The Leftovers tackled big existential questions on its way to TV greatness.
This article contains plot details from all three seasons ofThe Leftoversbut no finale spoilers.
What is the purpose of a great TV show?
Should the characters on the screen give us a blueprint for our own decisions?
Perhaps a good laugh or a twisty cliffhanger provides a thrill that a boring nine-to-five corporate job simply cant.
The Leftoversis unlike anything ever put on the small screen.
Why did it happen?
Is there an alternate dimension that the disappeared go to?
Is it the wrath of an angry deity that finally had it with the state of the universe?
Why did the people who disappeared deserve such a fate?
Every day, people suffer without answers.
Why do innocent kids get cancer while evil politicians live into their 90s?
How did any of us get here in the first place?
Is it an all-powerful God?
Did everything really evolve from nothing in a Big Bang?
If God is real, how does it make sense that hes always existed?
We could go on all day debating the infinite ambiguities of life.
Kevins wife, Laurie (Amy Brenneman), joins a cult.
Matt believes that Kevin is a messiah who will redeem the human race.
The show covers such vast ground in such a small amount of time that it feels almost unfair.
Some would turn to religion, while others would lose all hope and become suicidal.
The COVID-19 pandemic ironically gave us a small look into what a tangible reenactment ofThe Leftoverswould resemble.
The show would most likely do even better a decade later because of this.
Lindelof and his team pry the shiniest gleam of optimism from the most daunting situations.
The protagonists come to grips with their personal demons by gleaning their own answers from the Sudden Departures wrath.
They mold this new world like clay and take control of their existence.
Kevin, Nora, and Laurie mourn the past, but they no longer obsess over it.
The Leftoversultimately is a requiem for the beauty in the unknown.
Just as the second season title song so eloquently sings, let the mystery be.
