At the halfway point of The Leftovers, we're trying to decide what this show is about. Or I am. Frankly, I have not written about the show because I have not known what to write beyond a basic summary of things that happened, and that is a waste of everyone's time. At the halfway point though, it's a little easier to take stock of the series as a whole, even if we don't know what it is getting it yet.
Judging by what's been written about the show to this point, it appears I'm not alone. A time like this really makes me miss the thoughtful and well moderated boards at Television Without Pity. In light of TV Club's summer collapse, Vox has probably done the best job so far on the series, particularly on its "Gladys" post.
One thing is clear, the show is not interested in exploring the past or the Why? of the disappearance and the selection of the disappeared. It is focused almost entirely on the lives these people now lead in a post 10/14 world and how sudden loss affects them even three years later. After all, the show is called The Leftovers. It is not called The Unexplained Event or The People Who Suddenly Vanished.
The time spent in Mapleton has been the most rewarding for me as a viewer. Whether that be with the priest, the chief, the cult or the Jill. The show's nuclear family has been torn apart by the vanishing, yet none of those family members themselves vanished. It shows the far reaching effects of the event and how the suddenness and the lack of closure have not permitted people to return to their lives. And while not in Mapleton, the overturned truck spilling dead bodies grieving fmilies purchased to bury serve as another device to show the lack of closure on the event.
Since the first episode, the show has become increasingly oblique. It often makes passing references to people or events that have not been explained and make me wonder if I missed something in a previous episode. I wonder if I am to recall what Laurie said to Patty before everything changed, or if that is an off screen event. Should I know who Neil is? On the other end of that are seemingly basic questions that do not receive an answer. Were those actually Kevin's shirts he got from the cleaners? If not, why can't he find them? Did the GR sneak into his house and take them? I thought, based on last week's B&E and their progressing to painting things white, like newspaper boxes, that they had stolen people's clothes and perhaps were replacing them with their own white garb.
Animal imagery, prominently featured in the pilot, has taken a back seat. I expect it may stay there long enough to forget about it, only to reappear in the finale. Biblical imagery has taken center stage, particularly in the last two episodes featuring the Christmas story of Wayne's baby and then a New Testament-ish stoning and possibly martyrdom parable. I wonder if the first two episodes have a decidedly Old Testament bend. Could it be that the event should raise give people on Earth awareness and consciousness as the tree did for Adam and Steve? That is probably a stretch, which is why I haven't seen that posited yet.
Questions
- Why and how did these people disappear?
- Not likely to be explained
- Why did these particular people disappear?
- Not likely to be explained
- Where is Mapleton?
- Upstate New York
- Was Mapleton especially hard hit?
- It does not appear so, the GR is a national organization and the citizens appear to be affected just as much by the residual results of the disappearance as the disappearance itself (intact families torn apart, a car accident due to the driver disappearing)
- It seems like they are missing more than 2 percent based on the reactions.
- Hmmm. Unsure
- It would also help explain the next question
- Why is the cult in Mapleton, and not elsewhere?
- It is elsewhere, Past Me.
- Why does the cult choose smoking as a reminder?
- Mortality?
- What is the cult's end game?
- Perhaps to constantly remind people of the disappearance
- Who is Wayne and why does he merit all this money, security and reverence?
- Wayne is a magical child molester charlatan who claims to have some sort of healing powers
- What did Wayne do for the congressman?
- Made his pain go away
- Why does Wayne want the girl protected?
- She has his baby
- What is the grace period?
- Probably a figurative term. Past Me is an idiot.
- What else has the cult done to piss off the town, besides stalk and be creepy?
- Buy up people's properties. Break in their houses. Take stuff.
- Why did Liv Tyler change her mind?
- Unknown.
- What does the dream with the pig in the hood of the car mean?
- ????
- Why did those people jump off the building in the son's flashback?
- Not explained yet.
- What has happened with the dogs?
- Did they go stray and then adapt to survive?
- Who is the guy shooting dogs and what does he know about them?
- I think he gave a name but I cant remember it. At least we know he is not a ghost.
- What is the symbolism with the deer and why does that image seem so familiar to me?
- Is it Hannibal I'm thinking of?
- Probably an episode 10 thing, but too oblique for me to discern.
- Why did the deer tear up the Garvey kitchen?
- ????
- And how did Kevin know to suspect the deer?
- ????
- How and when will Nora's gun fire?
- How has Wayne convinced people to do his bidding?
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