At the end of last June, the Ten years since the premiere of The Leftovers on HBOone of those titles with which the platform reaffirmed itself as absolute king of pay-TV serieswith a finish far superior to that offered by conventional televisions. In those years, Netflix was beginning to take off with the first seasons of House of Cards and Orange is the New Black and Amazon HBO was trying to make a name for itself with Transparent, and as for HBO itself, it had already swept the board with the premiere of the legendary first season of True Detective, and its star titles were Girls and Game of Thrones. The Leftovers may not have been a ratings success, but it consolidated the network’s prestige and over the years it has become even more valuable, improving with each season. In fact, it became a perfect metaphor of what it has become the world after the pandemic. Apart from the image of Justin Theroux punching the wall when the HBO app crashes. Is it still showing now? Max?
In the series, the plot analyzed the consequences of the events that occurred a October 14th of an unspecified year, in which it suddenly and without explanation disappeared as if volatilized in the air 3 percent of the world’s population. The plot did not seek to explain this mysterious event, but rather explored the emotional state of those who stayed behind. The devastation that the not finding answers to what had happened and not being sure that this would not happen again. It was the warning that the world is no longer a safe place. Some people turn to self-destructive behavior, others join strange sects, and there are those who try to bear their pain and try to move on as best they can. As I said, the perfect metaphor for that post-pandemic world, in which the fear of the virus has been replaced by the threats of war and it seems like everyone has lost their minds. Exactly like in the episodes of the series.
The Leftovers marked the rehabilitation of critics Damon Lindelof, bashed in its day by the end of Lost. It was a statement of intent that from the beginning we were warned that if we wanted explanations we should go to another series, because this was not what we had come for. This was one of those rare cases in which the adaptation surpassed the original work, the book of Tom Perrottawho was involved in the creation of the series. And the scores of Max Richter They raised the emotional charge of the story. The story of the book was told in the first season and it was in the following two seasons that the showrunner began to tell us more stories with the same characters, even going so far as to offer us an explanation of the mystery in the last episode, in which each viewer had to decide whether or not to believe it. His ending was a leap of faith.
Of all the characters in this choral series, my favorite was Nora Durst, played by Carrie CoonNora was a housewife who lost her husband on Sudden Departure Day. One of the most moving scenes in the entire series occurs at the end of the sixth episode when Nora meets Wayne. This strange character has the mysterious ability to eliminate the suffering of those who come to him with a simple hug, which is why the authorities consider him little less than a dangerous terrorist. “You’ve lost someone and you think you’re always going to feel that pain. And if at some point it goes away you go look for it again,” Wayne tells a bewildered Nora, moments before his arms surround her so that her mind can turn the page. Nora’s crying in that scene is shocking and we don’t see her character the same in the rest of the series. The actress is another of the protagonists of The Golden Age, another of HBO’s star titles.
Other great actresses left the series like the young Margaret Qualeyone of the followers of the sect of Charles Manson in Once upon a time in Hollywood of Quentin Tarantino; either Ann Dowdanother of the chilling villains of The Handmaid’s Tale. While in the case Liv Tylerwho seemed like he was going to be the big star, we saw how his character was fading away. The Leftovers gave us complex and contradictory characters and was full of moments of great symbolism, where in each episode it offered great surprises and scenes that could be seen over and over again in Youtube and Tik Toklike Nora clinging to her memories.
As for Damon Lindelof, he has since given us his highly recommended and highly personal adaptation of the comic Watchmen. Others have also applauded his work in Mrs. Davisa comedy that mixes religion and artificial intelligence, but I didn’t really connect with it even though I understood its mischievous sense of humor. Ten years later, the legacy of The Leftovers is still very much alive.