LEFTOVERS .. 2% of threads disappear (SPOILERS)

[Bastard of Boston]

I knew those girls had to still be alive, though I did not expect them to end up with the GR. They were so weirdly specific with Evie's characterization in that premiere episode. It was baffling to me that they would get rid of her after the time and attention they took. Granted, we've come to expect a lot of the nuance with anything on this show, but it just felt like we would see her again.

[ghosts in winterfell]

Dammit do I love the show's original score.

[Jack Bauer 24]

Amazing finale. Felt like a series finale to me unfortunately though. Also, the finale ended at 10:14........10/14 was the Departure. Coincidence?

[Astromech]

This is one I have to reflect upon a little bit. I agree with Jack Bauer 24 regarding it feeling like a series finale.

[Good Guy Garlan]

When Kevin stumbled into the seemingly post apocalyptic Jarden with the dog in tow, I can't be the only one who thought, "Hmmm, I guess The Leftovers was just a weird prequel/introduction to a Fallout tv show. And I'm FINE with that!"

It did feel to a series finale for me too, though I'd love a season of the Garveys + Nora + Revered and Wife + John and Ericka teaming up to kick Meg's smug ass out of town. God, the GR just EMBODY the definition of the "First Word Problems" meme. I can't hate them more than I do.

[kairparavel]

I wasn't too on board with Kevin's second purgatory, but otherwise a strong ending to the season. Family is event everything. Kevin gets his back, seemingly. John loses the fragile strings that was holding his together. Pretty powerful stuff this season. I hope there is more.

Also, the Emmys and Golden Globes need to recognize this show. Just such incredible storytelling and acting.

[Igziabeher]

They wrapped everything up pretty tightly, but could go completely off the reservation for a 3rd season.  They pretty much did this season.

I actually like what Meg did.  Why do the residents of Jarden think they can get away living in an amusement park closed off from the rest of the world?  Glad she opened up the town to the rest of society.  Now they can see how the rest of the world live.

I don't get Matt's obsession with getting back in.  He got his miracle, he's completely selfish to wheel his pregnant wife into a riot zone.  Although I've been to a few music festivals that looked like Jarden when Kevin was walking home.

I'm hopeful but not confident in a 3rd season.  Maybe the extended Garvey family can go to Australia.  Either way end it now, or give it 1 last hurrah.  You can't keep this up for longer than that, which is a good thing.

[Bastard of Boston]

I thought Matt wanted back in because he was convinced his wife needed to be in the town in order for her miraculous recovery and pregnancy to maintain.

This did feel like a series finale. The ultra blended family coming together was as happy an ending as this series would ever get, right down to Kevin telling John to come over to his place if need be. You also had crazy ass Meg confirming that family is everything to Tom, right after Tom hypothesized that it meant nothing. Great show. Alas, most of the world can't cope with ambiguity.

[Ferrum Aeternum]

I don't see this getting a 3rd season; this just isn't the sort of stuff that's palatable to a wider audience. Here's hoping HBO will surprise us and give it one more.

If that's all we're getting, it was a decent but not great way to wrap up the series. One loose end I'd like to know more about is the significance of dad's move to Australia.

I don't get Matt's obsession with getting back in.  He got his miracle, he's completely selfish to wheel his pregnant wife into a riot zone. 

I took it to mean he was afraid if she spent too long outside of Jarden that she might revert back to her catatonic state.

 

[Good Guy Garlan]

Yeah, Matt is Rose from "Lost", really

[Commodore]

were we supposed to understand that Evi left because of her father's physical abuse (of her? or her mom?)

[Commodore]

interview with DL about show's future

http://variety.com/2015/tv/features/leftovers-finale-season-3-damon-lindelof-1201654462/

[Ixodes]

were we supposed to understand that Evi left because of her father's physical abuse (of her? or her mom?)

I took it as more of emotional abuse.  That episode was emotional but the most brutal exchange was Kevin and John:   "Maybe she didn't.  She didn't what?  Maybe she didn't love you."  Damn, that hurt.  

For a show that isn't keen on revealing plot elements, the writers really went far with Kevin's story.  It was nice having a character arc that left ambiguity behind.  It would be great seeing a reunion with his father.  

[NestorMakhnosLovechild]

were we supposed to understand that Evi left because of her father's physical abuse (of her? or her mom?)

I don't think we're supposed to find any single-source explanation in Evie's decision to join the Guilty Remnant. The whole idea of the Guilty Remnant is that the Sudden Departure ripped the blindfold off of the reality of the world as we know it and forever fractured humanity's relationship with the universe. The Remnant are made up of people that either feel completely unattached to the world or believe that there is no point in having attachments to this world since 2% of the world's population can simply disappear without notice or explanation.

I think the best part of the finale was Evie telling her mother that she knows that her mother understands the impulse to completely give up your life and everything you know. That was a pretty clear reference to her mother's prior admission that she was planning on leaving John and her kids right before Evie disappeared. The only difference between Evie and her mother is that her mother presumably held out some hope that she could start her life over and find some meaning in it, and Evie, by joining the Guilty Remnant, has given up the pretense that there is anything that she could or should become attached to. 

[Commodore]

as someone said earlier, it's all very self-centered, navel-gazing, first-world problemy

[Astromech]

I felt the juxtaposition of Kevin's and John's families worked very well. The opposite trajectories of each family, especially in the final episode, was evident. John's family was crumbling while Kevin's was healing. Kevin's invitation to John to come over if need be was quite poignant. I had to chuckle with their lines about not understanding what was happening while they were at the clinic. I wasn't too keen on Kevin dying again. However, it worked in so far as Kevin chose the police uniform/his old life.

[NestorMakhnosLovechild]

as someone said earlier, it's all very self-centered, navel-gazing, first-world problemy

Ennui has long been recognized as the curse of the middle class. 

[CyanidePie]

as someone said earlier, it's all very self-centered, navel-gazing, first-world problemy

I don't think the fundamental change of the universe and life as we have always known is a first world problem. I would assume the disappearance of 2% of the world's population would be a whole-world problem that would affect every human being profoundly. 

[Ixodes]

The ramifications of losing that piece of population is much more of a first world problem.  Anywhere you would have third world illness, infant mortality, life expectancy, ongoing violence, etc, a sudden loss of a minority of the people would be better tolerated.  I'll bet in the Congo the departure wasn't nearly as big of a deal.  But in the first world this would carry a different emotional toll since it is hundreds of years since any comparable event.  That in and of itself makes some great drama but when they throw in the mystical/spiritual components, this show really is unique.  

[Ken Stone]

The ramifications of losing that piece of population is much more of a first world problem.  Anywhere you would have third world illness, infant mortality, life expectancy, ongoing violence, etc, a sudden loss of a minority of the people would be better tolerated.  I'll bet in the Congo the departure wasn't nearly as big of a deal.  But in the first world this would carry a different emotional toll since it is hundreds of years since any comparable event.  That in and of itself makes some great drama but when they throw in the mystical/spiritual components, this show really is unique.  

That's a damn good point. In many places in the world peoples whole families do just disappear with no warning. It's debatable if it is worse to lose them to violence or some unknown event.