S02.E01: Axis Mundi

[formerlyfreedom]

Jarden, Texas was renamed “Miracle” after it was discovered that no one had departed. The town has since become a magnet for tourists and people who are convinced it is special and can keep them safe. Among the local families is the Murphys: the father, John, the mother, Erika, and their twins, Evie and Michael. While trying to protect his town from frauds and charlatans, John gets an ominous warning from a man who claims to have psychic powers. Soon afterwards, Kevin Garvey, Nora Durst and Jill Garvey show up in Miracle. This newly formed “family” left Mapleton to start over, but Kevin cannot seem to escape his past. The Murphy family and Kevin subsequently experience a mysterious event that will that change their lives forever.

 

 

[raytch]

I'm so excited about this. I really hope it doesn't turn out to be a let down. The trailer looks pretty good though!

[Primetimer]

The Leftovers is back! Are you excited about that? You might want to be.

Read the story

[toomuchtv47]

The first 15 minutes had me going "what the #&%@ am I watching?!?!?!  I thought I had the wrong channel or the programming was messed up even though I watched the opening credits.  I don't know what the opening bit had to do with anything but I think as a whole I liked it.  There's some freaky stuff going on in Miracle and I'm looking forward to seeing what that is.

[BaseOps]

I really enjoyed this episode. As always with the show, some of it will take a while to sink in (that opening scene was wild and kind of disturbing.) I thought it was a good intro to the new town and storyline, and when the Garveys finally showed up it was all the more exciting. I liked the new setup so far and thought it was all well established rather quickly. Regina King is great, and the new family kept me interested even though we had never seen them before. I'm excited to see where all of this is going, especially the "friendship" between Kevin and John. I'll probably have a more thoughts later, but right now I'm just happy to have this show back - there's nothing else like it on TV.

Edited October 5, 2015 by BaseOps

[raspberry7]

I'm hooked!

[jcin617]

I liked it; but I'm not digging the new opening (yet). The "don't ask why" part seems a little on-the-nose.

[Fisher King]

I liked parts of last season but wasn't overly fond of it, and was surprised that it was renewed. I really enjoyed this first episode way much more than the original pilot.

.

I'm assuming the baby saved when his mother died from the snakebite is the miracle baby and is the same location as Jarden, Tx - aka "Miracle."

.

I didn't care for John Murphy burning down the palm reader's house. Why would a fireman do that? Turns out the palm reader was correct in his prediction. Although I'm unsure if the bad thing that happened is the daughter's disappearance, along with the river, or the Garveys moving in next door.

[shapeshifter]

The first 15 minutes had me going "what the #&%@ am I watching?!?!?! I thought I had the wrong channel or the programming was messed up even though I watched the opening credits. I don't know what the opening bit had to do with anything but I think as a whole I liked it.

My reaction too except for the presence of Regina King, who I was looking forward to seeing. I seem to be one of the few who loved season one. I still like it well enough, but it seems a little darker and ominous. I think if the garbage disposal had ground up a hand, I would have been out. The only humor was when Kevin asked John why "attempted murder," and John replied, "I didn't try hard enough." I wonder if John ate any of the pie.

Turns out the palm reader was correct in his prediction. Although I'm unsure if the bad thing that happened is the daughter's disappearance, along with the river, or the Garveys moving in next door.

I'm guessing the daughters disappeared because that was the place where the indigenous woman died, but that John will blame the Garveys' arrival. Edited October 5, 2015 by shapeshifter

[Penman61]

I don't think Miracle is some point of supernatural bilocation or whatever. (Least I hope not; echoes of LOST <shudder>)  Statistically, there was bound to be one small town where no one departed.  Just happened to be Miracle.  (Though the fracking quakes seemed suspiciously connected. Hmmm...)

 

Instead, I thought the point of the prologue was to show how family ties are improvised outside blood when the worst happens.  (I don't think I've been as grateful for civilization as I was watching those 10 minutes.  The mother's last sound/sight was of that vulture circling and cawing.  The horror.)

Edited October 5, 2015 by Penman61

[quangtran]

When reading the early reviews, the part that worried me most was the much talked about cave-women prologue, because on paper it sounded like pretentious garbage. Yet it turned out to be my favorite part of the episode. I was immediately engaged with her survival, and thought her story perfectly thematically encapsulated what The Leftovers is about in what is quite literally the most primal sense. She is a leftover, and life went on even after the cave-in and even again after she died (via her child).

 

As fore the rest of the episode, I find it hard to judge because so much of it seems like random weirdness, begging for context that might never arrive, examples being the goat sacrifice, the naked teens, the buried bird, the wedding dress woman, the man in the tower and so on.

[cpierce]

My first thought when Isaac told John Murphy "something bad is going to happen", was OF COURSE SOMETHING BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN! THE GARVEY'S ARE A'COMING TO TOWN!!!

I, too, wondered what I was watching at first and had to click the info button on my remote. I'm not crazy about the intro music, but I do like the images of the outlines of people no longer there in the photos.

My gripe(s): Why the weirdness with John Murphy? He's the Fire Chief. In a small town that gets bombarded daily with these crazy tourists, why not lead with that? "Hi new neighbor, I'm John Murphy, I'm the Fire Chief", instead of this weird game and cryptic prison story? And why not the same with Nora? She kinda sorta got around to saying that she "has a brother who moved here a couple months ago", after basically being lightly sautd with why they were there and if they had any family. I guess I could do without the Garvey's at all and let their timeline have ended when it did, THEN we come to Lockhart, I mean Garden, I mean Jordan, I mean Jarden, Texas, and maybe next season we might tie-into the Garvey's. Maybe I'm jumping the gun, but I couldn't help asking myself: Why now, why them? Why is some two-bit cope from some suburb a thousand miles away from the proverbial "promised land" buying a house in what should arguably be THE MOST expensive real estate in the US at this point?

Hey y'all... were you impressed with our beautiful historic Lockhart, Texas courthouse. It's about two hours west of Austin. But, whatever. Lots of the one-site locations look like Texas Hill Country. I could make out scrub oak, burr oak and mesquite trees, plants far, far away from New York and most of the rest of the US. Also, Texas Film Commission tag at the credits. We do have a famous Sate Park between DFW and the Hill Country, called Dinosaur Valley in Glen Rose, and there's a whole bunch of dinosaur fossils there. After the "indigenous woman" sequence and then with the girls swimming in the waters there, I thought it might have been filmed near around there. Also, BTW- it wasn't a vulture circling, it was a hawk (maybe an eagle' Hollywood seems to use their calls and images interchangeably...), note that it was not a vulture feather around her neck.

And there have been recent earthquakes in North Central Texas, and yes, because of fraking. In fact, Denton was the first town to vote fraking down in their town.

[cpierce]

Also, @ quangtran- those are excellent points. I thought that there had to be a good reason for the Pleistocene woman (that's I'm calling her), so I was okay with going along for the ride (at this point I think it will be something about the water... earthquakes... aliens... etc...) It was done well.

As far as the weirdness, like the wedding dress lady, and the goat slayer, and even "Gabby" (frontier gibberish lookout guy), I got eerie David Lynch vibes......

[BooBear]

This show benefits from one very lucky thing, it is on when there is nothing else on. I was bored for most of the episode and I hope it pays off in some way but I was irked by the new weirdness that seems to be going on.  Just like last year, it seems like people aren't acting like one would think they would... of course, more may be explained.  But I feel like I got just a tidbit of every story.

[myname2use4now]

My first thought when Isaac told John Murphy "something bad is going to happen", was OF COURSE SOMETHING BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN! THE GARVEY'S ARE A'COMING TO TOWN!!!

I, too, wondered what I was watching at first and had to click the info button on my remote. I'm not crazy about the intro music, but I do like the images of the outlines of people no longer there in the photos.

My gripe(s): Why the weirdness with John Murphy? He's the Fire Chief. In a small town that gets bombarded daily with these crazy tourists, why not lead with that? "Hi new neighbor, I'm John Murphy, I'm the Fire Chief", instead of this weird game and cryptic prison story? And why not the same with Nora? She kinda sorta got around to saying that she "has a brother who moved here a couple months ago", after basically being lightly sautd with why they were there and if they had any family. I guess I could do without the Garvey's at all and let their timeline have ended when it did, THEN we come to Lockhart, I mean Garden, I mean Jordan, I mean Jarden, Texas, and maybe next season we might tie-into the Garvey's. Maybe I'm jumping the gun, but I couldn't help asking myself: Why now, why them? Why is some two-bit cope from some suburb a thousand miles away from the proverbial "promised land" buying a house in what should arguably be THE MOST expensive real estate in the US at this point?

Hey y'all... were you impressed with our beautiful historic Lockhart, Texas courthouse. It's about two hours west of Austin. But, whatever. Lots of the one-site locations look like Texas Hill Country. I could make out scrub oak, burr oak and mesquite trees, plants far, far away from New York and most of the rest of the US. Also, Texas Film Commission tag at the credits. We do have a famous Sate Park between DFW and the Hill Country, called Dinosaur Valley in Glen Rose, and there's a whole bunch of dinosaur fossils there. After the "indigenous woman" sequence and then with the girls swimming in the waters there, I thought it might have been filmed near around there. Also, BTW- it wasn't a vulture circling, it was a hawk (maybe an eagle' Hollywood seems to use their calls and images interchangeably...), note that it was not a vulture feather around her neck.

And there have been recent earthquakes in North Central Texas, and yes, because of fraking. In fact, Denton was the first town to vote fraking down in their town.

I thought for a minute I was looking at Gruene Historic District in some of those scenes. I've been there a couple of times. Texas Hill Country is beautiful. I'm glad they are shooting in that location this season.

[Fisher King]

Having been to the Kerrville Folk Festival a few times, Gruene and Bandera, the area did look familiar.

[BetyBee]

The opening scene made me think of the birth scene in Apocalypto.  I was rooting for the mother and baby while wondering what it had to do with the Leftovers.  I find the fire chief completely creepy.  I don't know if I even like this show, but I do keep watching.  cpierce, that courthouse is beautiful.   

[thispersonstinks]

What I found fascinating were the late 80s/early 90s guest stars like Darius McCrary and Mark-Linn Baker. I might be reading this too much, but are they saying something, in a metaphorical sense, that Jarden was lucky there were no departures, but no one stays lucky that long like those stars? 

[jcin617]

 Why is some two-bit cop from some suburb a thousand miles away from the proverbial "promised land" buying a house in what should arguably be THE MOST expensive real estate in the US at this point?

I was wondering the same thing!  If access to Miracle is so tightly controlled that you need wrist-bands to be there and are forcibly removed if you're not a resident/approved visitor, then I should think real estate there would be astronomically expensive.    

 

And I'm dubious that Jarden is the only place (in the world? the US?) that had 0 departures.   There are some pretty small towns in the US that, with only a 2% departure rate, should have been untouched as well (at least, statistically).   Any town under 50 people, that is.

Edited October 5, 2015 by jcin617

[shapeshifter]

And there have been recent earthquakes in North Central Texas, and yes, because of fraking.

But based on the opening scene, there were also earthquakes there a millennia or two ago. So maybe the frakking is the cause now, but the fault lines are ancient?

I'm guessing the girls and the water were sucked into a fault that opened up--unlike the other disappeared.

 

Creepy Fire Starting Fire Chief's wife made a reference to him "working" on his birthday because he was inviting over the neighbors. So that means he was working them, right? But Kevin wound up working the Chief too.

[revbfc]

Oh, Leftovers! How I missed yelling at the screen while you're on. And sorry, Miracle, TX. You're going to have to change that sign outside of town that says "0 Departures."

[pagooey]

The Mark Linn-Baker joke was the hardest I'd laughed at anything all day; mad props to him for agreeing to it. (And holy crap, what timing--after the Steve Razzasanawhatever 9/11 scandal, that was kind of amazing, frankly.)

 

I don't understand anything yet, but I find this show so compelling and so beautifully shot. I love just looking at it. 

[Shermie]

I agree that there is so much "Huh?" going on, yet it's compelling. I want to see more. Lots of weird little bits though - the naked girls running through the forest, the goat sacrifice in the diner that everyone just shrugged off, and the shot of,the woman in a wedding dress watering her lawn (which you would assume meant her husband disappeared on their wedding day and she's stuck in that moment or some such, although that means she's not a native Miracle-ian).

The Murphys were interesting and I wanted to know more, oddball father and all. Talk about taking your job title as a fire chief literally.

Mrs. Murphy comments that Kevin Garvey is attractive and Nora responds, "He uses moisturizer." :::dies laughing:::

[Maire]

What are the Orange signs that are on people's homes/doors. It almost looks like a quarantine sign but I couldn't make out what they said.

Since I buzzed through season 1 a while ago could someone remind me of the Reverends's story? He was telling people's secrets, that's all I remember.

[represent]

I died laughing when the police were arresting and tazing the white people, meanwhile the black boy was able to ride merrily along on his bike. I was like, this is a "Miracle," LOL.

 

And was that some kind of sacrificial act in the diner? I was like WTF?  Actually, I was like WTF? from the very beginning of the episode. Good stuff.

 

Anyway, I kinda watched last season, but really could never get that into it, this season I'm fully in...

 

The guy who Michael went to his house and asked him if he wanted to pray...I wonder if that was the guy who his father attempted to murder? It might tie in with the scripture that Michael was reading in church and looked like he was directing specifically toward his father.

Edited October 5, 2015 by represent

[editorgrrl]

What I found fascinating were the late 80s/early 90s guest stars like Darius McCrary and Mark-Linn Baker. I might be reading this too much, but are they saying something, in a metaphorical sense, that Jarden was lucky there were no departures, but no one stays lucky that long like those stars?

When they mentioned in the first season that the cast of Perfect Strangers was gone, I assumed it was a silly in-joke because Tom Perrotta, Mark-Linn Baker, and Bronson Pinchot all went to Yale.

But Regina King started out on 227, and Justin Theroux's wife was on Friends…

Edited October 5, 2015 by editorgrrl

[shapeshifter]

And why not the same with Nora? She kinda sorta got around to saying that she "has a brother who moved here a couple months ago", after basically being lightly sautd with why they were there and if they had any family.

could someone remind me of the Reverends's story? He was telling people's secrets, that's all I remember.

Yes, the Reverend printed posters airing the dirty secrets of the departed for the purpose of proving that, in contrast to the "rapture" of evangelistic Christian theology, the leftovers were the good people and the disappeared were sinners--which is not something the grieving want to hear about their dearly departed--so the Reverend (Nora's brother) was regularly getting beat up by the town folk. So far he seems to be accepted in Miracle--presumably because there are not disappeared for him to loudly condemn. But it's understandable that Nora might hesitate to say he's her brother in case they decide to cast him out of Miracle next week if he decides to start preaching that everyone in Miracle is evil. Edited October 5, 2015 by shapeshifter

[Maire]

Thank you shapeshifter!! That makes a lot of sense.

[islandgal140]

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. I am still not sure how I feel about it as the Leftovers (2% of population presto gone) but as a drama it was good. Last season irritated the hell out of me, especially that smoking cult mess, so much so that I almost swore off this season but Saturday while scrolling through the guide I noticed a marathon which to me signaled that the series must be coming back and sure enough, back it is. The first 10 minutes had me going WTH am I watching but damned if it wasn't compelling. Heaven knows if it will tie in at all with the story later on. Funny enough I really didn't miss too much of the originally cast for the first 30-40 minutes of the show. It is amazing how much better the show is without the silent smoking cult stuff to me. There was just too much of it and it was just too unexplained to be curiously mystery. I do wonder if we will see the son and with the cult leaders baby mama.

 

Love Regina King. That bird scene was weird as hell though. Husband can do regular dude and slip into creepy menacing with great ease. Of course burning down that poor man's house proves he is an asshole, but damn once his wife just suggested that the pie might be poison he trots it over to the neighbors? Who have kids? Nice guy. Loved his great cricket hunt though. I too hate bugs in the house. Every time Darius Rucker came on the screen I kept hearing 'Eddie Winslow' said in Steve Urkel's voice. LOL!  

 

I am curious as to why the minister cut off Matt's sermon though. That seemed a bit rude.

[A Boston Gal]

First impressions: I am in for the duration. You see, True Dectective? It isn't so hard to start a compelling new story within the same series.

Love the cast, and the characters are more layered than onions. My sneaking suspicion is the older man in the trailer that Michael went to visit is John's father.

Was anyone else surprised to see Anne Dowd's name in the credits? Is she going to be a recurrent hallucination of Kevin's, or will she show up as a completely new character? Which ever it is, I'm looking forward to seeing her again. Hopefully, she'll get to wear more than just white.

Edited October 5, 2015 by A Boston Gal

[lezlers]

I think the minister cut off Matt's sermon to keep him from saying that Miracle cured his wife or some such thing.  Creepy Fire Chief seems on a mission to expel anyone who "brings evil" or whatever into the town. Minister looked really nervous when Creepy Fire Chief asked about it again after the sermon and visibly relieved when Matt simply said they feel safe.  That's what I gathered from it, anyway.

Edited October 5, 2015 by lezlers

[revbfc]

First impressions: I am in for the duration. You see, True Dectective? It isn't so hard to start a compelling new story within the same series.

Love the cast, and the characters are more layered than onions. My sneaking suspicion is the older man in the trailer that Michael went to visit is John's father.

Was anyone else surprised to see Anne Dowd's name in the credits? Is she going to be a recurrent hallucination of Kevin's, or will she show up as a completely new character? Which ever it is, I'm looking forward to seeing her again. Hopefully, she'll get to wear more than just white.

She'll be a constant hallucination, and she won't shut up.

[lezlers]

First impressions: I am in for the duration. You see, True Dectective? It isn't so hard to start a compelling new story within the same series.

Love the cast, and the characters are more layered than onions. My sneaking suspicion is the older man in the trailer that Michael went to visit is John's father.

Was anyone else surprised to see Anne Dowd's name in the credits? Is she going to be a recurrent hallucination of Kevin's, or will she show up as a completely new character? Which ever it is, I'm looking forward to seeing her again. Hopefully, she'll get to wear more than just white.

 

Liv Tyler was also in the credits again.  I think. 

Edited October 5, 2015 by lezlers

[Fisher King]

I hope the smoking GRs are gone for good.

[shapeshifter]

I think the minister cut off Matt's sermon to keep him from saying that Miracle cured his wife or some such thing.  Creepy Fire Chief seems on a mission to expel anyone who "brings evil" or whatever into the town. Minister looked really nervous when Creepy Fire Chief asked about it again after the sermon and visibly relieved when Matt simply said they feel safe.  That's what I gathered from it, anyway.

I got the impression that Creepy Fire Chief's main job is to ferret out and eliminate any person who believes in supernatural powers--probably to help quell the stream of pilgrims (think Donald Trump and immigration)--but which seems totally at odds with them having renamed the town Miracle. My main reason for thinking that is because when Creepy's son had customers asking about the holy water for sale in his booth, he was very careful to say that they were just souvenirs. In contrast, Creepy made a point of stating that the finger paint palm reader had never had second sight while they were growing up together.

[Empress1]

Was anyone else surprised to see Anne Dowd's name in the credits? Is she going to be a recurrent hallucination of Kevin's, or will she show up as a completely new character? Which ever it is, I'm looking forward to seeing her again. Hopefully, she'll get to wear more than just white.

I read somewhere that "they" (the show runners, I guess) haven't left Mapleton behind altogether.

 

I read the book and watched about half the episodes last season. I tuned into this one pretty much entirely for Regina King, who IMO is one of Hollywood's most underrated actresses. (I didn't watch American Crime, for which she just won the Emmy, but she was fantastic in Southland.) Did anyone notice that her character wears a hearing aid? 

[lezlers]

I read somewhere that "they" (the show runners, I guess) haven't left Mapleton behind altogether.

 

I read the book and watched about half the episodes last season. I tuned into this one pretty much entirely for Regina King, who IMO is one of Hollywood's most underrated actresses. (I didn't watch American Crime, for which she just won the Emmy, but she was fantastic in Southland.) Did anyone notice that her character wears a hearing aid? 

Well yeah, there was about 2 minutes devoted solely to her putting the hearing aids in.  ;)

[Empress1]

Well yeah, there was about 2 minutes devoted solely to her putting the hearing aids in.  ;)

Ha - guess I wasn't watching that closely. :)

[GaiusB]

As quangtran said "so much of it seems like random weirdness, begging for context that might never arrive".

 

This is my biggest problem with this show. I want to like it and i am actually enjoying it  most of time, but this thought is always present. This episode everything was good, but than the earthquake happened and Evie disappeared  and with her three newly introduced mysteries (naked run, "epilepsy", and  change of behaviour of three girls when they were alone). If she is gone for good, and it certainly looks like it, all of that was a pointless weirdness for weirdness sake.

[editorgrrl]

Since I buzzed through season 1 a while ago could someone remind me of the Reverend's story?

Shapeshifter covered most of it upthread—and posted a link to a season 1 recap in the media thread: http://www.bustle.com/articles/113817-the-leftovers-season-1-recap-will-reintroduce-you-to-the-garveys-before-season-2-premieres

Matt's wife was in a vegetative state in season one; now she uses a wheelchair and talks—but Rev. Massey doesn't want anyone to know. Erika made it sound like Matt told Nora about the house being available—but like others above I wonder how they afforded it. The previews looked like next episode

includes a flashback to the decision to leave town, so perhaps it'll be explained.

Matt and Kevin buried Patti's body, so when I saw Ann Dowd in the credits I assumed Kevin's still seeing things. When Kevin was weird in the kitchen, I wondered if he was hallucinating. (I think Liv Tyler, Amy Brenneman, and the guy who plays her & Kevin's son were also in the credits.)

Speaking of Matt, is Christopher Eccleston's American accent different than season one?

Edited October 6, 2015 by editorgrrl

[rwlevin]

 

Well yeah, there was about 2 minutes devoted solely to her putting the hearing aids in.  ;)

They also showed her signing with her daughter.

[Empress1]

Didn't Nora get a lot of survivor benefits? Matt asked her for $135K last season. Maybe that's how they can afford a new house.

[represent]

 

I read the book and watched about half the episodes last season. I tuned into this one pretty much entirely for Regina King, who IMO is one of Hollywood's most underrated actresses. (I didn't watch American Crime, for which she just won the Emmy, but she was fantastic in Southland.) Did anyone notice that her character wears a hearing aid?

She's why I tuned in as well and I agree, she is underrated. I'm always glad when she gets a good gig.  That said, the opening of this season has got my attention a lot more than last season. 

 

Yeah, I noticed the hearing aid and she was using sign language with her daughter in one scene as well. It was when the husband got up to go to the kitchen with his bowl and looked at them in the daughter's bedroom.

Actually now that I think about it, he seemed upset right after looking at them signing. I bet some kind of tragedy made her lose her hearing and he got pissed at watching them sign. That's why he practically threw the bowl in the sink, he looked upset IMO.

 

Unless he was just upset at what they were saying to one another?

Edited October 6, 2015 by represent

[shapeshifter]

Well yeah, there was about 2 minutes devoted solely to her putting the hearing aids in. ;)

--which included a stretch of silence just long enough for me to think: Oh crap. I lost the sound.

he seemed upset right after looking at them signing. I bet some kind of tragedy made her lose her hearing and he got pissed at watching them sign. That's why he practically threw the bowl in the sink, he looked upset IMO.

IRL, I would assume she lost her hearing as an adult, given her fluid speech patterns. If so, he may have been in prison then and while they learned sign language, which makes him feel like an outsider.

The episode title has enough mythology for a whole season of Lost: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_mundi

Edited October 6, 2015 by shapeshifter

[Armchair Critic]

It took me almost the whole hour to get into it, but I am curious about what happened to the girls and will tune in again next week. Don't like the father of the new family, seems shady.

[Valny]

Yeah, I noticed the hearing aid and she was using sign language with her daughter in one scene as well. It was when the husband got up to go to the kitchen with his bowl and looked at them in the daughter's bedroom.

Actually now that I think about it, he seemed upset right after looking at them signing. I bet some kind of tragedy made her lose her hearing and he got pissed at watching them sign. That's why he practically threw the bowl in the sink, he looked upset IMO.

 

 

Oh that's interesting.  I just thought they were signing because they didn't want the father to hear them talk about something private. I didn't even think about the hearing aid. 

 

I started to watch this ep at work during my lunch hour on my tablet, and like most, I was saying WTF? at that beginning. It really threw my off because I was thinking it would start right off with our prominent characters going into this new town.  I just hope it will be relevant somewhere down the line because I could have done without it,mainly because it went on waaaay to long for me.  And I looked away at the birthing scene, I can't handle that stuff.    There was enough of that on Netflix's Sense8 that I couldn't look at either.

But I liked the ep as a whole, sometimes it doesn't sound right to say I enjoyed these eps, because I don't know if that's the right word, ya know?  There's so much weird shit all through this show. But I keep watching it for who knows what reason. It's intriguing I guess.

[tennisgurl]

The confusion returns!

 

I am really glad they moved the setting this year. I appreciate the new southern setting, with the whole "religion for faith and profit" thing it seems to have going on. Lots of weird stuff happening, as per usual with this show. And, much like the disappearance itself, we are not given explanations for anything.  

 

The cave woman prologue started off weird, but I actually got into it by the end. It was kind of an interesting short film on its own, and does a good job being a metaphor for the show itself and its big themes. Life goes on, even after you lose everything. 

 

The new family seems to be just as weird as the Garvey clan, so I`m sure they'll all get along just fine.

 

Where did the girls go? And the water? Tune in to find out!

 

I like the new credits.  

[Cardie]

The prologue did a good job of showing that the Sudden Departure is just an extreme example of the randomness of disaster. The woman survives only because she went out to pee, then dies because she encounters a snake. In both instances she sees the hawk. As a human she, as we viewers of The Leftovers, must have wondered why: why be spared and then slain, why the hawk? And there aren't ever answers, only questions. Nevertheless, the imagery suggests this wasn't all random, there is a supernatural force in play at that place. I do worry because the Axis Mundi concept was responsible for the glowing light cave and mystical drain plug of the Lost finale.

 

The other primitive woman finding the baby connected to Nora taking in Lily. As for the weirdness in Jarden, it seems that it has spawned its own cult out of being spared and is exercising various superstitious rituals, plus "community policing" to make sure no one in town actually asserts (among themselves) that there are miracles in Miracle. John is pretty likely a psychopath but probably the right man for that job. I too got a David Lynch vibe, on top of being reminded of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery."

[ottoDbusdriver]

I just thought it was weird how this town of Jarden has been turned into a national park -- that just seems weird.

 

And how long has it been since the end of last season in the show timeline ?

[Shermie]

Based on Lily's age, it's been several months. It's hard to determine her age when she's being held all the time, but size-wise, she looks anywhere from 10-15 months. Was she a newborn when Nora found her?

During the opening scene with the cave woman, was I the only one who thought that maybe this was current time, and the cave people were some sort of back-to-basics cult, and that the hands reaching for the baby would belong to a modern person, with the camera pulling back to reveal the dead cave woman lying on a beach with buildings and whatnot in the background?

^^(that was an epic run-on sentence)