THE LEFTOVERS: HBO's nondenominational post-rapture series

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.

It worked for me because the whole episode (and really the first two episodes) showed Nora pulling further and further away (Theroux's reaction to Nora's silence at "are you together?" was incredible). This separation anxiety leads to Kevin's breakdown, Nora's implacable grief and thus distance from all connection, and so his explosion makes a lot of sense even if it feels abrupt. Kevin's great fear is that connection is impossible or pointless, so of course he's drawn to this unreachable woman who commuted last season what to him is an unforgivable sin: she abandoned him. It's classic traumatic repetition compulsion (and kinda makes the frightening argument that all romantic relationships are). His big mistake in the argument is saying the truth out loud.

I've just finished season one and i like it a lot but it would have been nice to have 5 straight minutes of airtime where someone wasn't almost getting into a car wreck.

That is very good priming for season 2, actually.

into season 3 now. the music on this show is lol.

this was a LAFF RIOT

wife read some article's comments where people were pointing out that"god" was referenced a bunch in season 2, that the guy in the tower had michael send him a letter, that there were news stories about him on TV, talking about how the afterlife is a "hotel" etc.

I'm still trying to figure out if the possible dog-person politician that crazy shoots-dogs guy was talking about was actually the same congressman that Tom drove to meet Wayne in season one

did everyone forget to watch this this week with twin peaks starting? I did (caught it last night)

I'm assuming Laurie is dead now

Yeah I think so. Pretty brutal way to close out that character.

Oh wow I forgot! Tonight!

So good.

And yeah.

And I shouldn't have watched the "scenes from next weeks episode" bit because it was mildly spoilery.

This show is sooooo gooood.

it is. I'm going to be sorry to see it go.

The convolutions in this show seem increasingly arbitrary to me, just one Hail Mary after another. And completely OTT but not in the service of the narrative, just banking on portent and quirk.

Gonna grind it out and still enjoying parts but disappointed to find that finally it is short of smart, merely clever.

ok so this season is incredible

tough to follow-up international assassin, but i think that last episode worked splendidly

the show long ago left the idea that we'd get some 'this means this' sort of puzzle type solution; I don't expect an answer about 'where people went' or 'what is going on' and haven't since season 2. That was quite liberating for this show, I think; but I can see how, if someone expects those types of plot manipulations, they'd be disappointed.

When Kevin appeared in the other world on a beach near a hut, I couldn't resist saying "ooh, he's on the island from Lost! this show really is a sequel"

In the post-show thingy for this latest one, Lindelof says that Kevin is symbolically killing his investment in a fantasy, meaning that he needs to remove the temptation of 'the afterlife' giving him a false sense of purpose and preventing him from focusing on the real world and the people in it. I'm probably not summarizing it well but it made a lot of sense to me emotionally, and made the wackiness of this ep bearable. What the afterlife visions actually are and what they mean I think I'll be turning over in my head for a long time

Watched the Laurie ep (6, 'Certified') a few times, such an incredible episode

that was wonderful

I loved that mostly but I'm having mixed feelings about Laurie being alive

I'm also having mixed feelings about Nora's "story" being told through dialogue where Kevin's adventures to other realms were always shown to us. I'm not sure what the purpose of that discrepancy is.