The Leftovers - Season 2

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/9/15 at 9:38pm

I know there was a short thread on season one on here, but my lazy search results came up with nothing--anyway, season 2 seems so different, that it doesn't feel wrong to give it its own thread.

Aside from myself and Auggie, who caught on to the brilliant of season one before I did, did anyone catch the premier?  I was shocked by the complete change of direction in the opening credits (and while I like the visual metaphor, I will miss the brooding use of Richter's theme which I already knew because of a powerful Holocaust ballet I had seen use it years before, I kinda get the change,) and then that opening Kubrick-esque caveman scene.  WTF.  But I was drawn into the new characters and, despite my misgivings with Lindelof's Lost, I'm willing to see where this goes. 
 

Original opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PTNHQND6MA
 

 

Updated On: 10/11/15 at 09:38 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/9/15 at 9:40pm

And (I have no idea why BWW won't let me post videos at the moment,) season two's opening...  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLSH-81yT7s

[Behind-the-Scenes]

Posted: 10/11/15 at 4:12pm

I've watched this show since the beginning and I think it's fantastic! I HATE the new opening! I was so disappointed and actually checked twice to see if I watching the right show!

But, I guess a new season, full of new people and a new story, deserves its own. I cannot wait for tonight's episode. I have a theory about what is happening, but I'd like to wait before I share! 

I enjoyed the opening very much. I think it says a lot. Although we continue to grow in knowledge, there is still so much we do not know. 

 

Also... I just realized this now. The show is called "The Leftovers"! 

Updated On: 10/11/15 at 04:12 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 10/11/15 at 10:05pm

Yes, I've seen every episode and the East Coast feed is being taped as I type this.

 

Whether I understand what is going on or not, I watch in case Justin Theroux goes "commando jogging" again.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/11/15 at 11:17pm

I am sorry Gaveston to be the bearer of bad news http://tvline.com/2015/09/28/justin-theroux-sweatpants-the-leftovers-season-2-jogging-scenes/

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/12/15 at 1:31am

I would like to embrace it as well.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 10/12/15 at 7:05am

Le Sigh.

 

[Auggie27]

Posted: 10/12/15 at 12:52pm

I thought Epi 2 seemed like the season 2 pilot, reversed. Obviously their goal, to Rashomon the jump-start. But it was comforting to reconnect to the characters we knew in a more linear fashion and get the interim back-ish story about all that happened to get them to Miracle. (The explanation about Nora's house was rather brilliant storytelling, and totally tracked with the post "10/14" world they've created.) I am enjoying the launch, still traumatized by that prologue to Epi 1 last week.  

 

MINOR SPOILER

Coon and Theroux seemed an odd couple last season, but now are a genuine root-for, as mis-matched as they seem (again, in no small part to Coon being cast in a role that might've gone to someone more cookie cutter).  Nora is so permanently wounded, our definitive point of access for the premise of the show, we can't help but feel for her at every turn.  When they walked in the house last night, a shambles, it was poignant to see her pragmatism. She wasn't about to be destroyed by anything as temporary as a run-down house.  This is such a tragically altered human being, and without ever overplaying it, Coon always lets us see what she's lost.  But the show is impeccably cast, down to the smallest role.  

Updated On: 10/12/15 at 12:52 PM

[SmoothLover]

Posted: 10/14/15 at 8:01am

The 2nd season is very strong.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/14/15 at 12:45pm

I am loving it, although I admit I am getting a bit more of a Lost vibe which always worries me (though showrunner Lindelof at least this time isn't claiming he has a big reveal for all of the mysteries.)  Ratings are in the toilet and were never that strong, which disappoints me, but I get that many people find the show too unrelentingly grim--(and, as I read somewhere, that doesn't necessarily mean there is not going to be a third season since HBO sees there Fall slot as a place to put lower rated shows and not try to compete with other cable shows at the time like Walking Dead and Leftovers reportedly is pretty low budget--certainly more so than Game of Thrones or some of the new projects.)

[BobbyBubbi]

Posted: 10/16/15 at 12:14am

Grim or not its some of the best acting on TV right now, and I find the subject matter quite compelling.  Ann Dowd is simply chilling.

 

[Auggie27]

Posted: 10/19/15 at 10:28am

Damn, last night's (Epi 3) got me. And Brennan was superb. The new direction for her character is a brilliant stroke, and she had one of the best scenes of the series, either season, last night. Still very hooked.  

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 7:37pm

AMAZING episode.  I was kinda disappointed when I saw the preview and realized it would be based on those characters, but I think it was one of my favourite episodes ever.  The Emmys have been ignoring this show(due to low ratings?) but Brennen earned one right there.  ANd CHris Zylka has come a long way from his earlier attempts at acting when he first transitioned from modelling and was pretty wretched.  I think I know which scene you are referencing, but out of curiousity... which scene are you referencing?  :P

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 10/20/15 at 7:59pm

Of course the only discussion of the episode I've seen on my Facebook has been about Chris' brief full frontal nudity...

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 10/25/15 at 10:24pm

No more "commando jogging"? I thought that was the whole point of putting a show on HBO!

 

Maybe last year's scenes were Jennifer Aniston's revenge on Brad and Angelina, and Jenn figures her point has been made.

[Behind-the-Scenes]

Posted: 10/25/15 at 10:35pm

Boy does this show mess with my emotions. Carrie Coon, as well as the actress who plays Jill, are giving some fine performances this season. I hope they are not forgotten around the award season!

My friends and I have some theories about what may be happening this season, so SPOILERS will be posted past this point.

1) Four people moved in (the Garveys), four moved out (Evie and her friends). Two people moved in (the Priest and his wife), two people moved out (a former pastor and his companion on their mission).

2) I personally think this one is a stretch, but I will give credit to my friend for catching this... Is Jarden the Garden of Eden? And is Evie Eve? Did she get banished? 

3) There is something interesting going on with Australia, but this past episode didn't seem to have a reference unlike the other three. 

Anyways... I am enjoying this show immensely, especially this new season. It's very powerful and certainly makes you feel whether you want to or not.

Great TV.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 10/26/15 at 12:13pm

Last night's pace was very different, very deliberate in pace, and the focus a direct pick-up from episode 2 (yes?) I was so besotted with epi 3, I missed Brennan, which I never did last season. But they are moving slowly, letting us inside these people a scene at a time. And last night was solid.  I find myself wondering if the wonderful Ann Dowd's presence will wear out its welcome. I was glad she had more substantive commentary last night rather than mere clever if prescience-loaded rejoinders.  But epi 3 reminds me that we'll be getting glimpses of this next era from several perspectives.  Regina King was terrific last night, too. Patience is required, but the show continues to hold. 

[SmoothLover]

Posted: 10/27/15 at 12:43am

I love Ms. Dowd but the way they are using her IS wearing thin for me. I wish they would have come up with something else.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 11/23/15 at 7:56am

Last night's episode (11/22) was the single biggest 'thud' I've felt in watching a serialized story in years.  It was expertly played and directed, but nothing in this new turn connects for me.  I'm tired of the blurry metaphysics in Kevin's plight, and the end of last week's episode sent off major alarm bells, so left field and so tonally at odds with the show's plotting (it seemed more "True Blood" to me, and in this case, not a compliment.)  I have so enjoyed this second season, the new locale, the infusion of new characters and even the strong hints that partially explicate the nature of the 10/14 disappearances.  But this struggle between Kevin and ghost/delusion Patti is just murky and overwrought.  Both actors are playing the hell out of it, which to me only points up the problems with it.

 

SPOILER

 

Kevin's karmic destiny in limbo/purgatory felt cheesy. The multiple "deaths" of Patti I just didn't get. The use of the GR alternative universe scenario followed by the murder of baby Patti in the well (Ben Carson and Baby Hitler anyone?).  I thought it was so over-extended and unsatisfying as story payoff.  And the show's use of violence has always been focused and powerful, especially with the Shirley Jackson-like motifs in the GR. Last night, watching Kevin murder Patti twice was one too much.  If I've missed stuff -- and I may be way off -- it's due to the "Lost" patina now ruining Perotta's initial conceit.  The show was always strongest when grounded in the quotidian details of the aftermath of extreme, apocalyptic tragedy.  Now we're dealing with baroque karma crap that just feels womped up, and without emotional investment.  The previews promise a return to what the show best offers, but I was dismayed by just about everything last night. 

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 11/23/15 at 7:23pm

If Evie is being cast out of the Garden, then last night's episode was clearly Abraham and Isaac.  With a biblical exile-themed score - Verdi's Nabucco.

It's all very murky but maybe it will pay off.  

Updated On: 11/23/15 at 07:23 PM

[Auggie27]

Posted: 11/24/15 at 10:06am

You nailed it. Murky Nabucco.  I've heard others report they loved Sunday night's show.  I may end up in the minority here. Or maybe the next two will make last night's more of an outlier (thought it felt like somebody's idea of Meaningful Payoff).  I've been very wrong before. 

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 11/24/15 at 9:18pm

I find the show intriguing and compelling, which puts it ahead of the majority of the series currently running.  And I actually find redeeming qualities in most of its characters, something that has becoming increasingly lacking in series I'm considering bailing like How to Get Away With Murder and The Affair.  I was skeptical about the Tree of Life derivative opening to the second season, but luckily, we haven't gone back down that road.  But this last episode was very reminiscent of Songs From the Second Floor in many ways, which isn't a bad thing, but I sort of wonder how far the series may be straying from its source material and why.  The more it resembles Lost, the more I lose interest.  It seems to be walking a fine line between creative sociological sci-fi and pretentious production.  I'm not sure it's...satisfying?  And perhaps it's not meant to be.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/25/15 at 3:04am

(I had to look up Songs from the Second Floor...)

Matt, I may be misreading you completely, so my apologies, but you said: "but I sort of wonder how far the series may be straying from its source material and why"
 

While season one already deviated in tone and in details from Tom Perrotta's novel, it essentially exhausted any material from the novel.  So while Perrotta is still an exec producer, and from a recent interview still is story consultant, AND co-wrote three episodes this year (2, 6 and 10, the finale,) Damon Lindelof like last year is the showrunner--and, I get the feeling since this one is not based on novel material, has had more story control.  So I'm not sure there's any source material to stray from (the novel, like I said, already was pretty different in tone than season one with, for example, MUCH more humour).

I know we've long been told not to expect answers (unlike Lost where we were repeatedly told that we would get answers,) but with the ratings remaining VERY low by HBO standards this season, I wonder if this is the last season if we'll have some sort of satisfying stop point.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/25/15 at 3:28am

And BTW--this last episode was co-written by Lindelof (like they all have been) and... for the first time Nick Cuse, the son of Lost co-showrunner Carlton Cuse (...)  I'm gonna choose to see it as a blip, with a few good moments until next week anyway (I never even finished Lost, but why is Lindelof obsessed with magical wells?)

[Auggie27]

Posted: 11/25/15 at 10:06am

My assessment was probably excessively harsh, as the episode will likely have stand-alone elements. And it's just my subjective taste, a little of that sort of limbo/dreamscape stuff -- once so beloved of Rod Serling -- goes a long way for me.  I think it will be valuable to look at this piece of the puzzle after the season ends.  Too much of this second edition has been really nuanced, compelling writing (and playing) to necessarily see this as a wrong turn.  But I'm concerned that the whole re-use of Patti may suggest layers below where the show has been working.  It's always been rock solid when dealing with a kind of gritty, reality-based view of the aftermath of an apocalypse.  It's the grounding in daily domestic crises that has made the woo-woo elements so embraceable. When we get into karmic debt, multiple dream state assassinations, heavy (handed) biblical allusions, I'm just much less interested.  The domestic drama's intersection with cosmic crises made it fresh.  Once the cosmic stuff supercedes, we're in anything-goes (i.e. "Lost" ville.  

Updated On: 11/25/15 at 10:06 AM