Eating "The Leftovers"

Watching this show is kind of like punching a wall.

Grantland's Andy Greenwald posited a very insightful question in reviewing the first season of HBO's new series The Leftovers this past week: Has there been any indication that anyone has actually forgotten anything?

In that question is one of the great flaws of this ambitious show.

The Leftovers is hardly anyone's idea of a perfect show.  Most people I have talked to struggled to stay with it.  I repeatedly had to play catch-up deciding over and over to give it another chance.  The Leftovers is a show that is just good enough to keep you wondering, it will flounder for multiple episodes before putting together enough powerful scenes to pull you back in.

In that, is one of the show's redeeming qualities.  On the few occasions it manages to string together enough well written and coherent scenes for the audience to stop thinking "what the hell?" The Leftovers can evoke some strong emotional responses.

The experience of loss is a pretty universal and relatable theme to build a show around.  Everyone knows the desperation, the frustration, the anger.  It's in these moments that The Leftovers hooks people, gets them thinking.  But, the show has of yet failed to take the next step after these initial moments.  Nothing is explored beyond the surface, things are half-resolved in simplistic fashion with ham-handed imagery and metaphor.  In the world of the Leftovers, two percent of the world's population disappeared by an "Act of God" and the show's plot is heavily populated by the all powerful deus ex machina.

Need to wrap up a scene? Put a dog in it.

This band-aid solution is expertly demonstrated in the closing moments of the season finale when the oft tortured Nora Durst (Carrie Coon) seems to completely snap as she kisses two wax dolls vaguely resembling her family good night and prepares to drive off into the extremely ambiguous unknown.  Nora's character has always been that of one barely holding it together beneath a calm veneer.  So the snapping, while frustrating, is at least somewhat logical for the character.  What's not so logical, for the character or the audience, is that she is suddenly flung back to sanity by the mere sight of a bi-racial baby.  Yeah, sorry, not buying it.

Now, these existential problems of depth in the plot and characters are both very serious issues, but a show can get by with shallow characters and thin plot if its fun (see, 24).  But a show without a consistently engaging storyline littered with characters the audience hates, that show is dead in the water.

Storylines that you can't wait for?  Every show has them.  We've all fast forwarded through Bran to get to Arya Stark. I'm not sure where to find them on The Leftovers.  In episode 3, "Two Boats and a Helicopter", the preacher character (played by Chris Eccleston) is fascinating and complex.  But everything he does and feels seems to be completely forgotten just two episodes later.  Embattled police chief and central character, Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux), has the most consistent presence on the show, but even he is prone to stretches of fatigue (that absurdly stupid dream sequence in the finale, anyone?).

Characters you hate?  Oh, this show has got them.  I've never watched a show that had so many storylines I got violently angry at the sight of.  Too much goes unknown to make the audience invested and too little make sense for use to care (so, who the hell was Wayne?).  

Then, there is the Guilty Remnant.

Ladies and Gentlemen: I give you the most obnoxious, hypocritical, self righteous, stupid faced character in the history of television.

There is nothing interesting about watching insanity in a vacuum.  That is exactly what the audience is subjected to every time Liv Tyler's stupid face smoking a cigarette on screen.

I could believe that if an event like the one depicted in the show actually occurred a part of the population would lose it completely and go off and live in a silence vowed cult somewhere.  But that's not interesting enough for show runner Damon Lindelof, so the Guilty Remnant has to be a group with goals (yes, I know it's based on a book, I'm still not letting Lindelof off the hook on this one).  Those goals, according to them, are to make people remember.  Remember the event that absolutely no one on the show has been able to move on from, much less forget.

Here's the problem with the Guilty Remnant:  They're hypocrites and they're liars and no one seems to be aware of it.  They vow silence but then they talk.  They say they want people to remember but what they really want is for people to give up, to let their grief consume them and stop living.  In spite of these two very obvious issues, no one else on the show calls them out on it or even appears to notice.  Instead, the show's finale serves as validation for the GR.  They made the good townsfolk remember and they just couldn't handle it.

Ugh.

By the way, does anyone on this show ever, EVER lock their doors?  How is it the GR can just waltz all willy nilly into these houses over and over again?  Is this show set in New York or Pleasantville?

Show runner Damon Lindelof is not one to turn a blind eye to negative reviews.  When Lost tanked on its ending he heard the cries and he answered them.  Fairly or not, The Leftovers, have drawn a lot of comparisons to Lost, most of them disparaging.  I don't see many similarities between the two in the way of show structure but the connections between central characters and the tactic of using emotional triggers as a stand-in for actual resolution are all too familiar.

The music swells, someone cries, and everything is magically alright.

The Leftovers has already been renewed for another season, and I don't know where it will go from here.  The source material is supposedly exhausted so Lindelof will have quite a bit of latitude.  I hope he uses it well, but I probably won't stick around to find out.

Game of Thrones MVP Watch

In the Game of Thrones, you win or you die.  Every year there are multiple winners and losers, but one always dreams bigger and rises above the competition.  This person/creature/ice scythe is the Got MVP.

This Father's Day Game of Thrones will explore what Father/Daughter dinners are like in Westeros for it's season 4 finale, "The Children."  This season of GoT has been incredible, cashing in on a wealth of great storylines and characters for must-watch television just about every week.  The finale looks to be no different as showrunners are touting it as possibly the best episode yet of the series.

But who has had the best season this year in Westeros/Essos?  While nothing is final until the direwolf howls, lets attempt to give it our best guess as who will be riding the highest going into the break.

But first a recap of past MVPs:

Season 1 MVP: Daenerys Targaryen

Runner Up: Cersei Lannister

This is actually a much closer contest than it first appears.

Sure, Dany goes from being the abused younger sister of a psychopath to the forced bride of a (slightly dashing) murderous barbarian to the mother of three bad-ass dragons, but lets not forget Cersei Lannister and all she accomplished.

Cersei self maneuvered her way from being the unappreciated queen to a fat, drunken king to nominal Queen Bee in Westeros.  Sure, she had a little help along the way, what with brother/boyfriend Jaime pushing a small child from a high window, Lysa Arynn poisoning her husband juuuusst before he got Cersei sentenced to death, and Ned Stark fumbling the ball on the 1-yard line.  But, it takes that kind of luck to win it all.

In any other season Cersei would have locked up the MVP with ease, but alas, dragons.

LVP: Visery Targaryen

There were other losers, but none of them whined more or lost with less grace than Viserys.

Seaon 2 MVP: Tyrion Lannister

Runner Up: Tywin Lanniser

Tyrion was given his chance to shine in season two and shine he did, like wildfire.  As the acting Hand of the King, Tyrion was largely responsible for holding King's Landing and Joffrey's regime together during the tumultuous War of the Five Kings.  While he had allies, he went most of the season as a player/coach both designing masterful game play and carrying it out with precision and spirit.

Tyrion is also the only player on the season that kept his scorecard free of any major losses.  Roadwarrior Robb Stark lost key battles on the home front thanks to incredibly incompetent or traitorous subordinates.  Dany had success but she also didn't seem to understand anything going on around her.  Tywin gets the nod for his late season "heroics" but early in the season he did little more than exchange mildly witty banter with a sort-of-in-disguise Arya Stark.

LVP: Xaro Xhoan Daxos

Talked a big game, but had absolutely nothing going for him.  Had man boobs.

Season 3 MVP: Dany Targaryen

Runner Up: Tywin Lannister

It was a great year for most anyone named Lannister or Bolton in season 3, but Dany takes home her second trophy and it isn't even close.

Tywin upped his game this season, absolutely eviscerating anyone that dared sit down with him for a conversation.  But, Dany conquered two cities, recruited an army, started using her flippin' dragons as weapons, recruited a bigger army, and managed to also pick up something like four or five new boyfriends in the process.  The worst she had to endure were a couple of insults flung her way by guys that would either end up getting killed by one of her aforementioned boyfriends or cooked by one of her aforementioned mother-effing dragons.  Pretty flawless play all around.

LVP: Theon Greyjoy

It was a rough year for anyone with the last name Stark, but they all had a holiday in the sun compared to the seven hells that Theon Greyjoy experienced this season.  The only thing worse than what happened to Theon was the fact that we had to watch it.  All-time LVP season.

SEASON 4 MVP Projections

Odds:

Cersei - 5:2

Littlefinger - 3:1

Jon Snow - 6:1

Dany - 8:1

The Hound and Arya - 9:1

Tyrion - 16:1

Tywin - 19:1

Bran - 22:1

Stannis - 26:1

Ser Pounce - 50:1 

Theon - 250:1 (His odds might be better if he were dead)

Oberyn - R.I.P.

Right now it is a dead heat between Cersei and Littlefinger.  Cersei smoothly handled rival Margaery Tyrell, her father Tywin (who's table game has taken a drop in quality this season), and even held her own against Oberyn Martell.  If Cersei gets her ultimate revenge on her little brother and Tyrion's head ends up on a spike it would be hard not to give her the title.  

Littlefinger is a character that came out of nowhere this season.  Always fun to watch but rarely the center of attention, he not only orchestrated some pretty big plays this season but a few very impressive past accomplishments came to light (Being responsible for the murder of Jon Arynn essentially means everything that has happened in Westeros the last 2 years is because of him).  The guy might not be the flashiest player but his accomplishments are unparalleled.  being born with almost no money, fame, or holdings he has risen to become one of the most powerful men in Westeros and nominally rules over nearly a third of the continent.

If Jon Snow manages to survive his meeting with Mance he'll have had a very strong season in surprisingly limited play, even if he probably won't get much credit for it.  The tag team of The Hound and Arya have been fun to watch but it seems unlikely they're to pull off a big enough win late to give them the points needed to take home the trophy.  

Will Jon Snow know the glory of an MVP? Maybe, if he lives.

Dany and Tywin have surprisingly played themselves out of contention.  Tywin was unable to ever get his feet under him this season and failed to command his usual control.  Despite a strong start for Dany her decision to banish Jorah reeks of bad karma.

Both Bran and Stannis look to make late plays this weekend, but they're unlikely to cause a big enough splash to come away with anything but an honorable mention.

Tyrion is all but out of contention as well but fans would likely be more than happy to settle for his survival.

Regardless of who wins the coveted MVP for Season 4 one thing is for certain, it will not be Theon Greyjoy.

The Eerie Greatness of HBO's True Detective and its Fantastic Finale

It is rare for a show's finale to live up to the sum of its parts.  Most of the time, fans are left to accept an ending, focus on the things that worked, and forgive the things that didn't.  Most of the time, the hype and expectations are so high that a show can't help but let its fans down.  That is why the season finale of True Detective was such an incredible feat.

A show with so much mystery and intrigue could have tripped over its own threads many times over in its final hour, but True Detective gracefully glided over it all with a suspensful, atmospheric finale that still left time at the end for revisiting of some existential themes, closure for the main characters, and even a little bit of a happy ending!

For a show that made its name on southern pacing, True D wasted no time getting down to business in this final episode of its first season.  The story bounces between Detectives Hart (Harrelson) and Cohle (McConaughey), who kick things off with some actual detective work, and our new found serial killer, played by Glenn Fleshler, who deserves a nod for crafting such a memorable, terrifying villain in only half an episode.

Once Hart and Cohle get on their suspect's trail it doesn't take them long to track him down.  After a brief set up, it is off to the showdown.

I doubt there was anything writer Nick Pizzolatto or director Cary Fukunaga could have done to make the final confrontation sequence more intense.  The sense of foreboding was palpable as you watched Cohle chase the Yellow King through the ruins of "Carcosa", a place possibly even more horrifying than its literary origins.

The fear and suspense the audience feels during these moments are noticably more intense than that of your typical finale because of the nature of True Detective.  It is a somber, masochistic show where characters constantly hurt themselves and others.  Everyone is lost.  And we've only known them for one season.  It all helps to make the idea of our heroes failing and the wicked villain continuing to rule his broken down kingdom with impunity that much more horribly possible.

It's much more plausible for an audience that Woody Harrleson could die at the hand of a malevolent maniac in a show after seven episodes than it it is Bryan Cranston gets offe'd by some nazis after we've grown with him over five seasons.

This alone was enough to make the finale great.  It could have faded to black when the light of that flair burnt out and no one would have complained.  But True Detective was not done with us.

First, we look at what our heroes got for their reward of "saving the day".  Hart is traumatized to the point of tears when his estranged family comes to visit him and Cohle, looking like a hillbilly Jesus, sits dazed looking out his window to the universe as he contemplates what he could've done differently, what he could've done better.

Then we get a brief but haunting tour of the evil Hart and Cohle endured throughout their journey.  Carcosa, Reggie Ledoux's stronghold, and the cornfield where the investigation started 20+ years earlier all still remain, completely intact, unchanged.  They are Ledoux's "flat circle", destined to exist forever untouched in the memories of those who witnessed them.

All of this was right in line with the eerie slow burn of True D, a show made of creepy, pulpy goodness.  But it was the final scene of the season that set the show apart.  After enduring criticism for being ovewrought and even sexist, An emotional, grounded monologue from Cohle brought everything back to what the show had really been all about: two broken people trying to do the right thing in spite of their demons.  We don't always love them, a lot of the time we don't even like them, but we understand them.

The shear ambition of this final scene was enough to admire True Detective and Pizzolatto, and it was more than enough to warrant a reset button for the second season.

Possibly more amazing than anything, was on a series so dark, so gleefully devoid of relief, the audience was given the final theme of the show, from the most miserable character on the show no less.  Rust Cohle consider's Hart's lament for the struggles of light in the darkness of the night sky and responds, "Once there was only dark.  Seems to me the light's winning."  The theme of hope.