The Leftovers: Orange Sticker Review

This The Leftovers review contains spoilers.

The Leftovers Season 2 Episode 4

After a stunning, beautiful detour last week out of Miracle to catch-up with Laurie and Tom, The Leftovers returned to its new locale once again for another great episode. Dealing with the aftermath of Evie’s disappearance, the episode finds everyone with heightened emotions for various reasons. It may not be two percent of the world’s population, but the disappearance of three girls creates a ripple effect that looks to make up the main action of this season.

I want to start off by reiterating how Nora Durst may be my favorite character on television. She’s just completely human, at once strong and weak, compassionate and icy, spontaneous and introspective; she’s a living, breathing, complex person and Carrie Coon is doing a remarkable job displaying all of these emotions. When Nora wakes up during the earthquake and finds Kevin gone, she immediately starts spiraling into a panic, terrified that another wave of disappearances has happened.

It’s incredibly gripping stuff even if we already know that Kevin is just fine. Later in the episode, sharing a drink with Jill, she states that the disappearance was a one time event with certainty in her voice, but it’s almost as if she’s really trying to convince herself. Safety was all Nora was seeking in moving to Miracle, and even though the idea of a safe haven appears to be broken, Nora spends the episode desperately trying to cling to a hope Miracle is the escape that she believed it to be.

But with loose cannons like John Murphy running around, how could Miracle ever be safe? We already knew that John was a malevolent force, rage just simmering below the surface, but now with Evie gone, he’s a true mad wildcard. The Murphy clan is a great addition to the show, with John and Kevin sharing some great scenes tonight, as well as Jill and Michael, who have a lot of tension brewing that just pops right off the screen. 

These pairings are promising great potential in the future. Combining loose cannon John with unstable Kevin in this episode results in lots of sniffing each other out, stern exchanges of ideas, and even gunshots, with John being shot by Isaac, the fortuneteller from the premiere. John believes Isaac to be behind Evie’s disappearance, Michael thinks its God to blame, and Kevin prays that he had nothing to do with it. Just like in real life, its funny the characters take an inexplicable event and use it to fit their own agenda or narrative.

We still don’t know if Kevin had any interaction with Evie and her friends, but we do know that Kevin was trying to commit suicide that evening, which we learn from Patti, who’s still aggressively appearing to Kevin, looking for him to engage. As much as I love Ann Dowd, I was worried that this dynamic would get tiresome, but now that Kevin is actually talking back to Patti, and now that its revealed that Patti is somewhat of an all-knowing narrator, I’m excited to see where it heads in the future. Kevin’s Dad said he found peace when started doing what the voices in his head told him to do, so how long until Kevin gives in and does the same?

This episode promises that “everything is going to change now,” and I cant wait to see the tow of Miracle unravel now that it may not be miraculous after all. Besides all that I’ve mentioned above, I’m really curious to see how the mysterious Virgil will fit into the stories proceedings, or what exactly is the importance of the water, which has been focused on multiple times. Instead of create theories, I’ll just say that those are two things that I’ll be keeping my eye on, you know, “let the mystery be.”

Amazon: Buy The Leftovers Season 1 on Blu-Ray