE LEFTOVERS: HBO's nondenominational post-rapture series

while we're on the subj i never liked the iris dement song

I fucking hate it

If there is one criticism I have for this series it is the winsome indie overkill in some episodes, like playing the whole wretched tune is not good at all and it does this crime a few times. But respect for maintaining max weirdness without ever truly letting the viewer know wtf is going on.

I mean that sincerely as well

Thanks, akm, I got lambasted by a couple folks on facebook for admitting I was unfamiliar with When in Rome. Big radio/dance/pop fan, too, so who knows... just the randomness of what I know, I guess.

Some parts of the last two episodes did not come together for me, I gotta be honest, but I still thoroughly enjoyed them overall (my nitpicking tends to recede when I re-watch them, which is why I characterize it as "nitpicking"), and I completely loved the entire middle section of the season, as much as I've loved any show. Probably my most nitpicky thing from last night: I'm definitely glad Mary's pregnancy turned out to be what it was hoped to be, but the way it was revealed was way too pat ("yes, Matt, of course I remember"). That definitely seemed like a part written as such in the event that there would be no season 3 (which I guess means I understand WHY it was handled the way it was, but it was a fairly unimaginative playing out).

but...why *wouldn't* she remember if she was conscious for it

You're right. I watched it again, and the scene in particular does not bother me -- maybe it's just the tying of all loose ends at once I found a little unnerving (on the Garvey/Durst/Jamison side -- quite the opposite on the Murphy's side, of course).

The karaoke scene really is amazing -- and btw, the 8 songs listed above are definitely all of them--between a couple different shots, they all come into the frame pretty clearly.

It took me the whole season to make the connection, but the season's prologue reminds me of the frustrated Charlie Kaufman in Adaptation. "No, no, it starts...at the dawn of time!"

does that intro scene have anything to do with what's going on in the present day? it is a ~mystery~

I was worried that the earthquake was gonna knock down the Garvey house and kill the whole family like the rockslide killed the caveman clan in the beginning of the season

Then I thought "even The Leftovers wouldn't be that depressing"

I dunno why but I thought they would still be in the trailer on the bridge, I yelled at the tv when Kevin didnt follow the dog lol

same

me too. i don't really get that story beat tbh.

maybe the dog just ran over there when they were filming and they thought it seemed somehow poignant

the dog was like "fuck this shit, I'm outta here"

dog makes a good point

i have no idea what it means either, but it's gotta have something with the dog not being able to (and then not wanting to) enter Jasper. it can't come "home," etc?

first thought was that it was another moment of frustration for the viewer: dog goes to nora, the baby & tommy, and kevin thinks he has to go into town

second thought was that this was just a confusing and badly staged moment. dog runs off, kevin has to get to the clinic

third thought is that (not shown) the dog running to the trailer lets nor and tommy know that kevin is probably a live (?) and they should head into town themselves

dog wasn't lassie

i get really unhappy with shows where people don't or can't explain themselves, where 'dramatic irony' is based on people being fucking inarticulate or asking each other stupid questions, so i gotta say a lot of the patty haunting and handprint plots got on my nerves. (but it's not as bad as game of thrones, woo doggy)

lmao i mentioned lassie in my first draft of that post and deleted it

you think i could have fixed some of those typos huh

i get really unhappy with shows where people don't or can't explain themselves, where 'dramatic irony' is based on people being fucking inarticulate or asking each other stupid questions, so i gotta say a lot of the patty haunting and handprint plots got on my nerves.

i think i know what you mean, but i didnt get much of that from this show--though i have stars in my eyes and refuse to accept any flaws for now. im sure i'll be more objective in 6 weeks or so. was actually pretty moved by the darting-eyes desperation of theroux's performance. if one of the major themes was family as what patty called a "life jacket" (and i actually think the show posits that she is right about this) then there's a tension between a notion of family as something that has to be protected at all costs (and then the inevitable need to evade, hide the truth, hide your own trauma, etc) and something that can absorb all that. that's why nora running off and coming back was really moving as well, as embodying that tension. also the neat contrast of the garvey's coming together just as the murphy's are spinning apart.

also, patty as "destroying family" and megan as "family is everything" are kinda two sides of same coin. megan cannot grasp family except as pure loss, hence her nihilism.

also re: at least patty's inarticulatness (or just her own inability to explain what she's doing there and why) works out if you think of her as not just a reflection of kevin's own mind but as the seductive voice of his own beliefs that he cannot process as his own and must disassociate from.

"she's not in you, she's on you" was a particularly rich line, i thought.

that's the funny thing about this show: all of the mystical and magical shit that happens to people can all be explained away with some realistic plausibility, except for the fact that all these people disappeared three years ago, it keeps you guessing what the "rules" are

I figured the dog smelled Nora & company had been in the trailer and went to go check it out because dog

they did keep us on the fence for a long time about whether anyone had any actual mystical experience in Jarden - did the lady in a coma wake up, or was it wishful thinking? Can this medium really talk to people on the other side, or is he a fraud? Both seemed really unlikely until the end of the season. I was actually surprised by the reveal of Meg's previous visit to Jarden where she received a message from her dead mom -- I figured John was right about people being frauds in the town.

other underrated scene: Kevin talking to his dad, who is on a drug trip in Australia, through the television in the hotel underworld

who knows if this is the intent but the show makes you want to believe in the mystical because it's the only way kevin makes it to s3 alive

Meg is the antihero of this thing, right?

other underrated scene: Kevin talking to his dad, who is on a drug trip in Australia, through the television in the hotel underworld

Scott Glenn is always great

My God, just like Fargo this is an already excellent series stepping it up a level for season 2. Also the only time My Mother comes to visit me is to watch this, so I'm hoping for another season just for the human connection. And we have different uh religious beliefs but this covers all our bases, and appeals to both our... cognitave dissonance?
I can't really add to all your opinions above but Goddamn...

renewed! for just one more season, but that's how lindelof wanted it, apparently.

Three seasons feels right. I'm just hoping it's a full season and not a quickie a la Treme.

I'm so happy!!

yeah i think it's good news on both fronts...i think they have one more potentially great (nora-centric please!) season in them.

they have to spend some substantial time in Australia this time around right? i need at least one episode where i can trip along w/ Kevin's dad

I just hope that whatever s3 is turns out to be as much of a formal/spatial leap as s2 was from s1

yeah for sure

fish out water stoner comedy with scott glenn in the outback, brief mentions of previous seasons only. "mad shit in texas mate" "yeah buddy"

would watch

I made the mistake of reading a couple of post-season interviews with Lindelof, the Sepinwall one and the Mo Ryan one, my God this man is an insufferable tool. "Yes that meant something very specific, we had a very clear idea all worked out, but I am not going to tell you the answer. But rest assured I am a genius". Considering he also spends a lot of time apologising for Lost you'd think he might have approached his interactions with his audience even slighty different this time. Also he seems to have fundamentally misunderstood some of the proper deep shit that Reza Aslan brought to the show (which was all explained very openly by Aslan in his own interview, can't remember where). It kinda reminds me of Donnie Darko, where I had the whole thing sussed out and was appreciating it until I heard the director's commentary, and then saw the director's cut, and it's like oh wow, this guy really doesn't understand this thing he actually wrote, and doesn't seem so smart as I assumed.
Still, yay for 3rd season, cos by accident or design (or more likely the skill of Lindelof's collabarators) this was on fire that whole season, and I will happily swallow whatever pseudo-spiritual bullshit I am fed next season, and just tack my own interpretation on top of it. The renewal makes me genuinely happy.

I kinda liked the 'yeah there's this obscured stuff in there, but I'm not holding your hand to find it' bits in the interviews. Rather than annoying me it was pretty intriguing since the stuff he mentions I completely missed. It's probably pretty obvious that I have a large tumbler of Kool-aid here on the side table. I can totally see how that would feel obnoxious, though. Really happy to hear about the renewal too

i've thrown so much shade at Lindelof that i'm kinda ready to just let the light in this time

this season was like therapy for me, i have nothing but love in my heart for this weirdass show & old baldy

and it feels like a jinx even saying it out loud

like PSYCH season 3 is a giant spacewheel and polar bears mwahaha

Amen to that - let the light in! I'm just scared of being hurt again. So often with the various series I watch I'm like a battered spouse, always returning to my abuser with the same excuses - "oh but he's so nice to me some of the time...", "it was my own fault really...". I should've kicked Lost to the kerb long before our relationship petered out to it's natural conclusion, and I THINK this mid-season break from The Walking Dead will be sufficient for me to walk out that door for the final time, but Imma keep coming back to The Leftovers, cos it's been nothing but good times up til now. Maybe if this is the final season as suggested then afterwards we can remain friends, occasionally get together for a drink, watch the old home movies and reminisce about our relationship with a wistful smile...

Like that deathtrip episode in the hotel I was getting major polarbear-wheel vibes, and I was very uneasy sitting through it, but everything turned out great! (Still not gunna say anything nice about Lindelof himself tho cos seriously fuck that dude).

Listened to the first bit of this Andy Greenwald interview with Damon Lindelof and it's...interesting:

https://soundcloud.com/channel33/ep-17-the-andy-greenwald-show

Four episodes to go. Still baffled and fascinated and waiting for explanations, if any are forthcoming. And noticing the music, of course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDW6v9OsVlI