The Leftovers | Page 2 | The Boneyard

The Leftovers

That was the best episode of the series so far.
  • Gravediggaz and Today's Special as bookends
  • Nice use of non-linear storytelling again. This show pulls it off without it it being hackneyed.
  • Laurie's suicide made me incredulous at first, but the more I thought about it the more sense it made given the opening backstory, her feigned ignorance of Judas' fate, being the last rational thinker in a circle of people that are grieving and letting go of the need to help them. Her suicide was a rational act to escape pain, unlike the threatened imminent suicides of Nora or Kevin who are doing it for supernatural reasons.
 
JCSuperstar said:
That was the best episode of the series so far.
  • Gravediggaz and Today's Special as bookends
  • Nice use of non-linear storytelling again. This show pulls it off without it it being hackneyed.
  • Laurie's suicide made me incredulous at first, but the more I thought about it the more sense it made given the opening backstory, her feigned ignorance of Judas' fate, being the last rational thinker in a circle of people that are grieving and letting go of the need to help them. Her suicide was a rational act to escape pain, unlike the threatened imminent suicides of Nora or Kevin who are doing it for supernatural reasons.
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The actors on this show are just amazing. All of them.
 
I mean, this show. How good is this show? It all hinges on these last two episodes (and it'll be a curious study if its got some rewatchability to it), but this might be an all timer for me.
 
Don't know if any of you watched last night's episode. Really screwed up show.
 
.-.
J187Money said:
That's part of why it is so great.
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Was totally with you on that through the first two seasons.

Well now it's the final season, and there are like 5 elisodes left, right? I have to say I was hoping to start seeing the big picture here
 
Rocktheworld said:
Was totally with you on that through the first two seasons.

Well now it's the final season, and there are like 5 elisodes left, right? I have to say I was hoping to start seeing the big picture here
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1 episode left
 
So, I get that Kevin "bombed" that alternate reality and wiped it (and the assassin) out of existence. It was him finally figuring out he had to live in the real world and deal with the real reality. But, as far as the religious angle goes, he's still the second coming (or some sort of deity) for his ability to not die and change the course of people's lives (flood, earthquakes, etc). Right?
 
Deepster said:
So, I get that Kevin "bombed" that alternate reality and wiped it (and the assassin) out of existence. It was him finally figuring out he had to live in the real world and deal with the real reality. But, as far as the religious angle goes, he's still the second coming (or some sort of deity) for his ability to not die and change the course of people's lives (flood, earthquakes, etc). Right?
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That was my takeaway. Now he's off to make his own life right and, who knows, bring peace, love and happiness to the masses? Reveal himself as the second coming and open the gates of heaven to all of God's children? I don't know, what the hell did that Jesus dude do in the bible? Maybe Nora will turn his heart black somehow and it will unleash his wrath. I'm not expecting a neat little bow on this one.
 
Just finished this week's episode. I need to watch it again. When I'm a little less drunk. Wtf.
 
Series finale tonight! Pretty excited. Predictions?

I'm pretty split between how it could go. Ultimately I think Kevin will somehow sacrifice himself for the greater good of humanity (cliche, I know), or maybe he's not really the second coming at all and he'll just wake up in a psych ward, I don't know, this could go a million different ways. Kinda hope it gets grim and it really is the end of all endings.
 
.-.
They are going to need create a new award for what Carrie coon did in finale.

No existing award carries the sufficient gravitas for that performance. Impeccable
 
Great finale for the show. They revealed more about the sudden departure than I expected them to, it was satisfying without overpowering the story of the characters. Most importantly, the could open that box without ever having to come back to deal with the implications.

As others have mentioned, the acting was great as always, but so was the direction, scoring, cinematography and on and on.....

I love a series that has a story to tell, tells it, and then ends instead of going on for an extra season or two so that everyone can get paid. Leftovers did a great job with that.

My only gripe is with the Laurie Garvey suicide. Having her come back to life robs the episode that centered on her of its power, and all they accomplished by doing that was adding a little drama and confusion to the segment where Kevin was lying about knowing Nora so that the viewer couldn't be sure which world we were in. At worst it was just a "haha, fooled you" from the writers, and the writing on this show is too good for that BS.
 
JCSuperstar said:
Great finale for the show. They revealed more about the sudden departure than I expected them to, it was satisfying without overpowering the story of the characters. Most importantly, the could open that box without ever having to come back to deal with the implications.

As others have mentioned, the acting was great as always, but so was the direction, scoring, cinematography and on and on.....

I love a series that has a story to tell, tells it, and then ends instead of going on for an extra season or two so that everyone can get paid. Leftovers did a great job with that.

My only gripe is with the Laurie Garvey suicide. Having her come back to life robs the episode that centered on her of its power, and all they accomplished by doing that was adding a little drama and confusion to the segment where Kevin was lying about knowing Nora so that the viewer couldn't be sure which world we were in. At worst it was just a "haha, fooled you" from the writers, and the writing on this show is too good for that BS.
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agree on your spoiler
 
So does anyone here think Nora's "story" actually happened or did she make it all up? They conveniently didn't show even 1 second from her journey and I find it hard to believe she could go through all that to not even talk to her kids.
 
CTGoonie said:
So does anyone here think Nora's "story" actually happened or did she make it all up? They conveniently didn't show even 1 second from her journey and I find it hard to believe she could go through all that to not even talk to her kids.
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I think it doesnt matter in the end. And that is entirely intentional. They will never answer that question for you (Lindelof or Perotta).

She saw they were happy, and she mentioned that she was a "ghost" in that world. She realized that they were the lucky ones because in that "world" they lost 98% of the population, not 2%, so she realized how lucky the 2 kids and father was to have each other and didnt want to disturb that.
 
.-.
CTGoonie said:
So does anyone here think Nora's "story" actually happened or did she make it all up? They conveniently didn't show even 1 second from her journey and I find it hard to believe she could go through all that to not even talk to her kids.
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I think she stopped the machine right after the camera cut away. The entire episode is about truth and lies. Kevin spends the episode lying to her, and Nora at one point says "I don't lie". I think that she finally told herself a story that allowed her to accept what happened. When Kevin said "I believe you" at the end, I got the feeling that it doesn't actually matter if it happened or not. The finale did a great job at firming up the fact that the show is truly about the stories we tell ourselves.
 
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I'm gonna tell myself that she did actually make that trip. It seems in keeping with her character that she would stop short of reuniting with her family upon seeing how happy they were.

The Laurie suicide reversal was a little cheap, I just wish they left you guessing on that one a bit more in that episode. I suppose her daughter's phonecall was supposed to plant some seeds of doubt. I thought she went through with it.

At the moment I really liked how they handled to finale. I'm sure I'll be thinking about it a lot in the coming days. Totally agree about Carrie Coon's performance too. Just heart wrenching.

I would totally be up for living in a world populated by a only a couple hundred million people BTW.
 
I'm starting to think more and more that Nora never went to the departed side. She screamed right before the liquid "drowned" her and two things pop into my mind:

1) We're to believe she searched the earth (with 2 million people on it) to find the creator of that machine, then got him to build another one for the sole purpose of bringing her back? For what? To wrangle birds alone in Australia?

2) I find it hard to believe a mother would see her kids, not approach them and willingly leave them again.
 
Deepster said:
I'm starting to think more and more that Nora never went to the departed side. She screamed right before the liquid "drowned" her and two things pop into my mind:

1) We're to believe she searched the earth (with 2 million people on it) to find the creator of that machine, then got him to build another one for the sole purpose of bringing her back? For what? To wrangle birds alone in Australia?

2) I find it hard to believe a mother would see her kids, not approach them and willingly leave them again.
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It's true, the more I think about it the more I feel like she was ashamed she didn't go through with it and needs to tell herself this story to go on.
 
Deepster said:
I'm starting to think more and more that Nora never went to the departed side. She screamed right before the liquid "drowned" her and two things pop into my mind:

1) We're to believe she searched the earth (with 2 million people on it) to find the creator of that machine, then got him to build another one for the sole purpose of bringing her back? For what? To wrangle birds alone in Australia?

2) I find it hard to believe a mother would see her kids, not approach them and willingly leave them again.
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JCSuperstar said:
It's true, the more I think about it the more I feel like she was ashamed she didn't go through with it and needs to tell herself this story to go on.
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One of the *maybe* telling things is that she was flashing onto memories of her family just by walking to the machine. before she even got in it.
 
.-.
JCSuperstar said:
It's true, the more I think about it the more I feel like she was ashamed she didn't go through with it and needs to tell herself this story to go on.
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And didn't the nun say something about making the story so that it fits the scenario? I have to rewatch it, but is that basically why Nora has this story about going to the other side, seeing them, being okay with it, then coming back? That story just "sounds" better than the truth?
 
Deepster said:
And didn't the nun say something about making the story so that it fits the scenario? I have to rewatch it, but is that basically why Nora has this story about going to the other side, seeing them, being okay with it, then coming back? That story just "sounds" better than the truth?
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Thats the beauty of the Leftovers though, isnt it. Considering precedent (kevins forays into death) she absolutely could be telling the truth. It is not a stretch at all to believe her story when put in context of the overall story arc.
 
Deepster said:
And didn't the nun say something about making the story so that it fits the scenario? I have to rewatch it, but is that basically why Nora has this story about going to the other side, seeing them, being okay with it, then coming back? That story just "sounds" better than the truth?
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Yeah, she talks about how she can't continue the charade with Kevin because it isn't real, goes back to the nun, calls her out for sleeping with someone and insults the party goers for their silly love story and the nun just shuts her down with "It's just a nicer story Sarah" or something like that. (going from memory here). She falls off the bike, rescues the scapegoat and puts on the beads (accepting her own sins, I'm thinking her 'sin' of not going through with it since she was supposed to be the bravest girl in the world), goes home, finds peace, finds Kevin.
 
One (1) Emmy nomination...for Patti, who didn't have a lot of heavy lifting to do this year.
 
Deepster said:
That's crazy. Who got the noms over Nora?
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Carrie Coon did. Not really but her being nominated for Fargo probably cost her a nom for Leftovers, or at least gave people an out so they didn't have to bump someone from the drama category since Fargo is a limited.
 
.-.
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