All due respect to do-it-yourself bathtub baby deliveries, trigger-happy pregnant women, teens asphyxiating in abandoned refrigerators, and schizophrenic grandpas assaulting police officers. But as far as reasons to watch The Leftovers go, waiting for Justin Theroux and Carrie Coon to go at each other like beasts in heat onscreen is the one to beat.
So its to the credit of tonights episode that so many things thatwerent the bare asses of these two extremely attractive people made just as much of an impression. Directed with mounting intensity by Mimi Leder (who also helmed the gut-wrenching Gladys two weeks ago), Solace for Tired Feet gave multiple storylines a sudden push for that weve just crested the hill and begun the free fall feeling familiar to fans of tightly plotted ensemble dramas. If you were worried The Leftovers was gonna be nothing but one big wallow, you can probably put those concerns to bed.
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Speaking of which! Putting prurient interests aside, the now-physical relationship between Chief Kevin Garvey and local survivor-celebrity Nora Durst deserves top billing. After all, its the softest plot thread in the shows narrative tapestry, a rare display of human connection and kindness thats not undermined by grief and guilt, or corrupted by attempts to harness those emotions to some grand ideological purpose. You want these two crazy mixed-up kids to fall for each other, because after what theyve been through, they deserve it.
The show fuels our attachment to their attachment several times. Noras given the episodes most purely cathartic moment when she turns the garden hose on the Guilty Remnant, in particular Liv Tylers sanctimonious new convert Maggie. (Maggie is rejected a second time when she narcs on the tryst to Kevins ex-wife Laurie, who seems just as turned off by her nosing around as we are.) And after an episode spent hiding or denying his mental deterioration, Kevin reveals his fear that hes following in his schizophrenic fathers footsteps as part of pillow talk. Their actual sex may have been edited in an arrhythmic fashion that suggested Kevin viewed it as some kind of out-of-body experience, but afterwards, hes comfortable enough with Nora to share his darkest secret. Forget Kevin Sr.s cryptic messages that intimacy and ability to connect with someone once more is the sign Kevin Jr. should pay attention to.
The diverging fortunes of Kevins family are intriguing to track, too. Jill still feels a bit too much like she stepped off the screen at a movie theater where Twilight was playing, a la Jeff Daniels in The Purple Rose of Cairo. But the good sense she displayed in calling her dad before inviting her violent, escaped mental-patient grandfather into the house was a rewarding step away from sullen-teen clich, on both her part and the shows. Some of the traditional teen stuff was really right on, by the way the two twin bros wrestling around while their female friends sit there unimpressed rang almost too true.
The subplot involving Jills brother, Tom, surprised as well, for perhaps the first time. His rendezvous with faith-healer Holy Waynes other pregnant young Asian-American/scruffy white bro combo was darkly funny from beginning to end. Unexpected details like the other dudes thick Irish brogue and coke habit kept things lively, while the chaotic filming of the other girls shooting rampage kept them deadly, too. Its not clear how much were supposed to make of the parallels between Toms story and his dads their wounded left hands, the mailboxes that played prominent roles in Toms real-life nightmare and Kevins dream-world one but theyre there, and just shy enough of heavy-handed to be intriguing instead of annoying. And dont overlook the healer himself: After his appearance last week, in which his contact with Nora both humanized him and lent credence to his claims, this time hes a shadowy, sweaty figure clad only in underwear who keeps his face turned away from the camera. The contrast is striking and sinister.
That leaves Kevin Sr., and his messages from the voices in his head. The most far-out aspect of the show this side of the Sudden Departure itself, the former Chiefs potentially supernatural insights are dangerous ground for The Leftovers to tread, since science-fantasy shenanigans could easily overwhelm its observations of human beings dealing with human-being shit. But tonights episode handled it deftly, using Kevin Sr. to tie its separate strands together. He rescues Jill from the refrigerator and does battle with the dog that Kevin Jr. brought home during a blackout. His portents and prophecies echo the is-he-or-isnt-he mysticism of Holy Wayne that his grandson Tom is grappling with right up until the final shot of Christine and her bouncing baby girl. His return gives his son a reason to vent about the pain his illness has caused him: As far as Kevin Jr. sees it, his dad abandoned him for Departure-induced insanity at the exact same time his wife did, and thats hard to forgive. When hes on the run, the hunt leads our hero to Rev. Matt via that jar of cash Kevin Sr. stashed for him a reminder that the Reverend may have murdered a guy in a casino parking lot a few weeks back, and a reason to check in on the Revs ongoing campaign to teach the Guilty Remnant (paraphrasing the good book here) troll not, lest ye be trolled.
But really, two scenes between the two Kevin Garveys say all that needs to be said about the skill of this episode. First, the son loses the father when they run into a Guilty Remnant protest is there a better metaphor for how so many people must feel about what the cults and the chaos that sprang up in the Departures wake are doing? Second, when the son accepts the purpose the father relays to him by reaching to pick up the magical issue of National Geographic, the camera cuts away before he makes contact, trusting us to make the connection ourselves. And as that post-coital conversation between Nora and Kevin made clear, a little trust goes a long way.
Previously: Conventional Wisdom