If you have a passing knowledge of TV in the 21st Century, you’ll have heard of Damon Lindelof’s ‘Lost’, a show shrouded in mystery and questions. But chances are you won’t have heard of his 2014 show ‘The Leftovers’. Set 3 years after a global disappearance of 2% of the worlds population, the show follows small-town police chief Kevin Garvey as he struggles with his torn apart family, his own mental health and a threatening cult growing in the town. Over the course of it’s 28 episode run, it manages to be something no other TV show has been before: truly inspiring.
Netflix’s most recent Black Mirror episode ‘Bandersnatch’ heralded itself as “the first interactive experience in film & tv”. And to a point this statement is true, but it’s not the first. As a viewer of ‘The Leftovers’, you are able to feel a part of the world Lindelof created. Very rarely do you know more than the characters, and if you do its not for long. The viewer constantly remains at a level of knowledge the characters are at. And the shows ability to make the viewer ask questions is really where Lindelof’s magic comes into play.
If you followed Lost, you would know the controversy surrounding the final episode. And that controversy boils down to the fact that closure and definite answers aren’t always what satisfies viewers. Another staple in modern television, ‘Game Of Thrones’ is vastly popular and (often over) analysed because of the stimulation of that ‘need-to-know’ mindset. Most Reddit fan pages for GOT are filled with absurd and, at times, hilarious fan theories which is what makes a show that raises so many questions fun to watch – because of the imagination the viewer can hold.
And so with ‘The Leftovers’, while watching all 28 episodes, wondering and guessing for answers, whatever the true answers may be remain a mystery. Not everything is handed to the viewer, you must work for it. And if you think hard enough, you may just be rewarded. Even at that, most things remain a mystery. A main theme that runs throughout is the characters search for answers. Town priest Matt Jamison believes that, despite people thinking it, the ‘Sudden Departure’ was not The Rapture caused by God. Because if so, why would a man such as Matt – who has dedicated his whole life to god – not be taken into Heaven. So to combat this, he sets about proving to other people – who believe it was indeed The Rapture – by showing details into the life of those departed, and how they made morally wrong decisions. All because he cannot accept it is Gods doing.
The Season One tagline ‘We’re still here’, that was prominently featured on many posters, can too be read in many ways. ‘We’re still here’ – a statement of hope to a world broken by the ‘Sudden Departure’ to stay strong. ‘We’re still here’ – a sombre frustration of the fact that some were left behind. ‘We’re still here?’ – a questioning of meaning, if some were randomly taken, what is the point of being alive and having purpose. Lindelof makes the characters ask themselves this, because in a world where anyone could vanish in the blink of an eye and never return, what is the point of living? Its questions like this that have no answer, are what ‘The Leftovers’ is founded on. Over the course of the show the characters find peace in accepting that they will never get the answers they need, just like the viewer should do too. Because the show was never about getting the answers, but about the struggle instead.
Anarchist Analysis 