The Leftovers

This is, if anything, a sequel to season one, one that shares some of the same cast members, a bit of the same tone, and a general sense of the world tipping off its axis, ever so slightly. It's a show that wants to provoke a reaction in you, whether it's admiration, hatred, or just bafflement. It's HBO's best drama--and thus must-see TV.

Each episode hits harder as a result [of the story told from the POV of only a specific subset of characters] while the narrative has gotten tighter. It's still a show defined more by emotion than plot, but structuring it this way--and moving most of the action to Jarden, which has many mysteries of its own--creates a sense of more momentum, rather than a bunch of characters wandering around in a daze.

The Leftovers staff digs at complex emotions with surgical precision and intimate storytelling.

Few current shows on TV approach The Leftovers level of contemplation and as a result, the show stays with you long after an episode ends. Though it’s sobering to watch, it’s also very moving and beautifully acted.

This new Leftovers is thrillingly confident in its storytelling, and even as it again peers into dark places, the show has improved in one clear way--it’s no longer afraid to also embrace the light.

It's a safe bet Lindelof and Perrotta have no intention of solving the new set of puzzles they introduce this season with such skill and grace. Thank heavens: Instead of expending energy trying to do a Sherlock Holmes, viewers can simply let themselves sink deeper and deeper into the mystery.

The new season of The Leftovers is an exhilarating experience in trying to understand that certain fundamental things cannot be understood.

What continues to impress is the show’s consistently striking attention to detail. The various storylines are elegantly structured, layered over one another to create the sensation of an image slowly coming into focus.

This unique series is about life's inscrutable mysteries and the search for answers. The town of Jarden--and the Murphys--appear to be rich with possibilities in that search.

Season 2 chooses to explore and expand on a world created with painstaking clarity last season, at times trying to provide a unique viewpoint and at other times reintroducing established ideas (some of which can feel a slightly redundant).... That question--of if and how they can--remains steadfast. And with it, The Leftovers continues to forge its own fascinating path.

If the first season of The Leftovers sometimes felt insular, the second premiere instantly proves that the show is actually boundless. Just as the first-season cast balanced prickliness and empathy, it's easy to get into the Jarden version of the story because of the Murphys, a family led by the terrific Kevin Carroll and newly minted Emmy winner Regina King.

The Leftovers appears no more interested than before in answering big questions about the Departure. But it goes nowhere beautifully.

More than ever, though, it might be for those who loved "Lost" for the questions it asked, not those it answered.

Lindelof’s work has never been better than it is in this first hour. He seems freed, not only from Perotta’s imagination, but from some of his own ticks.

The early arc of season two is as interesting as anything on TV in ages--absorbing, complicated, textured. The composition of the show feels more stable, too.

As the season progresses, Mapleton re-emerges and it becomes a tale of two deeply weird cities. It may all be a tease, but give The Leftovers this: It is the strangest show on television.

There are new mysteries aplenty, albeit ones with a more beguiling, Ray Bradbury-esque tinge than before.... This premiere does enough to make us want to find out. [2 Oct 2015, p.69]

Season 2 of The Leftovers has its maddening moments, but I never knew what was coming next. And, in a crowded TV world, that anything-might-happen quality is enough to keep me interested. At least for a while.

It still gets a bit muddy sometimes--you can’t use a violin version of “Hallelujah” in this show--and episode three hints at that lack of focus from season one, but I’m more willing to go along for the complete journey than last year. The Leftovers has matured, becoming more about how good can come from awful, how we cannot linger in pain, and not just wallowing in grief and regret but identifying it and moving forward.

It’s hard to deny that The Leftovers can be both visually and emotionally arresting. It is also hard to deny that it is absolutely no fun to watch, a fact that doesn’t necessarily lead one to abandon it. The addition of a new family in Jarden/Miracle, the Murphys--headed by strong new cast members Kevin Carroll and recent Emmy-winner Regina King--is reason enough to tread lightly and see if Lindelof, et al, have worked out some of the kinks when it comes to pacing and payoff.