Written by: Kevin Berge
This picture is a perfect metaphor for the show. You always feel like you're drowning while watching. Is that a recommendation? I can't tell. (Image Courtesy of: tvseriesfinale.com)
Quick Take: The Leftovers compacts a massive and complicated concept into a small character-driven drama, focusing not on what happened but what effect it had on those left behind. It is a powerful, intensely poetic series that has stellar performances across the board, only let down by being so overwhelmingly dark that can be hard to watch.
***This is a complete review of the series The Leftovers, focusing on its overarching ideas rather than the changing stories. There will be no spoilers beyond the set-up of the series, but it will allude to how the story evolves. Those who have not seen the series should read ahead at their own risk.***
One day, out of the blue with no warning, 140 million people disappear, 2% of the world' population. Some lose a child, others a father. There are those who can lose their whole family while some are completely untouched. How would you react?
This is the question posed to the viewer of The Leftovers as the show presents a group of interconnected survivors all reacting in their own way. This is a post-apocalyptic world, but it isn't a fantastical science fiction trip or a survival epic. It is simply a character drama with one grand influencing moment.
HBO has been dominating a changing TV market for a long both commercially and critically with shows ranging from classic drama in The Sopranos and The Wire to genre powerhouses Game of Thrones and Westworld, yet, in the midst of that success both commercially and critically, it has produced a show so far under the radar may have never noticed it aired.
Perhaps the reason for this is simply that no one knew what The Leftovers was. Created by Damon Lindelof, the co-creator of Lost, some will go in expecting a fantastical mystery to be explored. However, this show has no intention of explaining what happened to 2% of the world. That was never the point.
Author Tom Perrotta, who both helped create the series and wrote the original novel which would be adapted into the first season of this series, has written many novels including Little Children focused on one thing: characters. Even while this TV series' concept seems vast and mysterious, it has one goal: explore people.
The combination of these two men brings out a story with many lead characters and storylines. The primary focus is on the Garvey family: Police Chief Kevin (Justin Theroux), his wife Laurie (Amy Brennaman), his son Tommy (Chris Zylka), and his daughter Jill (Margaret Qualey). Each are defined by their separation to some degree from one another.
The scope expands as the show progresses to also include Nora Durst (Carrie Coon) and her brother, the former reverend Matt Jamison (Christopher Eccleston). The two are both affected by The Departure directly with Matt trying to redefine his faith and Nora uncertain how to go on.
One day, out of the blue with no warning, 140 million people disappear, 2% of the world' population. Some lose a child, others a father. There are those who can lose their whole family while some are completely untouched. How would you react?
This is the question posed to the viewer of The Leftovers as the show presents a group of interconnected survivors all reacting in their own way. This is a post-apocalyptic world, but it isn't a fantastical science fiction trip or a survival epic. It is simply a character drama with one grand influencing moment.
HBO has been dominating a changing TV market for a long both commercially and critically with shows ranging from classic drama in The Sopranos and The Wire to genre powerhouses Game of Thrones and Westworld, yet, in the midst of that success both commercially and critically, it has produced a show so far under the radar may have never noticed it aired.
Perhaps the reason for this is simply that no one knew what The Leftovers was. Created by Damon Lindelof, the co-creator of Lost, some will go in expecting a fantastical mystery to be explored. However, this show has no intention of explaining what happened to 2% of the world. That was never the point.
Author Tom Perrotta, who both helped create the series and wrote the original novel which would be adapted into the first season of this series, has written many novels including Little Children focused on one thing: characters. Even while this TV series' concept seems vast and mysterious, it has one goal: explore people.
The combination of these two men brings out a story with many lead characters and storylines. The primary focus is on the Garvey family: Police Chief Kevin (Justin Theroux), his wife Laurie (Amy Brennaman), his son Tommy (Chris Zylka), and his daughter Jill (Margaret Qualey). Each are defined by their separation to some degree from one another.
The scope expands as the show progresses to also include Nora Durst (Carrie Coon) and her brother, the former reverend Matt Jamison (Christopher Eccleston). The two are both affected by The Departure directly with Matt trying to redefine his faith and Nora uncertain how to go on.
The Doctor has gone through some hard times in his religious phase. (Image Courtesy of: hbo.com)
The whole cast is fantastic. Carrie Coon's (Gone Girl) performance is the primary avenue for this series getting recognition, and it is well-deserved as she balances the lines of a grief that seems unimaginable, making her character likable even when she makes dangerous even abhorrent decisions.
Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who) has some truly fantastic moments when in the spotlight, representing the true epitome of this world's man of faith - scratching and clawing for reason even in the face of overwhelming negativity.
Justin Theroux (Mulholland Drive) plays Kevin's mental breakdowns extremely well even if he is often overshadowed. Ann Dowd (Compliance) easily steals the show when given the spotlight though she is rarely at the forefront of the tale. The series brings out the best in so many of its actors which brings gravitas to the series.
The Leftovers is a dramatic poem, rhyming anarchy with society and faith with grief. It is bold and dark and hard-to-take. Some will hate it to its core because it's slow and it beats everyone down. You are watching people suffer and make do with a living that can never be complete.
In its second and third season, it gets darkly humorous at times, but it still is driven by how much you are willing to watch people in pain. Its most brilliant moments take one character and zoom in on them at their lowest whether it be Matt in "Two Boats and a Helicopter", Nora in "Guest", or Kevin in both "A Most Powerful Adversary" and "International Assassin".
I could try to explain the show with heavy spoilers, but even then it wouldn't make much sense. This is a weird world to explore that is enthralling in its rhythmic storytelling. Everything it does has a purpose, and it rarely takes a breath to explain. If you pay close enough attention, you can pick up just enough to keep up.
However, it is just enthralling at its core. It represents the faithful and the faithless with equal empathy, allowing them to explain why they believe yet also allowing that faith's truth to remain open-ended. Moreover, it shows that no one can be all right with psychological trauma at this global scale, and they will never find the perfect answer to its toll.
I don't know that I would ever want to watch The Leftovers again even though it is a mere 28 episodes long over three seasons. It might be too difficult, but I am glad to have seen it. While it was based on a novel, I cannot help but see it as an epic poem, constantly aware of how each piece fits. It is never extraneous, and it never takes time to play to any audience.
Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who) has some truly fantastic moments when in the spotlight, representing the true epitome of this world's man of faith - scratching and clawing for reason even in the face of overwhelming negativity.
Justin Theroux (Mulholland Drive) plays Kevin's mental breakdowns extremely well even if he is often overshadowed. Ann Dowd (Compliance) easily steals the show when given the spotlight though she is rarely at the forefront of the tale. The series brings out the best in so many of its actors which brings gravitas to the series.
The Leftovers is a dramatic poem, rhyming anarchy with society and faith with grief. It is bold and dark and hard-to-take. Some will hate it to its core because it's slow and it beats everyone down. You are watching people suffer and make do with a living that can never be complete.
In its second and third season, it gets darkly humorous at times, but it still is driven by how much you are willing to watch people in pain. Its most brilliant moments take one character and zoom in on them at their lowest whether it be Matt in "Two Boats and a Helicopter", Nora in "Guest", or Kevin in both "A Most Powerful Adversary" and "International Assassin".
I could try to explain the show with heavy spoilers, but even then it wouldn't make much sense. This is a weird world to explore that is enthralling in its rhythmic storytelling. Everything it does has a purpose, and it rarely takes a breath to explain. If you pay close enough attention, you can pick up just enough to keep up.
However, it is just enthralling at its core. It represents the faithful and the faithless with equal empathy, allowing them to explain why they believe yet also allowing that faith's truth to remain open-ended. Moreover, it shows that no one can be all right with psychological trauma at this global scale, and they will never find the perfect answer to its toll.
I don't know that I would ever want to watch The Leftovers again even though it is a mere 28 episodes long over three seasons. It might be too difficult, but I am glad to have seen it. While it was based on a novel, I cannot help but see it as an epic poem, constantly aware of how each piece fits. It is never extraneous, and it never takes time to play to any audience.