brimur123 t1_j6hsj9g wrote
If you're looking for answers you're watching the wrong show. The Leftovers never intended to give answers, it's about characters having to live with the inexplicable and thrives in that.
Tesseract91 t1_j6i2k0o wrote
Exactly. The show is a study of the human condition and it does so impeccably. Showcasing how people react to things that don’t make sense would be undercut having some kind of logical explanation to it all, in the end.
Grumplogic t1_j6jbsuz wrote
But why were the teenage girls running around the woods naked at the beginning of season 2?
MessiahOfMetal t1_j6jt8sa wrote
Last act of freedom before fully joining the cult.
Stephen_Gawking t1_j6i7qig wrote
It does give enough answers though I think. I never bought the theory about Nora lying.
brimur123 t1_j6ib8cj wrote
It doesn't matter if she lied, what matters is that Kevin believed her
BrockThrowaway t1_j6ipz41 wrote
I agree that it doesn't "matter" if she lied, narratively.
However, trying to decide whether or not she lied is still kind of a fair question as a viewer.
It's not like you can conclusively say "you missed the point of the show if you're asking whether or not she lied."
But, you will certainly like the ending more if you don't linger on that.
meeseeksanddestroy t1_j6ivb08 wrote
The show told people directly for a whole season that the key to enjoyment and probably happiness for the characters, should they choose to pursue it, was just "letting the mystery be."
SoulCruizer t1_j6lwhgr wrote
Yes but that doesn’t mean it didn’t want people to speculate or have a general interest just that it shouldn’t ruin your enjoyment for not getting a definitive answer. You can still “ask” and “wonder” and people on the show have even talked about what they believed actually happened. Again the whole “let the mystery be” is about being ok without an answer not having an opinion or a take on it.
VitaminTea t1_j6ly0yj wrote
Nora's story is purposefully ambiguous but that doesn't mean we're supposed to ignore the mystery. The mystery is the point.
Roook36 t1_j6izpre wrote
Neither did I. But partly because that was my theory the whole time. So for me she just confirmed it. Never considered she might be lying until I looked online
WeDriftEternal t1_j6j41am wrote
The cool part is the writers basically have said she both is lying and is not lying and both are true. It’s just up to the audience to decide… although they have definite opinions internally.
They actually did want to shoot an episode on the other side with Nora but it was cut because they went from 10 eps to 8 in S3. The other episode would have been back in Jarden with Kevin’s kids. But they made it clear they did not shoot these and they are not shown to us… we got the story as is. So did she lie?
DrHalibutMD t1_j6jxazh wrote
It's not lying if she believes it, and in relation to the episode op is talking about and its direct follow up in season 3 dont we all still wonder if it really happened?
She might say it's the truth and even believe it's the truth but is it really? Is everything that happened in this episode real?
WeDriftEternal t1_j6jzoh7 wrote
Everything that happened in the episode was real... but if she is lying or not is the question
DrHalibutMD t1_j6kbmgg wrote
So was Kevin really in another world where he was the President and/or his identical twin brother? ...and if he told the story to you would you be able to believe him? That's the question to me, more than whether Nora is lying or not.
Her story may be a lie but how can Kevin think that given what he's experienced? Heck everyone in the world has experienced the craziness of the original disappearance how can you discount her story?
Was she lying? Telling the truth? Maybe, either way who am I to judge her experience.
WeDriftEternal t1_j6kby1b wrote
Kevin being president was a different episode. Everything in book of Nora was real. The Kevin episode probably isn’t real of course. But Noras is. There is a long standing thing about Nora not being able to lie… that is prior to the book of Nora where she gains the ability to. But she may or may not have decided to use it. She can lie now, but will she?
SoulCruizer t1_j6lwtu0 wrote
The stuff Kevin goes through is absolutely real. There’s characters and things we see in it that just don’t make sense why they’d be there if he was somehow dreaming.
WeDriftEternal t1_j6lynny wrote
Well, there was a way to prove his identity <flop>
VitaminTea t1_j6ly4id wrote
Define "real"
SoulCruizer t1_j6m1lfm wrote
In the sense that it did happen and there were higher powers at play.
VitaminTea t1_j6m20gl wrote
Happened where though? In his head? In an alternate dimension? Purgatory? The same "other side" that the people (and Nora) went to? Was he alive and teleported or dead and there?
I just think "real" is too finite a concept. Of course it did happen (we watched it!) but I don't know that it was real.
SoulCruizer t1_j6m60ij wrote
Let the mystery be. We don’t get the logistics of how it works but it was absolutely real. Maybe you’re having a different conversation here. My point is that whatever happened isn’t some figment or dream where “it was all in is head” or doesn’t have some tangibility. When he died he was very much transported somewhere and this same place is where the guy who says he’s god was also transported and there’s actually other characters that mention the place. Who knows what it truly is but it very much is real.
nsnyder t1_j6ili8f wrote
Not to “why?”
alchemeron t1_j6ifr7b wrote
> If you're looking for answers you're watching the wrong show. The Leftovers never intended to give answers, it's about characters having to live with the inexplicable and thrives in that.
♫ Let the mystery be ♫
RadRuss t1_j6ifhpd wrote
It is a better execution of the same (or similar) concepts Lindelof was aiming for with Lost. The problem with Lost, in that respect, is that it leaned too heavily into the mystery, where Leftovers kept things a bit more focused.
opiate_lifer t1_j6kdxi1 wrote
To be fair to Lindelof when The Leftovers was first airing he explicitly made clear even during promo interviews the audience should not expect answers! If the creator outright tells you that, I see that as fair.
Studstill t1_j6k69q7 wrote
Also Lost is trash, though.
Watched all of both.
Gray_Squirrel t1_j6jios9 wrote
I generally hate mystery box shows, but The Leftovers is a big exception because it ends the show so brilliantly, IMO (trying not to spoil anything).
VitaminTea t1_j6ly8vu wrote
That's because the show is about the box, not what's inside it.
(I can't tell if this is profound or totally vacuous, sorry.)
TapedeckNinja t1_j6ipdya wrote
> The Leftovers never intended to give answers
"I don't understand what's happening."
"Me neither ... ... it's OK."
GigiRiva t1_j6jeu6g wrote
I've always enjoyed that a show specifically about characters having to deal with not having answers is most commonly criticized for not offering answers
Bigsam411 t1_j6j2l2v wrote
I mean the intro music for the last two seasons was "Let the Mystery Be" they clearly wanted to tell the audience they were not going to get all the answers to the mystery of the sudden departure. The show (along with other Lindelof shows like Lost) was more about the characters and as to whether or not they got their stories resolved.
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