I didn't write a review of the first season of The Leftovers because it was bad. Really bad. I read the book, thought it was an interesting presence and strongly disliked it for many reasons. It was incredibly slow, it wasn't really showing me a story that I was interested in watching, and the Guilty Remnant. I hated them. And I get it, they were meant to be hated but my God they were, in my opinion, a complete waste of my time. All if needed was the briefest of explanations, the smallest amount of exposition and I got nothing. I also didn't find any of the characters remotely interesting, especially the daughter, played by Margaret Qualley, and her weird friends and the two twins. Just even recalling all of this is giving me flashbacks. But season 2 is a soft reboot with the some of the same characters in a different place and it is fantastic! Watch the trailer below!
And the best part about this show, is you don't even need to watch the first season. Just watch the recap and know that a lot of people vanished from Earth and nobody knows why. The reason I love this season is because it has a compelling story line, fantastic acting, I'm looking at you Regina King and Kevin Carroll, and it is a study into religion. How is religion made? What compels human beings to pray and go to church every Sunday or sometime every day of the week? Why do we believe the things we believe? And I absolutely love it. It isn't a jaded or satirical, I believe that the writers for this show understand human nature quite well and show that through how their characters interact.
Also, the first two episodes illustrate the same day from two different perspectives, allowing the viewers to understand who the Murphys are and why the Garveys left Mapleton. The third episode has a fantastic reveal within it that gave me chills. I want to tell you more but I want you to watch this show. I want you to tell me what you think of the beginning sequence and what happened to the bird in the box. I seriously haven't been this excited to write and create theories surrounding a show since Lost, which, funny enough, the creator of this show, Damon Lindelof, was involved with as well.
So please please please, check this show out and let me know what you think about it!
Written by cwm on Oct 30, 2015
I left it for several months as well after watching just the first episode.
I really suggest everyone to give this a re-watch. The second season alone is definitely worth it.
Same as Salinger
"And the best part about this show, is you don't even need to watch the first season"
Oh my the ignorance :/
This show is incredible. The acting, the story, the narrative technique. But my oh my do you need to watch it from the very beginning. How else would you know what the characters have gone through, what has shaped them into their current selves and what has driven the story to where it is.
It is beyond me how anyone interested in great stories can state not needing to watch more than nine entire hours of a series. It's seemingly like starting a book half way through. Why would you ever do that just because the beginning of the story seems a bit slow, uninteresting or confusing due to you not getting everything spelled out for you from the get-go (as has always been the case in most shows).
Can only encourage everyone to watch this show from the beginning and surrender yourself to the story instead of questioning it. You'll see how interesting it gets episode by episode. It doesn't get much better than this in my book, so can only recommend giving it a watch, or in some cases a second chance.
I haven't read the novel, but I'm watching the show because of the possibilities it brings up. You just need to know what is behind the disappearances as well as Kevin Garvey and his father being able to see individuals that most people are unable to sense. Are we talking alternate realities/dimensions here? Rhetorical question. Don't want to ruin things with spoilers.
Season 2 is great, but even more cliffhanging than season 1. After e4 I thought something has to happen right now, the whole story line is turning itself around 10 minutes (or at least it is my point of view here)
I gave it 3 episodes, and gave up on it, i found it utterly boring and thats coming from a fan of these type of shows.
Since I haven't read the book (actually didn't know there was one, to be honest) season 1 was watched by me without any preconceive ideas and/or expectations. It is fresh, different and interesting to watch.
I do partially agree about "the daughter and her weird friends" being a bit uninteresting, but she was part of the main characters' back story, so it was necessary to have her in there.
I am enjoying season 2 so far too.
Underrated show. I'm not sure I've heard anyone talk about it before in my normal circles.
I like it and Season 2 has been great so far.
I felt the first season was one of the best TV shows on last year, so its no suprise it got better.
Can't do it, first season killed my interest 100%.