They promised abundant living to those who lived by faith and severe judgment for those who didnt.
The results have been how to put this mixed?
Apparently, the force behind the Sudden Departure didnt know that rapture was in his rider.)
Credit: Ben King/HBO
Each season was set in a different locale a different kingdom of heaven.
The parables ofThe Leftoverswere darkly comic, emotionally searing, and defiantly humanistic.
Prophecies were recalculated, they did it again, and once more, they were still there at sunrise.
My favorite story was the season 3 episode Its a Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt World.
A cloud bloomed like the largest of plants.
See what mustard seeds get you?
Naked Nuke-Me Guy wasnt even the nuttiest part of this episode.
The craziest part was the lion-worshiping sex cult inspired by a forgotten movie,Frasier, the Sensuous Lion.
No, check that!
The story put them both on a ferry bound for Australia a wink-wink Charon-ride into Hades.
It winked at a Bible story that dealt with problems of epistemic distance.
While Moses was away, the people made a golden calf for worship and play.
His night crossing, in fact, was a nightmare extrapolation of his chaotic internal life.
(Sending Matt on a mission to put a missing deity back in his place?
Thats all ofPreacher, in a single hour.)
But the shows symbol system also found a way to go after and punish God, too.
At one point, Matt said the wrong thing or the right thing?
I clearly havent had enough sex to understand such things.
Matt escaped and found God and wrangled him into a wheelchair and tried to make him explain himself.
Matt had cancer; he was dying.
He had been for some time.
The last scene of Its a Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt World was one for the ages.
It was really funny a stunning reversal of season 1s grueling bleakness.
To engageThe Leftoversrisked feeling anew the defining traumas of your life.
I remember asking Damon at Amys funeral how he was feeling about the shows imminent debut.
He told me, then said: c’mon dont watch this show right now.
I worry it might hurt you too much.
I started watchingThe Leftoversa couple months later.
It was painful and yet I didnt mind.
The suffering of the characters spoke to and for my chaotic, all-over-the-place grief.
In sleepwalking Kevin, I saw my bewildered daze.
In Noras lost weekend, I saw my identity crisis.
it’s possible for you to imagine why that had some allure.
It didnt happen, but the subverted expectation felt like a valuable correction.
But how does one move into the future with a right hold on the past?
Season 2s exploration of that very question spoke to me, too.
In this way, the story ofThe Leftoversdid two valuable things for me.
It also recognized my grief, as if to say: I see you, and youre not alone.
Lindelof and his team made some gutsy choices.
We were denied evidence to settle the matter conclusively.
In truth, we were still very much in the same world and same timeline we had always been.
Kevin was lying; he had been searching for Nora for years.
In the final scene, Nora told Kevin a story that probably wasnt entirely true.
This journey, she said, took several years.
Did she think of Kevin?
Did she want to call him or be with him?
Yes, she said.
Kevin said, I believe you, and when she responded with amazement (You do?
), he replied: Why wouldnt I believe you?
Im here, she said, as if it was an epiphany.
I have quibbles, but only quibbles.
Im still trying to decide if I buy Kevins deception.
There were other deliberately fuzzy bits that confounded more than intrigued.
(I suspect therell be great debate about whether or not Nora was gasping or trying to say Stop!
just as the heavy metal liquid reached her neck inside the bubble mover.)
I know this misery.
And yet, how Kevin moved me, too!
Is he distant from me or am I distant from him?
This is the wild, beautiful, hurt-so-good thing weve been telling you about.
It is over now, but it should never be forgotten.
Carry it with you, always.
