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So what do we do with [The Leftovers]?
Big Dookie
Smells great!DownriverRegistered User regular
Smells great!DownriverRegistered User regular
I didn't see a thread for this yet, and having just watched the pilot, I feel like this is a show that could certainly warrant some discussion. So, without further ado:
On a random October day, 2% of the world's population disappear. No warning, no explanation, they simply vanish into thin air. Is it the rapture? Maybe, but maybe not. It certainly seems too random to be the event foretold of in the bible, and the people who disappear seem to have little in common. There's no common theme that ties them together. People from all walks of life, all ages, all different kinds of religions, all of them disappear.
But the thing is, this show isn't really about them, and it's not even about the mystery of why they disappeared. In fact, we will probably never be told the answer of why it happened. Instead, what the show is really about is the people who remained, and how they deal with such a profound loss. It takes place three years after the disappearance, and we find a populace that desperately wants to move on with their lives but find themselves unable to do so. In fact, it seems to be getting worse with each passing day. And this depressing setting is where we begin.
So did anyone else catch the pilot? What did you think? I wasn't sure what to expect, but I liked it a lot personally. I'm not sure that the premise is enough to carry through an entire series, but I guess we'll see where they go with it. There's enough there to make me want to keep watching for now at least. If nothing else, it was beautifully shot, and had some really interesting characters, which I suspect will be the central core of the show as opposed to the mystery element. Also, the music was really good in this.
Spoiler Policy:
Like most other threads on TV shows, there's always a chance of having something spoiled. The best policy is not to even venture in here until you've caught up with the most recent episode. However, as a courtesy to others, please try to use spoiler tags for any discussion of the most current episode. For earlier episodes, use your best judgment.
Also, apparently this series is based on a book, which I'm assuming many of us have not read. If you do want to discuss the book in here, that's cool, but please spoiler it and label your spoiler as a book spoiler so that people can distinguish it from normal TV show spoilers. We definitely don't need a whole Game of Thrones thing going on in here.
On a random October day, 2% of the world's population disappear. No warning, no explanation, they simply vanish into thin air. Is it the rapture? Maybe, but maybe not. It certainly seems too random to be the event foretold of in the bible, and the people who disappear seem to have little in common. There's no common theme that ties them together. People from all walks of life, all ages, all different kinds of religions, all of them disappear.
But the thing is, this show isn't really about them, and it's not even about the mystery of why they disappeared. In fact, we will probably never be told the answer of why it happened. Instead, what the show is really about is the people who remained, and how they deal with such a profound loss. It takes place three years after the disappearance, and we find a populace that desperately wants to move on with their lives but find themselves unable to do so. In fact, it seems to be getting worse with each passing day. And this depressing setting is where we begin.
So did anyone else catch the pilot? What did you think? I wasn't sure what to expect, but I liked it a lot personally. I'm not sure that the premise is enough to carry through an entire series, but I guess we'll see where they go with it. There's enough there to make me want to keep watching for now at least. If nothing else, it was beautifully shot, and had some really interesting characters, which I suspect will be the central core of the show as opposed to the mystery element. Also, the music was really good in this.
Spoiler Policy:
Like most other threads on TV shows, there's always a chance of having something spoiled. The best policy is not to even venture in here until you've caught up with the most recent episode. However, as a courtesy to others, please try to use spoiler tags for any discussion of the most current episode. For earlier episodes, use your best judgment.
Also, apparently this series is based on a book, which I'm assuming many of us have not read. If you do want to discuss the book in here, that's cool, but please spoiler it and label your spoiler as a book spoiler so that people can distinguish it from normal TV show spoilers. We definitely don't need a whole Game of Thrones thing going on in here.
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I read from a reviewer's review of first 4 or 5 episodes (no actual plot details):
First reaction is nope. The idea of spending my time watching people deal with a mystery that won't be answered was one of the things I hated with Lost. This show seems like its Lost Squared and they are rubbing the central mystery in your face every chance they get.
At least that's what they've said. If it gets another season, I fully expect them to abandon that and go full Lost 2.0.
i was sad
Oculus: TheBigDookie | XBL: Dook | NNID: BigDookie
With the Spanish Flu, you can point to a culprit and understand what the issue is and why people were getting sick and dying. Though they still would have been rudimentary by today's standards, you could take steps to try and prevent it. Even with something like the Black Death in the 14th century, they didn't really understand it, but they were able to invent their own theories and reasons for why it was happening.
Here, none of that applies. There's no way to explain away what happened. Some claim it's the Rapture, although considering how random the disappearances were, many don't buy this. Even a preacher in the pilot stresses how he knows it was definitely NOT the Rapture. So with nowhere to lay the blame, what else is there to do but sit and stew over the event and wonder if it could happen again? I could definitely see people having a hard time getting over something like this.
Oculus: TheBigDookie | XBL: Dook | NNID: BigDookie
But that was also almost a hundred years ago.
A hundred years from now they'd probably go "meh, whatever" at 2% vanishing a century ago.
That's 140,000,000 people just vanishing.
edit: or for further comparison, 2% of the world's population is 44% of USA's population.
Of course I totally understand if that idea turns people off of the show. For me though that just makes it more interesting. I'm not constantly waiting for a payoff, and instead am just enjoying the ride.
Oculus: TheBigDookie | XBL: Dook | NNID: BigDookie
Shitty Tumblr:lighthouse1138.tumblr.com
I just watched the pilot lat night and I think this is why it intrigued me so much. The lack of an explanation for the event. Basically imagine if 9/11 had happened and nobody took credit for it. Can you imagine how grief-stricken, angry and paranoid everybody would have been and how much longer the effects would have lasted if there were no answers or information regarding the attack? Now, instead of a localized event in NYC, imagine it happened simultaneously all over the world.
Everybody deals with grief in their own way and hopefully this series will explore how those different groups of people interact in the wake of such a tragedy. I thought the pilot excelled in making the tension between the groups feel quite palpable. It really did feel as if the town could explode at any point. Hopefully they can keep that up throughout the season. The pilot hooked me so I will definitely tune in to find out.
wii code: 8041-7562-5268-4264
goddamn it
he doesnt deserve any hate, but he deserves absolute scepticism
every time he has tried to go interesting/deep he has catastrophically failed, and failed in such a way that an audience going into any of his further projects will be rightly and deeply suspicious
we shall see wat happens in this case
I think Lindelof, free from having to answer the big questions and allowed to focus on the human side of the story is Lindelof at his very best.
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
Indeed. The reactions Lindelof gets are neither unwarranted nor gross. He's got a pattern of writing stories with big mysteries that go nowhere and a total lack of cohesion. Which is sad cause he's obviously really talented.
Their whole thing is right there in the name. Guilty Remnant. They're psychologically scarred by what happened, and they're upset that other people aren't as upset as they are. They prey on the people who show signs of not being able to deal with it, mainly just by existing.
The cult around the Wayne dude is far more troubling.
But people in our world, which isn't nearly as fucked as this one, run off and join cults on a fairly regular basis. I'd imagine the appeal is even greater when something like this event happens.
no the cult aroudn the wayne dude makes way more sense because hes english ok
english cult leadesr of the world unite
At least Wayne's followers I get, here is this charismatic guy who has "visions" and is able to make people feel less burdened by what happened. Plus by the looks of things he even has his own harem of 40 virgins. I get how he can draw people in, it's all a very standard cult behavior. I'm less understanding of how the chain smoking cult that doesn't speak does it. I'm sure that that will be explained, just evidently not in the next few episodes.
Otherwise, it didn't seem like a whole lot happened. Plenty of setup for future episodes though.
Oculus: TheBigDookie | XBL: Dook | NNID: BigDookie
Dude still gets hate for the Lost finale, which makes no sense because the show answered every question and mystery it had.
Shitty Tumblr:lighthouse1138.tumblr.com
No it didn't. And some it answered just really badly or inconsistently.
Lost was a show that promised alot and never came through on most of the those promises. And also spun it's wheels like crazy.
That said, it did alot of good character work while doing all this so as long as Lindelof stays away from big mystery shit, it should be good.
Yeah, it did. It really did. I'm honestly not sure what you're talking about with regards to unanswered stuff.
Shitty Tumblr:lighthouse1138.tumblr.com
lost in its own mystery
I think it'll be way more interesting seeing people dealing with the repercussions of it. Though yeah, dunno how much mileage they'll get out of it.
The premise sounds like it could be intriguing, but after the first episode I was left feeling pretty 'meh'. I'm not really sure I'll be able to get into it, and might only watch the second episode because there's not shit else to watch.
I kind of got the impression that nobody who remained actually saw the missing people disappear. Like, people disappeared in between blinks or when people glanced away or otherwise weren't looking. It was just the dogs that saw what actually happened, which is why they all went feral / insane. Just my take / guess though.
While it would be interesting, I don't see them leaving the mystery a mystery if the show lasts. They'll either introduce new mysteries on top of it that collapse the narrative under the weight, or have to do something to keep the show interesting.
It could be interesting, but without more people disappearing or other supernatural elements or other big changes from our world it's just people moping around about something that happened years ago. Which granted is huge and would leave the world with all kinds of issues, but not interesting issues like the Rapture or aliens or the government fucking up an experimental program or something.
It answered questions in the sense that it filled in the blanks.
Sometimes those blanks were filled with floobity floo. Which is not particularly satisfying.
That said even with a mediocre ending Lost was a phenomenal ride. This show looks like it'll be pretty great too. Though I'll probably wait for a few episodes to avoid getting stuck on weekly cliffhangers.
I'm actually finding the cults fairly interesting. They're obviously a combination of several real world cults and cult events and it's interesting to see how people are falling in with them after a devastating event. I still want to smack the silent cult around and tell them to start talking, though.
I wonder which one is going to go all suicidal.