Written by: Michael V Cassidy
It was probably over 2 years ago that I heard Damon Lindelof was headed to HBO with a show called "The Leftovers." The show was briefly described as, "If Lost and Friday Night Lights had a baby... I was hooked already. Lost and Friday Night Lights are my two favorite shows of all-time. Damon Lindelof is my favorite television writer of all-time. HBO creates some of the best content of all-time.
Here we are at the start of Season 2 and I would be lying if I said I hadn't read all the glowingly positive reviews that came out about the changes made to season 2. I found myself again stricken with expectations.
So, needless to say, my expectations for The Leftovers were at an all-time high.
I will say that those experiences were met in season one, but I will also say that I wish I didn't have them to begin with. It would have been nice if my expectations vanished before the crying baby in the backseat did.
The reason I say this is because I kind of "hyperwatched" the first season of The Leftovers" looking for the genetic traits of Lost and Friday Night Lights. I found a lot of the traits I was looking for. There was a spiritual core and an ensemble cast like Lost. It was a family drama with relationship dynamics as a central focus like Friday Night Lights. And the music and score was captivating like both of my other favorites.
As season two begins, I'm trying to learn from season one the same way Damon seems to have. I'm trying to let go of what I want The Leftovers to be, and just let it be what it is.
It has been said that happiness is equal to our reality divided by our expectations. A main focus of Eastern philosophies is to live without expectations, or to eliminate desire. Last season I had high expectations and a desire for The Leftovers to fill the void, (or at least fill the tv screen) with what I missed since Lost and Friday Night Lights departed. If I'm being honest with myself, I would say that I wanted to like season one of The Leftovers more than I actually did.
That is not to say I didn't like it. I liked it plenty, but my expectations got in the way of letting it be it's own show.
Season One was like when your favorite musician releases a new album after years off. Damon was returning to TV and I was thrilled.
As I stated earlier, I liked season one but it felt like that favorite musician's new album was just a bunch of covers of someone else's songs due to the fact that The Leftovers Season One was based on the book by Tom Perrotta.
Then last night happened. The book content was exhausted in Season One. Damon is free to write to the beat of his own drum again. That was no more evident than in the 10 minute prologue to start the season.
I felt like I was watching Lost again. And I've been waiting for a show to do that for some time. It only continued as the episode moved forward. The new characters were hugely compelling, the new mysteries hooked me right away, and what might be best of all, I laughed at least three times.
In season two Damon is free to let his creative mind wonder, and that is exciting to me. He has said over and over not to expect an answer to the departure. Maybe because he knows that there is no possible way for those expectations to be met. Instead of giving us answers to start the season, he presented a giant question, beautifully, without saying a word.
To me, questions are much more interesting than answers. Questions invite thought and promote discussion. Answers often discourage thought and shut down discussion.
Season 2 has already raised many questions and promoted a lot of discussion. That is why it is great that Mary and Blake created this space here for us to do just that.
In the ancient spiritual text, the Tao Te Ching, Lao-tzu tells us to live in the mystery. To not strive to be the one with all the answers but rather the one who asks the questions. The new opening credits tell us to, "Let the mystery be." Mr. Lindelof has once again blessed us with great questions, and I say, "thanks for asking."
I'm curious to hear if you had expectations for season 2 and your thoughts on what I thought was an outstanding first episode.
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| 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. |
Wow Michael, what an interesting catch! I love mysteries myself, and yes, isn't it much more exciting to some of us to just sit there and think? Same here on how the beginning of Episode One of Season 2 really felt like LOST. Not because there was a deserted woman by water, but because of the eerie feel of it. First of all, I didn't expect that introduction to actually happen. I was confused, yet enlightened at the same time! My expectations were to see the convoy trapped heading to Miracle and the Garveys bumper to bumper. Now, I can see that this episode could have been thrown to us as one of Lindelof's "Flash Forwards". Excellent writing, would love to read some more of your work!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Missy. I appreciate that. This article here is a good companion to what I wrote. Reza Aslan is the religious advisor on the show. I have read some of his work and he is a brilliant guy. This Q&A he did about episode 1 is pretty interesting
ReplyDeletehttp://www.vulture.com/2015/10/leftovers-mysteries-religion-reza-aslan.html
"I'm curious to hear if you had expectations for season 2 and your thoughts on what I thought was an outstanding first episode."
ReplyDeleteYeah, definitely, my expectations kind of threw things off. Also, the fact that the episode was so shockingly different kept me disoriented. The premiere didn't quite sink in the first time I watched it, but I love it now. It definitely is LOST-like, but I'll say that I think Lindelof's work on The Leftovers is stronger than it was on LOST, and this episode had the best of both worlds. I also think that it was a deliberate choice to make this episode LOST-like because Miracle must be such a LOST-like place - it is kind of like a magical island in this gloomy world.
I agree with you, Eric. I think that Damon felt a bit liberated knowing that the book was covered and he was able to dive in to what excites him creativity. I think he has found his sweet spot again where the work and the writing is inspired a good creative energy. I'm really excited for this season. I like the feel and the direction.
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