Matt comes face to face with God.
How is your French?
Flexible Naked Sailor (named P.Lyon, ha!)
Credit: Ben King/HBO
God has placed an obstacle in our way, but he wants us to overcome it, Matt argues.
He wants us to demonstrate our faith.
Did you bring your whistle, Laurie?
he needles her on the runway.
Because it seems like you have to blow off a little steam.
Laurie returns his contempt, and mocks the idea that her ex-husband is some messiah.
So I refuse, Matt, to believe that hes the second coming of Christ!
The plane is rocked by turbulence.
Matt grins nervously, with a hint of satisfaction: See!
Matts reading is interrupted by drips of blood on his Bible.
Its a secret code, one that Matt clearly doesnt know.
Matt rises to the occasion with a doozy about pimples and priests, and the lioness lets them aboard.
The legend of Frasier is true, apparently.
They even made a film about him in 1973.
Whatevers going to happen, its going to happen here, John says.
Ithasto be in Miracle.
Johns experiences in Miracle, however, have been heartbreaking: losing Evie and Erika.
Its not hard for him to think of Miracle as just Jarden, a place with no godly connection.
Its got nothing to do with where we live, he says calmly.
We just got to let go and see what happens.
Red hat and a beard?
Surly friend of the captain who likes the solitude of the top deck?
Ive seen God smite many a man on this boat, says the employee.
So, who is God?
Weve met him before.
At least twice, actually.
But is he really God?
(I asked Abraham to kill Isaac just to see if hed do it.
Yes, evolution is real but it doesnt work how you think it does.
I won the bronze medal for decathlon and the one you cant remember is the hammer throw.)
He has to walk through hell to find her, a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah.
Matt asks his host about a manifest list, but shes otherwise occupied.
You dont care that somebodys been killed?
he barks at her.
No, not really, she says, refocusing her attention on her partner.
Its a cruise of the damned.
Matt yells, All you care about is fing each other and Frasier!
He spoke his name!
The host blows her horn and others nearby point at Matt.
Michael knows that Matt is sick.
Its not just the nosebleeds.
Michael has always been intuitive about death and the beyond, and he senses that his mentor is dying.
John is shaken, but he doesnt get angry.
If theres going to be any reaping on the ship, it will be Matts job alone.
Matt borrows a wheelchair from the infirmary and grabs a fire axe off the wall.
When Burton awakes, Matt demands a confession, but what unfolds instead is a complete reversal in control.
Burton is so convincing that Matt goes from mocking him to demanding explanations about the world.
Burton parries near every question with a Why?
but finally lays down the law.
Youve never done anything for me; you did it for yourself.
Untie me, and Ill save you, Burton says.
Matt does, and Burton makes a fist with his left hand.
With his right, he reaches towards Matts face, gently.
Will he give Matt the fist or the open palm?
Instead he snaps his fingers.
Did God just save Matt?
Or did Burton just trick a fool?
The next morning, the ferry pulls into harbor.
For the first time, Matt seems at peace, resigned with whatever comes next.
Matt has been tested as much as anyone inThe Leftovers.
His wife was injured on Oct. 14, and his church was literally stolen from him by the GR.
He wants us to demonstrate our faith.
Hes endured all sorts of Job-like misfortune only because he was able to justify his mission with meaning.
This was all happening to him for a reason, a reason with profound significance.
In a way, hes almost as guilty as Burton of blasphemy certainly of arrogance.
Burton basically told him that nothing hes ever done hadanysignificance.
Thats worse than a punch in the nose.
Afterwards, Matt is a changed man.
But is he broken?
Does Matt conclude that God is dead?
As he said to John on the boat: Be not deceived… God shall not be mocked.
The Lord works in mysterious ways, and Matt has come too far to give up now.
