THE LEFTOVERS: HBO's nondenominational post-rapture series

alcohol, tobacco, firearms, explosives, and cults, IIRC. I've been rewatching s1 and there's a scene where they offer to "take care" of the GR in Mapleton

yeah, I think whoever was stating it in this episode (a protestor at the spring demanding the truth about the drone strike) left that bit off

it's disturbingly fitting which agency got authority on cults

You guys I don't think Kev is ok lol

That whole '59th St Bridge Song' as she's riding off the on the bike and I'm like yeah Kev's going to do something dumb/crazy/life-threatening and HOLY FUCK, SHOW DELIVERS

All I could think about was the mechanics of convincingly acting that whole thing. Like you basically have to almost suffocate to do it realistically and uuuugh just thinking about scared the crap out of me (also as a child who spent the first 5 years of her life being told by her parents not to put those plastic record bags over my head and constantly wondering what would happen if I did, this was a very weird scene to watch)

Insane

yah did he REALLY do that? fucking terrifying.

I have to force myself not to look at this--now I know "Feelin' Groovy"'s on the way (which I absolutely love) and it won't be a surprise. (Not blaming anyone, my own fault.) I'm going to rewatch 1 and 2 as soon as 1 gets here in the mail, so I won't be starting for at least a month. No more peeking!

xpost Yeah idk I was trying to figure it out. Like maybe they had an air tube coming in from behind somehow on a quick/slow release trigger to help between takes or something but he still sucked it all the way into his nose & mouth like fuuuuuuuuuuck nope

sorry clemenza

yeah i wondered the same thing too. I suppose eomeone was just ready to rip it open once they got the shot

there were similar shots in the OA, with people's heads completey drowned inside helmets...how the fuck did they do that? so claustrophobic, I'd freak the fuck out if I were acting that.

I mean, you still try to breathe shallowly once you pass out, it's not like you pass out and immediately need cpr

just don't do the asphyxiation thing with no one else around

the water one, that is not as good

I was going to drop some auto-erotic asphyxiation jokes until I realized it's stressing everyone

I get kind of irrationally angry when writers review episodes and things that are supposed to be concrete references get hand-waved. The intro is definitely the Millerites (I first thought Seventh Day Adventists, but they were later and kind of a post-Millerite group) due to the setting and the exact dates that kept being show -- those are the dates the Millerites chose. An episode review kind of glossed them over as "some cult"

I don't think it was glossed over, it's just not that well-known a thing. I only figured it out cause someone at work linked the Wikipedia article the following morning for unrelated reasons (which was hella spooky)

you're a writer! they showed a series of actual dates! pause it and use google!

i watched this a second time and some of theroux's line readings are just so good. "what you think is happening...isn't."

he carries so much of kev's character just in his physicality, being so twitchy & fake-calm & haunted, it's really impressive

carrie coon for president

goddamn this show

also major crush on carrie coon. glad she's in two shows now

Loved the little detail of departure day in Australia being October 15th.

I would never have expected that Nora scene but I absolutely loved it.

The trampoline thing was a little on the precious side, but the reveal of Lily's whereabouts was so logical that I'm shocked I didn't think of it.

There's something quite interesting about the tattoo covering up another tattoo, some tenuous balance between remembering and forgetting that seems essential to grief.

I totally need to watch this again because I was high on NyQuil and other substances and thought i was losing my mind when the opening credits started.

the wu-tang band

the writing credits were interesting. in addition to the perfect strangers theme song. also, mark lynn baker did a great scene

http://i.imgur.com/rjKa7vK.jpg

Such an awesome strange show

Sepinwall said that those nicknames in the writing credits came from a Wu-Tang name generator--the same one that Donald Glover used to create Childish Gambino?

Richard Cheese!

The musician?

Know some of the guys in that band

music over the credits iirc

I now have a weekly Leftovers watching engagement with a friend where we trade viewing locations every other week. This week was intense, thought I was going to lose it during the monologue about the children

Kevin's dad's quest in australia was the best or worst shaggy dog story. I hope we hear more about Tony

we also now know weetabix can be taken to wherever the departures went

music over the credits iirc

they certainly made "The Last Wave" associations more explicit this time! Though maybe killing off "Chris" means it was a headfake.

it was a real trip to see this episode after spending much of the day reading Robert Bellah's "Religion in Human Evolution" and in paritcuar the chapter on ritual and the aborigines.

Poor Chris. He never deserved that, even if the moment where Kevin Sr. fell off the roof and hit him was hilarious

That last scene was really masterful and perfectly encapsulates the show. This dirge like monologue of shattered illusions and grief, the silence of God, meaningless of suffering --> "you just had the wrong Kevin"

Hard to put my finger on why, but this season is just not working for me. Frustrating, because there's been great stuff in each episode (I loved the shot of Evie on TV tonight), but only the first one felt satisfying as an episode (and even it was a bit rambly); unlike the previous seasons, I haven't been compelled to re-watch any of them. Feels like they're chasing after a whole lot of nothing? What I liked about season 1 was that for something with such a crazy, sci-fi premise, it felt incredibly grounded and realistic. What I liked (even more) about season 2 was that it fucked more with the crazy and outlandish but in a fun way. S3---going out on a few too many limbs here?

I have been loving it, but I think perhaps what you're talking about has to do with that freedom that comes from not trying to win any new converts. All the dramatic arcs are on the upward swing, there's been precious little catharsis, and it's impossible to tell where it's heading, and it's just getting weirder. And it feels like only with this episode have we arrived at the central conflict (in terms of the relationships between the characters).

It's obvious by now, but I was really struck this episode by the effectiveness of the departure as a literary device--how it perfectly literalizes how freud defined depression/melancholia as "an inability to mourn." "The'yre not dead...they're gone" being a distinction that's meaningful only to those still in the process of grieving. There's something thrilling to me about how this show almost operatically (and by no coincidence there was a lot of opera in the background of this episode--anyone know what it was?) hyper-dramatizes those emotions. That final shot!

Oh, and I have re-watched each episode and it's really allowed them to breathe a bit. They are a bit much to take in on one viewing.

what was the significance of "take on me"?

ha i was just looking up the lyrics. seems....apropos.

incredibly on the nose

Your arguments already make me feel a little more generous towards it, ryan. I suspect if i do re-watch some of these, it may pull together a little better. But there's a strange disconnect in spots, that I just can't...well, connect.

A couple specific things haven't worked for me. The opera that you mention in last night's episode was a problem; it was amped up too high, like much of the show seems to be this year. (In fact, I haven't been drawn to a single bit of music in the series. I liked the a-Ha piano version last night, but nothing has really gotten to me, and I thought the "Personal Jesus" cover a couple episodes back was annoying.) Also, I have completely lost interest for some reason in Laurie, which is too bad as she was one of the things I liked most about season 1 (her role in season 2 was much diminished and a little less interesting). Her and John---it just feels like a convenience to keep them both around?

I did love one line from Kevin Garvey Sr. (which I think is repeated a couple times, and he may have even said it in S2): "It's not that the voices went away, it's that I started doing what they told me to do." That's a fantastic thought--especially given how deliberately he carries it out.

a "single bit of music" this SEASON, I should specify.

This was great

Yes. With Matt's conversation with "God" I am starting to see that withholding of catharsis that I mentioned above as deliberate. Looks like next week will be a Laurie episode, which is a nice complement to Matt episodes.

they're doing a good job of puzzling out the most insufferable character might be with these single character episodes

kevin sr.'s shaggy dog tale on his episode about how he ended up learning rain dances was great, especially the fake-out when you thought he was going to say he saw his son's image on tv. nope, a chicken!

this was one of their best eps

(have not seen the latest one yet)

i was p disappointed with the kevin and nora separation moment. not that some kind of fracture wasn't plausible or dramatically necessary but the writing seemed a little entry level. i thought they were smarter in dealing with each others' bullshit than that.