The Leftovers: Season Summary, Cast, and Series Explanation
The Leftovers is a series created in 2014 by David Lindelof and Tom Perrota whose plot is an adaptation of the homonymous novel written by Perrota.
This television drama begins with the imminent disappearance of a part of the world's population. Likewise, the fiction tells what life is like for those who stayed behind, people who try to reorient their lives years after the event.
The HBO channel opted for this great series full of questions, which today continues to be praised more by critics than by the general public. Let's know some keys to understand this enigmatic series.
Synopsis
Three years after a mysterious event, known as "the Ascension", in which 2% of the world's population disappeared, around 140 million people, the townspeople of Mapleton try to get on with their lives, despite the fact that many of them lost some of their loved ones suddenly.
Summary by season
The series has three seasons, each of them takes place in a different geographical location and, although the main characters do not vary, new faces are added each season.
Attention, spoilers from here!
Season 1: the Game
The first season begins with a flashback of the event that occurred on October 14 called "the Ascension."
After three years of the event, the Garvey family, consisting of Kevin Garvey, his wife Laurie and their two children, Jill and Tom, is completely broken. Mapleton City Police Chief Kevin Garvey lives with his daughter Jill with whom he doesn't have a very good relationship. Laurie has joined a sect called the Guilty Remnant (Guilty Remnants) and Tom has left town and is part of a group led by Wayne Gilchrest, a man who claims to heal people's pain just by hugging them.
On the other hand, Nora Durst, another resident of Mapleton, tries to overcome the departure of her husband and her two children, who left before her. Meanwhile Matt, the parish priest of the city and Nora's brother, tries to give an explanation of what happened, looking for the answer in the possible sins of those who left.
Season two: a new place
The second season takes place in another town in Jarden (Texas) known as Milagro. There, Kevin Garvey moves in with his daughter and Nora, with whom he has a consolidated relationship, and the girl he found abandoned.
Milagro appears to be a safe place, since no inhabitant of the place disappeared on the day of departure. They soon meet the Murphy family, their new neighbors.
Meanwhile, Tom and his mother try to lead a normal life after dissociating themselves from their respective cult groups. They both infiltrate the Guilty Remnant to help the people who are part of the sect.
Soon, in Milagro, three girls disappear, one of them is the little daughter of the Murphys. Then the place is no longer as safe as it seemed.
Kevin begins to experience strange visions and is constantly haunted by the ghost of Patti Levin, leader of the Guilty Remnant sect, whom he kidnapped and watched die. Her delirium leads him to experience death twice.
Meanwhile, Matt watches as his wife awakens from the coma after years in this state and they are even going to be parents.
At the end of the season, the three missing girls return to Milagro led by Meg, the new head of the sect, in order to take over the town. Then, the fans manage to enter the town and destroy it.
Season 3: the apocalypse
Seven years after leaving, Kevin continues to live with his family in Milagro. Laurie Garvey has also started a new life there with John, the Murphy patriarch. Tom is now a policeman and works under his father's orders.
Kevin seems to have gotten over the strange visions. However, Nora believes in the possibility of being able to find her children when she receives a mysterious call from a group of doctors, who assure her that she can contact the disappeared. To do this, Nora travels to Australia with Kevin, although eventually each one ends up on her side.
Matt claims to have written a book about Kevin, whom he treats as a kind of Messiah after being "resurrected" twice. This annoys Kevin and he ends up getting rid of the book.
This season, it is also based on another apocalyptic event that makes many citizens think that it will occur on the anniversary of the sudden losses. This fact marks the third season and its chapters represent a countdown to that event.
Explanation
Faced with a tragic event such as the loss or disappearance of a loved one or, as in this case, a part of the world population, the characters try to find an explanation to somehow justify the emptiness they feel after the departure of their loved ones dear.
Somehow, as viewers, at the beginning of the series, we also hope to find clarification about the event. Therefore, the questions that lurk in our heads are of the type: Where did the disappeared go? What or who is behind the disappearances?
The Leftovers or how to overcome the loss
The truth is that The LeftoversDespite its narrative complexity, it is nothing more than a faithful portrait of loss, grief, and how each person responds to a tragic event.
So, taking into account this starting point, the questions that appear and that we must consider throughout its viewing are: What do we hold on to after a loss? To religion? To psychology? To science?
In a way, the characters in this series are a vivid portrait of how grief is different in each person and how each one tries to justify what happened or overcome it. So what are they holding on to?
Religion
The religious point of view is represented by Matt, the pastor of Mapleton, trying to find an explanation by investigating the possible sins of the inhabitants who left in October.
For this, he is dedicated to printing leaflets to spread among the population the possible bad actions carried out by the disappeared and that, consequently, led them to leave. For example, he believes that his brother-in-law, Nora's husband, was promoted because he was unfaithful to his sister with his children's teacher.
In the second season Matt moves to the city of Jarden, known as Milagro, where no one disappeared on the day of departure. There, deeply rooted in his beliefs, he experiences the return of his wife from the coma and the gestation of her child, when previously they could not conceive. He clings to the belief that this miraculous place is the only one capable of keeping his wife awake.
In the third season, Matt tries to extend the idea that Kevin is some kind of Messiah, since he has experienced the resurrection. That is why he writes a book about him, as a will, which is entitled "Kevin's Book."
Sects
This organization calls itself the Guilty Remnant (Guilty Remnants). During the first season, Laurie Garvey uses it as an escape route after her fetus left on the 14th while she was in the doctor's office.
Some of the questions that arise around the members of this clan are: Why do they smoke all the time? Why are they dressed in white? What do they want?
For them, the day of departure ended the world as it was at that time. Its purpose is to serve as "living reminders" so that people do not forget, they cannot continue with their lives as if nothing had happened. To do this, at the end of the first season, they recreate the bodies of the disappeared in dolls and place them in the place they were when they left. Something that causes great sadness in Nora and makes her realize that she has not been able to overcome the loss of her.
During the second season, Laurie Garvey tries to unmask the cult and writes a book about her experience. Also, she tries to help some of her members to leave the group. This time, the sect becomes more radical and finds itself under the command of Meg, who finally manages to invade the "holy place", Milagro.
Another group created after the game is led by Wayne Gilchrest, a kind of "healer" who says have the ability to heal the pain of people who have experienced loss with just hug them. Tom Garvey becomes one of his followers after the game.
Psychology
Kevin Garvey doesn't lose anyone during "Ascension." However, this fact serves to fragment his family. During the first season, Kevin is one of the inhabitants who tries to appear normal, but, despite not showing his feelings, he needs to take medication to continue with his life.
In the second season he experiences mysterious phenomena, hears voices and is continually haunted by the ghost of the leader of the Guilty Remnants, since she witnessed how this she committed suicide in front of he. Since then, the mission of this is to warn him about the consequences of his actions. As viewers we wonder: is this real that Kevin is witnessing? Is it part of his imagination?
The psychological justification for this fact is given by the character of Laurie, Kevin's ex-wife. She takes up her job as a psychologist during the second season and Kevin desperately comes to her after her strange behaviors.
Laurie assures that everything is in Kevin's head since, according to her explanation, he suffers from psychotic outbreaks, like his father. Actually, Patti Levin is only in her head.
Science
Within the series are those who cling to logic to explain what happened. To do this, they try to find a solid scientific explanation that supports the disappearances.
The United States government itself is in charge of carrying out an investigation but it does not achieve its objectives.
Meanwhile, other groups try to justify the fact based on the geographical situation. Likewise, some researchers are interested in Nora Durst's house, from where her relatives left, to study it.
On the other hand, others claim that Nora is like a "lens" capable of making anyone around her disappear. Something that she herself comes to believe.
In the last season, some scientists affirm that they are able to transport the people who have remained in the world "to the other side", to the place where those who left are. Nora thinks this is a scam. However, he later agrees to be part of the experiment to reunite with his family.
Miracle
The second season takes place in a place where everyone wants to go due to the fact that no one disappeared there.
Jarden, commonly known as Milagro, is surrounded by a natural park in which there is a lake whose waters are "sacred". At the gates of the place, there are thousands of people settled waiting to enter. However, Jarden is so in demand that it can only be accessed by bracelets indicating the right of residence.
As the series progresses, we wonder what is Milagro? Is it really a holy place? Everything will depend on who describes it and their experience. For Matt, it is truly a sacred place where his wife manages to wake up from a coma.
For others, like Kevin and Nora, Milagro is a place to start from scratch. There they both try to bury the "ghosts" of the past, which, however, emerge here with more force.
A "complacent" ending
The end of the series comes with an episode titled "Nora's Book." This is designed to explain what happens in the lives of the two main characters, Kevin and Nora, more than 20 years after what happened.
As viewers we assume that in the end all questions will be resolved. Questions that try to find an answer to whether or not Nora finally managed to reunite with her family or what happened to Kevin and the rest of the characters.
Considering the type of series it is The Leftovers, a fiction with more questions than answers, which requires the permanent inquiry of the viewer, who, in his Once, he is permanently mired in existential questions, it is to be expected an end of an interpretive and open.
Thus, all the questions in the series are reduced to two possible paths in the last scene: Does Nora tell the truth and was she able to see her family? Are you lying with your story?
If we affirm the first question, we will attend to the most mystical version of events. We will assume as real the existence of a "place" where, indeed, it was the people who left and have been able to continue with their lives.
On the contrary, if we assume that Nora is lying, we could assume that this is her way of accepting and putting an end to her past by creating that "false version" of events.
So does it matter whether or not Nora is telling the truth? The reality is that the series offers an open ending to interpretations, such as clinging to one truth or another to heal the emptiness that someone leaves when they are gone. If this "truth" helps heal our wounds and rebuild us, what does the rest matter?
Thus, the outcome of the series presents us with two people trying to start from scratch, with past events, apparently, overcome. Kevin and Nora are, after all, part of those "remains" (leftovers) who were left behind trying to find a new meaning in life. Could it be that they are already ready to start a new stage together?
Cast of The Leftovers
Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux)
He is the chief of police for the city of Mapleton, he has two children although, after the event, he only lives with his daughter Jill. His wife Laurie Garvey and his son Tom have left the family home to become involved in different sects. It is soon discovered that he was unfaithful to his wife and throughout the seasons he experiences strange events that lead him to think that he is losing his mind.
Laurie Garvey (Amy Brenneman)
She is Kevin's wife and Jill and Tom's mother. After the event she decides to be part of a sect called Guilty Remnant.
Before Ascension she was a psychologist and she was expecting a baby, which she saw disappear while having an ultrasound. Her relationship with her husband was not going through the best of her times and she, as a member of the sect, is forced to ask for a divorce.
Jill Garvey (Margaret Qualley)
She is the youngest daughter of Laurie and Kevin. After the event, she lives alone with her father and the absence of her mother and her brother leaves her marked.
Tom Garvey (Chris Zylka)
In reality, he is Laurie's son although Kevin has raised him as his own. He has a good relationship with his sister, however, when "Ascension" occurred he decided to leave the city to follow a member of a sect.
Nora (Carrie Coon)
His life is marked on October 14, when his children and her husband disappear. She soon discovers that her husband was unfaithful to her with her children's teacher. Later, Nora begins a relationship with Kevin.
Matt (Christopher Eccleston)
He is the pastor of Mapleton and Nora's brother. He tries to explain the event by investigating the sins of the disappeared. He has to take care of his wife, who was left in a vegetable state on "Ascension" day.
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