It’s too early to call The Leftovers the best new show of 2014, especially in the wake of True Detective, Fargo, and Rick and Morty. But I can say without any hesitation that “Pilot” (would that it had a better title) is one of the best episodes of television this year, hands down. It’s bleak and uncompromising, and wholly original.
The premise of The Leftovers seems borrowed from the playbook of Stephen King, even though it comes from author Tom Perrotta (who also puzzlingly wrote the novels Election and Little Children, which couldn’t be more tonally different). About 2% of the world’s population, or 140 million people, vanish with no explanation. They’re not dead, they haven’t been teleported anywhere, they’re just…gone.
What The Leftovers is asking of us as viewers is, how do you grieve? If you have no closure, can you ever stop?
The show’s main character is the Police Chief of Mapleton, NY, Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux, excellent). His method of grieving is anger and drink – nothing groundbreaking, but Theroux’s deep, soulful eyes, like pools of melted onyx, convey the heartbreak and fury and bewilderment that permeate every frame of this show.
His children have chosen to grieve in other ways. His daughter Jill (Margaret Qualley) is fundamentally decent, but sullen and stubborn. She lashes out at an aggressive teammate on her field hockey team, breaking the poor girl’s nose. Kevin’s son Tom (Chris Zylka) works for the mysterious Wayne (Patterson Joseph), who has the ability to “unburden” people, relieving them of their survivor’s guilt and abandonment issues – for a price, of course. “Pilot” doesn’t explain Wayne’s methods, and is better served for leaving them a mystery.
But it’s Kevin’s wife who has taken the most extreme path, joining the Guilty Remnant, a pseudo-cult who wears all white, never speaks, and treats chain smoking like a sacrament (a sign in their quarters reads “WE DO NOT SMOKE FOR ENJOYMENT, WE SMOKE TO PROCLAIM OUR FAITH”).
Mapleton is a deceptively idllyic setting for such a dark show (another Kingian touch). There’s a high school party that devolves into what is essentially an orgy; an all-out brawl between the Guilty Remnant and Mapleton’s bereaved townspeople; and a man named Dean whose mission seems to be driving around town and killing stray dogs, who have long since turned feral. The end of “Pilot” finds Kevin with Dean, firing his service pistol into a group of dogs, tears in his eyes.
The Leftovers is filled with powerful imagery, and isn’t afraid to ask big questions. It is much, much smarter than any summer TV show has a right to be. HBO was smart enough to avoid casting big-name actors (the most well-known are probably Theroux and Liv Tyler, and maybe Christopher Eccleston to Doctor Who and Heroes fans), and everyone in the ensemble is perfectly suited to their role. “Pilot” was captivating television, the start of a brilliant story. There’s nine episodes left in The Leftovers first season, and it already feels like not enough.
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