The Leftovers: Reform and Rebirth

Is this television's next great drama?
"Al, if you're not dead and already moldering, I send news to revive you. A fish to rival the fabled Leviathan has swum into our waters. Get well soon and we'll land the cocksucker together. Your friend, E.B." - E.B. Farnum, Deadwood, S02E03




The Leftovers is back.

The Norse interpretation of
"Axis Mundi"
What began as one of the most dense, depressing, and damned TV shows ever has fully re-established itself to be one of the top programs on television currently. When we first saw Damon Lindelof's new show, there was a lot of skepticism. The first five or so episodes of the original season were so sad and heavy that even the interesting mythology being born didn't seem worth paying attention to. The characters were well-drawn, but it was hard to continue watching when there was no payoff for 5+ hours of bleakness offering no answers to the questions the show raised. However, as the season came toward the latter half, critics and what viewers remained turned away from initial complaints. Suddenly, the show began to move, and though still depressing and hard to watch, the payoff was much greater for the time spent. In the end, the season concluded with a bang, leaving viewers wanting more, but also not offering up a plethora of new plots for the second season. Many thought The Leftovers may have been cancelled afterwards, leaving behind a one-season miniseries-type legacy. Something interesting but not fully expanded upon enough to ever be considered great.

When the news came out that HBO had renewed The Leftovers, I was happy to have more of Lindelof's ideas on TV, but even more skeptical that the plot could open itself up to 10 more hours of television. A year passed, and the only news of the show was that scripts and plots were being heavily re-written. Bad sign. Finally, over the Summer, while the lackluster True Detective season two was airing, we saw our first ads for the second season of TV's most dense drama. It looked like the characters were moving to a new location, almost offering a reboot for the series using some of the same central protagonists. When the premiere finally came three weeks ago, the excitement was there, but no way was it at the top of my watch-list. As I watched the spectacular first episode, "Axis Mundi," I was proved wrong on all accounts of skepticism.

The second season of The Leftovers is nothing short of amazing. We began the season with a vignette, portraying a cave woman giving birth to a child thousands of years ago. She's starved and dirty, but does her best to provide for the child. However, after defending the baby from a snake, she suffers a poisonous bite and falls dead, leaving the baby in the open, only to get picked up by another wild cave woman. On this same land, in the present day, lies Jardin, Texas. This is the place where Kevin Garvey and his family have moved. However, Jardin is no longer Jardin. Now, after the departure, it has been renamed Miracle, as not a single departure occurred there. Kevin, Nora, and Jill, after having an offer come about on Nora's house for over two million dollars, decide to move out of the bleak memory of Mapleton and move to somewhere in which a new start can happen.

The reason that Nora's house is purchased for so much, however, is due to the fact that her two children and husband all dissipated at the same table when the departures occurred. As the MIT researcher who buys the house puts it, perhaps the departures were "a matter of geography." Perhaps the reasons behind the apocalyptic mystery is merely chalked up to being at the wrong place at the wrong time. And, perhaps Jardin, "Miracle," Texas, is holy ground. Is that why we were treated to the cave woman vignette? This will become a focal point for the coming episodes.

Meet the Murphys (Not a show by Tyler Perry)
Speaking of location however, the Garveys have moved into a house right next to a black family: the Murphys. The family, like many aspects of The Leftovers seems perfect at first, with extreme darkness under the surface. The father, John Murphy (Kevin Carroll,) is an ex-convict who works as a fireman. Though he seems to have it all together, we quickly see him commit acts of violence against a man pretending to be a prophet. The daughter, a nerdy mid-teenager, also seems like a good girl at first, but after several goosebump-inducing shots of her running naked through the woods and swimming in a local creek, seems to have more than meets the eye occurring as well. Though the mother and son have less intrigue going on right now, rest assured that their development is to come.

At the same time as the plot in Miracle though, The Leftovers has not forgotten about their roots in Mapleton. Kevin's son and wife are still very much a part of the show. After recovering from their places in different cults, the two now run a sort of rehabilitation center for former Guilty Remnant cult members. Laurie, Kevin's wife, is writing a book on her time in the cult, and Tommy, his son, helps her with recruitment, whilst still struggling with his alcohol and depression issues. In their own episode, we understand the bleakness of life back in Mapleton, while showing the lasting effects of cultist-rule not just on the Garveys, but on the general human population.

The focal point of the season so far though, has been on one particular incident. The inciting incident of the Miracle plot, which may or may not be led back to the rationale of a matter of geography. The night that the Garveys and the Murphys meet each other, celebrating John's birthday with a backyard barbecue, the Murphy daughter, Yvette, goes out with her friends after the dinner. They go to swim in the local creek, as we have seen they enjoy doing before. However, though their car makes it there, in a flash, the three girls, as well as all the water in the creek, disappear. This same night, Kevin Garvey wakes up lying in the now-emptied creek, having seemingly slept-walked there.

The Guilty Remnant - "Your Pain Doesn't Matter"
With three episodes now aired and a fourth tonight, The Leftovers has proven itself. All the flaws of the first season are gone, and more and more it seems that the purpose and plot of the show is larger than what we once saw. Lindelof is ambitious, and whether the secret of the departures is ever explained or not, the show is taking a bold approach, tackling themes of addiction, religion, depression, and superstition. The scope is larger than ever, and the characters seem sharper than they once were, adding fuel to the fire of intrigue.

I'm honestly stunned with the quality of what we've seen thus far. Rarely has there been a show with such a dramatic increase between seasons one and two, and rarely has there been a show that was this bold, tackling such extreme issues and subjects. From a plot level, a character level, and a cinematic level, I cannot recommend The Leftovers enough. For any and all skeptics out there, just give "Axis Mundi" thirty minutes. You won't notice that the entire episode has already gone by.

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