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Yevrah
04-10-2015, 08:46 PM
Is there much (more) known about where The Letovers Season 2 will go John?

John
04-10-2015, 08:54 PM
I 'tagged' you in a post with a few details earlier in the thread.

It'll be split between Mapleton, where the first season was set, and a fictional town in Texas which didn't lose anyone in the 'event', where a few of the main cast have moved. They've replaced the brilliant opening titles with a considerably shittier set and a disconcertingly meta theme song. One of the main characters is trying to get a book published about the events of the first season. Lindelof has talked about how he wanted to give the show a measure of self awareness and make it able to have some fun with itself, with the line he gave as an example being one character saying to another 'I have no idea if you're a part of their story or they're a part of yours', possibly the worst line of dialogue ever written.

That first thing intrigues me, but the rest of it sounds appalling. That said, the first season had absolutely no right working either, so fingers crossed. I'd have the first season down as the best thing I saw on TV last year, so assuming it doesn't just dive face first into a turd it should still be something worth watching, and if they tie things together as well as they did last year it could yet be amazing.

Giggles
04-10-2015, 08:56 PM
Been looking forward to that coming back. Will download and watch tomorrow evening hopefully.

John
04-10-2015, 09:21 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLSH-81yT7s

Absolutely shite. And that fucking song. :sick:

The score had better be intact.

Yevrah
04-10-2015, 09:36 PM
That can't be real. :sick:

It's like someone completely missed the point of the first season.

Giggles
04-10-2015, 09:38 PM
That's woeful enough without even considering how good the ones for series 1 were.

Yevrah
04-10-2015, 09:38 PM
Right, what I know about the new season of The Leftovers. One of the characters is trying to get a book published about the events of the first season. The stunning opening titles have been changed and will be accompanied by a disconcertingly meta song choice. A few main characters have moved to a town which somehow didn't lose anyone in the 'Departure'.

None of that makes me feel in any way confident about the new direction.

Will you be watching from the off, or waiting until it's done to get involved, Yevrah?

Missed this first time round.

Given I've already started it, I might break the rule and watch this week to week.

John
04-10-2015, 09:46 PM
Leaving the twanging country guitar and 'holiday in Brighton' photo slideshow aside, listen to the lyrics to the song.

'I think I'll just let the mystery be.'

That's high grade self referential tossery.

Yevrah
04-10-2015, 09:48 PM
That's Lindelof for you, the guy is a total hack.

Good at building things up to a point, but then has no idea what to do with it after that. Thank fuck he's been kicked off Prometheus.

Did you watch Lost John? I can't remember.

John
04-10-2015, 10:00 PM
I did, but I don't think I posted about it much, if at all. I watched the whole thing on Netflix long after it was finished. You could tell he and his mate, who is currently involved in a crap remake, a crap vampire thing, and a crap show about the origins of Norman Bates, were just making it up as they went along. That was always the concern coming into a second season after the first was so clearly mapped out by the source material. I'm still holding out hope that having the writer of the original novel, so someone used to building stories from the ground up and not just flinging alphabet spaghetti at a wall, on board would keep things on track, but very little will surprise me at this point.

The thing that bothers me most about those titles is that I just don't see how they can possibly serve as the lead in to something as dark and contemplative as the first season was.

One interesting thing I've found out regarding the last season, and particularly the 'Baby Jesus' episode. That one felt like such lightweight filler because they snipped half the episode out and had to make up most of the episode with offcuts. Originally the prodigal son and his pregnant pal met a soldier whose family vanished as he was travelling back from a warzone, but Lindelof decided it felt too much like a guest star episode, and he didn't want those, so the whole thing was excised.

Yevrah
05-10-2015, 06:40 PM
Did you watch it John?

John
05-10-2015, 06:57 PM
Did you watch it John?

Not yet. I'm visiting my grandmother tonight so I'll watch it when I'm home. Expect a spoilered essay later.

Yevrah
05-10-2015, 08:30 PM
Not yet. I'm visiting my grandmother tonight so I'll watch it when I'm home. Expect a spoilered essay later.

Fuck it, I'll do it now and join you.

Jimmy Floyd
05-10-2015, 08:59 PM
The Leftovers is back? I'm in. It was about 40% rubbish but quite refreshingly heavy and bleak.

Jimmy Floyd
05-10-2015, 10:49 PM
Four minutes into the Leftovers and I'm

Watching a muddy naked woman in an unknown wilderness location giving birth, to the soundtrack of a Viennese waltz.

Fuck off, Lindelof.

Yevrah
05-10-2015, 10:56 PM
Yeah, that whole scene might as well have been replaced by his grinning testicle of a face.

Jimmy Floyd
05-10-2015, 11:47 PM
I'll wait for John's spoilered essay, but it's right on the cusp of being total bollocks now I think. I'll give it a chance though.

Giggles
06-10-2015, 07:31 AM
Did it continue like that? I only got as far as where I thought the cavewoman was just about to start hacking her infected arm off so I watched no more. Did it come back to the present reality at all?

Jimmy Floyd
06-10-2015, 07:46 AM
No that bit did finally end after about 10 minutes and we returned to the present. Why it was there is anyone's guess.

Giggles
06-10-2015, 08:00 AM
No that bit did finally end after about 10 minutes and we returned to the present. Why it was there is anyone's guess.

I was at least hoping the baby would vanish.

I'll give it another go tonight. Oh an yes John those titles are worse than shit.

John
06-10-2015, 03:19 PM
Right, The Leftovers.

The opening sequence was fucking baffling. I understand the parallels he's trying to draw, that to a primitive person the earthquake/landslide that killed her mates is every bit as inexplicable as 'the departure', but why you'd spend ten minutes at the start of the first episode on that is a mystery.

Someone convicted of attempted murder as the town fire chief? Nope. Not having that, thanks. I hope his little goon platoon don't just burn down the houses of those he reckons are trying to dupe people with a bit of faux-magic, because that could very easily turn into a running subplot that will make me burn down my television.

I appreciate that they're trying to set Jarden up as a town with its own problems and mysteries, but none of them are particularly interesting. Why does the bloke on the plinth feel so entitled to charity that he doesn't even thank the people who bring him food? Why is he on the plinth? Why are they running naked through the woods? Why does Fire Dick look genuinely surprised when the psychic bloke says he has a birthday coming up when two sentences later it's mentioned that they've known eachother for years? Why are people not shocked or surprised when Leatherface drags a goat into the cafe to slaughter it. Why does nobody stop him? Why is that crack in the road framed like something off Fringe? Who gives an arse about any of it?

I like the wonky take on religion. The first season showed that organised religion as it had existed before the departure had all but broken down, with the demographic of those 'taken' convincing people that it wasn't the rapture and thus that God didn't exist, so religion became nascent cultism. People praising the lord in church that they weren't taken in a rapture event was a nice touch. The priest cutting Matt off as he was about to properly introduce himself to a congregation that's about to become his for a while was a bit off, and Matt being bothered by that for about half a second was just as off, but there's an interesting dynamic going on in that church.

That the episode ends with a lake vanishing points to some Lost style supernatural bobbins incoming is a bit concerning, but I don't think even Lindelof is stupid enough to start the second season with a second event, so I'll keep the faith on that one. If it turns out there was a second event, that might be it for me.

Regina King is always a welcome presence after her work on Southland, but her character seems like a cipher. She's a nurse, which at this point seems to be there for no other reason than to draw parallels to the family Kevin had. He was a police chief, John is a fire chief. Both their wives are/were medical professionals. Both have a son and a daughter of similar ages. Both their sons are involved in some form of religion. Calm down, Damon.

I'm not convinced, but it's intriguing enough that I'm still in. I like the uneasy but genial relationship between Kevin and John though Kevin failing to mention his previous line of work has a great big honking 'PLOT POINT' alarm over it. I like that even though the town itself was untouched by the event it's still being changed by it, with little cottage industries popping up.

I'll say it again. Those opening titles are fucking awful.

wullie
06-10-2015, 03:30 PM
I'm tempted to leave it and just enjoy as a single season. Not just because Aimee's a goner.

Boydy
06-10-2015, 03:55 PM
I'd heard good things about season one of The Leftovers and was planning to watch it but I might not bother now.

John
06-10-2015, 03:59 PM
Why? The first season is fucking brilliant. The best thing I watched last year.

Even if the second season ends up being turd, the first season wraps up such that you could treat it as a miniseries.

Boydy
06-10-2015, 04:14 PM
If it works like that then I might watch it. I was assuming it wouldn't wrap up and was going to become some sort of Lost style mess.

John
06-10-2015, 04:21 PM
It might yet sprawl out into a shambles, since they're continuing with the same characters rather than becoming an anthology like True Detective, but the first season was based on a book and used the whole thing up so it has a proper conclusion.

John
06-10-2015, 06:59 PM
What did you think, Yevrah?

Yevrah
06-10-2015, 07:05 PM
I didn't get past the first 10 minutes.

Not because it was that bad, just that that scene (reminding me of Lost so it did) brought back how excruciating it would be waiting week to week for this. I'll blitz the whole of season 2 in a weekend when it's done.

Yevrah
06-10-2015, 07:06 PM
The opening credits are that bad though. Fuck me.

John
06-10-2015, 07:10 PM
I suppose my posts will serve to let you know whether it's worth bothering or not then.

It's a yes for now.

I genuinely can't understand what they're up to with the opening titles. The first season had the best set of titles I think I've ever seen.

Yevrah
06-10-2015, 07:13 PM
Yep, your posts got me into season 1 and despite having no clue as to why I kept watching at times, you were right and it was very good.

John
06-10-2015, 07:27 PM
It's a shame that more people aren't watching it. There's certainly enough substance in it for a separate thread but I don't fancy posting essays to myself for the next ten weeks.

Yevrah
06-10-2015, 07:28 PM
On that note, how did it even get a second season? It can't have done particularly well with the great unwashed?

Giggles
06-10-2015, 07:30 PM
I'm going to watch the rest of it once the Mrs heads to bed. I'm no good at the essays but I enjoy yours John.

John
06-10-2015, 07:38 PM
On that note, how did it even get a second season? It can't have done particularly well with the great unwashed?

I have no idea. As I said on the old board, viewership was low even for HBO and critical opinion was divided. It wasn't a Breaking Bad, where nobody was watching for three years but it had awards recognition and critics were wanking over it from day one so it made sense to keep it going. If I had to guess I'd say it was renewed on the basis that the people who did stick with it were all proselytising wankers like me, and they hoped word of mouth might grow the audience. If viewing figures remain the same and it gets a third run I'll be baffled, so hopefully they construct an ending as strong and conclusive as that of the first.

Alex
07-10-2015, 12:28 AM
I suppose my posts will serve to let you know whether it's worth bothering or not then.

It's a yes for now.

I genuinely can't understand what they're up to with the opening titles. The first season had the best set of titles I think I've ever seen.

I get the impression it's meant to be tongue-in-cheek. The song is called "Let the Mystery Be". Obviously the first season titles were a lot better though.

I actually thought the opener was really interesting. I'm intrigued again, at the very least. I got an almost Twin Peaks vibe from all the weirdness in it.

John
07-10-2015, 11:35 AM
I get the impression it's meant to be tongue-in-cheek. The song is called "Let the Mystery Be". Obviously the first season titles were a lot better though.

I actually thought the opener was really interesting. I'm intrigued again, at the very least. I got an almost Twin Peaks vibe from all the weirdness in it.

We talked about that earlier in the thread. It's very obviously a meta touch, it's just a fucking terrible one on a show absolutely ill equipped to start poking fun at itself. That they've had to bin a stonking set of titles for it makes me hate it more.

Alex
07-10-2015, 07:46 PM
We talked about that earlier in the thread. It's very obviously a meta touch, it's just a fucking terrible one on a show absolutely ill equipped to start poking fun at itself. That they've had to bin a stonking set of titles for it makes me hate it more.

Ah, apologies. Missed that.

My only really gripe with the premiere was the people from season one turning up. It was all a bit "Look! It's us, from last season!". Eccleston in particular. What's the deal with his wife? I can't remember how it ended with her last season. They felt sort of unnecessary. I'm sure it will come together though. I actually have quite a bit of faith, way more than I thought I would have. I like how it continues to not give a fuck about the mystery behind the initial disappearing, and just ploughs on with all the weird shit that has followed it.

Where have I seen the new main guy before? The fire chief? It's doing my fucking head in. I skimmed his IMDB page but nothing jumps out.

John
07-10-2015, 09:16 PM
Ah, apologies. Missed that.

My only really gripe with the premiere was the people from season one turning up. It was all a bit "Look! It's us, from last season!". Eccleston in particular. What's the deal with his wife? I can't remember how it ended with her last season. They felt sort of unnecessary. I'm sure it will come together though. I actually have quite a bit of faith, way more than I thought I would have. I like how it continues to not give a fuck about the mystery behind the initial disappearing, and just ploughs on with all the weird shit that has followed it.

Where have I seen the new main guy before? The fire chief? It's doing my fucking head in. I skimmed his IMDB page but nothing jumps out.

He probably looks a lot like someone you've seen before. I get that quite a lot with Ron Livingston and Kyle Chandler.

Very little happened with the wife. She was paralysed in the car crash from the very beginning of the series and was essentially only there as a cross for Matt to bear from then on. Janel Moloney is part of the main cast this season though, so presumably she'll emerge from her catatonic state at some point or it's going to be flashback heavy, otherwise she's bagged herself the easiest acting job in the history of the craft.

What about the people from the previous season turning up felt that way? The Garvey's new little family unit moving there makes perfect sense, since Mapleton went completely to shit and I'd imagine some questions might be asked about the police chief suddenly taking care of a black child, and Matt moving makes perfect sense because he's Nora's brother, he'd lost the church, and the entire town thought he was a twat for his stunt with the biographies.

I had my problems with is, but six of the previous seasons main characters turning up wasn't one of them.

Fargo is back soon too, so the next couple of months could be seriously good for television. :drool:

Alex
13-10-2015, 05:35 PM
He probably looks a lot like someone you've seen before. I get that quite a lot with Ron Livingston and Kyle Chandler.

Very little happened with the wife. She was paralysed in the car crash from the very beginning of the series and was essentially only there as a cross for Matt to bear from then on. Janel Moloney is part of the main cast this season though, so presumably she'll emerge from her catatonic state at some point or it's going to be flashback heavy, otherwise she's bagged herself the easiest acting job in the history of the craft.

What about the people from the previous season turning up felt that way? The Garvey's new little family unit moving there makes perfect sense, since Mapleton went completely to shit and I'd imagine some questions might be asked about the police chief suddenly taking care of a black child, and Matt moving makes perfect sense because he's Nora's brother, he'd lost the church, and the entire town thought he was a twat for his stunt with the biographies.

I had my problems with is, but six of the previous seasons main characters turning up wasn't one of them.

Fargo is back soon too, so the next couple of months could be seriously good for television. :drool:

Regarding the season one characters turning up, in that first episode they just felt a bit tacked on and not really necessary to the story anymore. Like they were thrown back into it just to draw a line back to the first season.

But, after watching the second episode (also excellent), I'm much happier with it all and how they fit in. Honestly, I think it's been a really strong start. The second episode was even stronger than the first IMO. My faith is fully restored. It's still looking like the most interesting and original thing on television.

Yevrah
19-10-2015, 08:36 PM
Did I miss your review of The Leftovers episode 2 John?

John
19-10-2015, 09:34 PM
Did I miss your review of The Leftovers episode 2 John?

You didn't. I wasn't in the right frame of mind to watch it last Monday, and I haven't been able to sit down and properly watch and ruminate on it since. I plan on watching episodes two and three over the next couple of hours, and I'll either post about two or wait until they're both done before posting, depending on how much there is to say about two.

I've just stuck it on now and I'm almost immediately confronted by that fucking atrocious intro sequence. If this season winds up being as good as the first I might have to spend a couple of hours splicing the original intro into these episodes, because I'm not dealing with that lilting shit on any subsequent viewings.

John
19-10-2015, 11:00 PM
The Leftovers episode two. I might split this and previous posts on the show into their own thread, since there's definitely enough material for discussion, if not people with whom to discuss it, to sustain a separate thread.

Right off the bat, I fucking loved that camp site stuff outside 'Jarden'. So many little glimpses into various iterations of the doomsday cult that would undoubtedly pop up after such an event. I'm fairly sure I spotted the bullseye headed twats from last year in amongst all that, but there were a load of other people whose outfits and/or behaviour were very obviously cultism, and I really hope there's a deeper look at that at some point in the run. I also liked that in Jarden, a place where nobody has been 'taken', the nascent cultism that reigns supreme outside their very 'Children of Men' fences is replaced by a sort of embarrassed exceptionalism. The individuals are largely the same, the teenagers being extraordinarily reckless and whizzing around in cars much too expensive for them serving as an easy parallel there, and the feeling of the place itself is just as ominous, but the reasons for both seem to be completely different. In Mapleton the teenagers were reckless because they thought they could be scooped up at any moment and so had to smoke and drink and fuck and destroy while they still had the chance, while the teenagers in Jarden have taken their lack of a departure to mean they're somehow immortal. That's an early reading, and it could turn out that the nude cross country in Jarden is a way of attempting to be taken, but we'll see.

I'm not keen on the allusions to a second event, and the fractured timeline over these first two episodes makes Patti's reference to same seem extremely heavy handed (even after I'd been lolling at it before the season started), but I'm all in.

Still every bit as original, daring, and interesting as it was last year, and while I have my reservations that it'll stay that way I wasn't entirely convinced after two episodes last year either.

They seem to have realised that they were a bit overzealous with the quite stunning theme music last year, but they've corrected for that by cutting it back to about one minute per episode and bringing in a load of pre-existing tracks instead, which isn't an improvement.

Alex
20-10-2015, 12:31 AM
Count me in the for Leftovers thread if you go that route John.

Excellent again this week. Based on the characters it was exploring this episode I initially thought I wouldn't like it as much as the first couple but it was as good, if not better, than the first two.

John
20-10-2015, 02:56 PM
Episode three. Fuck me that was grim. How fucking good is Amy Brenneman?

That was like an entire episode of nothing but the rock attack scene from Gladys and the scene where Matt finds out he'd lost his church played on a continuous loop.

First, what the fuck is Laurie up to? She's running over GR twats in her car as a means of daring them to sway from their beliefs and move out of the way, and she's crying as though she's hard done by when it turns out they won't. Based on the number of carwash visits shown in the episode, I reckon she's done it at least three or four times, and the look on her face in the first iteration of that scene made it seem like that definitely wasn't the first she'd done it. Between that and her going bonkers in the publishers office I think it's safe to say she's now lost it completely. It's a bit jarring to see her this different in what's basically the first sighting of her character since the end of the first season, but I'll go with it.

I could have done without the Leftovers does Whiplash opening, but then odd musical choices have always been a part of the show, and I doubt one with a more conventional approach to score would have brought in Max Richter to produce the virtuoso stuff he does, so I'm willing to take that trade.

Speaking of music, the use of another version of 'Where Is My Mind' over a montage of Laurie and Tom going about their business seemed like a very heavy handed way of drawing a straight line between them and Kevin's own brand of mania, though it did eventually fit nicely with the scene of that mum seeing her kid again for the first time in however long. Then, fucking then, she goes all Road Warrior in one of the most horrid individual acts the show has ever portrayed, and they score it to the most beautiful piece of music they have at their disposal. In an episode where someone is repeatedly running people over in her car and a fragile person is raped and forced through a mock execution it takes a lot to be the biggest shit around, but giving your family just long enough to be terrified before driving them headfirst into a truck takes all the cakes and all the biscuits.

The 'Holy Tom' scene at the end initially had me worried we were disappearing up Lindelof's arse, with powers transferring from one person to the next, but a couple of details stuck out and a bit further into that scene than I'd care to admit I realised he and Laurie were bullshitting to offer those people a new thing to believe in. Replacing one cult with another seems like seriously dangerous territory for all concerned, but then if any of those people had emerged from the GR capable of living a remotely normal life then they wouldn't be characters on this show.

I think I'm all in now. All of the stuff that sounded worrying at the outset has been dealt with well.

Alex
20-10-2015, 10:26 PM
It was very bleak. She is doing a great job with the material. This might sound daft because she's obviously a professional actress, but I thought the addition of dialogue to the character might ruin it. She's nailing it though. The scene with the book publisher was brilliant.

Good comparison with Matt losing his church. It had that element of hope, that everything is going to be OK, only for everything to come crumbling down again. Especially with the women she "rehabilitated" only for her to off her entire family. Christ, that was grim. You never really escape from that lot it seems. Lori claims to have but she's obviously massively fucked up.

I wonder if the stories will all converge again at some point (Kevin and family are in a totally different part of the country now I guess) or whether they'll just exist separately. I can't see Kevin and/or the daughter wanting anything to do with Lori again.

Is Meg the new head honcho in the GR or something then? I can't remember where they left her story at the end of season one.

Yevrah
20-10-2015, 10:31 PM
Looks like I'm going to have to get back into this again then.

John
20-10-2015, 10:34 PM
You really should. No spoiler tags from this point on though, so catch up or get out. You really don't want to know what's coming before it does.

Yevrah
20-10-2015, 10:42 PM
I've only skim read it and don't think I've had anything spoiled so far - reminds me of posting in the breaking bad thread while I was powering through the show itself to catch up.

It's my choice to be in here so I'd never request that people use spoiler tags - that'd be a right cunt's trick and is a shit way to run a thread of this type.

Jimmy Floyd
20-10-2015, 10:44 PM
Just watched episode two, and I'm really not entirely sure what the fuck is going on, but I'll presume it'll be much like all of Lindelof's previous work in that all (or some, at least) will become clear. The scene setting is very good. Now for episode three.

John
20-10-2015, 10:50 PM
It was very bleak. She is doing a great job with the material. This might sound daft because she's obviously a professional actress, but I thought the addition of dialogue to the character might ruin it. She's nailing it though. The scene with the book publisher was brilliant.

Good comparison with Matt losing his church. It had that element of hope, that everything is going to be OK, only for everything to come crumbling down again. Especially with the women she "rehabilitated" only for her to off her entire family. Christ, that was grim. You never really escape from that lot it seems. Lori claims to have but she's obviously massively fucked up.

I wonder if the stories will all converge again at some point (Kevin and family are in a totally different part of the country now I guess) or whether they'll just exist separately. I can't see Kevin and/or the daughter wanting anything to do with Lori again.

Is Meg the new head honcho in the GR or something then? I can't remember where they left her story at the end of season one.

I know exactly what you mean about giving Laurie dialogue. Her performance was so powerful and well observed as a silent character in the first run that they could easily have destroyed the minimalist brilliance of the performance by giving her too many ways to express herself. The White Stripes were brilliant as a two piece because they had to work around those self imposed restrictions. Stick a keyboard and a backing choir in there and you could easily ruin it, you know?

I was loving the publisher's scene, with the gradually escalating intensity of the flashbacks and her expression, but I actually laughed when she flew over the table, which I don't think was the reaction they were going for. I think there's a much more powerful version of that scene where she just breaks down and tears into him verbally. I'm not sure Brenneman is as good as Carrie Coon, and what a statement that is for the latter, given both how relatively inexperienced she is by comparison and how fucking good the former is, but something along the lines of Nora's breakdown when her family appeared at the table would have given that scene a much more congruent tone, I think. I understand that after however long she's spent as a passive, silent presence in the GR she's letting out all the violent thoughts and aggression she had to suppress, but the scene was gradually building to a verbal climax, and having it just descend into screaming and impotent violence at that point seemed like a waste. The publisher bloke did deserve a twatting though, which is why I laughed.

Meg is definitely in charge of something, but I think it's more likely to be a more extreme offshoot of the GR inspired by them getting a shoeing in Mapleton than the GR we know. She's still dressed in white, but the standard GR garb is utilitarian. White trousers, white jumpers, white shoes. A floaty night dress seems far more like something she's chosen to mark herself out than an adherence to the 'uniform'. Remember, even Patti stuck to the same outfits as the rest of them, even as she was pissing off to cafes now and then for a chat and a bagel.

As for where she was left, it was bleeding, tied to a pole in the middle of the street and rejecting help from someone, I think Matt.

I'm not sure on the geography of the whole thing. The first season was definitely based in New York, as per the book, but Kevin and chums have moved to Texas. Can you drive from New York to Texas in the timeframe suggested by the conversation Laurie and Tommy have about him 'meeting Jill tomorrow'?

Did you have a brief 'oh for fuck sake' moment when Tommy started speaking like he was Holy Wayne reincarnate, or did you catch on to the artifice in that whole scene quicker than I did?

John
20-10-2015, 11:07 PM
Just watched episode two, and I'm really not entirely sure what the fuck is going on, but I'll presume it'll be much like all of Lindelof's previous work in that all (or some, at least) will become clear. The scene setting is very good. Now for episode three.

What do you think of the new title sequence? I seem to remember you being quite a fan of the original.

Jimmy Floyd
20-10-2015, 11:11 PM
It's rubbish, but whatever, it's only a title sequence. Maybe they're actually going for a different vibe in this series to the previous one, where it served to get us ready for the utter bleakness.

Alex
20-10-2015, 11:15 PM
Did you have a brief 'oh for fuck sake' moment when Tommy started speaking like he was Holy Wayne reincarnate, or did you catch on to the artifice in that whole scene quicker than I did?

No, I had the same "here we fucking go" reaction that you had.

It was that final shot of him in the faux-Jesus pose with the stupid look on his face that snapped me out of it.

Jimmy Floyd
21-10-2015, 01:27 AM
Surely the Jill and Tommy meeting was prior to them moving to Texas?

I'm not sure I get the third episode as a whole. Was the thing at the end a MASSIVE twist or not? I took it initially to be a shock reveal that everything they are doing is in fact a massive con, but that wouldn't really tie in with all the other stuff that goes on during the episode.

Jimmy Floyd
02-11-2015, 11:10 PM
The latest episode the best of the second series yet, for me.

Matt is such a great character and so well played by Christopher Eccleston.

Alex
03-11-2015, 02:47 AM
I might be with you on that. Ecclestone plays that character so endearingly, and they pile the misery onto him in such a way that it can be difficult to watch, but the plots revolving around him are often the best on the show.

That was a properly brilliant hour of television. But then there hasn't been an episode this season that hasn't been outstanding. In fact, it's been so good since it returned that I almost want to say it's already surpassed the first season for me. Nothing is touching it at the minute.

John
03-11-2015, 02:50 PM
Surely the Jill and Tommy meeting was prior to them moving to Texas?

I'm not sure I get the third episode as a whole. Was the thing at the end a MASSIVE twist or not? I took it initially to be a shock reveal that everything they are doing is in fact a massive con, but that wouldn't really tie in with all the other stuff that goes on during the episode.

It might have been, the fucking with the timeline makes that possible, but I remember something in the scene suggesting it was after the move, though I can't remember what it was now.

I think it was Laurie and Tommy realising that just cutting these people out of their cult and trying to send them back to their old lives wasn't going to work, and creating a fiction for them to believe in in place of whatever the GR are doing.


I might be with you on that. Ecclestone plays that character so endearingly, and they pile the misery onto him in such a way that it can be difficult to watch, but the plots revolving around him are often the best on the show.

That was a properly brilliant hour of television. But then there hasn't been an episode this season that hasn't been outstanding. In fact, it's been so good since it returned that I almost want to say it's already surpassed the first season for me. Nothing is touching it at the minute.

Episode four was a bit shaky. It's the first episode since the Baby Jesus one from the first season that felt even remotely like it could have been part of another show, because it came close at times to telling a straight forward crime story. Kevin has to cover his tracks, John thinks he knows whodunnit, etc. Carrie Coon was fucking incredible in that opening scene, though the dog running across the street made the scene itself a bit on the nose, and Patti Rickrolling Kevin was good fun, but all in all it was probably the weakest episode since the the aforementioned Baby Jesus fiasco.

Fifth episode was absolutely brilliant though, I agree.

It was clear right from the first moment in the opening scene that Matt was going to get spectacularly shat on once again, and even knowing that it was still a bit heartbreaking to see just how bad things got. I had a growing pit in my stomach as soon as he pulled in to help that bloke with the broken down car, because you just knew he was going to get knocked out, robbed, kidnapped, or something.

I've been waiting since the short glimpse at the beginning of the season for a proper look at that camp, and it didn't disappoint. It's not even pure cultism, though there's some very obviously culty behaviour going on. I think that played into Lindelof's gift for presenting fucking bizarre things that he doesn't need to explain. Why does the fat bloke want to be smashed with an oar as you scream Brian at him? Who cares, just bask in this slice of oddness.

I do wonder how the bloke Kevin replaced on the 'It's not TV, it's HBO' taco truck of redemption got up there in the first place though. That's a story I would like. And I suppose that speaks to just how good the sense of place is here. All the little ancillary details and background characters are so rich and interesting I constantly want the show to go off on little tangents and follow various nothing people around. I could have done without any extra detail on Christopher Eccleston's cock.

As good as it all was though, it did make me worry slightly for what they'll be doing going forward, though I suppose I should probably trust them by now. They're always fucking around with various religious allegories and have been since day one, but they seem to be getting bolder and less concerned with putting them in the background of scenes. Matt carrying his pregnant wife, a woman named Mary who has fallen pregnant through questionable means, around trying to find shelter and being continuously turned away is fucking blatant, and with that coming a week after Nora explicitly comparing the whole thing to Noah's Ark it has me a bit worried that they're going a bit heavy on the religion.

Still, though. A brilliant hour of TV.

Jimmy Floyd
05-11-2015, 10:15 AM
It still has a lot of shit awful Lindelof tropes, my favourites being mysterious figures in white standing still in the middle distance (he fucking LOVES that shit) and people flicking on stereos to start a cornily chosen song before a word has been said in the episode.

There is a cock a week at the moment as well.

Is Matt doing his repenting because he knows no one will believe she woke up? I think there's literally a 0% chance that character would have raped her.

John
05-11-2015, 10:56 AM
Kevin refusing to ask Ghost Patti anything even when she was flat out offering to give him answers played a bit Jack from Lost too, but you can see why a man who thinks he's going bonkers might not want to talk to the ghost he's seeing everywhere, even if she did know where his phone was.

Jimmy Floyd
10-11-2015, 11:26 AM
Episode 6 seemed to dribble on for a time, but was massively redeemed by the scene when Nora and Erika took each other on. Nora was brilliantly acted as usual and the way she instantly and brutally tried to shit on Erika's story, casting all usual niceties aside, was breathtaking.

Other than that though it was a classic episode 6 of 10 really, just tying various threads together and setting them up for whatever's to come.

John
11-11-2015, 02:36 PM
I enjoyed that. The scene you single out was far and away the best scene of this season so far, with maybe only a handful from last year topping it and the Nora kitchen scene from the finale being the only one that definitely does. I think I'd have preferred Nora walking out of the house to be the end of the episode, with the theme coming in for a woozy walk back to the house or something, rather than a shoddy scene with Kevin and a smashed window.

That theremin version of the theme from the middle of the episode was shit too.

It did have the feel of a piece mover but the focus was so heavily on Carrie Coon and Regina King, the two best actors in the cast, that it remained compelling throughout.

John
19-11-2015, 10:54 PM
Well, episode seven is bananas.

Kikó
19-11-2015, 11:16 PM
I'm on episode 5 of 7 and the line Kevin Carroll came out with when Ecclestone was locked up was a real humdinger. [paraphrase] "Why have you got him locked up? Scared he's going to perform a baptism on someone?"

Jimmy Floyd
19-11-2015, 11:21 PM
Episode 7 was an absolutely bizarre watch. For the first half of it (or so) I was convinced that Lindelof had waded into a load of absolute bollocks Lindelofian twaddle and ruined the whole series. Then I started thinking hang on, is he actually attempting to make some sort of philosophical comment, an atheist manifesto or possibly even a study of mental illness? Then, all of a sudden, there was ten minutes of gripping action and I thought 'is this the best episode yet?'.

At the end I just thought 'well, this probably isn't getting a third series'.

John
19-11-2015, 11:21 PM
I'm on episode 5 of 7 and the line Kevin Carroll came out with when Ecclestone was locked up was a real humdinger. [paraphrase] "Why have you got him locked up? Scared he's going to perform a baptism on someone?"

You're whizzing through it at a decent pace, although I suppose both Yev and Floyd did the same thing having come to it at the end of season one.

What did you think of the first season as a whole?

Kikó
19-11-2015, 11:26 PM
You're whizzing through it at a decent pace, although I suppose both Yev and Floyd did the same thing having come to it at the end of season one.

What did you think of the first season as a whole?

Mental. I really didn't know how to take it but it was so compelling. It's really refreshing how different it is from most series I've watched. It was a real piece of art, from the score to the way it built up to the finale and the satisfying end. I'm glad I read you recommended it.

Kikó
20-11-2015, 11:49 PM
Episode 7 was brilliant. Unrelenting madness.

Jimmy Floyd
23-11-2015, 11:47 PM
Episode 8 :cool:

Utter brilliance I reckon, even though it drew heavily from Lost and, I thought, from Life On Mars, although that may be lost on the American viewership. But I bet Lindelof has seen it.

Alex
24-11-2015, 06:58 PM
Agreed, episode eight was fantastic. To quote Michael at the end, "Holy shit". Completely nuts for the most part but so well done.

I was always worried if they moved more overtly into that sort of territory it would end up like the worst parts of Lost, but that was excellent. I can see the Life on Mars thing a bit too. Most of all it reminded me of the extended dream sequences that The Sopranos used to do though.

Jimmy Floyd
24-11-2015, 07:26 PM
It was the bit with his dad paging in on a TV screen from 'the other dimension' that most reminded me of Life on Mars, though it might have been used in America before that, I've far from seen everything.

There was Lost all the way through it (was reminding me of Jack a lot at times), but in a good way.

Alex
24-11-2015, 09:09 PM
The cameo from his Dad was brilliant. :D

I wonder what the end-game is here. There are only two episodes left now I think? It better be getting a third season.

Jimmy Floyd
24-11-2015, 11:10 PM
The last two episodes have made me think it's probably not getting one, but fuck knows.

Kikó
25-11-2015, 11:20 PM
Loved it. Great purgatory dream sequence.

Kikó
02-12-2015, 09:24 PM
Another vastly different episode. The music was completely different and the whole atmosphere almost made it feel like a different series.

Kikó
08-12-2015, 09:36 AM
Strangely satisfying despite it leaving more questions than answers. It's probably best to wrap it up there before they attempt to explain the unexplainable and ruin the mystery.

Alex
10-12-2015, 11:27 PM
Renewed!

http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/its-a-miracle-hbo-renews-the-leftovers-for-third-and-final-season

For a third and final season.

Kikó
11-12-2015, 08:11 AM
Excellent. I hope they can give it the closure it probably deserves.

Jimmy Floyd
11-12-2015, 08:33 AM
I reckon Lindelof has a masterpiece in him. This probably isn't it, but it's been a very interesting effort.

John
11-12-2015, 08:45 AM
I was coming in to post that. It seemed like they were heading into the end run with episode seven, so I decided to watch the last three together and haven't got round to it yet.

That renewal is a bit bonkers. It was mad enough that it was renewed the first time, but a second one seems to go against logic.

Yevrah
11-12-2015, 12:29 PM
I'm still yet to watch any of season 2 (I will), but a 30 episode run seems pretty tight and should mean it doesn't suffer from the bagginess that Lost did.

I say that knowing very little about season 2 mind.

John
16-12-2015, 11:54 PM
Episode eight is completely fucking unhinged, but absolutely brilliant with it.

I can see the Lost and Life on Mars comparisons, but as an episode I thought it was far more tightly constructed than anything either of those two ever done. I saw the twist with the little girl coming as soon as the dad mentioned a well, but that didn't take anything away from it.

As for The Sopranos comparison. His name in that dream sequence was Kevin Finnerty. Kevin F, Kevin G, and alter ego Kevin H. That's a bit too neat to not be a deliberate wink.

That version of the theme that came in while Patti was talking about Jeopardy. Fuck me, that will never not get to me. :drool:

Alex
24-01-2017, 11:51 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj1tpBYiHnU&feature=youtu.be

:drool:

April 16th, gents.

Giggles
25-01-2017, 07:06 AM
It's still on the go? Christ.

Baz
25-01-2017, 07:12 AM
I've still not got round to watching season two. It's all recorded on my planner but I'm not sure I'll ever get round to it. Is it better than season one?

Giggles
25-01-2017, 07:21 AM
I've still not got round to watching season two. It's all recorded on my planner but I'm not sure I'll ever get round to it. Is it better than season one?

I got as far as the cave woman in the first episode of series 2 and turned it off forever. By all accounts it didn't live up to series 1 though.

Kikó
25-01-2017, 07:32 AM
I enjoyed it. The soundtrack is amazing.

Alex
18-04-2017, 12:23 AM
I'm really glad this is back. The first episode of season three was very strong, in my opinion. I've got high hopes of them giving it a good send off, or an interesting one at the very least.

Alex
26-07-2017, 10:13 AM
Has anybody else watched it all yet?

I finished it last night. Season three, albeit still much better than most other things on television, was probably my least favourite of the three. It felt slightly disjointed in places. I didn't watch it week-on-week like I did with the others, I really had to be in the mood for it. The finale was, in my opinion, amazing though. I can't think of many final episodes I've been as satisfied with.