If You Expect Answers About The Departure - You're Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Written by: Blake Larsen

You know what gets me really frustrated? When people say - I don't want to watch The Leftovers because "they don't give any answers."  Of course, my reaction is always the same, "well, what answers are you looking for?"  And, of course, the answer to my question is ALWAYS the same - "I wanna know why the people departed and where they went to." Then I just hang my head while shaking it in frustration, anger, and disgust.  I'm angry because this person just doesn't get it. They don't understand that they're never going to get that answer. Most importantly, or egregiously (depending on your perspective), they don't understand the fact that even if they HAD the answer, it's not important.  In fact, I'd argue it's almost irrelevant.  Here's the top 5 reasons why...

First - let me get this off my chest...a lot of people don't understand good television. 

Most seem to have an aversion to engaging with their show.  They don't want to meet it half way. The overall goal is to watch something and have every answer, every twist, every theme, every point spoon fed to them. 

These are the CSI people.  

These are the NCIS people.

These are The Blacklist people.

These are the Keeping Up With The Kardashian's people ::shuddering as I write these words::

These are the people who watched the first four episodes of Lost, said they were fans of the show,  didn't watch again til the finale, and then jumped on the bandwagon saying that it sucked because they either didn't get it, that the writers didn't answer the "mysteries," or that the cast was dead the whole time.

Ok, Blake, deep breaths.  Deep, long, nourishing breaths.  Namaste.

Listen, Damon Lindelof and his style of writing may not be for everyone.  Sure, I get it.  In fact, I respect that notion.  But, if you're one of those people who want an explanation on WHY the departure happened, or WHERE the departed went - then you need to go away.  Stop watching the show.

Yes, stop watching. 

 In fact, I don't even want you around my show. You're complaining and whining will only sully the experience of one of television's top three current shows in production today - and I don't care if I offend you by saying ANY of this.  You don't deserve the good graces of The Leftovers.

YOU'RE NEVER GOING TO GET THE ANSWER and you're ignorant for thinking you ever will.

And, before you even suggest that I'm saying this because it's a "Lindelof show" and he never sticks the ending with answers to the mysteries (a point to which I will vehemently argue against by the way), let me be clear that this is hardly the case.

You're never going to get the answer for the departure because the answer is unimportant.  These are the top 5 reasons why it's unimportant.

1. The Title Of The Show - The freaking title of the show is "THE LEFTOVERS." Tell me, where in anywhere of that title does the show imply anything about the departed?  This show is about the people who are, in fact, LEFTOVER.

2. The Walking Dead - Wait, how does this apply? Well, The Walking Dead is about zombies, right?  WRONG.  The zombies are a PART of the The Walking Dead.  The show is really about people and their will to survive in a zombie apocalypse.  Do walkers feature heavily? Sure.  Do they force characters to do certain acts, and serve as a plot device to help move the story from point to another? Of course.  But the main character is not a walker.  It's Rick.  The show follows Rick's journey.  We saw that from the very beginning of the show when it opens up on a gun fight followed by Rick waking up in the hospital.    It doesn't matter why zombies are zombies. They just are. The science behind why they turn, how they turn, and when they turn is irrelevant.  I don't care about it and neither does the show. In fact, you can even see it in the poster above - "fight the dead. Fear the living."  In other words - yes, the action and fighting happens with zombies, but the heart of the show is in the drama with the people. It may be a genre show, with a lot of great action - but deep down it's a character drama about people trying to survive. Which leads me to my next point...

3. The Character Drama - Like the zombies in The Walking Dead, the departure in The Leftovers is a plot device.  It sets everything in motion.  It forces certain characters to do certain things, and it helps move the story from one point to another.  But it's never the focus.  It's never the main character. Cults are formed, dogs are shot, white shirts disappear, we take a nice little field trip to a cabin in the woods, and then we have a big bonfire at the end.  Ultimately, this is a journey of people who are going forward in RESPONSE to the departure.   When Nora discovers her family in the finale - she doesn't scream out because she lost her family, she screams out because she thought she moved on. She screamed because she hated herself, her husband, the departure, and everything she had endured SINCE the departure. You feel for her.  You scream with her.  You ache for her because you've seen her character broken, get put back together, only to have it all crumble in one quick glance. You were invested in her character. The show, and all it's character components, are about people are seeking to cope with loss and to move on from loss.  They're seeking to simply live in a time where Loved One's exist, but loved one's don't exist.

4. Flashforward - Ok Blake, another show reference outside of The Leftovers? You're damn right.  Flashforward was a miserable show on ABC, with a miserable cast, miserable showrunners, and a miserable production that tried to capitalize on the power vacuum left behind by LOST. Don't remember it? You probably don't - because it sucked.  Here's a refresher.  The problem with the show is that had this mystery of people fainting.  Great.  But, once you base the show around main character like Joseph Fiennes who does nothing but investigate WHY it happened - then the show is obligated to tell you WHY it happened.  The "why"  is the focus of the main character - thus, it should be the focus of the viewer.  What's worse is that the show suggests other people that starred in the show (i.e. Dominic Monaghan) were behind the event.  Firstly, this is bad because it now promotes the event as a knowable, tactile, and explainable phenomenon - but it's doubly worse because you're following a character in the show who has the potential answer to what happened. This fact thereby requires the showrunners to explain the mechanics of the blackout event perpetrated by that character. But even if showrunners David S. Goyer/ Marc Guggenheim did have this kick ass reason why people fainted and how it happened, they still have to tell it in a compelling fashion.  What happens when you solve the mystery? What if the reason sucks? You then run into a situation like The Architect in The Matrix Reloaded.  Yikes.  Which leads me to my next point...

5. The Departure Is Unknowable - The departure is an act of  the supernatural. It's a god like, and unknowable power.  The show never promises to give the answer because our characters like Nora, Kevin, et al. aren't actively trying to find the answer.  In that world (and ours), there is no answer.  In fact, the show even goes far enough to have scientists (within the context of the show) admit to having NO IDEA what happened.  So if the show alludes to not knowing, the characters aren't seeking out the answer, and the story isn't written that way - then why does it need to answer the questions  about the departure? It doesn't.

In conclusion - The "why" of the departure is irrelevant to the overall scheme of the show.  We're watching a world that lives in the context of the departure happening and they have no idea why it did.  Heck, let's say it happened to us right now.  This very moment.

Let's say for the sake of argument that your spouse, girlfriend, best friend, dad, coworker or whoever, disappeared into thin air right in front of your eyes right now - would you know where they went or why they went? If there is no evidence, or any tangible explanation - how would you know? If someone doesn't claim responsibility, then you'd have to chalk it up to science or ::gasp:: unknown forces.  But what happens if the science is inexplicable? Sherlock Holmes said,"when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."  So, could it be

god? Is it aliens? Is it a lottery? There is no answer.  It simply is.  

But here's the thing - you're still here. What do you do now? What do you believe in now? Where do you go now? You're just left to believe in whatever you choose to believe. 

Is it frustrating? Hell yeah. 

I will even admit that it's even more frustrating when the show does sprinkle in people who are investigating the departure.  (Because it would not be wholly accurate to feature a world where this event happens and everyone just shrugs their shoulders while saying, "gee that sucks.") It teases us about the unknowable.  

Nora asks the question, "do you believe the departed are in a better place?" and perhaps that's what we see in ourselves. The show asks us to engage with it, and decide for ourselves where they went.  But it does not solidify itself on that ground. The foundation of the show still resides well within the bounds of the characters who remain.

This, my friend, is why The Leftovers is compelling. People departed.  Right, got it. But if you knew where they went and why, would it make a difference to the viewing experience of the Garvey's in Mapleton/Miracle? The drama lies in NOT knowing.  The real meat of the show is the unenviable task of trying to move forward in the life knowing that something happened that cannot be explained.

I want to know where people go; not where they went.

Do you agree that the "why" of the departure is irrelevant?

Do you want more chat about The Leftovers? Get your fix by listening to The Living Reminders Podcast with detailed show discussion and amazing interviews with cast, crew, writers and directors of The Leftovers on HBO.