HBO‘s new series The Leftovers is definitely unique. With an unfamiliar backdrop set in a world surrounded by uncertainty, we can’t wait to see where the series takes us.
The premiere of HBO‘s new show The Leftovers shoved us into a post-rapture world where everything doesn’t feel quite right. Shrouded in mystery, as Lost writer Damon Lindelof pulls off so seamlessly, the pilot definitely ends with more questions than answers. But we can’t wait to see more.
When the show opens, we are immediately thrown into the moment when, on October 14, two percent of the world’s population simply vanishes inexplicably. We then flash forward exactly three years where the story pick up with how the world, more specifically the people left in it, are coping. Turns out, not so well. They’re having a hard time letting go, if you can imagine that.
Case in point: In one of the first scenes, we watch our main character Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux) try to coax a runaway dog to come to him. Only to have a man step out of his truck and shoot the dog with a shotgun. The man drives off before Garvey can catch him. And we’re left wondering, “What the…” And so unfolds the rest of the show.
The Guilty Remnant
The Guilty Remnant have the most extreme way of dealing it appears. They are a cult of people who wear all white and creepily hover over whatever population they can. They don’t speak and advocate for silence, encouraging people not to waste their breath through peaceful protest. Of yeah, but they also smoke all day long, cigarette after cigarette, as a way of showing faith. It seems like the ultimate oxymoron to us because isn’t smoking on of the best ways to waste your breath?
Holy Wayne’s got a cult too
Where The Guilty Remnant seem to be the peaceful, albeit annoying, protesters of the bunch, Holy Wayne’s group is a little more extreme. Wayne may thing he can release people’s pain with a simple hug, but he prefers much more radical methods for those who don’t acquiesce in his little community.
There’s a theme throughout the pilot of humanity snapping, going primal. It seems the dogs have already gone there. The rumor is if man’s best friend witnessed a human disappear, they went wild. Thus, there are a bunch of angry dogs running around town. Wayne has that angry dog look in his eyes, which makes clear humanity may not be that far behind from completely losing it.
The, sort of, normal people
Garvey and his daughter Jill enter the show as our protagonists, though they are far from perfect. Garvey’s wife Laurie is hanging out with The Guilty Remnant while Garvey’s son Tom is more of a Holy Wayne’s-type guy. In the middle, he and his daughter are just trying to move on and build lives as best they can.
It isn’t as easy as it sounds. Especially since Garvey is being haunted by a deer. No, seriously.
But, at the end of the episode, everything comes full circle. Garvey narrowly avoids hitting the deer while driving, before stepping out of his car and having a cordial conversation with it. Don’t worry, it didn’t talk back. Then, suddenly, the deer is attacked by the feral dogs, and the same trucker who shot the dog at the beginning of the episode, shows up to rid the world of more of the insane pooches.
Garvey asks, “Am I awake?” We were kinda wondering the same thing, actually. To which the dog shooter replies, “You are now, chief.”
They both shoot down the feral dogs together. Uh-huh. It’s super strange but just trust us and go watch the show for yourself if you haven’t already.
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