I am torn by The Leftovers. To me it has many of the Lindelof list of sins. It's a good show but insists upon itself. This episode, to me, feels like Lindelof showing off without caring much whether or not it serves the story or its characters. All three seasons of The Leftovers had three episodes I didn't like. This is one of them. I hated the three final episodes from season 2. Careful plotting and character building go out the window to bend characters out of shape to have a batshit crazy ending. Nora acting stupid when she is far from it. Characters not making phone calls and a long list of plot devices. I hated Assassin because it feels that it's weird just for weirdness sake and many plot devices were written without an endgame in mind (like Lost did), writting yourself into a corner, if you will.

I have no problem with weird shows and episodes. I love Mr. Robot and I feel the weird season two episodes work within the universe of the show. Not for The Leftovers. To me is Lindelof showing off. Again, this is a guy we know well bungles his writing for having no endgame for many of the things he writes. This is the guy behind Lost and Prometheus... a movie that clearly had characters acting dumb, introducing mysterious things without knowing what it all added up to and adding mythos that didn't need to be added and changing lore that didn't need to be changed. Watchmen is amazing but I think it has to do that the source material is batshit crazy to begin with.