Recently made my way through The Leftovers. I was basically unaware of this show until it finished airing last year, and only really noticed it because the OT was suddenly all over Gaf off topic. From what I could read, it seemed this was a Lindelof show that in some respects fixed the flaws of his previous effort, Lost, and delivered what was supposedly one of the finest series finales ever. Now, I was never one to have any issue with how Lost ended, and I felt the backlash was way overblown. Still, this certainly piqued my interest and I made note to watch the show once I got the chance.
The Leftovers was a show which was both excellent but also completely the opposite of my initial impression. The flaws of Lost were only magnified and a thoroughly average finale dampened my enthusiasm for what was otherwise one of the most inventive and original shows I've seen in a long time.
If you're not familiar, the Leftovers is about a Rapture like event which suddenly disappears 2% of the world's population, and uses this as a jumping off point to examine how a small group of characters deals with the aftermath. Its fairly short for a prestige drama with only 28 episodes as well. As with Lost, it layers on a heavy dose of supernatural mystery to draw your interest, but the majority of the show is about the lives of the characters, mostly centered around one family, the Garveys. Justin Trudeau and Carrie Coon take the main roles, and there is support from the likes of Liv Tyler and Christopher Eccleston. It's a good cast, a lot smaller than Lost and stronger for it.
Are you familiar with the expression, 'Mandyville'? It first arose from The West Wing, after a prominent character in the first series (called Mandy) just disappeared and was never mentioned by anybody again. This happened so often with characters in the show that fans coined the idea that all these guys were just going off to 'Mandyville'. Both figuratively and literally, The Leftovers is 'Mandyville: The show'. After a while into Lost, one could clearly see that it was somewhat hamstrung by the many absurd twists and mysteries they had shoved in early on, and it tied itself into knots trying to wrap everything up and give an explanation for all these things that fans had poured over. The Leftovers also dropped in lots of little mysteries and twists, but instead of trying to find a way to explain all these things, it seemed their solution was just to ignore certain characters and plotlines and never deal with them again. Each of the 3 seasons is a radical departure from the previous, which does provide an onscreen reason why some things are never brought up again, but it does seem absurd that Lost was so harangued for its 'answers' whilst what I have read of the Leftovers indicates people are more than willing to extend dramatic licence. I'll now delve into spoilers, but also explain things if you just want to read what was wrong without watching the show:
The 'sudden departure' of 2% of the world's population is given an explanation in the finale; for the 2%, they saw 98% of people suddenly disappear, and had to forge a new world in a vastly depopulated earth. In other words, 2 identical universes were created, one with the majority of the world's population and the other with the tiny minority. This is even given a pseudoscientific explanation involving some radiation. I had zero issue with this, and was glad they ended up giving the audience something. What was the problem was that the ending of the show made a huge amount of the entire last season and many other episodes, both utterly bizarre and basically pointless. I recall a lot of anger about Lost for the fact that they gave hints of sci-fi in the dharma initiative stuff but ended up with complete deus-ex machina for Jacob and shadow monster. The Leftovers ended up with a relatively mundane, vaguely sci-fi explanation whilst for the majority of the series it masqueraded as heavily supernatural and spiritual.
2 characters in the Leftovers are revealed to have the power to die, travel to some kind of purgatory, communicate with dead people there, and then revive themselves and come back from the dead (one of those is the main character and the other is very minor). Why do have that power, what is the purpose of their travails? itsfuckingnothing.jpg. By the end there is no reason for any of the scenes of afterlife and resurrection.
A magical town in Texas can apparently cause miracles to occur, due to some kind of weird prehistoric stuff. What's the deal with this town? Fuck knows, maybe it was just a coincidence?
A holy man claims to be able to heal emotional pain through touch alone, and appears to have some kind of immaculate conception shit going on. Some characters do come out and suggest this guy is just a fraud, but the show itself also gives heavy evidence that he really does have power. So what is this guy's deal? Who knows, maybe the entire show was just an unreliable narrator and he really is a fraud!
There is a weird cult that has spread across America, they seem to have some hidden knowledge and goals, aside from standard cult stuff. What is the deal with this cult? Eh, who cares. Some members of the cult recruited a series of girls from magical Texas town and invaded it for some reason. Why did these girls join this cult? Why did they invade they town? Meh, they get blown up by a fucking predator drone as soon as their big scheme is revealed (seriously, the whole of season 2 builds up to them implementing their plan, and then the first 5 seconds of season 3 are them literally getting blown to bits and never really mentioned again). Also, why on earth did the government predator drone some fairly insignificant cult?
Those are just the most egregious points, but there is plenty more I could mention. In truth that could all be forgiven if they really nailed the character send off for the finale, but they just didn't. Everything was hung on this one relationship between the 2 main characters and their dramatic reunion after years apart. But, all I saw was a highly dysfunctional couple getting back together after a couple of episodes of difficulty. Mr & Mrs Coach Taylor this was not. Heck, this wasn't even Ross and Rachel. How they thought this one relationship was strong enough the carry the entire edifice of the show to its conclusion, I have no idea How on earth so much of the press was completely bamboozled by some good production and strong performances (and awful old person makeup) is even more absurd).
Thinking back on it, the whole thing feels like some kind of Evangelion situation, where they just ran out of money to complete the show so just threw up a hail Mary and hoped that would be enough. It was a fairly lavish HBO show, so I suppose that could be part of the reason for its abrupt completion. It's all a real shame because, like evangelion and many other premature lavish HBO shows, the majority of episodes are pretty excellent. Production is through the roof, the cast as mentioned is pretty great, music is outstanding, the show constantly innovates and surprises and its a really great ride. To be honest, much of my feeling is probably shaped by what I had already read and the comparisons to Lost that I felt unavoidable. So, if you've read to this point, my apologies. You should probably try and forget everything I just said and watch the show with fresh eyes, because it can be a great experience otherwise.
Edit: forgot spoiler tags
The Leftovers was a show which was both excellent but also completely the opposite of my initial impression. The flaws of Lost were only magnified and a thoroughly average finale dampened my enthusiasm for what was otherwise one of the most inventive and original shows I've seen in a long time.
If you're not familiar, the Leftovers is about a Rapture like event which suddenly disappears 2% of the world's population, and uses this as a jumping off point to examine how a small group of characters deals with the aftermath. Its fairly short for a prestige drama with only 28 episodes as well. As with Lost, it layers on a heavy dose of supernatural mystery to draw your interest, but the majority of the show is about the lives of the characters, mostly centered around one family, the Garveys. Justin Trudeau and Carrie Coon take the main roles, and there is support from the likes of Liv Tyler and Christopher Eccleston. It's a good cast, a lot smaller than Lost and stronger for it.
Are you familiar with the expression, 'Mandyville'? It first arose from The West Wing, after a prominent character in the first series (called Mandy) just disappeared and was never mentioned by anybody again. This happened so often with characters in the show that fans coined the idea that all these guys were just going off to 'Mandyville'. Both figuratively and literally, The Leftovers is 'Mandyville: The show'. After a while into Lost, one could clearly see that it was somewhat hamstrung by the many absurd twists and mysteries they had shoved in early on, and it tied itself into knots trying to wrap everything up and give an explanation for all these things that fans had poured over. The Leftovers also dropped in lots of little mysteries and twists, but instead of trying to find a way to explain all these things, it seemed their solution was just to ignore certain characters and plotlines and never deal with them again. Each of the 3 seasons is a radical departure from the previous, which does provide an onscreen reason why some things are never brought up again, but it does seem absurd that Lost was so harangued for its 'answers' whilst what I have read of the Leftovers indicates people are more than willing to extend dramatic licence. I'll now delve into spoilers, but also explain things if you just want to read what was wrong without watching the show:
The 'sudden departure' of 2% of the world's population is given an explanation in the finale; for the 2%, they saw 98% of people suddenly disappear, and had to forge a new world in a vastly depopulated earth. In other words, 2 identical universes were created, one with the majority of the world's population and the other with the tiny minority. This is even given a pseudoscientific explanation involving some radiation. I had zero issue with this, and was glad they ended up giving the audience something. What was the problem was that the ending of the show made a huge amount of the entire last season and many other episodes, both utterly bizarre and basically pointless. I recall a lot of anger about Lost for the fact that they gave hints of sci-fi in the dharma initiative stuff but ended up with complete deus-ex machina for Jacob and shadow monster. The Leftovers ended up with a relatively mundane, vaguely sci-fi explanation whilst for the majority of the series it masqueraded as heavily supernatural and spiritual.
2 characters in the Leftovers are revealed to have the power to die, travel to some kind of purgatory, communicate with dead people there, and then revive themselves and come back from the dead (one of those is the main character and the other is very minor). Why do have that power, what is the purpose of their travails? itsfuckingnothing.jpg. By the end there is no reason for any of the scenes of afterlife and resurrection.
A magical town in Texas can apparently cause miracles to occur, due to some kind of weird prehistoric stuff. What's the deal with this town? Fuck knows, maybe it was just a coincidence?
A holy man claims to be able to heal emotional pain through touch alone, and appears to have some kind of immaculate conception shit going on. Some characters do come out and suggest this guy is just a fraud, but the show itself also gives heavy evidence that he really does have power. So what is this guy's deal? Who knows, maybe the entire show was just an unreliable narrator and he really is a fraud!
There is a weird cult that has spread across America, they seem to have some hidden knowledge and goals, aside from standard cult stuff. What is the deal with this cult? Eh, who cares. Some members of the cult recruited a series of girls from magical Texas town and invaded it for some reason. Why did these girls join this cult? Why did they invade they town? Meh, they get blown up by a fucking predator drone as soon as their big scheme is revealed (seriously, the whole of season 2 builds up to them implementing their plan, and then the first 5 seconds of season 3 are them literally getting blown to bits and never really mentioned again). Also, why on earth did the government predator drone some fairly insignificant cult?
Those are just the most egregious points, but there is plenty more I could mention. In truth that could all be forgiven if they really nailed the character send off for the finale, but they just didn't. Everything was hung on this one relationship between the 2 main characters and their dramatic reunion after years apart. But, all I saw was a highly dysfunctional couple getting back together after a couple of episodes of difficulty. Mr & Mrs Coach Taylor this was not. Heck, this wasn't even Ross and Rachel. How they thought this one relationship was strong enough the carry the entire edifice of the show to its conclusion, I have no idea How on earth so much of the press was completely bamboozled by some good production and strong performances (and awful old person makeup) is even more absurd).
Thinking back on it, the whole thing feels like some kind of Evangelion situation, where they just ran out of money to complete the show so just threw up a hail Mary and hoped that would be enough. It was a fairly lavish HBO show, so I suppose that could be part of the reason for its abrupt completion. It's all a real shame because, like evangelion and many other premature lavish HBO shows, the majority of episodes are pretty excellent. Production is through the roof, the cast as mentioned is pretty great, music is outstanding, the show constantly innovates and surprises and its a really great ride. To be honest, much of my feeling is probably shaped by what I had already read and the comparisons to Lost that I felt unavoidable. So, if you've read to this point, my apologies. You should probably try and forget everything I just said and watch the show with fresh eyes, because it can be a great experience otherwise.
Edit: forgot spoiler tags
By Suen Go To PostOk basically:The Expanse, obviously. #RIP #maybe #NetflixPls
The Walking Dead
The 100
Colony
The Expanse
3%
Which?
Good writeup, sohois, appreciated.
By Zabojnik Go To PostSyFy is a fucking disgrace of a network.Indeed.
Meanwhile Syfy continues with trash like Z Nation.
Nice writeup sohois. I finished watching the show about a month ago and it was alright, but I agree on all spoiler points. Personally I didn't like it that much because I was expecting something different.
Writers shouldn't end a season with an huge cliffhanger if their show doesn't have a guaranteed renewal. Lucifer's finale was amazing but man, that ending is something else.
Tom Ellis has been saying on Twitter that there are some talks around saving the show, it's not going something as easy and quick as the Brooklyn Nine Nine pick up but there's still hope.
Tom Ellis has been saying on Twitter that there are some talks around saving the show, it's not going something as easy and quick as the Brooklyn Nine Nine pick up but there's still hope.
By reilo Go To PostMight be the best cold opener in the history of television.I wish I could enjoy this type of comedy, find it more than mildly amusing at best. I really do.
By Zabojnik Go To PostI wish I could enjoy this type of comedy, find it more than mildly amusing at best. I really do.It got cancelled like a day ago. You're not alone.
By s y 2.0 Go To PostIt got cancelled like a day ago. You're not alone.Wait, again? Wasn't it just uncancelled?
Getting to the end of season 3 of Twin Peaks.
Absolutely magisterial. Everything I could have hoped for. I can't believe they gave him the money to make 18 hours of this.
Absolutely magisterial. Everything I could have hoped for. I can't believe they gave him the money to make 18 hours of this.
How is the American version of Taskmaster? The UK version is great but I cant imagine it working well over there.
Both The Americans and The Expanse had fantastic episodes this past week. Both are about to end. Gonna leave quite a hole in my schedule. :(
Gonna check that out. Just signed up for Hulu cuz I needed bobs burgers and archer in my life. Fuck Netflix for taking them off
By Zabojnik Go To PostBoth The Americans and The Expanse had fantastic episodes this past week. Both are about to end. Gonna leave quite a hole in my schedule. :(Mr.Robot will be there, but it's gonna be a while ;_;
By RobNBanks Go To PostGonna check that out. Just signed up for Hulu cuz I needed bobs burgers and archer in my life. Fuck Netflix for taking them off
I did the trial just to watch zero days.
Nitro Zeus
By Laboured Go To Posthttps://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/expanse-revived-season-4-at-amazon-1113803GOD IS REAL
Grats Zabo.
By Laboured Go To Posthttps://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/expanse-revived-season-4-at-amazon-1113803WHAT A TIME.
Grats Zabo.
Interested to see what happens to the international streaming rights, will Netflix keep them or will Amazon show just S4 on their crap streaming service.
Fox is airing next week the two episodes from S4 from Lucifer that were already filmed. It's going to be weird as the episodes take place after the not filmed S4 premiere so we don't get to see the immediate effect of the shocking S3 finale.
Fox is airing next week the two episodes from S4 from Lucifer that were already filmed. It's going to be weird as the episodes take place after the not filmed S4 premiere so we don't get to see the immediate effect of the shocking S3 finale.
I guess this counts as TV? I ran into this last night on YT
Fascinating. Dude was bringing in $6-8 million a week off gasoline tax rackets. Was listed as top 20 mobster in a magazine at the time at 35 years of age
Fascinating. Dude was bringing in $6-8 million a week off gasoline tax rackets. Was listed as top 20 mobster in a magazine at the time at 35 years of age
By domino Go To Postwhere can i see these mobster rankings…
in the video it starts at 1:50
he was 35. next closest in age was 46. dude had massive pull
they also talk about mj and that whole situation, dad dying, nba telling him to step away...... at 1:00:25
Leftovers is good storytelling over an absolutely shit lore.
Well, like Lost too. At least this time he has a template to work on.
Well, like Lost too. At least this time he has a template to work on.