In some ways, it reminds me of the fourth series of Torchwood, which was called Miracle Day and was about life after everyone on the planet acquired immortality. So another story about a mysterious event that affected everyone on Earth at once.
Yes.
Please let’s not get in the habit of using spoiler boxes for already-aired material.
I think the way to enjoy this show is not to dwell on what the departure was. I think it is enough to just accept that they are dealing with something that they don’t understand.
I don’t expect it to be answered, much like the purpose, or lack of, our existence.
You get no answers, but the real story is what happens while you are with the show.
I am not a fan of the show…I may watch episode 3 after seeing the praise but initially decided to check out after episode 2…but what you write above is the whole point of the show. Something completely unexplained happened. Science can’t explain it; religion can’t explain it. How would the world react with that hanging over its head? It’s a great premise; I am just not enamored with the execution.
I completely agree with the show that an event like that would change the world. I’m just not sure I agree with how they decided it would happen.
I enjoyed the third episode. The dream sequence was a little over the top, it seemed like it was partly in there to have some dramatic clips for the commercials, but overall it was a good episode. Christopher Eccleston is very good as the preacher.
Are you laughing meaning that there are mysteries piled on mysteries on the show? There’s still the main mystery about the disappearance, and the mystery about what the deal is with the hugging prophet. And to a lesser extent about what the deal is with the Guilty Remnant; the police chief asked something about who they are and where they came from, but they just seem like a cult.
I’m comparing this to Lost which seemed to be built on mysteries. In the first three episodes there were the mysteries of where is the island, why is there a polar bear there, what is the smoke monster, what is the deal with the French transmission and what happened 16 years ago. As the show went on, there were more and more mysteries.
I would say the show is mysteries piled on mysteries if they say that all the disappeared had exposure to the drug B5X4. What is that drug? It was put out by the Collossus Corporation. What is the Collossus Corporation? It was founded by billionaire Charles Tyne, who has some mysterious reason to want all these people disappeared, and it’ll be revealed in Season 4. There were a bunch of shows like that after Lost premiered, where the mysteries and conspiracies were the point. I don’t think the Leftovers is going for that. It’s more about the loss and despair and how people deal with it.
I guess it depends on what you mean by living an ordinary life. Plenty of people are still going about their normal business. The police chief and the mayor are at their jobs, kids are still oging to school, there are plenty of police officers shown at their jobs, the restaurant was full of normal people working there or having meals there. I guess it’s like how a depressed person can still go through the motions and do the tasks they need to do to function, but can still be depressed.
Notably, Damon Lindelof, one of the creators of Lost, is also a co-creator of this show. But he claims to regret the way that Lost ended so perhaps he won’t repeat that mistake. And it does appear that this show isn’t about why the two percent disappeared but instead is about how everyone else reacts to that.
Right, that’s the impression I had. I’ve heard some people say they aren’t going to watch because of Lindelof and because they were burned by Lost. Everyone is free to watch or not watch, but it seems like this show has very different intentions, and that it won’t ever be a pile of mysteries with no answers. There very well might never be an answer to the main mystery about the disappearance, but I don’t think that it won’t keep adding more and more mysteries like Lost did.
It was a manifestation of his on going torment.
Commercials: Is it not a HBO show?
Fwiw,The Guardian is on the case - most intereesting thing about this link is, after the article, the comment about five down:
It is, but HBO runs tons of promos. (Few theatrical films have a run-length that’s an even multiple of 30, so there is almost always a few minutes after a movie finishes; HBO tends to fill these minutes with promotional “commercials” for its own shows.)
I agree with you about the insight shown in that comment, which ends:
Nail on the head (in my view).
Ah, we call those trailers. Commercials are 3rd party advertising.
Those comments are interesting but I also think there’s a culture now of rushing to judgment about new quality drama (HBO, BBC, etc); it’s way too soon to start making big calls.
The way I look at it is that the disappearance isn’t the plot, it’s the setting.
Another way to think of it; the disappearances are just the MacGuffin in the story.
Right, I kept seeing promos for The Leftovers, and I’m pretty sure there was a quick clip of the house on fire in it. And I’m pretty sure I didn’t just see the commercial for the Leftovers on HBO, because I know I saw it a lot, but also on other channels and at the movie theater, but I can’t be 100% sure.
I think that tends to happen with almost any show now. Fortunately though with almost any non-broadcast channel, at least the first season will be finished and shown completely, no matter how many people quit watching. So if it truly is a good show and deserves more viewers, then hopefully after a good first season more people will hear about it and revisit it.
Some of the best shows are compelling and interesting from the very first episode. Examples might include Game of Thrones, Fargo and Justified. On the other hand, there have been others that took a while to get their rhythm going, such as perhaps Seinfeld. I’m not sure where this show lies.
The Will Wheaton Project had an amusing recap of the last episode, showing all the various ways the Priest got his ass handed to him in a single episode.
The minister’s goal seems to be to make people aware that the Thing wasn’t the rapture. His proof is that some of those who disappeared were criminals, immoral or just all around shit heads.
The thing is, though, that everyone knows that. Every person on Earth must be acquainted with several of the disappeared and will know for certain that bad people were among them. Not to mention that two percent of the prison population proofed as well. Either they know it’s not the Rapture because they know this or they still think it is because God works in mysterious ways. If they are in the second group, knowing about even more bastards who are gone won’t convince them.
The whole story line makes no sense in context.
Perhaps. Yet the disappeared get a “Heroes Day” parade.
The capacity of people to idolize the dead (or strangely departed) is pretty expansive.
On the other hand, that doesn’t necessarily matter. I’m sure a healthy percentage of people who died on 9/11 were assholes too but anybody going around trying to identify them would be an asshole too.
But in the end I don’t think it has anything to do with convincing other people. He has to convince himself it wasn’t an act of god because then god is to blame for what happened to his wife.
No.
Own the book. Read it twice. Kept hoping for a payoff. There is none. It’s about people, the vanishing thing is just the plot device.
Somebody gave it to me. Would not buy it.
like
I also thought about the 9/11 thing but actually settled on a societal level parallel - the 2% or so of the population of Iraq that died or otherwise disappeared after the invasion. Is that a bit harsh?
Not a lot of action in last night’s episode, but still a good episode that sets up a lot for next week, or so I hope.
The GR is really shaping up to be world class jackasses with their stunts. Sneaking in houses to swipe photos of the departed. I’m really wondering what the fallout will be from that.
The stolen baby Jesus plot line was pretty good, and they added a level of complexity between Garvey and the Mayor.
The Christine and Tom plot line is plodding along slowly, but I see Tom kicking the shit out of Holy Wayne at some point.
I anticipate someone coming in to complain about the episode, but I thought it was great stuff, I’m still with it.