S02.E02: A Matter Of Geography

[formerlyfreedom]

Kevin, Nora and Jill try to pick up the pieces in the aftermath of the Mapleton riots, but problems from the past keep resurfacing. The new Garvey clan finds a fresh start in the safety of Miracle. Nora makes an impulsive choice, while Kevin gets entangled in the Murphy family’s problems.

[formerlyfreedom]

[Primetimer]

The Leftovers circles back to catch up with our refugees from Mapleton. But is it worth the risk?

Read the story

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

WTF was up with this episode's ending? Instead of shooting dogs with Dean, is Kevin now disappearing teenaged girls with Patti then trying to drown himself?

Anyone else get the vibe from Tom, his chapped lips, his sniffly nose (I know he said he was sick and didn't want to give it to his sister), and lack of interest in that cheeseburger that he's got himself a drug problem and was high? And that maybe mom has a drug problem too?

[represent]

So who's baby is that? The brother left it on their door step?  Is it his? 

 

I didn't watch consistently at all last season, but I seem to remember an female character of Asian descent and I thought she was pregnant by that man of African descent who had an accent if I recall, he seemed like he was some kind of prophet. He was weird and seemed to act like he was "all knowing" I don't know. I just remember seeing him with the Asian girl and the few scenes I saw I thought it was his baby. Now is that the baby that Nora and Kevin now have unbeknownst to them of course? 

 

Because I also remember Tom traveling with this girl at one point, he was like taking care of her.

Edited October 12, 2015 by represent

[pandora spocks]

So Grandpa Garvey is going to Australia.  Frankly I'm glad because his character was the TV version of nails on a chalkboard.  His storyline seemed independent of the rest of the show.  I wish that the ghost of Patti went to Australia, too. 

 

Why does the reverend feel like he has to be a stone's throw from the church?  It's not like they're running a hospital and he's a doctor there.  When the Garveys looked at what 3 million bought, the expression royal screwing probably came to mind.

Edited October 12, 2015 by pandora spocks

[Cardie]

So who's baby is that? The brother left it on their door step?  Is it his?

 

No, as you rightly remembered, the baby is the child of the African American (actually a Brit of African heritage) "prophet" Holy Wayne and one of his cult followers, the Asian woman Tom was protecting. After the baby was born, the mother bailed and Tom took care of her until he got back to Mapleton and left her on his dad's porch.

[Pallas]

Instead of shooting dogs with Dean, is Kevin now disappearing teenaged girls with Patti then trying to drown himself?

 

I think Kevin, sleepwalking again, tried to disappear his crazy self into the Miracle Springs -- which had just become Miracle Skatepark. He woke up with the fishes. I don't think he saw the girls before or after they Departed too.

 

The Truth or Dare scene in the Garvey living room was incredibly touching, I'm glad we circled back.

 

Nora may be pregnant, and I wonder if any children have been conceived or born in Miracle since the Departure. Within the community the 9,621 figure seems to be more than a totem: more like a new natural law.

[shapeshifter]

I was a fan of season one, so it's probably no surprise that I liked this episode better than the premiere.

--Although I did cringe every time Patti showed up--as well as when Laurie did--but at the end of the episode I thought aloud: So is Patti going to be Kevin's spirit guide?

I liked the possibility of a geographic/physics explanation.

--Although I won't feel betrayed if the whole MIT team (or half of it) hanging out around the kitchen counter gets sucked into the next disappearance without Nora's personal force field there to protect them.

I could not relate to Nora buying the house for 3 mil. Couldn't she at least have gone from the 1+ mil bid to "2.5!"?

But then I just found out I'm going to have to work full time at my day job until I'm 70, so, different perspective than Nora.

Anyway, it had nice hardwood floors, and it's not hard to scrape wallpaper and paint if you're able bodied.

But we got some hints as to how their rental might have burned down due to accidental causes that might also be part of their 3 mil love nest.

And who got the 3 mil? The National Park Service? Or possibly the Murphys next door whose inlaws used to live there (just hypothesizing--they didn't say who used to live there, did they?).

Hmmm--has anyone verified that Jarden/Miracle really didn't lose anyone? Maybe it's a town-wide conspiracy cooked up to jack up real estate prices.

So Kevin better get some antipsychotic meds, am I right?

Edited October 12, 2015 by shapeshifter

[BetyBee]

When Kevin was watching the scene with the Murphys discovering the car and the lake gone, the scene we saw last week, but from another perspective, it reminded me of Back to the Future.  I doubt that that was what they were going for.  I was stunned when Kevin woke up with the fishes and the cement block tied to his feet.  He sure is a mess, isn't he?  Who wants to have Patti haunting them?  Although her "uh oh" was pretty funny.  I wonder why the one month old baby was offered to Kevin and Nora at the courthouse?  That seemed kind of random.  Of course so did the eye patch on the officer who let Kevin go. Just random or do these things mean something?  

 

Is Laurie a free agent now?  Or is she a remnant of the Guilty Remnant?

[ToastnBacon]

Although I like this show, I'm not expecting to have it answer any of the mysteries it sets up.

I think it is going to be like the TV show, Lost, in so many ways.

I think those girls got sucked down the hole in the lake where they found a hatch. Now they are down there pushing a button every 108 minutes to save the world.

Seriously, this show has some excellent scenes, great acting, compelling characters, but not a well defined plot that will give the viewer a big payoff at the end.

It won't answer where the departed are, that isn't even the point of the story.

I was digging the music in this episode. The Pixies song when he dug up Patti was excellent. I think they played a Halsey song when the Garvey's drove to Miracle.

The new opening credits music sucks, but it fits with the folksy-hippie-bullshit that would surround an event with the slightest whiff of the supernatural.

Edited October 12, 2015 by ToastnBacon

[BooBear]

I think this show is mezmerizing. Especially Kevin. When the cop asked him if he wanted to blow up his life and he said no... um. yes, Kevin. That is exactly what you want. I got the clear impression he was feeling trapped again.  But on the other hand I am not looking forward to Kevin's crazy behavior. Last week when it appeared that Kevin was all better I felt a bit of relief. But guess not.  Was it weird for the sake of weird that Kevin also had to attend a laundrymat with a crying baby like the girl in the pilot?  Though I think being haunted by Patti Levin is a bit lame.. I love that woman and her nasty quips so I will take it.  I would be an irony if Patti did eventually get Kevin by driving him mad.

 

I am currently wondering about Nora. Is she also insane? 3 mill for a forclosure house ... yikes.  She took being told what Kevin did like it was nothing. I tolerate Kevin's daughter much better without Amiee.  I kind of don't blame Kevin for being angry that she bought that horrible house. That was not what he had in mind.

 

I was confused by Tom. I do wonder if he isn't on drugs. He seemed one of the least effected last year by all that happened and had the good sense to deliver the baby to his dad.  Now he seems devistated? By what? I guess I can't wait to see that story.

[revbfc]

Nora VOLUNTARILY bids $3 million for the house and then makes it seem like fate or coincidence when she tells her brother about it. What the hell?

Also, I'm unhappy that I called it as far as Patty not shutting up.

[MrWhyt]

But we got some hints as to how their rental might have burned down due to accidental causes that might also be part of their 3 mil love nest.

Their rental was the place that the firemen burned down in episode 1.  The owner mentioned renting out a floor of the building when he was first talking to Fire chief Murphy.

[Fisher King]

The best scene in the whole episode was fessing up to each other. "It's okay. It's okay? Hey, it's okay."

Well done. Bravo. Let's move on to a happy life.

But nooooooo....

 

I love Ann Dowd but cannot stand Patti. She should have stayed dead and out of Kevin's (and my) head.  The shit from last season should have stayed there. Everything that played so well last episode was just tainted by the leftovers from Mapleton. Nora's bidding 3 mil for a tinder box was just stupid. The house is also going to burn down -- I have no doubt. With firestarter neighbor and Kevin's dumbass smoking, how can it not? A little bit of that 3mil could have bought some fire insurance, Nora.

 

I don't care if weird things happen in this show. I don't even care if any of weird shit's ever explained (which nothing will be, ever) but give me a compelling story and new bits of weirdness to ponder.

 

Fuck Patti & her wandering ghost of annoying smokers past and present.

 

The only compassion I could muster was for the flailing fish in the dry lake bed.

Edited October 12, 2015 by Fisher King

[izabella]

I hate Patti, so I am not happy that she's going to be Kevin's personal ghost this season.  If Kevin thought he could get away from her by moving, he was wrong.  She's going to ruin this season for me.

 

How did Kevin end up with a cinder block tied to his leg in the river?  Did he do that himself while sleepwalking?  And he happened to throw himself in the river just before the earthquake when, presumably, the girls were at the river but they didn't see him and he didn't see them?  Was his dunk in the river related to the earthquake and subsequent draining of the river and disappearing of the girls, or was that just "coincidence"?

 

It's too bad Kevin put his hands all over the driver's side door of that car.  Now his fingerprints are all on it, and I'm guessing he'll be targeted for the girls' disappearance.  Dumb, dumb, dumb police chief!  It wasn't your car, so why were you trying to get inside?

[Helena Dax]

I didn't like it as much as the  last one, but  there were some interesting things. I wonder  if we'll  find  out what happened  to Kevin. Did he try to kill himself? What a nasty way to do it. Or maybe  someone tried  to kill him. You start sacrificing goats... Anyway, this  show is  so weird...

 

And what's the deal with the pie? Did the Murphys really eat it, knowing that it could be poisoned?

[editorgrrl]

We got some hints as to how their rental might have burned down due to accidental causes that might also be part of their 3 mil love nest.

And who got the 3 mil? The National Park Service? Or possibly the Murphys next door whose inlaws used to live there (just hypothesizing—they didn't say who used to live there, did they?).

Last episode, John told Erika, "You know, someone just moved in the Dunbar house." But I wasn't paying attention to the signage at the auction.

As MrWhyt said upthread, the Garveys were renting the top floor of not-psychic Isaac's house. Hopefully they can get their $50,000 deposit back from him.

[represent]

 

No, as you rightly remembered, the baby is the child of the African American (actually a Brit of African heritage) "prophet" Holy Wayne and one of his cult followers, the Asian woman Tom was protecting. After the baby was born, the mother bailed and Tom took care of her until he got back to Mapleton and left her on his dad's porch.

Thanks, for clarifying. I watched off an on last season and sometimes I wouldn't even finish the episode. I definitely missed the finale so...but I love this season. 

 

I am fully engaged. 

 

With this episode, I don't think Kevin had anything to do with those girls before their departure. I do think that he was subconsciously trying to kill himself though with that cinder block tied to his ankle.  Those girls, Evie and her friends, when together, seem a bit weird to me from the get go, can't put my finger on it at all...It's interesting that the girls are never really shown to talk, like in have a conversation. They flirt with that man in the first eppy who was collecting water at the river, then they give a flirty hello to Kevin in the last eppy. They giggle, swim, run around, but no conversations really, they just seem weird and now they've departed.

 

It was interesting what the buyers of Nora's home were saying about why she was the only one in her family who did not depart...Anyway, I hope they get back to that cause I'm listening. But they probably won't return to that convo. because I guess the whole point was to provide Nora with a light bulb moment that "it" could happen again. 

 

Apparently, this writer/creator isn't to consistent with providing answer but I'll take what I can get. Not surprised to find out he was the head writer for Lost which I always watched with a WTF? look on my face. 

[BooBear]

It was interesting what the buyers of Nora's home were saying about why she was the only one in her family who did not depart...Anyway, I hope they get back to that cause I'm listening. But they probably won't return to that convo. because I guess the whole point was to provide Nora with a light bulb moment that "it" could happen again.

 

I think it could be that after saying up and down they won't explain the departure (and setting up the audience not to ask or start long threads trying to guess - like they did for lost where I think they guessed right early on) they will actually explain it. It seems like this season is trying to be more concrete about the whole thing.  Though, I find it odd that Nora would have that kind of reaction to the MIT people. Just from what *I* know I don't think that theory has any merit. A baby was taken out of a car but not the mom right next to her. The dad walking with his son in the pilot. The kids at the school next to Jill and Tom.  Nora probably knows tons of people that lost people just off the top of her head which were much closer to loved ones.

[GaiusB]

Once again a very good episode, but the final scene worried me a bit. A lot actually. After Lost experience my first thought was that Kevin is special and the higher power does not allow him to die. Exactly what The Island did to choosen  losties.  I like the atmosphere, emotions, characters of this show and i dont want it to be ruined again by some mumbo jumbo religiously magical stuff.

 

Oh yeah and like others, i also dont like GhostPatti. And i miss gloomy Jill.

[represent]

 

I think it could be that after saying up and down they won't explain the departure (and setting up the audience not to ask or start long threads trying to guess - like they did for lost where I think they guessed right early on) they will actually explain it. It seems like this season is trying to be more concrete about the whole thing.  Though, I find it odd that Nora would have that kind of reaction to the MIT people. Just from what *I* know I don't think that theory has any merit. A baby was taken out of a car but not the mom right next to her. The dad walking with his son in the pilot. The kids at the school next to Jill and Tom.  Nora probably knows tons of people that lost people just off the top of her head which were much closer to loved ones.

I think I remember that baby and mom, the baby was in the backseat. She put the baby in the backseat, got in the driver's seat and then looked back and the baby was gone. The dad and son too, the dad was the one that went missing right? I think I remember the kid calling for him alone in the parking lot.

 

Wait a minute, I just had another memory, Nora's brother, his wife, didn't she disappear as well? I just remember watching in the beginning of last season and wasn't he in the car with her and then something happened and he was running around the street asking for help for his wife?

Yeah, it was when all the other departures were happening right? I just remember, him running around the street in all the chaos asking for help?

Where was she?  Because that's her with him, this season right? She wasn't at that cult house right?

[ToastnBacon]

I don't like Patti either, but I'm glad she is haunting Kevin. It provides tension, and I always like to have a character to hate.

[Mindymoo]

Matt's wife was injured by a departure. The car drove right into theirs, and it's why his wife is in the condition she's in. It happened right after he found out he was cancer free, if I recall correctly.

[Hava]

I don't like the new opening credits. The previous ones were a tad overdramatic, but I think they matched the tone of the show. The new one? Not so much. It takes me out an episode, to be honest. 

 

And I felt the opening scene of this episode was clunky. The conversation and confessional nature of it did not feel natural, even though it was supposed to be a huge moment. 

 

As for answers, this is how I feel about them. I am not expecting any answer to the "why" of the departure and I am ok with the mystery of it. But I do feel like I need answers to the smaller mysteries of the show, like Kevin's visions, Kevin's dad's visions, etc. If we don't get answers to those things, I feel like the show will have been a waste.

[shapeshifter]

And what's the deal with the pie? Did the Murphys really eat it, knowing that it could be poisoned?

Yeah, I'm guessing at least John Murphy did the ol' pushing the food around on the plate routine.

After Lost experience my first thought was that Kevin is special and the higher power does not allow him to die. Exactly what The Island did to choosen  losties.

Also known as the series-star-cannot-die-syndrome.

[ToastnBacon]

I don't like the new opening credits. The previous ones were a tad overdramatic, but I think they matched the tone of the show. The new one? Not so much. It takes me out an episode, to be honest.

It really irks me too. It is reminiscent of something you'd hear on the Prarie Home Companion, or some other pseudo-intellectual gathering of folk singers.

Few things annoy me more than hippies and folk singers.

And I felt the opening scene of this episode was clunky. The conversation and confessional nature of it did not feel natural, even though it was supposed to be a huge moment.

I agree with you on this too. However, I think they might have made it clunky to underline how screwed up and damaged these people are.

As for answers, this is how I feel about them. I am not expecting any answer to the "why" of the departure and I am ok with the mystery of it. But I do feel like I need answers to the smaller mysteries of the show, like Kevin's visions, Kevin's dad's visions, etc. If we don't get answers to those things, I feel like the show will have been a waste.

Here is where I depart from you. [/rimshot]

I don't think we will get many answers on that level either.

Edited October 13, 2015 by ToastnBacon

[Cardie]

I didn't like real Patti but I'm kind of loving ghost Patti. She talks and doesn't smoke and delivers witty one-liners. (Kevin is the one who has always gotten on my last nerve.)

 

The MIT people weren't saying that being close together or far apart dictated who would depart. They were in fact saying that three people departing from one table was anomalous, perhaps due to the geography of Nora's house. That's why they wanted to study it. And that's why Nora was so reckless in doing whatever it took to stay in Jarden. It's the place where no one departed, ergo it must be geographically anomalous on the safe side.

[izabella]

Kevin was in the middle of having sex with his mistress when she departed, so I suspect geography isn't as strong a connection as the MIT guys think.

[WearyTraveler]

I don't think the MIT guys' theory will pan out.  After all, Laurie's baby departed while in utero, geographically speaking they were exactly in the same coordinates.  But I liked that in the show's universe there are scientists still trying to figure out what happened, just as we have scientists in our world still trying to unravel all the mysteries around us.  Maybe they'll get an answer, maybe it will take them thousands of years, or maybe not.  Such is life.

 

I thought I saw the camera linger on baby Lily having her hand on top of the pie.  Since she's Holy Wayne's child, maybe she fixed it, and that's why everyone who ate the pie was perfectly fine.

 

Also, I don't think the girls disappeared down a crack that opened up and swallowed the river because Kevin, who was apparently at the bottom of the river, didn't get sucked in and, I think we are meant to take the car's locked doors while the lights are on and the radio plays as indicative of the girls being locked inside the car at the time the event happened.  So, I'm thinking the show is hinting at another wave of departures having just happened.  Maybe next episode we'll find out that 2% more of the world's population is gone and the girls are the first departed from Jarden.

 

The town will no longer be "Miracle", the visitors will go away and new prophets will raise from the wreckage, as they are wont to do.

[BetyBee]

 

 

Also, I don't think the girls disappeared down a crack that opened up and swallowed the river because Kevin, who was apparently at the bottom of the river, didn't get sucked in and, I think we are meant to take the car's locked doors while the lights are on and the radio plays as indicative of the girls being locked inside the car at the time the event happened.  So, I'm thinking the show is hinting at another wave of departures having just happened.  Maybe next episode we'll find out that 2% more of the world's population is gone and the girls are the first departed from Jarden.

 

The town will no longer be "Miracle", the visitors will go away and new prophets will raise from the wreckage, as they are wont to do.

And the value of Kevin & Nora's 3M home will plummet!

[WearyTraveler]

And the value of Kevin & Nora's 3M home will plummet!

 

Poor Nora!

[Gwen-Stacys]

I wonder why the one month old baby was offered to Kevin and Nora at the courthouse?  That seemed kind of random.  Of course so did the eye patch on the officer who let Kevin go. Just random or do these things mean something?  

I thought that was supposed to be one of those random, off the cuff, racist moments that do often happen in real life. They tried to offer Kevin and Nora a white baby instead of them "settling" for the black baby they already had. It could've also been a test. Like the social worker was trying to make sure the two of them weren't just clinging to the baby for the sake of it and actually wanted her. I kind of side-eyed that moment too

 

Jill still remains my favorite Garvey. I love how you can see her experience last season (figuring out that her one remaining family member wasn't going to pack up one day and leave her alone, even though he's crazy out of his mind) had changed who she is, but she can still be as blunt and antisocial as always. Like when she point blank told Kevin not to fuck up the situation they have going with Nora and Lily. And then when Evie's friends yelled out to the Garvey's on their way back home, she, unlike the two adults, didn't bother stopping to talk to them. She just stared them down as she walked by.

 

I'm kind of excited for this season, and waiting to see how the Garveys versus the Murphys match plays out over the season

[Wouldofshouldof]

I didn't see the social worker offering them another child that way at all.  I saw it as he found a good couple in Kevin and Nora (hey, he doesn't know them like we do!) and wanted to find a home for another child.  My brother and I are both adopted.  When my parents adopted my brother, they let the orphanage know that they would like to adopt a girl one day too.  Much to their surprise, the orphanage contacted them MUCH sooner than they anticipated and said that I was available as well.  I guess what they say about experiences coloring perceptions is true.

Edited October 13, 2015 by Wouldofshouldof

[txhorns79]

They tried to offer Kevin and Nora a white baby instead of them "settling" for the black baby they already had. It could've also been a test. Like the social worker was trying to make sure the two of them weren't just clinging to the baby for the sake of it and actually wanted her. I kind of side-eyed that moment too

 

I don't know if it was meant as a test, given they offered Nora the chance to adopt both babies when she said she wanted to keep Lily.    

 

Also, I don't think the girls disappeared down a crack that opened up and swallowed the river because Kevin, who was apparently at the bottom of the river, didn't get sucked in and, I think we are meant to take the car's locked doors while the lights are on and the radio plays as indicative of the girls being locked inside the car at the time the event happened.

 

Yeah, I don't know how it would have been powerful enough to suck down the girls, while leaving all those fish flopping around, along with Kevin.  I could be proven wrong, but I honestly thought another departure had happened (or the people who were originally meant to depart in Miracle lost whatever thing was protecting them, and they departed).   

[loki567]

It's unfortunate that the show returns to its main characters last year and it feels somewhat like a letdown, IMO. I think I prefer the more practical vibe of the Murphys. I'm not sure in a show with all the other craziness going on, if it's best that the main character himself is a little crazy. It's too much.

 

And now we're back to the ghosts and the visions, I think it works better when the writers don't give a voice to all this stuff and it just feels more like living after an unexplained natural phenomenon.

[A Boston Gal]

I'm also torn about Ghost Patti. Yes, she's wittier than she was in real life (no contest there), but is it too much to ask that Kevin get a few weeks peace? His Earbuds of Loud Rock are the only weapon he has to keep her at bay, and that can't be good for his sleep cycles.

I suppose we won't know what Ghost Patti wants until Kevin deigns to talk to her, and he won't do that without a fight, lest he acknowledge her existance.

I wonder what the Fire Chief and Head Spiritualist Fraud Hunter would've made out of Holy Wayne?

Edited October 13, 2015 by A Boston Gal

[editorgrrl]

It's unfortunate that the show returns to its main characters last year and it feels somewhat like a letdown, IMO. I think I prefer the more practical vibe of the Murphys. I'm not sure in a show with all the other craziness going on, if it's best that the main character himself is a little crazy. It's too much.

I had a very different reaction to this episode. Like the season one flashback episode, it answered questions.* The first episode was told from the Murphys' point of view, so it felt to me like a series premiere. Then this episode reminded me what I liked about season one, plus made me look forward to seeing the Garveys and Murphys interact.

*We now know how the Garveys got the house, and why they came to Jarden: Nora doesn't want to lose her new family. When Kevin was acting all weird in John's kitchen last episode, Patti was talking to him.

Edited to add I laughed when Nora promised Kevin they'd only stop by the party for 15 minutes. First a 30-day rental turns into a $3 mil fixer-upper. Then the awkward party!

Also, Steven Williams' character who invited Kevin to stop by his trailer is the same guy who prayed with Michael Murphy, right? He's another '80s TV star—the captain on 21 Jump Street.

Edited October 13, 2015 by editorgrrl

[Cardie]

I don't think the MIT guys' theory will pan out. After all, Laurie's baby departed while in utero, geographically speaking they were exactly in the same coordinates.

 

Again, this does not negate the MIT guys' theory. It was the norm for only one of geographically contingent people to disappear. Having a bunch of people disappear from the same place was highly unusual. Their theory was that some geographical locations concentrated "departure energy" and carried away everyone who was there. That's why they wanted to investigate Nora's house.

 

[WearyTraveler]

Again, this does not negate the MIT guys' theory. It was the norm for only one of geographically contingent people to disappear. Having a bunch of people disappear from the same place was highly unusual. Their theory was that some geographical locations concentrated "departure energy" and carried away everyone who was there. That's why they wanted to investigate Nora's house.

 

 

That makes sense, I should have caught that.  Still, their research is not entirely comprehensive.  Their theory doesn't attempt to explain why some people within the same "departure energy" field (like Laurie and her baby) disappeared and others didn't.  Which, in the end, is what most "survivors" want to know: "why him/her and not me?", like when a person loses a loved one to death and wishes it were him/her that died instead of the loved one.

 

---------------------

In other news, it just struck me now how sad it was for Kevin to ask his father if the voices had gone away. I'm guessing he was hopeful that if his dad got "cured", he could also be cured of his Patti hallucination.  Poor Kevin!

[Shermie]

This show fascinates me. It's sci-fi the way I like it - ordinary people experiencing other-worldly things. Like we have a guy doing laundry, and families sharing a barbecue, and teen girls hanging out at night, such ordinary activities that happen every day all over the world.

But here there's this underlying sense of oddness and fear and mystery that colours everything everyone does. It's just so interesting to me.

Offering the one-month-old white baby to a couple that just adopted a baby seemed weird to me. I mean, newborn white babies are not hard to find parents for, aren't there years-long waiting lists? Even in this post-departure world, some parents might not want to adopt anymore or have disappeared, but others would be added to the list who lost children (like Nora).

[Helena Dax]

Offering the one-month-old white baby to a couple that just adopted a baby seemed weird to me. I mean, newborn white babies are not hard to find parents for, aren't there years-long waiting lists? Even in this post-departure world, some parents might not want to adopt anymore or have disappeared, but others would be added to the list who lost children (like Nora).

 

I honestly thought it was some kind  of test to see if  they were really the better parents for a black babygirl. Like if they had shown interest for the white baby, the adoptions guy would have thought they weren't never going  to see her as their  own daughter.  I don't know a  thing about adoptions, though, so I could be completely wrong.

[loki567]

The only thing I know about the adoption process is from television so I could be way off-base here, but aren't white babies about ten times more difficult to get than black babies? So by showing the adoption official trying to give away a white baby, it means that people aren't adopting in the same numbers in The Leftovers-universe. 

[izabella]

It's unfortunate that the show returns to its main characters last year and it feels somewhat like a letdown, IMO. I think I prefer the more practical vibe of the Murphys. I'm not sure in a show with all the other craziness going on, if it's best that the main character himself is a little crazy. It's too much.

 

And now we're back to the ghosts and the visions, I think it works better when the writers don't give a voice to all this stuff and it just feels more like living after an unexplained natural phenomenon.

 

I'd be a lot happier with the show if Kevin weren't having visions, and sleep-walking at night to find himself in bizarre circumstances when he wakes up.  There's plenty of wierd with the disappearances of people and the aftermath.  Why did they have to add stupid visions and impossible to reconcile actions (ending up in a river tied to a cinder block) to it?  I don't think it's necessary and really don't see what it adds except to torture Kevin.  It's like he's on two different shows.

[Clanstarling]

It really irks me too. It is reminiscent of something you'd hear on the Prarie Home Companion, or some other pseudo-intellectual gathering of folk singers.

Few things annoy me more than hippies and folk singers.

While I don't listen to the type of music, I think it fits with the new venue and, in particular, the extremely diverse campers crowding the park, which IIRC included a few pick-up bands. The song is consistent with the types of themes folk music took on back in the heyday of folk, and seems to me a reasonable take on post-departure songwriting. 

Edited October 13, 2015 by clanstarling

[Broderbits]

 

loki567 said:

I think I prefer the more practical vibe of the Murphys. I'm not sure in a show with all the other craziness going on, if it's best that the main character himself is a little crazy. It's too much.

 

Maybe it's just me, but I think Murphy the Fire Chief burning down that guy's house is kind of crazy. That whole town looks pretty wacky, Kevin fits right in.

 

We may never get a definitive explanation of the departures, but the episode last season that showed the disappeared were thought of as hindrances in the lives of their significant others really made sense (as much as any of this can make sense). Now the Murphy's daughter has vanished after having a seizure in front of the new neighbors. Maybe someone in her family felt embarrassed or annoyed by it.

[toomuchtv47]

Kevin's dad made a comment that stood out to me while they were having their talk.  He said something like "I started listening to them" when asked if he still heard voices.  Last season we saw Grandpa yelling at things that weren't there and fighting it, like Kevin is now.  I'm wondering if Kevin embracing the crazy might just help him out.  Maybe he should be listening to Patty since she's just his own psyche.  As for waking up with a cinder block tied around his ankle, I got nothing.

[ToastnBacon]

While I don't listen to the type of music, I think it fits with the new venue and, in particular, the extremely diverse campers crowding the park, which IIRC included a few pick-up bands. The song is consistent with the types of themes folk music took on back in the heyday of folk, and seems to me a reasonable take on post-departure songwriting.

Oh, I agree that it is a fitting musical accompaniment to the freak show waiting to get into Miracle. I just enjoy complaining about hippies and folk singers.

On the subject of musical scores, I love the piano music that they use in many scenes on this show.

It reminds me of the piano score in the 1998 movie, The Truman Show.

Burkhard Dallwitz composed the score for that, but I wasn't able to find who does the piano score The Leftovers.

It isn't in IMDB, if anyone knows, please share.

[Cardie]

Kevin and the cinderblock are not so mysterious. He's been having blackouts during which he does crazy things. Perhaps this time he decided to rid himself of Patti after she led him to the site of the girls' disappearance and he feels responsible for it happening. Or maybe his subconscious is simply suicidal.

 

I also think the girls' disappearance is not of the same order as the Sudden Departure. I'll give odds their bodies turn up, or even their living selves.

[loki567]

Maybe it's just me, but I think Murphy the Fire Chief burning down that guy's house is kind of crazy. That whole town looks pretty wacky, Kevin fits right in.

 

Definitely crazy, but it's crazy in reaction to crazy events which is the difference to Kevin who, "Garveys at their Best," established was losing it before the Departure. Somebody made the point and I agree with it, Kevin can almost feel like he's on another show sometimes.