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The Leftovers in the Media

scrb

By scrb
in The Leftovers [V]

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Danny Franks
Danny Franks

So much this! And this is exactly why I don't care about the 'whys' and 'hows' of the show. It's like Rygel once said in Farscape, "what does it matter how they did it? It's done." That's how I approa

Addlepated
Addlepated

Well I'm in - filming on Tuesday.  Should I put how they want me to dress in the spoiler thread?

Danny Franks
Danny Franks

Rolling Stone had a nice recap of the finale.   I particularly liked this bit, which will hopefully explain to some people that it wasn't significant that Nora found a baby, but that she found somet

xaxat

xaxat

(edited)

The New York Times: ‘The Leftovers’ Starts Over Beautifully in Season 2
 
New York Magazine: The Leftovers’ New Season Is Some of the Most Interesting Television in Ages
 
And then there is this, from Variety
 

A creative reboot ostensibly intended to address the program’s shortcomings has merely exacerbated them, leaving behind a drama that is arty and provocative, but also pretentious and opaque to the point of infuriating.

Edited by xaxat
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ganesh

ganesh

A creative reboot ostensibly intended to address the program’s shortcomings has merely exacerbated them, leaving behind a drama that is arty and provocative, but also pretentious and opaque to the point of infuriating.

 

I'd say S1 was pretentious and overbearing. 

 

However, I happened across the S2 trailer when watching Real Time, I think, and it looked like a completely different show. I actually said, "Hey that guy from the Leftovers has another show on HBO?" I didn't even know until the end. I'm going to watch without bringing along my baggage from S1. It's not going to appointment tv, and I'm going to try really hard not to complain all the time. I thought there was a lot more interesting things they could have done with the premise than a bunch of people who don't talk, so if S2 is a creative reboot, I'm amenable. 

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WearyTraveler

WearyTraveler

So, what's the verdict on the first 2 episodes? Is it better/same/worse than last season?

 

Well, I think you have to judge for yourself.  It's different and yet feels the same in some ways. It's been a while since we've discussed the show, so I've forgotten some of our discussions, but I think some of the things you didn't like from last season are gone or treated differently this season.

 

Also, IIRC, last year the media reviews were split, but the positive ones were winning, and you didn't like a lot of things on the show, so your view was diametrically opposed to the media consensus.  Maybe the media thread is not a good indicator to make your decision.

 

I think you should give it a try.  I'm liking it, but then again, I liked last season and you didn't, so maybe my word is not the best guideline for you :D

 

In other news, I was wondering where you were since you said you'd give the new season a try and I didn't see you in the discussion threads.  It'd be interesting to read your thoughts, if you feel so inclined.

editorgrrl

editorgrrl

http://www.vulture.com/2015/10/leftovers-recap-season-2-episode-3.html

Early on, Tom watches a video clip of Holy Wayne using almost exactly the same language Tom himself uses in the final meeting. And maybe Tom does avoid hugging Jill, but after he bails Laurie out of jail, he gives his mom a great, big hug, and it doesn’t seem to do a damn thing for her pain.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/18/arts/television/the-leftovers-recap-lets-give-them-something.html

During this episode, we briefly hear a news report about a resurrection in (where else?) Australia that involved a man, previously believed dead, emerging from a cave outside of Perth. The publishing executive refers to it again when he mentions the “wing nut in Australia who says he went to the other side and can’t die.” Caves and mystical events — that certainly seems connected to Miracle. Also: I wouldn’t be surprised if the resurrected “wing nut” turns out to be Holy Wayne.

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Cosmocrush

Cosmocrush

Alan Sepinwall's review of S2:Ep08 International Assassin  

 

http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/review-the-leftovers-pays-sopranos-homage-with-wild-international-assassin

 

I used to read all of Alan's The Sopranos reviews (which often paralleled my own, only better written) so I wanted to see if he noticed the similarities of settings in this one.  He did.   Some excerpts:

 

Part of what makes the hour so watchable, in fact, is that early on, Kevin ceases to act the way he usually does: he stops questioning everything around him and just goes with it. He wants Virgil's help getting out of here, but he believes in what's occurring, and isn't trying to fight it.           
 

 

and

 

I don't know what I expected the show to do in the aftermath of last week's cliffhanger, but I never in a million years would have guessed, "Kevin is reborn as an international assassin who must prevent Patti from being elected president." And yet in the context of the episode, and the series as a whole, it somehow makes perfect sense, and was just as gripping, and powerful, and strange, as the rest of this season.

Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/review-the-leftovers-pays-sopranos-homage-with-wild-international-assassin#X7y7xl6ty7BC6BTK.99

 

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scrb

scrb

  • Author

Probably some Sky package in the UK which will air the HBO shows at the same time they air in the US?

 

I've seen Game of Thrones advertised in Europe so that show seems to be aired there.

 

But that may be an exception since the show may be co-produced with a UK or European company.  The show is shot in Europe of course.

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formerlyfreedom

formerlyfreedom

Not sure what you mean Stacey? First time i've posted in this forum, I wasn't asking for any thing illegal, Just asking if there was anywhere I could watch earlier episodes, sorry if i've asked something I shouldn't :-(

 

No, you didn't ask anything wrong, I was just clarifying that any responses here need to be for legal methods.

  • Love 3
michellesings

michellesings

I watched the first two episodes and I really don't get the show.

I get that the Rapture is suppose to have happened and everyone is so bummed out about

all the people that have left.  What I don't get is that "All the people that have left" is only 2% of the population.

2% is not even scientificiy significant.   I graduated from HS with a class of 500 people.  If we lost 2% of the graduating class, that would only

be 10 people missing.   I am not sure that would even be noticed.

That just seems like a very small number of people to disappear and cause the world to fall  into apathy and chaos.

 

And don't get me started on the fact that 2% seems like a very low number of people to be "Saved" and vanish in the Rapture..

Just seems like an unsteady foundation on which to base a series.  Just one guys opinion.

 

The show is much more complicated than what you see upon first glance. It's not the kind of show that you can be scrolling on your phone while watching. What appears to make no sense, somehow magically COMPLETELY makes sense and is fascinating by the end. I'd give it a few more episodes before you write it off. It gets better and better. A few times, I've even wondered if I'm watching the correct show, and by the end, I'm amazed when I see that, yes, not only am I watching the correct show, I see how brilliantly and creatively they've done something here. To see how they can possibly end this in the same manner is what I'm dying to know. :)

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revbfc

revbfc

I had to stop myself from reading part of the way through part 1 (I felt I'd be better served reading it after the finale). What I did appreciate (slightly) was that Lindelhof was at least a little sensitive to jerking around viewers too much.

RedheadZombie

RedheadZombie

 

Interesting that they knew going in that the three girls would fake their disappearance, but didn't decide until later that the GR would be involved.  It smacks of backwards writing (plot-driven) when I usually prefer character-driven.

WearyTraveler

WearyTraveler

(edited)

Interesting that they knew going in that the three girls would fake their disappearance, but didn't decide until later that the GR would be involved.  It smacks of backwards writing (plot-driven) when I usually prefer character-driven.

 

To play devil's advocate, though, the timeline of these decisions is not very clear in the interview.  It could have been they decided the girls would fake their disappearance in hour 1 of the discussion and that the idea that they went to the GR came about in hour 2.  Or both decisions could have been separated by days or weeks.

 

With these shorter shows that shoot well before the first episode of the season airs, I think there's more time to have everything make sense.  It's not like regular network where writers have a few weeks to plan the season and then have to write episodes in parallel with filming, which can cause some storytelling problems.  As I understand the process here, it's all practically written before they begin filming, and maybe during filming there are a few tweaks here and there, but not that many.

 

Also, I love that audience reaction does not have a lot of influence during the course of a season. I have seen far too many shows cave to the pressure of very vocal internet groups that don't represent the audience as a whole but are very loud, resulting in awful plots, character regression and retconning.  I prefer it this way.  It's more similar to a book, where you can't influence the writer as he/she writes.

Edited by WearyTraveler
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shapeshifter

shapeshifter

I heard most of this and was disappointed that the disappearances were only considered to be supernatural or magic or religious. In the show we got the research guys investigating geographic locations etc. in Lens, but I didn't hear any mention of a possible scientific explanation (albeit scifi) in the interview. Did I miss it? Or is that not a consideration by Perrotta or Lindlehoff?
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Ronin Jackson

Ronin Jackson

That's a very idiosyncratic list by Vulture. It's of course subjective but 3 of my top 5 shows aren't on there and 2 don't even get mentioned (those shows are, in no particular order Rectify, The Knick, The Americans, Mr. Robot and Better Call Saul). While I think all of the shows I've seen on the list were at least decent (I've seen 7 of 10) some of them to me are no where near as good as the ones on my list. But hey, it's all subjective.... sometimes I think they should rename these lists "favorites" instead of "best" though.

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ottoDbusdriver

ottoDbusdriver

18 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

So. April 2017?   http://www.parentherald.com/articles/58856/20160803/the-leftovers-season-3-air-date-news-s3-to-premiere-april-2017-why-delay-is-great-for-the-show.htm

So the premise of that article is that people who are too stupid to live will tune in thinking that 'Game of Thrones' is supposed to be on on those particular days and everyone will stay glued to the TV and watch 'The Leftovers' since that will be the only thing on HBO at that time.  Ummm, how about no.

9 hours ago, ganesh said:

Is anyone going to remember by then? 

Remember what ?   <ducks to avoid thrown objects>

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ganesh

ganesh

I agree that the show should not give an answer to how everyone vanished. Each viewer's pov on what happened changes the interpretation of the show, and it should have multiple interpretations. However, I just don't agree with because they won't provide that answer doesn't mean nothing should be. With seemingly everything having so many takes, the show is just obtuse to the point where it's a collection of fairly interesting scenes rather than any narrative. Maybe the show would have been better as an anthology with the common framing of the disappearance. 

Pallas

Pallas

9 hours ago, stagmania said:

 

Great review from Alan Sepinwall on the new season. Critics have already seen 7 of the 8 episodes.

 

Thank you!  From the beginning, Sepinwall has been as staunch and swoony for this show as for Deadwood. He truly gets it, and, he just can't get enough of it. I picture him the first time he watched Kevin/Justin fight his way through Homeward Bound: shaking his head with appreciation, grinning more than he even knows, and tearing up with wonder. "Look what I found." 

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stagmania

stagmania

3 hours ago, Pallas said:

From the beginning, Sepinwall has been as staunch and swoony for this show as for Deadwood. He truly gets it, and, he just can't get enough of it. 

Absolutely, which is why I trust him more than other critics where this show is concerned. Most of them didn't like season 1 and came around as fans in season 2, but I'm on the Sepinwall train and was on board from the very first. 

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scrb

scrb

  • Author

I will watch all the episodes but Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan call this and Fargo the best shows on TV, better than Better Call Saul.

Uhm no, Leftovers put up some interesting scenes, a lot of anguished characters.  But I suspect it's headed towards the same place as Lost, a wholly unsatisfying conclusion for all the events which have occurred on the show.

I guess the book doesn't explain the supernatural?  So they can get away with not doing the same here or coming up with lame ending like Lost.

They needed a gimmick to get people into this series, which was a supernatural event followed by the survivors acting ridiculous.  But he had to keep adding supernatural events, like the guy dying to come back.  So more gimmicks and he will likely have to wrap it up with some more BS.

Does it enlighten us about the human condition?  We've seen some strong personalities, new breakout actors like Coon.  But this is some ridiculous cartoon or graphics novel, not some great art.  The cast will get a lot of roles out of this but Lindelhof's rep really won't change much from Lost.

He got some critical raves, which probably helped get it a third season but it won't change the view of many that he's a fraud.

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scrb

scrb

  • Author
22 minutes ago, ganesh said:

And then you know everyone will say it's "about the journey" amirite? 

Haven't they already?

Its not about the original event, it's about the survivors and them coping.

Fine but then you get a few more miracles or events like the sheriff going through a death experience.

It would almost be better if they didn't try to explain the original event.  It remains a mystery and gradually, the leftovers start acting normal.  No more cults, no more special towns, etc.

 

They could have made the show a bunch of therapy sessions, like In Treatment on steroids.  But that wouldn't be as melodramatic as the proceedings in this show.

ganesh

ganesh

Yes, and as I said at the start of this particular conversation yesterday, they should not explain the event. 

2 hours ago, scrb said:

Uhm no, Leftovers put up some interesting scenes, a lot of anguished characters.  

I think this is the fundamental point, which I also originally brought up. I was being glib because that was the excuse for Lost. I don't want to repeat myself because that isn't constructive, but you can legitimately do an "about the journey" and have a directed narrative. I suggested that an anthology style might have been more interesting. I will concede that the Nora-focused episode was by far the best of the series and wonder had she been the main character. 

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