I thought it was the best episode of the season. Great stuff.

_________________
Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?

I thought I missed something in the first 20 minutes. Solid episode but confusing as hell.

_________________

i liked that they didnt tell that particular journey in linear fashion. made the end less tragic and more fulfilling for her character arc.

_________________
'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.

Agreed. I liked it much better the second time around when I wasn't convinced I missed something.

_________________

Rza all over this show.

God, this show is fucked up. Who thinks this shit up?

Even so, I enjoyed the hell out of it. I would have never thought this show would ever get out of its own ass enough to find humor but I laugh all the time. The DEFCON joke, the "twins" yelling "FUCK YOU!" in unison.

It's all weird and I can't say I'd ever watch it again but I also can't say I didn't enjoy it.

_________________
You know me like that.

Really enjoyed the episode.

The penis scan scene was great. Australian Kevin and the Secret Service agent were definitely checking out the First Penis.

Kevin Sr. being shown as delusional was the way it should be. This is Kevin Jr's story.

Finale next week. I'm scared.

_________________

Australian Kevin. I couldn't figure out who that was. I knew we'd seen him before.

_________________
You know me like that.

The dark humor was fantastic but I agree with you that this has just gone from strange to bizarre. At least when he goes to the other side it is
interesting because anything is possible there. I continue to tune in just to see how it all ends at this point.

_________________
Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I enjoyed the finale and I'll miss the show.

_________________

I complained about the first season of True Detective when that brilliantly odd masterpiece turned into just another boring cop procedural in the last episode. In a way, The Leftovers did something similar when this bizarre show suddenly just became a standard love story in the finale. But somehow it was handled in a way where not only didn't I mind, but I found it to be a perfect ending. The message of this show was very simple. You don't need a Sudden Departure to lose someone you love. And you don't need a crazy machine to get them back.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

It's because the finale stayed true to what the series was always about: Kevin and Nora.

I'm not sure if Nora is lying about her trip to the other side, but it doesn't fundamentally change what happened. She went to find her kids but got lost and now finally found her way back.

_________________

I think she is lying, but as you say, it doesn't matter. Kevin takes it on faith. He has faith in her. And isn't that really what religion is- taking something on faith that deep down you know is bullshit?

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I think she's absolutely lying.

That's why she's so happy when Kevin says that he believes her.

_________________
You know me like that.

It never occurred to me that she might be lying upon my initial watch.

Only after reading reviews and interviews with Lindeloff did I start to think maybe she is.

_________________

Lying about going? Lying about trying to go?

_________________
Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?

Lying that she went to an alternate place where the "Departed" were. Although it is interesting that when Kevin "crosses over" Evie believes it was her family that was hit by a drone strike.

Anyway, one way or another Nora went to look for her kids. Maybe she didn't have faith in that machine to follow through with that method.

Kevin is a faithful motherfucker. He died to get a song for his dad that he knew wasn't going to do shit.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Lying about actually going.

We know she tried to go.

One theory is that last gasp and pause before we went to the future was Nora chickening out and stopping the process. Or the machine broke down. She has had issues with technology.

_________________

I though one think that was interesting was that she did not go to Matt's funeral, and he was the only one who could verify her story. So we get this account from her eyes that seems heroic, but maybe the journey she was describing did not occur that way at all.

_________________
Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?

For whatever reason this episode really affected me and I had a strange feeling for a good hour afterwards. I have two immediate
family members that are very ill so I think the idea of them leaving this earth may have struck me more personally. I enjoyed the
series overall but am glad that they wrapped this up. If they would have dragged it on even another season I think it would have
been too much.

_________________
Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

the part where she talked about finally arriving at the house and finally seeing them, grown and moved on and how she was just a ghost and that she wasnt needed or welcome there anymore...she had a little dose of that before when she went to kentucky to see Lily. Im not sure why, but for some reason this makes me believe it.

As for Evie thinking her family died in the drone strike...to me that was just used as a difficulty for kevin to overcome on the other side. evie wasnt a departure, so if the 2% plane of existence was real, she wouldnt be there. and i dont think that was the world kevin went to when he died.

_________________
'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.

You may be right, but one of the underlying themes is that everyone is a departure eventually.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Correct. I liked how the "holding state" of that side was handled. that it was something kevin could eventually destroy in order to achieve final peace whenever it is he finally dies. Kind of like how in LOST jack had to learn to let go of the Sideways world in order to finally meet up with everyone that had passed on since they left the island

_________________
'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.

Just finished the series, took me about 2-3 weeks. I also read this thread after each episode. I'm kind of melancholic so I didn't mind the depressing storylines of the first season. There's something to the idea that depressed people see the world more clearly than others (hence the depression). I think it's called Depressive Realism.

I love well-written and complex characters. Nora and Matt come to mind right now. I don't think I was as sold on why I should care about Kevin as much as I cared about the others, which is ironic because he's the centerpiece, but I was intrigued nonetheless. Laurie also darted to the top for me during season three. I think it would have worked better for her arc if she did indeed commit suicide. Her apparently being alive and normal didn't make sense to me, but I guess it's how one interprets the larger ending.

I'll remember the characters more than the plot(s), which I guess is the purpose. I don't think there was much plot cohesion from season to season, even from episode to episode. Motives changed on a whim, core concerns appeared out of nowhere sometimes then other times seemed to disappear without a trace. So on a macro level I can't say the show really had a tight plot. But as a character study, as a show in which individuals processed grief, loss and other deep themes that resonate with all humans, I can't say enough. It was majestic. It's like if Seinfield were a super serious show - the characters are the ones driving interest in the show rather than the plot driving interest. I wish every writer invested as much thinking and layered story-telling into characters as this show did for Nora. Are there any suggestions for similarly themed and acted shows?

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

Have you watched Rectify? I'd say give that a go.

_________________

Rectify is great. And it leaves you wanting more. Just so well done. I have to say that seeing this thread really did make me miss the Leftovers. It's a show that sticks with you, and the soundtrack does such a great job of setting the mood.

_________________
Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?

I just rewatched Leftovers a couple months ago and it still works even knowing what's coming. I need to watch Rectify again.

_________________

Was sick yesterday and we have free HBO for a week and I saw this show. I read the book (which was kind of stupid) and I saw that it had amazing ratings, so I watched a few episodes.

It was honestly pretty lame.

I take it that things change in seasons 2 and 3? Maybe I have the wrong show.

_________________

Yeah, some have said when it followed the source material (season 1, but not without deviations) was its weakest. season 2 and 3 is rare air quality

_________________
'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.

I didn't think the book was stupid, but it was nowhere near as good as the show. That's pretty atypical. A book is almost always better than any adaptations.

To me this show is the pinnacle of prestige television. It couldn't be more perfect.

I don't understand why you characterize the episodes you watched as "lame." I understand that the show is very dark, especially in the beginning and it develops rather slowly.

The show really gets going in the third episode, "Two Boats and a Helicopter." You have to be able to accept that something has changed in the post-"Rapture" world of the show and you aren't going to know exactly how or why- just as the characters don't- and the showrunner is NOT going to spell it out for you. The use of the Iris Dement song over the opening credits in the later seasons is really on the nose.

Episode 6, "Guest" is about as perfect as an hour of television can be. And the first season finale is pretty powerful.

But the show takes off once Lindelof hands over the reins to Mimi Leder in Season 2. The second season is about as entertaining and intellectual as anything that's ever been made for television. It's just in another league. This isn't a show for little brains.

Eventually, it becomes a standard love story, but within the context of the damaged world of the show it's probably not right to call anything "standard."

I recently rewatched it and it was a lot more poignant in the post-COVID world, a world that has been destroyed in many of the same ways the world of the show was destroyed by the event of October 14.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don