Madlovemovies
I recently binge watched all of the seasons and it was like watching art, from the outstanding acting to the superb music by Max Richter it all comes together like a masterpiece of television. When a show's central conceit is the instantaneous disappearance of 140 million people, everything that follows forces us to adhere to its narrative flights of fancy, to raise our arms in surrender to the world-spanning potentialities of artistic ambition. And surrender we did.. From chainsmoking cults to lion worshipping sex cruise to the purgatorial karaoke and wu tang clan trampoline scene, The Leftovers is one of the most ambitious show of this decade
kartiknnagar
Without a doubt one of the most unpredictable series I have ever watched, The Leftovers over the course of its 28 episodes does plenty of ridiculous things, and goes to some really strange places, but there is no weirdness just for the sake of it, and through its dramatic set pieces and mind numbing realities, the series has a powerful message to say about the human psyche and how we deal with grief, loss, guilt and uncertainty.The series begins with a supernatural event called the Departure, where 2% of the world population vanishes without a trace, but as the title of the series suggests, this is not a story about those who vanished, but those who were left behind. The Departure is an extraordinary event, and the entire series is an interesting thought experiment on how humanity would react to such an event, both at macro level and the individual level. While there is an exploration on the religious, political, and cultural impact of the Departure, this is a character-centric series, and there is a greater emphasis on the psychological impact of the Departure on the minds of the principal characters. In particular, how an event like the Departure could act as a catalyst for the mental issues that are already present, be it guilt, purposelessness, anxiety, or the scars of traumatic events in the past, and it could give the licence to indulge in those faults and allow them to rule the mind, since the whole world is going crazy anyway. The series stays true to its characters, but this also sometimes makes it a difficult watch, since characters frequently make some extremely bad decisions, and it is very difficult to relate and empathize with them.One of the most interesting things about the series is the narrative structure, with multiple supernatural-seeming plot threads with lots of ambiguities which are also intricately linked with the psyche of the characters, revealing a lot about their inner workings and dreams and fears. There is also an interesting commentary about the rise of faith and superstition, and the strength of religion in times of uncertainty.All that said, the series is highly entertaining, often shocking with some supreme episodes that will elicit an involuntary 'Wow', highly thoughtful in the treatment of its characters, and in the end it will leave you with plenty of ideas to chew upon.Favourite episodes - S01E03 (Two Boats and a Helicopter), S02E03 (Off Ramp), S03E08 (The Book of Nora).
junglejosh15
Never seen a show where every frame seems ripe with symbolism, every line being worth dissecting and analyzing, every character a real yet unnatural fragment of humanity. Truly don't know what to say, would take multiple rematches to even begin to comprehend everything The Leftovers has to see and ponder. It had been a while since I'd seen something that really reinforced why I loved TV. This was exactly what I needed.
georgette-1
This series was completely engrossing all the way up until the last episode. The writing and acting were top notch, Ann Dowd's performance especially. Having been very disappointed by the ending of Lost, I had hoped that the series wouldn't end on a frustrating note--alas it did.Unlike some reviewers, I found all 3 seasons to be excellent, and the penultimate episode was my favorite. But after viewing the final episode, irritation set in. It was almost as if the writers abandoned ship after Episode 7 and a group of amateurs took over.I do not need every mystery explained to me, in fact it is often better to leave some themes ambiguous. I didn't care if the viewer learned why the 2% left--that wasn't really the point. But Nora's foolish story about going to the "other place" and getting the person who was responsible for the original departures to build her a new machine so she could get back home was pathetic. Surely something more interesting could have been devised. Not sorry I watched it--but it could have been great.
